Page 5 of Demon Hunter

“Yeah, but I just tried to call Matt and a doctor answered his phone. He’s alive, but she wouldn’t tell me more. Gabe’s calling her now.” I get it out as fast as I can. Everyone knows Gabe’s the calm, reasonable one, with Matt coming in second. Connor and Ian… not so much.

“Fuck!”

“He’s alive,” I repeat. “I’m on my way there now.”

“Where? San Francisco? Marc, get up, I need you to take me to Matt.”

My foot hits the brake, and I’m grateful the early hour means there’s nobody behind me. How could I have forgotten about this? Ian’s boyfriend is a higher demon and he can fuckingteleport.

Do I like the idea of being at a higher demon’s mercy like that? Honestly, no. Even though I was on board with the “make Marc seem like a nice guy” campaign and I completely support Ian’s relationship, the part of me that’s been taught my whole life that higher demons are evil incarnate can’t stand the thought of letting one have that much control over me.

But for Matt, I’ll do anything.

“Come and get me,” I blurt.

“What?” Ian sounds distracted, and I can hear rustling, like he’s getting dressed.

“Ask Marc if he’ll come and get me and bring me with you to Matt.” I steer the car to the side of the road and park it. It’ll be fine here, and if not, fuck it. I can get a new car.

“Wait, why? Where is he?”

“Reno.” My phone beeps, and I look at the screen. “Gabe’s calling. Hold on.” I don’t give him time to reply before switching lines. “Gabe?”

“Have you spoken to Ian?” His voice is tight.

“I have him on the other line. Want me to conference him in?”

“Yeah, that would save either of us from repeating this.”

I hit the necessary buttons. “Ian, I’m conferencing you in with me and Gabe. Are you both there?”

They both reply in the affirmative, and then Ian demands, “Did you talk to the doctor?”

“Dylan, if you’re driving, pull over.”

Fuck. No.

“She said he was alive,” I whisper.

“He is, but… it’s not good. He was found in an abandoned warehouse by some teenagers looking for somewhere to make out. He’s got massive internal injuries—he already lost his spleen and one kidney, and they’re worried about his liver. A lot of his bones are broken. They think they’ve stopped all thebleeding for now, and he’s been transfused to make up for the lost blood, but he’s in a medically induced coma in the ICU.” He pauses. “The doctor told me to get there as soon as I could and that things were critical.”

Oh my god.

“Oh my god,” Ian echoes my thoughts, his voice broken. “Matty.”

Hot tears stream down my face. No. I can’t lose him.

“Can he be moved?” a new voice asks, and it takes me a second to realize it’s Marc.

“What do you mean?” Gabe sounds confused. “He’s in a coma and his insides have been beaten to mush.”

“Are you able to remove him from the hospital? Tell them you want to bring him home to be cared for?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ian snaps, but I swipe away my tears, suddenly hopeful. Marc is a higher demon. He can teleport. He has the ability to take over people’s minds and kill them with a thought.

What else can he do?

Gabe must come to the same realization. “They won’t let us take him from the hospital like that. We could maybe insist on a transfer to another hospital, one we have contacts at… or, Dylan, could you fake something? Somewhere to transfer him that doesn’t exist?”

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