Page 144 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

There’s the completely obvious answer, the one that any logical person would jump to, but here he is, blissfully missing the point.

Or intentionally.

If Chloe saw any hint of Killian out in the wild, even without being able to fully see all demon magic, she would immediately think demon first, not human-with-demon capabilities. All college education starts there, starts with the identification and what it entails.

If she was on the other side of the shield, she would assume anyone inside had been kidnapped.

So Chloe remains silent, as the man tests the edge of the shield with his shoe, kicking a few pebbles into it.

“Why are you going after bases?” he asks finally, after a few moments where Killian’s face goes flat and ready, like he’s waiting for permission to spring. “Is it just for the challenge?”

“Don’t answer,” Killian growls, and Chloe doesn’t need to be told that.

“Is it power?” the man asks, as if he’s trying to be coy, his voice dipping down low. “Is it because they left such a sucking hole in the structure that you can’t help but want it?”

Chloe lets her eyes flicker over to Killian and he keeps the contact.

“I can give you power,” the man says, bouncing on the balls of his feet, his blue eyes sparking over every feature in the little alcove like he can’t decide what to watch. “Power’s easy.”

Slowly shifting behind her, Killian rests a hand on the small of her back, drawing a shiver from her.

They wrote a trap, tied it into the shield itself, but he’s carefully not touching it with his actual body.

But if he took down Atlanta, then he could take down a single shield with no issue. Would be able to see the trap as clearly as Chloe can.

“I don’t want anything from you,” Chloe says, her voice small despite her bravado. “Just don’t follow me.”

“Do you have a demon to do your bidding, is that what this is?” the man says, fully ignoring her last sentence. “Are you unleashing a demon on all these bases as revenge? Do you have something on one to do what you want? How are you controlling it?”

Careful, Killian grabs a fistful of her clothing, as if he’s preparing to teleport away, but doesn’t want to crease her clothing in any way that someone watching could see.

“I could work with a demon.” The man breezes right along. “Utterly destructive. You could dump one somewhere and they’d emerge with no other life in a mile radius. Just all gone, all humans, all Wights, demons can take care of everything. Properly leashed, they're great.”

Chloe stiffens and Killian tightens his grip, pulling her back, but she digs in.

“Do you have one on a leash?”

“No,” Chloe says, and the man raises his eyebrows again. “No, the leashes are wrong, don’t do that, don’t—”

“I saw the Terese project, the first one,” the man continues, eyes alight. “She nearly killed me just sixty miles north. It was beautiful.”

“Leave them alone,” Chloe starts, heated, “I don’t know what you’re doing, what you’re trying to do, but leave them alone and—”

“Would love another Terese project,” he purrs, and Chloe has to stop herself from recoiling back.

Another.

Her mind flashes over to the possibilities. Terese is safe, Ambra’s safe, who…

The man twists his fist, sudden, and before Chloe can even breath, Killian’s shield…shatters.

Shatters is the best term.

Shards of magic, razor sharp, fling throughout the alcove, slashing at Chloe’s clothes and skin, and she throws her arm up to protect her face.

Killian hisses out something, grabbing Chloe and spinning her around like he’s about to teleport away but…doesn’t, the momentum of his actions stumbling them both.

A shard cuts at Killian’s face, black blood spraying finely across to the wall, and the man strides in.

---