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Or something else?
Even though it was dark she saw the bodies, her attention remaining on the headless one in front of me for several moments. And nothing about this freaked her out. “Everything’s going to be okay.” The woman slowly pulled a walkie from her pocket and spoke into it. “This is Coltrane. We need a cleanup crew at the old Dyver shipping warehouse. Five human fatalities and one survivor.”
A crackle echoed, and a male voice came over the radio. “And the aggressors?”
The woman, Coltrane, glanced at the corpse in front of me, to the metal weapon still trembling in my hands, and then to my face. “One. And he’s dead. A high demon.”
Demon?
She replaced her walkie and slowly stepped forward. “Are you injured?”
I cursed and dropped the rusty shard, blood running down my fingertips from the cuts. “What the hell is going on? What did that thing do to my friends?” My voice came out as a haggard whisper instead of the shout I’d meant it to.
She lifted her hands and spoke calmly. “I know you’re confused and scared. Maybe you should sit down and—”
“I don’t want to sit down.” Tremors raced through my body as waves of hot and cold descended over me, fighting for dominance. My teeth chattered. “I want the truth.” She looked like someone in charge. An air of authority surrounded her.
Coltrane studied me and then the small living space I’d carved out. “Are you a runaway?” When she saw the spark of panic in me, she shook her head. “I’m only asking in case I need to worry about a parent or guardian searching for you.”
“I was in foster care. It didn’t agree with me.” I lifted my chin, daring her to admonish me for escaping that hell.
Instead, she simply nodded. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen.”
As she scrutinized me, I could practically see the gears working in her mind. “You’re not just a survivor. You’re a fighter.” Her head tilted, and the weight of her stare became so heavy my knees wanted to collapse. “Do you want to be more? Do you want to be a protector?”
My attention swiveled to Jayla’s body, which grew paler with every minute. I couldn’t protect her. I should have died, but maybe I could save someone else before Death decided to take me to hell.
“I’ll die trying,” I mumbled more to myself than her.
“I’m going to tell you everything,” Coltrane said, taking that as my answer. “And once I do, there’s no going back. Are you ready for that?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. No fear. That had all been wiped away the moment this demon ripped that innocent girl’s life away…
I blinkedthe moisture from my eyes, wiping at the streaks dragging down my cheeks. That night I’d killed a high demon and learned about the supernatural monsters hiding in every corner of this world.
Images of the demon shifter flashed through my mind, and I overlaid them against the beast. The nightworlder I met last night had a broader build with denser muscle mass, but they were roughly the same height. Where one had pale skin, the other’s complexion was like warm, sunbaked bronze. The demon shifter’s blue eye matched the monster’s once the blackness had evaporated as he died.
Half brothers.
Had the demon shifter been hunting me for the last two years, dead set on avenging his brother’s death?
I absentmindedly ran my thumb over the scars slicing my right palm from the metal weapon. After Coltrane explained everything, she gave me one last chance to back out. She could have the memories glamoured out of me, and I’d go on living a life without demons and monsters.
I’d told her there would always be demons and monsters in my life one way or another.
ChapterTen
I smoothedmy hand over my hair and straightened my black tank top before knocking on the polished wooden door, my mouth dry as the Sahara Desert. Captain Coltrane had sent me a text to report to her office immediately.
Sharp claws of panic grazed my chest, promising to slice my heart. Had she found out that Hawk and Roxie tried Rapture last night? Would Coltrane blame me for not keeping an eye on those two, especially Hawk?
“Come in.” The captain’s even, controlled voice flowed through the solid wood, and the lack of emotion gave nothing away.
Air filled my lungs in a deep breath, and I slowly released it as I grabbed the knob, twisted it, and entered her office. The scent of coffee and her overly sweet caramel creamer lingered, but something else more earthy blended in.
Coltrane sat behind her neat, organized desk, her back to a set of built-in shelves that held a collection of antique leather-bound books. Her dirty blonde hair gleamed in the sun streaming through the window that overlooked Jones Street.
