Page 67 of Bloodhunter

“He’s fixated on you. He’s found you, and until we kill him,he will be a threat to you. But there’s a problem.”

“Demons can’t be killed,” I murmured.

“Exactly.”

“Then what do we do?”

“I’d like to find a way to help him return to his world. Away that doesn’t involve him killing you.”

“I would like that as well,” I acknowledged.

He gave me a ghost of a smile.

I didn’t return it. “Do you have any ideas about how to dothat?”

He hesitated. “No. I’ll let you know when I do.”

His hesitation made me think he knew more than he wastelling me, but I didn’t press the issue. “Anything else?” I asked.

He stared over my head, his eyes about as blank as I’d everseen them. “Miriam has not retracted her orders that I protect you.”

I dunked a cookie into my coffee. “What happens if youdisobey her? Will you die?”

He laughed, a sharp, humorless bark of sound that was nearlysharp enough to cut me. “I would have disobeyed her long ago, if death were theoutcome.”

“The reward,” I realized.

He lowered his stare to mine. “Yes.”

I released a soft breath, suddenly tired. “Life is hard.”

That time, when he laughed, it held genuine amusement. “At times.”He sobered. “It has been a very long time since I laughed, Trinity.”

And despite everything, I softened once again toward the manwho was Miriam’s nightmare. But only a little. Thank God, only a little.

I put the conversation back on the demon. “How do you thinkhe makes the foam?”

He shrugged. “The Foam of Aphrodite has always been immersedin mystery. It’s believed that it was originally created by the faeries, andthe demons stole it, then modified it. We think it’s made from sperm and blood,some of the energy they steal from their victims, and the…magic, you could callit, inside them. ”

I stood abruptly and carried my empty mug to the sink. “Sowe have a face and a name for him. We just have to figure out how to ship himback to his world.”

“We have to keep you alive,” he said.

I rinsed my cup, then put it in the drainer. “That, too.”

My cell vibrated and I pulled it from my pocket, then put itto my ear. “Captain.”

“Frank,” he reminded me. “I wanted to touch base.”

I hesitated. “I picked up Gray’s tracks but lost him in thewoods off Raeven’s Road.”

“The two dead humans,” he said. “Stark called me.”

I hesitated. “The humans…”

“They’ll serve as further cautions to those who think itmight befunto hang with the monsters.” His voice was brusque, andmaybe even a little bitter. “They need to know it’s not so fun to bleed anddie.”

I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. “I’m going back outtonight. I’ll be in contact.”