Page 54 of Caretaker

“Uh oh,” I said.

Seth Damon had caused her to react as well, but not like that. Nothing like that.

Tires screeched and cars crashed, but I couldn’t look away from the demon. If I had looked away, he would surely have taken me. He would kill me and he would reclaim my Silverlight.

And I absolutely could not allow that to happen.

“She’s tasted me,” I said. “She lives with my blood inside her. She belongs to me now.”

“You,” he sneered, but his eyes filled with blood and he had to shield them from the light of the sword. “You.” And then his words were more of a whimper than a roar, and I knew he saw the truth. “I’ve lost her.”

Silverlight was mine.

“She chose me.” And though my voice was not loud, it was certain, and the truth of my words was unquestionable.

Sirens screamed urgently in the distance.

“Seth Damon,” he whispered, continuing to shield his eyes. “This is his fault, and I will forge a new sword from his flesh, his blood. His lust.” His voice grew louder as he talked, and by the end, he was shouting. “His heart!”

And he dropped his hand from his eyes and faced Silverlight, stood against her light with his fury at her loss and his pain at her betrayal, and even as he started gushing blood from every orifice on his body, he didn’t look away.

Demons were a proud, stubborn lot.

For a second, I felt only pity. I could imagine how I’d feel if Silverlight betrayed me for someone else. I would be unreservedly devastated. Just as he was.

His blood splashed upon the ground, hissing as it sizzled and burned its way through the blacktop. It began to spread toward me, that blood, and I knew if it touched me I would burn just as the street burned.

I backed up. Slowly, I backed up. I could have attacked him. I could have tried to slice him into bits with the light and power of the sword, but I was afraid to. If he managed to grab me and seal his mouth over mine, she would drop away to protect herself—and then he would reclaim her.

I didn’t look away from him when a car screeched to a halt behind mine. My people were arriving—and I was not surprised. First Shane, roaring up in his truck, then Rhys, then Clayton and Miriam.

Miriam yelled my name, and that was when I realized she had arrived—and where she went, Clayton went. And where Clayton went, Seth Damon went.

I swayed as the blood drained from my face, and I took my stare off the new demon and put it on Miriam’s slave. If the incubus figured out Seth was inside Clayton, he would not hesitate to rip Clayton wide open as he yanked Seth free.

I had to protect Clayton. I hadn’t freed him from Miriam, and I was for damn sure not giving him up to a fucking demon.

I had Silverlight. I just had to believe in her.

And I had to believe in myself.

The demon might have battled us all but for the human police. As they and the paramedics sped toward us, the incubus looked at me. His stare was long, dark, and challenging, and it held absolutely no doubt. “I will return for you.”

And just as he’d appeared, out of thin air, thumping against my car, he disappeared. The air rippled and smoked, and he was gone.

We were all safe. At least for the moment. Silverlight calmed and detached, and I dropped her into her sheath to sleep.

I started to turn toward my supernaturals when Clayton’s eyes widened and he lunged, tackling me. He bore me to the ground and the asphalt scraped the skin from my cheek just as my car exploded.

I didn’t see it, but they told me later how the car had been flung into the air by unseen hands and then exploded with the force of a thousand dirty bombs.

Only one human was seriously injured, and that was likely all that would save the supernaturals from another vicious round of persecution by the police.

That human was Shane.