I was about to protest, but thought better of it. Ty had already admitted that he couldn’t help wanting to protect me, so I knew his actions weren’t because he thought I was incapable of doing the job. It was something that made him feel better about himself. If I wanted to build a future with him, I suspected it was something I’d need to get used to. I could do that.
I moved aside without comment, and Ty stepped in through the open doorway, but the moment he was out of sight, I heard the low, menacing snarl that came from inside the room.
Acting on instinct alone, I ran into the house after him in time to see the hellhound bearing down on Ty. Before either of us could do anything to prevent it, the hellhound lunged forward, its razor-sharp claws slashing against Ty’s chest.
Ty cried out and raised his arms to defend himself as the hellhound made to attack again.
Ty had a stake in his right hand and tried to use it on the hound, but it might as well have been a blunt twig for all the effect it had on the enormous beast. As its claws came down again, I shouted at the beast to draw its attention and I moved closer. The beast snarled at me, but returned its focus to Ty.
The beast raked at Ty’s chest a second time and the ragged, pained cry that left his lips felt like a knife to my own gut. Blood pooled instantly through the slashes in his top, which were open just wide enough for me to peek at the wounds. They were deep. Without pause for thought, I pulled the stopper out of the bottle of holy water I held then rushed forward until I stood next to the enormous beast. It swiped at me with a large front paw and I tried to dive out of the way but I wasn’t quick enough. I screamed as its claws tore at my arm. It felt like razor blades had sliced through my skin.
The hellhound turned to Ty again, its lips peeled back on a snarl.
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I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to focus on Ty and the hellhound instead of the debilitating pain, but it was difficult. My arm was on fire—an intense burning sensation the likes of which I’d never experienced. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Ty felt, as the slashes on his chest were much worse than my own wounds. Before the hellhound could strike Ty again, I called out to get its attention and when it turned my way, I stepped forward then quickly emptied the contents of the bottle of holy water over its head.
As the water gushed down into the beast’s eyes, it let out an unearthly screech and reared back, viciously shaking its head. I dropped my stake as I knelt at Ty’s side then ripped open the front of his T-shirt to assess his wounds, drawing in a sharp breath at the horrific sight revealed beneath the material. The wide-open gashes ran the width of his chest, dissecting both nipples. Blood seeped out of the gashes and ran down his stomach and sides to pool on the tiled floor.
I found some kitchen towels on one of the work surfaces and used them to press against the wounds and stanch the flow of blood. The process made Ty grunt in pain. He put his hand over the material to help me, but he didn’t appear to have much strength. His teeth chattered and his body shook as he started to go into shock. Behind me, the hellhound writhed on the floor, its head whipping around, its singed, smoking eyes seeing nothing.
A deep, dark despair rushed over me as I stared at Ty’s pain-riddled face. He was losing too much blood and needed medical treatment urgently, but as I made to pull out my cell phone to call the council for help, a disturbing chuckle sounded from a doorway at the other side of the room. When I whipped my head around in the direction of the sound, my stomach plummeted.
A demon was leaning casually against the doorjamb, holding a large, leather-bound book against his chest—the grimoire. I knew instinctually that he was a demon, even though he didn’t look any different from a human man—an unremarkable human man at that. Average height, average build, dark hair cut short and neatly trimmed sideburns. The smart, yet casual clothes he wore made him look like a number cruncher rather than a being fresh from the fires of hell—just looking at him made me feel as if I was burning up. I sensed the evil oozing out of his every pore. It caused the fine hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. Resignation held me immobile.
If it came down to it, I couldn’t win in a fight against him.
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He was too strong.
“Looking for this?” the demon asked, holding the book aloft. “Oh, dear. I see your friend met my little pet. Such sharp claws they have. They can do a lot of damage, you know. Your friend probably won’t make it if he doesn’t get help soon. Such a shame.” He looked down at the beast and shouted, “Be gone!”
The beast staggered to its feet and snaked out of the room, its huge body banging into the wall and cabinets on its way past.
Ty tried to speak, but whatever he’d been meaning to say came out as a garbled croak.
He grabbed my arm. I turned in time to see him try again. This time he managed one word.
“Malaki.”
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. I repeated the name on a shout.
“Malaki!”
Nothing happened.
No white flash, no angel.
Nothing.
He had to come. We had the book in our sights, the demon. I tried again, louder than before.
“Malaki!”
Still nothing.
During the deafening silence that followed, the demon threw his head back and let out a loud guffaw.
“That was a nice try,” he said when his hilarity subsided. “But I think you’ll find that the angel is otherwise… disposed.”
Ice filled my veins as his words sank in. “What have you done to him?”
The demon grinned, a chilling expression if ever I saw one. “Nothing he didn’t court, I assure you.”
Without taking my eyes from the demon, I reached around on the floor for my stake. As soon as I touched it, I wrapped my fingers around its length then gripped it tightly in the palm of my hand.
I got to my feet.
