by Laken Cane
Fifteen minutes after I’d entered the Pocket, I made it to South Street. I walked down the street, listening and watching for movement. It was silent, dark, and cold.
I got my shift.
The thought torpedoed out of nowhere and smacked me between the eyes, and for a few seconds I had to cram my fist against my mouth, slow my breathing, and calm my emotions. I’d barely been able to let it sink in, but fuck. I’d gotten my shift.
Now was not the time to let myself be distracted though, and that made me just a little damn resentful. I was no longer a hobbled wolf. I was free. And I couldn’t even wallow in that truth.
Not yet.
I darted across someone’s yard and around to the back of the house, then yelped when I literally ran into the detective. I slammed against him and he grabbed my arms to steady me.
“Kait,” he murmured, his voice hoarse.
He looked rough, and I knew part of it was because of his worry over Beth, but the look in his eyes told me that he’d had a glimpse into hell and whatever he’d seen had fucked him up. He had a black eye, a still bleeding cut on his chin, and a swollen, bruised bottom lip.
“What’s going on, Rick? Where’s Lucy?” Without thinking, I ran my thumb over his lip, frowning. I was used to cuts and bruises, but I was a wolf.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away from his mouth but didn’t let go of my arm. “Locked in her body fighting the demon,” he said grimly.
“Shit. She’s aware?”
“Oh yes. She’s very aware.” Despite my wolf’s hearing, which was even better now that I’d gotten my shift, I had to lean close to hear him. The last thing we wanted was for the patrolling “guards” to become aware of us. “She’s keeping him occupied,” he continued. “He seems fascinated with her. If she hadn’t stopped him, he’d have killed me. He gets the upper hand at times, but he’s struggling for his control.” He let go of my wrist.
I remembered in the woods when I’d first met the demon—he’d been somewhat fascinated with Lucy then, too. And I didn’t think the only reason for that was because he thought he was owed her soul.
“I found an unoccupied house,” he told me. “We can talk there without worrying about the armed assholes hoping to find someone to shoot.”
The house he’d found was only two blocks from where we stood, but it seemed to take us an eternity to get there. We slipped through the night like shadows, but the extreme caution was necessary. It was critical that we not be caught by guards or seen by homeowners.
At last we hurried across the back yard of the empty house, and he quietly shoved open the door and ushered me inside. We stood in a small, clean kitchen, and I wrinkled my sensitive nose at the scents of strong disinfectant, old bacon, and decades of cigarette smoke. I followed him from the kitchen to the living room, where he flipped on a light. The curtains over the window were thick enough to keep the light from showing through, so we wouldn’t have to worry about someone seeing it and getting nosy.
He did a doubletake when he got a good look at the blood on my face, my chest, and my hands. “Kait.”
I shrugged. “I lead a violent life, Detective.” At least nearly every injury I’d gotten was healed, thanks to my shift.
My shift. I shivered, taking a second to relish that fact—and the lack of pain. When the full moon came, it would successfully push me into my shift, and it would not hurt at all. I could barely wait.
I put my mind on the situation at hand. “So what’s he doing? Why did he bring you here? Obviously he doesn’t care about Marcy Davenport. Do you have any idea where she’s being held?”
“I only know she’s in the Pocket. Lucy will tell us after you expel the demon. She’ll see it.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He’s in there with her. She’ll know everything he knows, won’t she?”
I shook my head. “No. Her human mind wouldn’t survive that. If she knows where the girl is, it’ll be because she asks him and he thinks of the place. She’ll get clues from that. That’s all.”
“She had a dream,” he said. “The demon was waiting for you to come home, and she knew it.”
“She deliberately gave herself to the demon,” I hissed. Damn that girl.
“She was aware that he knew where Marcy was being held, because of her dreams. Once he was inside her…” He gestured. “This. When she called me, she was already possessed. I could hear her talking to it. To herself. When I got here, she attacked me. They’ve been playing cat and mouse with me since I arrived. The demon left me alive so I could bring you here.”
I nodded. “Lucy won’t let him leave, but if I’m here, he won’t want to. He doesn’t care if we find an abducted girl. He doesn’t plan on letting us live, either way. Not after he gets what he wants.”
“What the fuck does he want, Kait?”
I squeezed the demon blade. “I have to kill him. I…” I shook my head, frustrated, then showed him the small spirit snare attached to my belt. “I can’t kill him, really, but I can trap him forever.”
“Kait. What does he want?” His stare was steady and glittery in the dim, artificial light, and unrelenting.
“He wants his blade back,” I whispered. “I told you that. It’s the only way he can return to his world.” I stiffened when the sound of one of the patrolling vehicles began to grow louder. One of the gangs was a couple of streets over and coming closer by the second.
“You have to give him the blade,” he said, his voice quiet but full of shock and anger. “Give him his fucking blade, Kait. You’ll find something else to fight demons with.”
I tightened my hand almost convulsively around the hilt of my blade. “I can’t. My blood is in this blade. If he gets it, he’ll have part of me. He’ll have control of me. He can take me back to hell with him and....” I couldn’t help but shudder. “God only knows what they’d do to me.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, then ran his hand over his head. “Son of a bitch.”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t he possess Lucy at your house and wait there for you to come home?” he asked.
