Page 95 of Caretaker

“I’ll be waiting out front.” He hung up.

I called him right back, put the phone on speaker, and tossed it into the passenger seat. “Shane, you’re not leaving the hospital. You looked like death last night. Let them take care of you.”

“You can take care of me, baby hunter.”

But then I shrieked and slammed on my brakes, and the phone was flung into the floor. “Demon,” I yelled.

“That’s a little dramatic,” Shane said, his voice muffled. “You won’t have to do much. Make me a sandwich or bring me a beer.”

I leaned over and scooped the phone out of the floor. “I just saw the demon who put you in the hospital, and I know exactly where he’s headed.”

And I knew exactly how I’d find Clayton.

Shane remained calm. “Where, Trinity?”

I hesitated, even as I slammed my foot down on the accelerator and sped back toward Miriam’s house. The demon had been a blur as he’d raced down the street, but there was no mistaking him for what he was.

Maybe I’d imagined it, but as he’d passed me, heading in the opposite direction, I’d been certain that he’d slowed and met my shocked stare before he’d raced on.

“Trinity.”

“Shit,” I said. I was going to need backup, and I was sixty seconds from Miriam’s house. “Call Angus. I’m at Miriam’s. Tell him the demon is after the incubus inside Clayton. And tell him Clayton is alive.”

He hung up almost before I was finished speaking. I slowed the car, turned off the headlights, and rolled quietly through Bay Town, my heart in my throat. Silverlight vibrated at my hip, and I knew she’d sensed him, felt him, and she wanted out.

I stopped the car before I reached Miriam’s house, thankful that she had no close neighbors. Gently, I opened the door, then stepped out, wondering if it were even possible to sneak up on a demon.

Somehow I doubted it.

I kept my fingers on my sword’s angry, buzzing hilt. “Patience, Silverlight,” I whispered.

I left the street and crept into the field that neighbored Miriam’s property, my teeth clenched, my heart in my throat. I was about to face not only the train wreck that was Miriam but the powerful demon. And I was alone.

Silverlight seemed to vibrate a little harder, as though offended by my thoughts, and I squeezed her gently.

No, I wasn’t alone.

But if I drew her and she lit up the night, there’d be no help for it then. The enemy would see me long before I wanted to announce my presence. “Patience,” I whispered again.

Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked, his voice sharp and constant. The faraway sounds of the city barely intruded. The night was heavy and warm, but I thought I smelled the faint hint of autumn in the still air. Likely it was wishful thinking as sweat trickled between my breasts and my forearm began to itch beneath the hot, annoying cast.

I wished I’d had time to dress a little more appropriately for a fight with a demon and a necromancer. I was a one-armed woman about to face a demon and a necromancer with a sword and a prayer.

Scary thought.

So I wouldn’t think about it.

Silverlight vibrated so hard I nearly lost my grip on her, and regardless of being noticed, I had to release her.

She said it was time, and I believed her.

I pulled her from her sheath and she screamed to life, fierce and blindingly bright, slinging white lighting into the sky. And when she did, it began to rain. Not water, but cold fire.

The demon stood before me, illuminated by her light, and I realized the battle to come would not be just between me and the demon—it would also be between the demon and the sword.

He wanted her, and she did not want to be taken.

I could only hope she’d chosen wisely when she’d chosen me.

Otherwise, she was going back to hell.

As much as Silverlight protected me, I now had to protect her.

It was going to be a long fucking night.