Shit. Zane ran to the left.
“Choose well, demon. Because one of them is already dead. No point in saving the dead.” Death is already there.
“'Course, vampires don’t like the fire too much, either, do they?”
Zane didn’t look back at the taunt, but he felt the rush of heat and knew that Davey had sent another blast of flame out into the den. How was the demon so strong? Because he’d stolen power from the shifter? Or from a hell of a lot more paranormals?
“Dee! Simon! Get the hell out of here!” Zane shouted, and he kicked down the door on the left, ignoring the flames that burned his legs and his arms. That blood … he raced down the hallway, getting a few desperate inches in front of the fire. Hurry, hurry. Another door. Another—
His foot slammed into the door. Wood shattered. The thick stench of death hit him then. “No! Fuck, no, Tony!” He shoved his way past the broken wood.
But Tony wasn’t the one on the floor. Kelly lay there, her eyes wide open, and her throat ripped out. The flames raced toward her, as if homing in on her.
“Tony!” He spun around, but the flames were walling him in. Zane pushed his power at them, but that fucking kid was stronger than he was. Stronger than any demon he’d ever seen.
Playing with me before. Just jerking me around. More screams rose over the flames. Dee. Simon. They needed him.
Zane stopped pushing his power at the flames. He just ran forward and jumped right through the fire.
Something tapped her on the cheek. “Hey, pyro, come on, wake up.” Another tap, harder this time. “Zane’s not even around now. You’ve got to wake up soon.”
Zane. Her eyelids flew open, and she found Jude staring down at her, his nose less than an inch from hers.
“About time.” He grabbed her arms and hefted her up. Because she’d been on the ground. What? Why had she been lying on the ground? “I’m smelling fire, and I’m not leaving my team in there alone with the flames.”
Fire? His team? She stood on shaky legs and turned-then caught sight of Dusk. Jana sucked in a sharp breath. “That ass left me.”
“No, he tried to protect you.”
Same thing.
“But now they need us.”
Yeah, she could see that. “Then let’s get the hell in there.”
Zane raced after the second snake of fire, even knowing that he was too late. The den fell around him. The beaten walls couldn’t hold up against the flames again.
“Zane!” Dee’s desperate voice called through the fire and the smoke.
“Get out!” Vamps had a tendency to burn way too fast, and he didn’t want Dee burning because she was trying to save his ass. “Go!”
Everything was falling around him. He lunged forward, no longer even feeling the blazing bite of the fire on his flesh. The door had burned, and he rushed inside. Zane flew down a corridor, following the flames and—
Tony’s desperate eyes met his. The cop had a gag in his mouth, and he was handcuffed to a chair—and flames were eating at his legs.
Zane leapt across the room and knocked Tony back. They hit the floor, hard, and he started slapping at Tony’s legs. But those flames-those flames flared brighter.
They homed in on Kelly. They’re fucking doing the same with him. Zane had to get Tony out of there. He grabbed the cuffs, jerked, and they broke apart.
Tony started slapping at the flames.
“Run,” Zane shouted.
Tony coughed. Choked. “Wh-where?”
Because there was no way out. The flames had circled them. The flames had—
Zane blew out the back wall. He hoisted Tony over his shoulder and hauled ass, running right for the streams of sunlight he could see flickering through the smoke.
He hit the cement, and felt the bite on his knees. Zane glanced back. The flames were higher, surging and twisting, but not coming past the edge of Dusk.
Maybe there were some fucking limits to Davey’s power after all.
Tony coughed and heaved against him. Zane lowered him carefully.
“You got him!” Dee ran up to him, her face stained by soot. Simon was at her back. Sweat sliding down his face. “I knew you would!”
He hadn’t been so sure.
Tony was crouched on the ground now, almost hacking his lungs up.
“Those demons are burning in there.” Simon’s voice was cold, hollow. “They were pumped up so high that they ran toward the flames, not from them.”
The roof collapsed on Dusk. Far, far away-sirens called out. The human cavalry. Coming, at long last.
He slapped his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “You’re gonna be okay.”
Tony turned toward him, his eyes stained red, and the skin on his hands blistering. He wouldn’t be healing so easily from those wounds. No, as a human, he’d carry the scars. “F-fucking k-kid…”
Zane tensed. He could see the claw marks on Tony’s neck now. Not deep enough to kill. Just deep enough for Davey to play.
“D-demon’s eyes … sh-shifter’s … claws …”
Dee hurried to Tony’s side. “Easy.” She pushed him back onto the ground. Her hands were so gentle on him. She brushed back his hair. “Just take it easy.” There were tears swimming in her eyes because she’d seen the full damage to Tony’s legs. “Simon, get a damn ambulance!”
Simon took off running.
“Who did this to him?” Dee whispered.
“I did.” Because he’d been soft. He’d shown his weakness, and Davey had seen it.
She looked back at him with a furrow of confusion between her eyes. “What?”
“Stay on guard, Dee.” Because he knew Davey hadn’t died in the flames. He knew and—
And a tiger’s roar shook the streets. Oh, shit. No.
But Davey was going after everyone who’d brought down Perseus, and Jude had been there that night.
“Kill anyone who comes close-and if it’s some eighteen-year-old kid with demon’s eyes and blond hair, don’t fucking hesitate.” Because he’d hesitated.
She nodded.
An ambulance sped up, following close behind Simon as he rushed back to Dee. A fire truck raced behind it.
Zane followed the roar as fear tightened his heart. If Davey had found Jude, the bastard had also found Jana.
Jana. He didn’t realize he’d screamed her name.
Zane rounded the corner, running fast to the spot he’d left Jana. She was supposed to be safe. She was supposed to be—
She was locked against Davey. The bastard’s claws were at her throat. Jude stood less than five feet away from them, his own claws out, and his fangs bared. “Let her go!” Jude snarled.
But Davey just jerked her closer against him, and blood leaked down her throat. “Stay back!” Davey ordered and his eyes flew from Jude to Zane. “Both of you, stay the fuck back, or I’ll rip her throat out!”
“Then you’ll die,” Jude told him, edging closer. “Because your shield will be gone. I’ll be on you, and you’ll be dead.”
But Davey, smart, slick Davey, just smiled his still-bloody smile. “She’ll be dead.”
Jana’s gaze met Zane’s.
“He’ll be crazy.” Davey stared right at Zane as he tossed that out. “And you, shifter”-now his eyes darted back to Jude—“you’ll get your ass kicked five seconds later. Because I’m the strongest damn thing you’ve ever seen.”
Jude growled in response, but his body had frozen.
“I knew you’d come for her,” Davey said, and he wrenched Jana back a step. “When I left the fire and I caught her scent …” His head lowered toward her hair, and he inhaled deeply. “I could have walked away, could have just got in my car and left, coming back to hunt another day. But with such great prey close by, how could I leave?”
Sick fuck. “She isn’t prey.”
More blood trickled down Jana’s neck, but she didn’t make a sound. “She’s the prey I’ve been after for a very long time.”