I snorted and cocked an eyebrow. “My place is so warded and protected that Satan himself wouldn’t be able to find a way in. If you ever need to escape a nasty demon, a hungry vampire, or a…” I hesitated, then plunged on. “Or a raging werewolf, then—"
“Vampires and werewolves,” he said, his brows low, his eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to tell me those two creatures exist?”
I laughed, but it was not at all convincing, even to my ears. “Are you trying to tell me that after everything you’ve seen, you believe they don’t?”
His eyes lit with disgust. “I can handle the spirits and demons, but I draw the line at vampires and werewolves.”
Well hell.
“Hope you never have to meet one.” My words were light, but I couldn’t look at him when I said them. I’d always felt the danger in my secret, but until now, I’d never really felt the shame.
“You should have left the blade in your house instead of carrying it around. He can’t force you to give him something you’re not carrying.”
“I could have, but then I wouldn’t have anything to control him with. A regular blade isn’t going to get him out of Lucy and into my snare.”
“You’re planning to stab Lucy? You can’t kill her to get to the demon, Kait. You’ll have to think of another way.”
“I’m not going to kill her. I just have to cut her. She’ll survive that a lot easier than she will the demon. And since she’s aware in there with the demon, she’ll be able to help me trap him.” I hesitated. “I’m sorry about Beth.”
He only nodded and then changed the subject. “What do you need me to do—or not do—when the demon comes?”
“I need you not to die,” I told him, my stare catching on his. “He will find us here, and he’s going to come in. When he does…” I grabbed his arm and led him to the opposite side of the room, then pushed
him up against the ghastly paneling lining the walls. “The best thing you could do would be to leave this town,” I told him. “Right now. Just get out and let me handle this shit.”
“Let you face a demon alone,” he said, his eyebrow cocked, “while I run and hide? Do you know me at all, Ms. Silver?”
I gave a quiet laugh. “Yes, Detective, I do. So here’s what we’re going to do.” I took the kit off my back and dropped it to the floor, then knelt and rummaged through it until I found what I was looking for.
“Is that…”
“Salt,” I told him, standing. “I carry an extra bag for times like this. I’m going to put you in a circle of protection. I need you stand inside it for as long as you can. The demon can’t possess you if you’re inside it. He can’t hurt you.” I emptied the salt around him. “Don’t break this circle.”
His stare turned just a little cool. “I’m not a child, Kait. I—”
“Don’t turn into a fucking alpha now, Detective. I can fight these things. You know you can’t. I’m not—” I clamped my lips together, realizing I’d been right on the edge of telling him I wasn’t human. “It’s what I do,” I finished. “Stay inside the circle.” I softened my voice and reached out to squeeze his arm. His muscles tensed immediately, but he didn’t pull away. “Please, Rick.”
He didn’t soften. “I’ll do what I can do.”
And that’s all he’d give me.
I knelt once more and began rummaging through my kit, pulling out everything I thought I might need against the demon who was inside my friend. First and foremost, the coveted demon blade.
I couldn’t let him take it from me. If he got the blade, he got everything.
“He might not find us here,” Rick said. He left the circle and went to peer out the window. “He might be waiting for us to hunt him down.” Then his voice changed. “Shit.”
I jumped up. “What is it?” But I knew what he’d seen. I knew, because I felt it. “He’s coming.”
“He’s here,” he murmured. “Just standing in the front yard staring at the house. And here come the assholes with the guns.”
“This is not good.” I leaped toward the front door, then yanked it open. “Come and get me, demon,” I called as quietly as I could, waving my blade at him. “I got your precious knife.”
Lucy immediately hurried toward the house. She knew the danger and chaos that would happen if the patrolling gang spotted us. “Kait! Kick this demon’s ass!” Then abruptly she went away and the demon was there, peering out of her eyes.
“Lucy,” I muttered. “You’ve got some fucking ‘splaining to do.”
I had the blade ready. I had the trap ready. “Detective,” I said. “The circle. Please.”
Because the demon was mad, and he was going to hurt as many people as he could as quickly as he could—but first, he wanted my blade. He wanted my soul. I stood back, waiting for him to rush inside so I could shut the door. I wasn’t going to keep him out of the house. I needed to keep him in.
The detective took my arms from behind, squeezing gently. “Steady, Kait. I’m here with you.”
“But the salt—”
“Fuck the salt.”
Then the demon—Lucy—was racing inside, and I slammed the door just seconds before the patrolling men rumbled by in their jeep with their guns and their attitude. Then everything happened at once.
Lucy began fighting the demon in earnest, trying to slow him down now that she thought he was trapped and that I could kill him. Rick grabbed her from behind, trying to hold her still so I could cut her and get the trap in place.
Technically, I didn’t have to put the snare over her mouth to capture the demon, but that cut down on his chances of escaping. When he was expelled, there’d be a few seconds where he was vulnerable as he dealt with the transfer out of her body. Those were the only seconds I had before he either escaped or possessed the detective.
He couldn’t possess me because of the anti-possession tattoo on my right shoulder. After this night, if we survived it, I was going to suggest to Rick and Lucy that they pay a visit to my tattoo artist.
