But as it turned out, it wasn’t demons he needed to worry about.
He was reaching for the door when a body slammed into him from behind, pinning him against the car.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our favorite little coward.” Wallace’s breath was hot against his ear. “Where’s your little girlfriend with the phone, huh?”
Julian struggled, trying to push Wallace away or twist out of his grip, but he couldn’t find the leverage to free himself. “Get off me!”
“Gee, since you asked so nicely.” Wallace grabbed him and whirled them around, shoving Julian toward one of the other guys, who punched him in the stomach. His breath left in a whoosh. The next hit cracked ribs and sent him tumbling to the asphalt.
Everything was a blur after that. Punches and kicks landed with no rhyme or reason. Julian curled into a ball, covering his head with his arms to protect himself as best as he could. Pain lanced up his back, his sides. Someone’s boot crashed down on his knee, another crushed his fingers against his skull. When itfinally stopped, he tasted copper, everything throbbed, and the world spun nauseatingly.
His fingers scraped against the rough ground as he pulled himself away. Their laughter followed, like hyenas circling prey. He didn’t know where he was going. Where was his car? Where were hiskeys? There was blood in his eyes, and he couldn’t see. He just needed to get away from them long enough to find his bearings.
Hands dragged him to his feet, his back to their chest. An arm wrapped around his throat, squeezing tight, and a holy blade appeared before his face, glinting in the distant city lights. Panic lanced through him, sharper than all the pain.
“You can’t—do this,” Julian said haltingly. His eyes burned, and he scrabbled weakly at the arm around his throat. “I’m human. It’smurder.”
“Oh, no, I don’t see it that way at all,” Wallace breathed in his ear. “The way I see it, you’re no better than the monsters we hunt. You walked away, knowing what’s out there, knowing what those things do to innocent people. Youknow, and you don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, that makes you a monster, too. The world will be better off without you.”
“No.No.”
The dagger slid into his stomach. Pain bloomed through his abdomen, but the shock dulled it.I’m dead, his brain blared.Dead, dead, dead.His body shook, choking on the air in his throat.
“There,” Wallace whispered in his ear as the blade withdrew with another burst of pain, “one less monster in the world.”
He shoved, and Julian’s world toppled end over end. He landed hard at the bottom of the mostly dry, concrete waterway, the cold puddle in the center pooling around him and soaking into his clothes.
Rolling onto his back, Julian stared up at the hazy, light-polluted sky. His thoughts came to him sluggishly, each one slipping away like sand through a sieve. He was cold, wet, bleeding, alone. No one knew where he was. No one would come looking for him. A warm tear slipped from his eye and got lost in the hair at his temple.
Valac. He wouldn’t get to see him again. Nic and Danny. Would they find out what happened to him? Would they care?
Was this God’s plan? What was the point in any of it, if this was how it ended?
Chapter 14
Valac
Purgatory was typicallyValac’s least favorite place through which to travel. It was usually boring, with the occasional passing souls or reapers ushering said souls to the afterlife, but they rarely provided any sort of entertainment or conversation. But this time, he welcomed the flat, gray world. It meant he was that much closer to the surface. It wouldn’t be long now.
Astaroth had not only agreed to let him return to the surface, he’d insisted on it. Valac brought with him a message for Talon. But first, he would go and find his human. His beautiful jewel. Once they were reunited in the physical world, they could go together to speak with Talon and the Sentinels.
He kept their minds linked at all times now, just to be sure he wouldn’t miss one of Julian’s dreams. He couldn’t access his mind while he was awake, but he would sense the moment he dropped out of consciousness. It wasn’t easy to maintain that kind of connection from such a great distance—in fact, he hadn’t been sure it was possible until recently. It was like their minds had been braided together, allowing Valac to sense him even during his waking hours.
It was because of this connection that he felt the moment Julian’s consciousness slipped away. Valac paused, turninginward as he reached out to press inside Julian’s slumbering mind. The timing wasn’t right. Julian went to sleep at roughly the same time every night; it was too early for him to be at home and going to bed already.
Something was wrong.
He pressed deep inside Julian’s mind, searching for his lucid self, but he found only darkness instead.
“Julian?” he called. “Where are you? What’s happening?”
He found him then, a sliver of consciousness in the sea of black. Julian’s physical eyes opened, but he wasn’t really conscious, hovering on the cusp of awake and not. Valac glimpsed the night sky and concrete walls through Julian’s eyes—and blood, pooled around him. Staining the concrete, his clothes, and skin.
“Val,” Julian croaked. “‘M sorry.”
Julian was hurt.
Valac exploded into motion. The world around him narrowed until there was only the rush. He had to get to Julian. Nothing else mattered, not Hell or Heaven or anything in between. Adrenaline roared like hellfire through his veins.