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If I was going to die then I was going to do it like the hunter I was—fighting back with a stake in my hand, not cowering on the floor like a timid, scared little mouse.
“No,” Ty whispered. “Alana, run. Please.”
I looked down and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be fine—just fine.”
I knew that Ty meant well, but there was no way I was going to run away. I’d done that once already and it was never going to happen again. I stood to my full height and looked the demon square in the eyes. If surprised by my show of strength, he didn’t let me see it on his face. Instead, his mouth twisted into a sour grin. He walked into the kitchen then placed the grimoire on the countertop.
“If you think you can take the book before I kill you, then you’re quite welcome to it,” he challenged.
I didn’t bother to look at the book. I kept my gaze on the demon, watching his every move. I might not have faced a demon before, but I’d heard about their sneakiness from other hunters.
“I’ll take the grimoire after I’ve killed you,” I said, taking my own step forward.
This time the demon’s eyes widened, only a small amount, but enough to give away his surprise. He recovered quickly and set his mouth into a derisive sneer.
“Why do all hunters have a God complex?” he pondered aloud.
I ignored him and took another step forward, so we were little more than a few feet apart.
“I might have expected that of your little orphan friend down there,” he said, nodding to Ty, “but I didn’t expect it from the great Lizzie Day’s daughter. It must be such a struggle trying to live up to your mother’s greatness. You do realize that you’ll never be as good as her, don’t you, Alana? Isn’t that what you fear most? That you’ll never be good enough.”
“
Don’t listen to him,” Ty rasped. “Don’t let him get in your head.”
It could have been because of all the things I’d been through in the past couple of days, but the demon’s words didn’t cut as deeply as I would have expected them to.
If anything, they made me angry.
I might never reach my mother’s high standard, but that seemed so unimportant suddenly, and my change of heart, I knew, was because of Ty. I’d always lived for the job. It had meant everything to me. But if my feelings for Ty had taught me anything, it was that www.totallybound.com
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there was more to life than hunting. Family was important, friends were important and love was the most important of all.
Love was worth fighting for.
Ty was worth fighting for, and I would not let him die at the feet of a demon in a pool of his own blood, not while I had breath left in my body. I could save him.
I would save him.
The last thought solidified my resolve and I felt my strength flow through me and all around me. My insecurities about my abilities had kept me weak for far too long, but my heart filled with love for Ty. I felt stronger than ever before. I took the last couple of steps needed to put me face to face with the demon and didn’t break my stare.
The demon furrowed his brow. He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn’t give him the chance.
I struck.
Quick as a snake, I lunged forward then plunged my stake into the demon’s chest. He let out a bark of laughter.
“You think a mere stake will kill me, hunter? You know nothing about…”
I saw the very second he realized his mistake in letting me get too close to him.
“A stake on its own?” I asked. “Probably not, no. A stake dipped in holy water? You bet your ass.”
Before I’d even finished my parting shot, smoke wafted out of the demon’s chest, his eyes widened and his mouth opened on a silent scream right before there was a blinding flash of light that I had to shut my eyes against. When I opened them again, the demon had vanished—
vanquished back to hell where he belonged.
I ran back to Ty then knelt at his side. A small smile ghosted on his lips, then just as I pulled out my cell phone to call the council for help, Ty’s eyes fell closed.
Despair unlike anything I’d experienced swept over me.
I called out to Ty in desperation.
He didn’t reply.
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Chapter Eight
After a panicked call to my handler, I waited for what felt like an eternity for the council to send help. I’d searched for a pulse in Ty’s neck and although I did eventually find one, it was weak. His skin was ice-cold under my fingertips, causing a shiver of sympathy to roll over my own body. Ty didn’t regain consciousness while I waited beside his lifeless body, his frigid hand in mine. An angel, called upon by the council, showed up a little while later and took in the scene in the kitchen. He wasn’t one of the angels from the church, but just like them, there was no mistaking what he was.
The angel’s tall, muscular frame seemed to take up all the space in the large kitchen and he emitted an aura of pure, unadulterated power. He didn’t appear too happy to help, but his mood improved when he saw that I was in possession of a grimoire.
“A hellhound did this?” he asked, casting a critical gaze over Ty’s wounds.
“Yes, the demon sent it away, but I think it’s still in the house somewhere.”
“The demon?” he repeated, his eyes wide. He glanced at the doorway to the kitchen as if he expected to see the demon standing there. “Where did he go?”
“I vanquished him.”
The angel stared at me for a long moment, his disbelief evident. “You vanquished a demon?”
I frowned. “Um, yes,” I said hesitantly, the inflection at the end of my sentence making my statement sound more like a question.
“And just how did you manage that?”
“With a stake dipped in holy water,” I said impatiently. “Into his heart. Look, can we talk about this later? I need you to help Ty. His pulse is weak and he hasn’t regained consciousness in over ten minutes.”
