Logan and a demon fought hand to hand over by the entrance, their guns already on the floor and spinning away from them.
Garrett ran between stacks of steel beams, firing both in front of and behind him, trying to angle around closer to Logan.
Panic rippled through Cara. She held her breath and slipped from the safety of the stairwell, her gun out and her hand steady. She crept along the edge of the Jeep, letting it shield her. Slowly, she reached the rear bumper, crouched down, and waited.
Garrett barreled out from behind the beams, and a demon leaped out from behind some huge round ducts, tackling him into concrete blocks. They fell hard, and at least two blocks split open. Another demon rounded the corner from behind Garrett, his gun pointed.
Cara closed one eye, aimed, and fired.
A purple beam shot out of her gun, zipped through the air, and slammed into the demon with the gun. He frowned, and his arm lowered.Pop!His shoulder exploded.
He screamed, grabbed his arm, and dropped his gun. Blood spurted between his fingers and coated the cement in red. He turned and ran full-bore for the rough cement steps in the center of the area and quickly disappeared while going down.
Garrett rolled the guy on the ground over and punched his face three times, really hard. Blood spurted up. The crunch of cartilage and bone cracking made Cara nauseated.
Logan flipped his attacker over his shoulder and pile-drove him onto the floor. The guy passed out with a muffled roar, his face in the concrete, blood filling the area around his head. He might have twitched a few times.
Cara stood and took inventory of both boys. They were bloody and bruised but both standing.
Garrett shoved hair from his eyes, his chest panting. “Are you all right, Mom?”
She nodded, gulping down bile. “Yes. Where’s your dad?”
Garrett shook his head and jogged out from under the concrete, then looked away and up in the air. Rain instantly coated his hair and face, mingling with the blood on his chin.
An arm slid around Cara’s neck and yanked her back. Her head instantly hurt, and her eyes stung. She tried to struggle, but the barrel of a gun pressed against her jugular. Where the hell had this guy been hiding?
Logan strode toward her, his hands up, his gaze concentrated above her right shoulder. “You don’t want to do this, buddy. Trust me.”
Garrett’s gaze swung down, and his entire being seemed to still. He moved toward them, his gaze dangerously intense. “Let her go, and I promise you, I won’t rip your fucking head off your body today.”
Cara shivered. She’d never seen her son in killing mode, and he was almost as frightening as his father. His metallic-gray eyes darkened to flint.
The demon holding her jerked her tighter against his body. He seemed to be holding off on the demon mind attack for the moment, because she could still see. “Back off or I blow a bullet through her pretty neck.” Deep and hoarse, definitely a purebred demon voice.
Garrett stalled and held up a hand for Logan to pause. “You have to know we’re not letting you take her. So let go, run, and we’ll see what happens next.” His fangs dropped.
Cara angled her wrist around, trying to keep her grip on the gun. The demon pressed his leg against her hand, trapping it against her thigh. “Drop the weapon, lady.”
She didn’t have much of a choice with his gun shoved into her neck. “Fine.” She relaxed her body, waited until his hold lessened, and then tossed the gun toward Garrett. It clattered across the concrete and finally came to a stop a foot away from him. He smiled.
The demon stiffened. “Move for that gun, and I’ll take her out.”
Garrett studied him, edging left while Logan went right. “I don’t think so. You need her alive, right?”
“Nope. Just need her, period. They can do as many tests on a corpse as on a live chick, if you ask me.” The demon dragged her toward the exposed part of the level. The overhead concrete disappeared, and rain dropped down on them.
Cara blinked away rain and tried to find an opening to fight as the boys stalked them, their steps even and in sync. “This is silly,” she whispered. “You can’t halt progress. The virus may not even negate mating bonds for still-living immortals.”
The demon shrugged. “Don’t care about halting or progress. You’re just a job to me, lady.”
Fantastic. Demon mercenaries. She tried again. “You don’t understand. There’s no new information to be gained from testing me. Just take the samples, and you’ll know everything the Realm knows.”
“My job is to take you, so I’m taking you.” The demon’s boots scraped over rocks as he moved.
Logan cleared his throat. “My brother is Zane Kyllwood, the leader of the demon nation. We are now aligned with the Realm, and I can assure you, he takes that seriously.”
“So?” the guy hissed.
