Page 35 of Death Wish

Halflings.

That’s all he said, but the word sent a chill through my very being.

“Those are Halflings?” But wait… Wasn’t Cole a Halfling, too? He certainly didn’t look like a ghostly creature with a contorted face and needle-like teeth. The red eyes—I must have imagined it in my moment of panic. Now, as I looked at him, they were as blue as the Caribbean Sea. Nothing menacing or scary about them.

His grip on the front door tightened; he seemed to be straining to not open it and run out guns blazing.

“You should stay here, Jade.” Even though his voice was low, still that strange rumble, there was no doubt Wyatt had heard him. And besides, he must have looked pretty silly staring at the empty place in front of the window so intently. Wyatt either likely knew something was up or figured Cole was off his rocker. “You don’t know how to take these things down. Leave it to me and Wyatt. When Sean gets to the door, let him in. Make sure he locks the door behind us.”

One, how the hell was I supposed to make sure of anything if Sean wouldn’t be able to hear or see me. And two, I wasn’t some helpless damsel here. I could not only defend myself, I could fight.

“So, I’m supposed to just leave this up to the boys, then?” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Of course.”

His entire body shook. No, vibrated, right in front of me. Was it from the mounting annoyance I could see in his gaze, or something else? I really wasn’t sure.

“You don’t understand,” he said in a rush. “These are Hell-dwelling Halflings. Fully corrupted by the Hellfire power and the demon part that they were dragged back to Hell to do nothing but obey. Mindless puppets who will stop at nothing to carry out their orders. Nothing.”

I stared at him for a second as his words sank in.

“But aren’t you a—”

“Not like me,” he added in haste, then grumbled, “Not yet anyway.”

That spoke volumes in itself. So, if Cole tapped into the demon half of him by using his fire gift, it would turn him into one of those…things. He’d be dragged off to Hell, forced to live out the rest of his damned existence as a demon’s minion?

Tough break.

Now the need for guns and magic bullets made more sense.

“I still have my weird glowy hand,” I said finally. “It worked on Xaver. It should work on his babies, too.”

“Can you guarantee it’ll happen again?”

“Uh…”

He shook his head. “We can’t risk it.”

“But they can’t hurt…”

The rest of the sentence died on my tongue. Could they hurt me? It was getting harder to keep up with who could see me and who couldn’t. Xaver had tossed me across the bakery like a sack of dirty laundry, so it was possible the Halflings could, too. Especially since they had demon blood in them.

God, this was getting complicated.

“They may not be able to hurt you, Jade, but they can certainly drag you back to Hell with them.”

I stiffened. That was a horrifying thought.

Why had I complained about my boring afterlife before? I certainly had my hands full now.

After a long second, I gave him a firm nod in understanding, and he threw the door open. It crashed against the trailer’s exterior in a loud bang. Wyatt rushed outside after him, Angel hot on his tail. Gunshots along with the dog’s ferocious barking rang out in the early morning silence.

I peered through the gap in the window again. Two more demon Halflings had joined the fight. The young man named Sean scrambled up the porch steps in the chaos, spilling the contents of his bags all over the ground.

“Get inside and barricade the door!” Cole’s demanded, seizing Sean by his shirt and half-throwing him toward the trailer. A second later, Sean burst through the door, cursing.

“Are you kidding me?” he gasped as he locked every one of the six deadbolts on the door. “That’s it. Pop’s going into a nursing home. I’ve had it.”

When his gaze drifted my way, he paused.

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