The angel’s expression of disbelief changed to cool appraisal. He glanced at the wounds on Ty’s chest then sighed.
“I’ll try to help him, but our healing ability isn’t all powerful, especially not from injuries begot from demons or hounds.”
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“Please,” I whispered. “Do what you can to save him.”
He nodded, placed a hand over the injuries on Ty’s chest then closed his eyes. I held my breath as I watched him work, remembering the sensation of warmth I’d felt when Malaki had healed me. I waited for Ty’s wounds to close and heal just as mine had done, but the healing process didn’t work in the same way. The wide-open gashes had stopped bleeding, which was good, but it took a lot longer before they began to knit back together—a lot longer.
After another few moments, the angel opened his eyes, swaying slightly as he moved away from Ty’s still limp body. The angel put a hand on the floor to steady himself.
“I’m afraid that’s the best I can do,” he informed me, his chest heaving as if he’d just finished a long run. “If he’s strong, he’ll pull through this. It’s up to him now.”
The gashes on Ty’s chest had just about closed leaving angry red welts in their place. His blood loss was the biggest worry, but his body had stopped shaking at least, and when I cupped my hand under his jaw and ran my thumb along his cheek, I noticed that a little warmth had come back to his skin.
“Thank you.”
The angel nodded then got to his feet. Without another word, he strode from the room.
He was gone for only a few seconds before the hellhound let out a loud, piercing screech. When the angel returned, he marched straight to the grimoire. He placed the tips of his fingers on the cover then winced as if he could sense the dark magic coursing through the book’s pages. He flipped open the cover then cast a cursory glance inside.
“My name is Raziel,” he said, albeit belatedly, still looking at the book.
“Alana.”
When his gaze came to me, he dipped his head in what appeared to be a silent thank you then disappeared in a flash of white light, taking the book with him.
A red-hot burning sensation in my arm drew my attention there and when I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt, my eyes widened as I took in my ravaged arm. Because all of my focus had been on getting Raziel to heal Ty, I’d forgotten about my own injury. The gashes were deep, but not life-threatening, so I ignored the pain, reached out and took hold of Ty’s hand.
“You’re going to survive this,” I told him, unsurprised by the slight catch in my voice.
“You’ve already been through so much in your life and if you could get past all of that, then www.totallybound.com
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you can get past this. You have to.” I squeezed his hand firmly and vowed, “You’ll get through this.”
Ty still hadn’t woken up by the time the clean-up crew arrived some twenty-odd minutes later along with two paramedics who took him to a council-run medical facility. I followed in Ty’s car, praying that I wasn’t about to lose him so soon after I’d found him.
* * * *
When I looked up from my seat in the corridor outside Ty’s room, my hunting partner, Caleb, was striding my way. I’d spoken to him on the phone that morning to tell him what had happened and to ask him to meet me at the medical facility instead of the motel. We’d chatted briefly when he’d first arrived, then he’d schlepped off to feed his unyielding coffee addiction.
“Brought one for you,” Caleb said, handing me a steaming plastic cup.
As he took a seat beside me, I accepted the drink with a grateful
smile.
“Thanks.”
Caleb nodded then took a sip from his own cup. He winced. “Ah, hospital coffee—my old friend. Has it really been over twenty-four hours since we last met?”
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t prevent the smile that tugged at my lips. “If you’re too much of a snob for hospital coffee, there’s a Starbucks right around the corner.”
“Now she tells me,” he mumbled. He took another sip then shrugged. “It’s coffee. It’s hot, black and loaded with caffeine. Even when it’s bad, it’s good.”
I put my cup on the empty seat next to me then turned to face him. “To be honest, I didn’t think you’d stick around. I figured you’d be itching to get back to work. Knowing you, you’ve got half a dozen leads to follow and it’s been, what, two weeks since you last hunted?”
Caleb scowled. “You make me sound like an addict in need of a fix.”
“You are,” I said dryly. “You live for the hunt. Come on. What gives? What are you still doing here?”
“What? I can’t spend time with my partner after I just got out of the hospital and haven’t seen her for a week?”
I stared at him, eyebrows raised, until he gave in.
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“Fine.” He let out an impatient sigh. “I was hoping to talk some sense into you, get you to change your mind. I mean, you’ve only just met this guy, Alana. How do you know you can trust him? He might be a serial killer or sex offender or something. I mean, he wears a cowboy hat, and you can never trust cowboys.”
My mouth hung open. “He’s a hunter, just like us. Besides, what’s wrong with cowboys?”
Caleb ignored me. “You can’t just ride off into the sunset with him, you know. Real life isn’t like that. You don’t know anything about him.”
“My mother speaks highly of him,” I said. When Caleb’s eyes widened, I went on, “She’s hunted with him before and she likes him. You know how difficult she is to please. Besides, the reason I want to work with him for a while is so that I can get to know him better and he can get to know me. I like him, Caleb. A lot. I want to see what develops. We both do, and this is the only way we can do that.”
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