“Still thinking about the attack?” I asked.
Zane grimaced. “Is that weird? It’s been days, but I can’t get it out of my head. Seeing that true demon.” He shuddered. “I mean, I feel pretty damn powerless against something like that. Like it’s there all the time, right there with me. Hidden and just waiting to pounce.”
“That’s the way of demons. And it’s not weird at all to be thinking about it. But you need to focus on the positive. We got through it, remember?”
“She’s right,” Jared said. “It would be weird if you weren’t still thinking about it. For one thing, you’re new to this life. For another, eight damn demons? They’re not creatures that usually hunt in packs.”
“Seriously scary packs,” Zane said. “I mean, I watch TV, but that was beyond.” He shrugged. “But I guess that’s going to be my new normal.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” I said. “We found you because you fit a profile, but you can opt out.”
He shrugged, then shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t think I can.” He paused for a bit, then rushed on. “I mean, now that I know. Hard to walk away when you know what’s hiding in the dark.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I said truthfully. And then, because he was finally opening up, I decided to forego a bit of alone time with Jared. “I think you’ll be an asset.”
“Thanks.” He stood, brushing off his jeans. “How’s your dad doing?”
“Better.”
“Glad to hear it.” He started moving past us. “I’ll get out of your way,” he said with a glance between Jared and me that looked a little like a leer, though I was probably making that up. Residual embarrassment stemming from where I hoped this walk with Jared would lead.
I started to tell him he could stay, but he was leaving to give us privacy, and, honestly, that sounded pretty good to me.
“I’m just not sure of him,” Jared said quietly after Zane disappeared up the stone steps toward the mansion.
“Really? Why?”
Jared shrugged. “Can’t put my finger on it.”
I laughed. “Must be a guy thing. I’m pretty sure Sophie and Ana and Mindy are all half in love with him. Oh, and Signora. She always gives him a bigger portion.”
“But not you?”
I met his grin with one of my own, then hooked my arm through his. “I remain immune.”
He laughed, and we were about to start walking again when I noticed the small pile of dirt beside the bench. “Maybe he was smoking,” Jared suggested. “Made himself an emergency ashtray.”
I cringed. “Mom’s going to have a cow. Hunters don’t smoke. Reduces breath capacity.
“Well, don’t say anything to her yet. No point getting her worked up if it turns out a family of moles has moved in.”
“True enough,” I said, though the idea of a mole infestation didn’t make me happy. I loved the colorful flower beds that surrounded the mansion. And, yes, a horde of demons had already destroyed the side garden, but demons I could fight. Moles, though? That sounded like a landscaping nightmare.
And I had enough nightmares to juggle already, thank you very much.
14
KATE
“I’ve found something.”
I blinked at Marcus, trying to make sense of those words as I warmed my hands on my coffee mug. Unless a demon forces the issue—or Timmy—I don’t wake up well. Which was why I was hiding in the kitchen pretending to review training schedules while nursing my third cup of coffee and staring blankly at a spreadsheet that might as well have been written in Aramaic.
Now, however, my brain cells started to fire. “Something about Antonio?”
Mindy had managed to hack the USB drive’s password a few days ago, and Marcus had been printing out documents and poring over paper ever since. I’d checked in on him twice, found him surrounded by stacks of printouts covered in his cramped handwriting, and quietly backed away. Marcus doesn’t usually do research, but since this is about Antonio, he was going all in, and I knew that doing the research was his way of working through his grief.
“Come with me,” he said, which wasn’t an answer at all.
