“That’s a fucking needle in a haystack,” he says as he grabs my arm.
We dematerialize, and we land topside. The second my body is back in the breathing plane, I shrug off the weird jitters and start following him to his car.
“It’s a stretch, but it’s more than we knew yesterday,” I remind him. “And at least we know now that we’re not chasing a theory; we’re chasing the truth.”
“So now what?” he asks, propping up on his car as I try to think.
“Now we find out how to fight a demon capable of something of this magnitude.”
“I’m starting to hate reading,” Gage grumbles while jerking his door open.
As he gets in, I try calling Kya to apologize, but it goes straight to voicemail. Shit. It’s not like she had a phone on her when I took her.
“You coming?” Gage prompts.
Putting my phone back in my pocket, I climb into the car and try to ignore the clawing feeling that I really fucked up tonight.
“Demons are actually a good thing. Drackus has wiped more demons out than I can count. And he barely exerted any effort.”
“Demons with demonic and witch powers? Demons with an intimate knowledge of all our weaknesses? Demons who are taking over immortal bodies instead of human ones?”
He mutters a curse. “Never mind. Demons are a terrible fucking thing.”
We’re quiet the rest of the way, but just as we’re a couple of miles from the house, a streak of blue shoots across the street, and Gage slams on the brakes. Both of us leap out of the car, ready for a fight.
Slade appears several feet in front of us, and I breathe out in relief—which is not something I ever thought I’d say.
“You could have just flagged us down,” Gage says dryly.
Slade doesn’t look amused though.
“I’ve come to return a favor.”
“What favor would that be?” I ask, confused.
“You boys seem to love threatening me for messing with your people. I’m returning the favor by cautioning you with the same threat. Only I can actually make good on my threats.”
My fists ball at my sides, and Gage tenses. “What the hell are you talking about?” Gage growls. “We haven’t touched any of your people.”
“Your unchained night stalker with some extra juice killed one of my people,” Slade points out.
“After you took Leah with every intention of killing her,” I remind him, prepared for anything.
“The experiment with us joining sides is over. It didn’t work. Your people came in, we all got attacked, you lost someone, and my girl got blamed.”
A growl rumbles inside of me, and Slade narrows his eyes.
I knew there was more to them than Kya let on.
“Stay away from Kya. She’s not your toy to toss around at your disposal.”
“
Jealous?” I ask, taking a menacing step forward.
“Not even a little bit,” he says, smirking. “Kya isn’t yours, and our kind doesn’t mix well together. Now that it’s all been established, you can stick with yours and we’ll stick with ours.”
Gage puts a hand on my chest, stopping me from taking another step forward.