Roaring in fury and pain, Slade grabbed her head and rammed it hard on the floor of the van once, twice, three times.
The world spun around her, making her stomach roll. Suddenly, she no longer felt heavy. A sense of weightlessness took over, and a ringing sound filled her ears. Urgency beat at her to get up and do … something, but everything seemed so very far away.
Sleep. She needed to sleep. It was all she—
A mind touched hers, dark and familiar and fairly buzzing with panic. Let me in, kitten. Now.
She obeyed without thinking about it. A gasp flew out of her as Tanner seemed to pour himself into her, shocking her back to alertness, his rage and panic mingling with hers. And that gave her just enough strength to break the block that Slade had put on her power.
The dark force wriggled inside her, demanding freedom. With the last bit of psychic grit that she possessed, she lobbed it at the motherfucker. Slade’s eyes went wide as the vapor seized him tight.
Good girl, said Tanner.
Too tired to keep her eyes open, she could only listen as Slade’s bones snapped, his skin tore, and he roared in agony.
The van skidded to an awkward halt, making him topple sideways. Her mind distantly registered the driver’s door being pulled open, Len screaming in pain, and the sounds of flesh smacking flesh. And then the back doors of the van were heaved open.
She tried fighting the tug of sleep as people piled into the vehicle, but it was no use. A dark, smoky scent with notes of cinnamon spice wrapped around her just as the lights winked out.
*
Fighting to keep his touch gentle when all he wanted was to punch something, Tanner carefully scooped up Devon’s unconscious form and cradled her against his chest. The warm weight of her in his arms unraveled one of the many knots in his curdling stomach.
Jesus, she was so still and pale. But she was breathing, he reminded himself. She was alive. And not on her way to some fucking stranger who may or may not want her dead.
Tanner closed his eyes as a wave of relief hit him so hard that he was surprised his balance didn’t waver. Fuck, kitten, you gave me a scare, he said, even knowing she wouldn’t hear him.
He quietly let out a slow, centering breath. When he identified and found the fucker who was behind all this, Tanner was going to put him through a world of blinding pain. And with his centuries-worth of experience in torture, he knew a great many ways to make someone suffer deeply without killing them too quickly. It was a skill he took pride in.
Sweeping his gaze over her kidnappers, he noticed that the only one still breathing was now trying to army-crawl his way to the doors, bloody and broken. Tanner snarled. Motherfucker. The other male’s nails scrabbled at the floor of the vehicle as Tanner yanked him backwards by his broken ankle.
Still holding tight to Devon, he flipped the bastard over and snapped his hand tight around his throat. That was when his hound pushed for supremacy.
Seething, the entity lifted its captive and hauled him so close they were nose-to-nose. Nostrils flaring, the demon chuffed out a breath. A thick, dark gray, noxious mouthful of air dived up the male’s nose and poured down his throat. He jerked, eyes wide and panicked. Coughed, hacked, struggled. Then his eyes rolled back in his head.
The demon watched, detached, as violent convulsions wracked its captive’s body harder and harder until, finally, the life leached out of him. Satisfied, the entity dropped the corpse. Aware of the four gazes on it, the hound peeled back its upper lip, warning them to keep their distance. Then it retreated.
Once more in control, Tanner cricked his neck. He raised a brow at the four demons who were watching him warily.
Lex blinked hard. “I’ve heard of hellhounds breathing out smoke or sleeping gas, but nothing so poisonous that it can kill.”
Tanner only shrugged. He didn’t use the ability often because he preferred combat, just as his demon did. But he hadn’t been willing to put Devon down for a second—not even to kill that little fucker. Had the guy not been so close to death, Tanner would have kept him alive to question him.
“Is she all right?” asked Rhonda, flexing her fingers.
Feeling his jaw harden to stone, Tanner held Devon closer to him and glared at the imp. “She’s fine.”
Rhonda winced at his curt tone. “We didn’t do our job, I know. It just all happened so fast …”
Tyson put a supportive hand on the female’s shoulder. “This fuck up is on all four of us,” he said, his eyes briefly darting to Enzo and Lex, who both nodded.
Yeah, and Tanner wanted to rip them all a new ass hole, but this wasn’t the time or place. What they all needed right then was action. Humans would have noticed the kidnapping and the crash, and steps would need to be taken to cover up as much of the demonic activity as possible—which was why he’d telepathically reached out to Knox and the other sentinels, who were now all on their way, as he drove.