There were only three people in the room—four if you included the demon—but there was such sudden chaos it felt like a dozen. Rick attempted to hold on to Lucy’s possessed body, but the demon was supernaturally strong. Even as I leaped toward her, my blade and snare ready, she threw Rick into a wall. Hard. He collapsed to the floor and didn’t move.
Lucy was trying with all her strength to help, but she couldn’t control herself. She couldn’t just hold still and let me do what I needed to do. I rammed her body finally, cornering her, and as I slammed the snare against her mouth and lifted my knife, she grabbed my hand and forced the blade to her chest.
“God,” I cried, desperate. She was going to shove that blade into her heart, and the demon believed that I wouldn’t be able to bear it. He thought I’d give him possession of the knife to save her.
He was wrong. I didn’t want to sacrifice Lucy, of course I didn’t. But I would if I had to. The demon had to be contained, and I would have sacrificed anyone—myself included—to make sure it happened.
I ground my teeth as I put everything I had into keeping that blade out of her chest. I needed to cut her to get my blood and the magic of the demon knife inside her, but if I wasn’t strong enough to move the blade someplace less vital, she was going to die.
I wasn’t strong enough.
I would never be stronger than a demon—unless I shifted. If I shifted, Lucy would see my wolf. If I shifted, there was a chance the detective would see my wolf, though I wasn’t sure if he were still unconscious or not.
And if I shifted, I would be vulnerable through a process that would take at least sixty seconds, maybe more, and the demon would take the blade. He would leave this world, and he would take me with him.
I absolutely could not lose control and shift.
Deep down, I hadn’t been confident I could shift. I didn’t know how. Without the full moon, and without the alpha, I was too new, surely. My wolf was too warped. I didn’t feel the knowledge. Funny how yesterday I would have given anything to shift, and right now, I was fighting with everything inside me not to.
“Fuck,” I cried.
My wolf was chaos, and she was mad. She fed on my extreme stress and emotions and she took control.
And I began to shift.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Worrying about the detective and Lucy learning my secret was the least of my problems. My wolf didn’t care at all what they thought, and though the human part of me did, it wasn’t foremost on my mind now.
I had more important things to think about. To marvel over.
Like the fact that my shift was as seamless as fast as any alpha’s, though it certainly shouldn’t have been. It didn’t take me an excruciating sixty seconds of bone-cracking mess to shift. I simply…shifted.
One second I was fighting not to shift, and the next second, I was a wolf. Part of me stood back in amazement and awe, but just as I hadn’t had time to really dwell on my huge freedom, I couldn’t really think about what had just happened—or why I’d been able to shift the way I had.
When I was my wolf, I was also my human, with my human thoughts. I still knew what had to be done and though I couldn’t hold my spirit snare or try to trap the demon, I could concentrate on getting him out of Lucy, holding on to my blade, and keeping myself out of the demon’s world.
I clamped down on the handle with my strong teeth, and I sliced it over Lucy’s ribs. Overly hard and quite deep, but the situation was too urgent and hurried for finesse. I cut her, and that was the important thing. Even in my wolf form, I cut her.
Her screams merged with the demon’s screams, and she fell back against the wall, mouth open, eyes staring, getting, perhaps, too much of the demon’s mind and certainly too much of his pain. He shot from her mouth as a black, thick smoke, smelling horribly of sulfur and death and other things unrecognizable to my wolf’s sen
sitive nose. Without a body, he could not grab the blade, so I let it drop, shifted back to my human form, and scrambled for the snare. It was too late, though, to catch him.
The demon was gone, but I knew without a single doubt that he would return to try again. He had no choice, really, did he? He wanted more than anything to get back to his world and to a body that no longer existed in this world.
But I also knew that he was weakened further not just because the longer he spent here, the weaker he would become—eventually he would simply be another spirit—but because he’d been injured once again by his own blade. A blade that held my blood.
Could he cause more death and mayhem before he was rendered ineffectual and harmless?
Oh yes. Absolutely he could.
And I would handle it when he did. Right now, he would go off to lick his wounds, and I—and my blade—would remain in my own world.
Energy like I’d never felt coursed through my body. I vibrated with it. I felt, for a little while, invincible. I shivered as pleasure touched every part of my body and mind, and I wanted to run through the night, high on my wolf.
I turned in a circle, almost drunk, and then my stare landed on the detective. In my strange and overwhelming pleasure, I’d nearly forgotten him.
He sat against the wall, watching me.
“No,” I cried, as the reality of life slammed back into my mind. I fell to the floor, scrambling for my clothes, my weapons, my sanity, and my shield.
He never said a word.
Lucy was motionless and pale and bloody, her eyes closed and her breathing so slow and soft I couldn’t tell if she were alive or dead. But then I saw her chest rise, and I could have cried with relief.
My clothes were ruined, ripped to shreds by my large, muscular wolf and the shift that had exploded through them. I held the rags to my chest, trying not to whimper, and risked another look at the detective.
Once again, his eyes were closed, and he appeared to be unconscious. Maybe he would remember nothing. Maybe he would think it was a dream.
