Page 17 of Death Wish

“You know, fangs? Thick brow? Glowing red eyes?”

They both stared at me like I had just sprouted another head.

“Just me. Huh.”

After a long moment of uneasy silence, Cole said, “You saw the demon within.”

Now it was my turn to stare at him in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“Not familiar with them, are you?”

I shook my head. “Never seen one in my life.” Then after a second, I added, “Ugly bastards.”

That won me a smirk from him.

“Laurence is a demon?” Kay peeped beside me.

“No, he’s just possessed,” Cole answered, matter-of-fact. Like this was the kind of shit he dealt with all the time. Totally normal.

“Just possessed.” I shook my head. “Wait a minute. It isn’t the solstice. Demons shouldn’t be crossing over. That doesn’t make sense.”

“So you do know about demons,” Cole said.

“Just the basics.”

His expression changed suddenly to all seriousness, the same hard look I’d seen in the alley right before he shot at me. “Then you know your friend here is still in a lot of danger. If I’m right about why I think Xaver was here, then we need to get her somewhere safe. And fast.”

“What would he want with Kay?” I glanced at my friend, and her eyes widened.

“I don’t have time to explain right now. We need to go. And I need my backpack.” His jaw tightened. “Xaver’s going to be back, and I’m all out of bullets.”

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