Page 85 of Bloodhunter

It was smart to be prepared.

I cleared my throat. “What I told Miriam—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“She’s persuasive,” I said.

“You’re weak.”

“I’m not weak,” I snapped. “I told her because I wanted totell her.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” God, why did I always have to sound like adimwit around him?

He glanced at me. “She’ll devour you if you let her. She hasa warped need and not just with the golem.”

“She wants to devouryou,”I told him.

He grunted, which told me nothing.

“Is there a—”

“Trinity,” he interrupted. “Less talking, more hunting.”

I fell into silence, then realized he might have been rightto rebuke me when I gave the air a quick, searching sniff and pulled in thefaint perfume of Gordon Gray’s scent.

“Got you,” I whispered.

But then, there was something else.

Shane turned, bringing up Betty the Shotgun, and Iimmediately pulled Silverlight. She glowed, but her light was dim, as thoughthe vampires weren’t quite close enough to excite her.

Still, I could feel a change in the air. Something wasstalking us. “The demon,” I realized, suddenly terrified. I’d rather have beendevoured by the necromancer than the incubus.

I stood back to back with Shane and searched the shadows ofthe woods with a narrowed gaze, watching for detaching shadows and listeningfor the furtive rustle of feet across dry undergrowth.

My heart pounded, my stomach tossed, and I felt slightlydizzy with the onrush of adrenaline. I needed to run, to fight, to dosomething.

But we waited, silent in the heaviness.

“Do you feel him?” I whispered, finally.

“Quiet,” he hissed.

He was weak, the demon, so it wasn’t like he could rush outand suck the life from us. Still…

The click of my dry throat was loud when I swallowed, and Iforced myself to take in a deep breath and release it slowly, calming myselfbefore I became a blubbering mess.

The vampires and the fight got me eager and excited. Thedark unseen, the unknown threat, and the foam-throwing demon scared theabsolute crap out of me.

But then, something that very well might have been worsethan the demon strode out of the darkness.

Miriam and Clayton.

“What the actual fuck,” Shane yelled, lowering his shotgun.

Silverlight brightened, just barely, and I watchedstunned—but a little relieved—as the necromancer walked toward us.