Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Opening Google Maps, I put in a generic address, taking me to the area known as Tent City. It’s a bit of a walk from here, and I’m in heels. It would be faster to get an Uber and be dropped off. Slowing, I bit my lip and think. I’m not dressed for demon hunting or walking around in an area filled where a decent majority of the residents are on drugs and not in their right state of mind.
But I can’t let the demon get away. It’s so close—literally. I can’t be rash, though, and I need to think like a hunter, but the elite hunter I am…one who uses magic just like my family. Heart in my throat, I pull open my phone and go to my contacts and tap on a name. The phone rings one. Twice. Three times. Then he answers.
“Wren? Is everything okay?”
“It will be. I think I got a lead on the sigil. Want to help me hunt a demon?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, no time like the present.”
“Just tell me what to do,” Devon replies.
My lips curve into a smile. “Meet me at Tent City as soon as you can.”
Chapter
Seventeen
“I’ll be fine,” I tell Xavier before he has a chance to argue otherwise. I just got back to City Hall after running through an alley to avoid the police. There are twice as many cop cars in town now, and I knew I had to hurry back before someone noticed I was gone. I’ve already drawn enough attention to myself. “You can stay here and finish the meeting because it’ll probably look bad if you leave.”
“I think it’ll look worse if my wife wanders into a dangerous area of town on her own,” he counters. I make a face, crossing my arms, well aware I’m on the verge of pouting but the sense of desperation is getting the better of me and every second that ticks by makes it feel like the demon is slipping farther and farther away.
“I’ll be fine,” I repeat and Xavier just stares at me incredulously, blue eyes wide. A moment passes before he speaks, and in that moment, so much is said. Everything I feel for him could easily consume me. Emotion fills my chest, pressing against my ribs like it’s trying to break free and take over. The scary part is how much I want to let it go. Xavier is dangerous, not just because he’s a vampire with more than ten times the speed and strength of a human man, but because when I’m with him, I want to be consumed. Totally and completely until there is nothing left.
And that’s the problem because right now, I don’t have the luxury of being consumed by anything except the ticking clock in my head.
“Wren,” he says, and hearing his deep voice say my name will always do something to me. He steps in, towering over me. “If the demon has sent one of its legions to the area, I am coming with you. Fuck the VC and fuck the meeting. You are more important to me.”
My heart swells in my chest but Theo’s words echo in the back of my mind. Should I argue with him? Insist he stay? Selfishly, I want him to come with me. He’s stronger and faster and can protect me.
“I know,” I reply softly. “I don’t want to go without you.”
“You won’t.” He kisses the top of my head and goes back into the meeting room, leaving me in the hall for only a few seconds before coming back out. We go downstairs hand in hand and get into the G-Wagon. I text Devon, reminding him again to bring me socks as well as shoes I can run in. The plan is for him and my brothers to meet us in Tent City where I’ll try to do the locator spell. I’ve tracked demons before, using the negative energy in the area as an anchor on the map. Now that I have a more precise locator spell down pat, I’m positive it’ll work.
“Just so you know,” I start, buckling my seatbelt into place. “There might be some, uh, body cam footage of me using magic.”
Xavier looks away from the road for a moment, but instead of looking pissed, he grins and puts his hand on my thigh, fingers going under the hem of my dress. “When human kids hear an ice cream truck, they run to the road to get ice cream. I’m starting to realize police sirens are your ice cream truck.”
“I don’t know what that says about me,” I say, smiling back at him. “But you are right. Maybe one day I’ll actually get ice cream instead of stopping a cop from shooting himself in the head.”
Xavier raises an eyebrow. “I’ll have a conversation with the police chief tomorrow.”