There was no path. We pushed west, forcing our way through underbrush and dead wood, avoiding sinkholes and tangled vines. I could sense the demon lingering nearby, but it didn’t interfere with us, nor did it try to communicate. The rain spilled down my hoodie, soaking me to the skin. I doubted the others fared any better, but nobody complained.
“The ground’s softer up ahead,” Jesse said. “Watch your—”
Chance dove wide as a bed of leaves gave way. I skidded downward, grasping in vain at slick roots that gave no purchase. Someone snagged the back of my sweatshirt, and I tried to scramble backward, heels digging into the slick soil.
Stomach churning, I shuddered as my gaze dropped and I saw that I was hanging above a pit trap full of spikes. Jesus. I whimpered as my shirt began to slip upward. I tried to raise my arms, but the movement made Chance swear.
“Be still,” he begged. “If we’re not careful, we’ll both end up down there.” I couldn’t see what was going on behind him, but he added to the others, “No, don’t come up here. The extra weight might crumble the edge. I’ve got her—you hold my feet.”
I don’t know how long I hung there, feeling my shirt slip, and then tear. A sob shook me. I found myself dependent on Chance’s strength. He cursed low and virulent in Korean as he worked me upward. His arms had to be burning, but he never faltered until he had his arms all the way around me.
Then we wriggled backward inch by inch until I felt the solid ground beneath my back. It seemed safe, so I began to use my heels to push upward until we fell back onto Jesse and Shannon. She looked pale as milk, rain slipping down her cheeks like tears.
“Everyone okay?” the girl asked shakily.
“More or less. Did you tear your wound?” Chance checked Saldana’s shoulder and found blood trickling down his biceps.
Jesse waved a hand. “It’s nothing. Let’s move before he has time to leave us any more surprises.”
Chance took the lead again, but this time he tested the path with dead limbs and heavy bark. He chucked them as we walked, triggering the traps Cooper had left for us. We found two snares and a trip wire that way as we pushed west. I stood watching the blades dance on the line, silvered with rain. Though that trap might not have killed us, it would have sliced us up, weakened us for the final confrontation.
“This is one sick son of a bitch,” Chance said softly.
A cold chill ran through me. I’d nearly been impaled. I’d have nightmares about falling now, but at least it would be a change from the fire. In my mind’s eye, I could see the spike piercing my guts, and I imagined the way blood would burst from my mouth as I died.
“Stop,” Jesse whispered. “We need you here with us. He didn’t get you, and he’s not going to. I promise.”
As if in answer, a shot rang out. If not for the darkness, wind, and rain, it would have drilled through my skull instead of into the tree beside me. Splinters and bits of bark sprayed my face, and I hit the ground.
Shannon crouched next to me, hand on my back. “Did he get you?”
“No.” My voice sounded thick.
But damn near, closer than I wanted to think about. I wasn’t bulletproof.
“Where the hell is he?” Chance demanded.
“It came from over there,” Jesse said. “Not sure how far. Visibility’s not good.”
And the night got darker. The demon might not be able to attack Cooper as part of the terms of its binding, but it could shroud him in darkness.
But the hunter didn’t panic. Besides weather and forest noises, I heard only silence. If he sat still and quiet, we’d have to come looking for him, and the odds were good he’d get one or two of us at close range. Shit.
I pushed into a kneeling position and met Shannon’s gaze. “I don’t want you going any farther,” I told her quietly. “Jesse, would you stay with her? I don’t want to give this guy a body count.”
Though I didn’t say so, he shouldn’t wade into a fight wounded. If I could, I’d make Chance stay behind too, but I knew he wouldn’t do it. Plus, I couldn’t kill Cooper. I knew that. I needed Chance. At this point, he was the strongest and fastest. He’d have to finish it for me. And then I’d call us even for everything I went through in Laredo.
“I think it sucks,” Jesse bit out, “but I see your point. We’ll wait here. If he tries to circle around behind you, we’ll take him out.”
I knew he wouldn’t have conceded except for Shannon. Jesse Saldana could always be counted on to safeguard the innocent. The girl glared at me, but she didn’t argue.
“Meet us back at the Forester in an hour. If we don’t show . . .” I trailed off. “Well, give us fifteen minutes leeway and then get the hell out of here.”
Nobody said it out loud, but they knew. If we weren’t out in seventy minutes, we weren’t coming back. Shannon hugged me fiercely around the neck. I patted her back, feeling the rain ease up, no longer stinging the skin as it came through the bare trees.
Stepping back, I pulled my hood up, and the black cloth helped camouflage me. My face was already liberally smeared with mud, so I went with it, covering every inch of pale skin. Chance did the same, and then we slid away into the dark.
He went first, slow and quiet as he listened. Maybe he imagined he could hear the other man’s breathing. In this demon-dark soup, our one advantage was that Cooper couldn’t see us any more than we could see him. It would come down to reflexes, and Chance had those in spades.
I don’t know what warned me—it wasn’t quite a sound, but as we went past a tangle of bushes—I spun. Instead of catching me to the left of the spine for a clean kill, the knife went into my side. The pain was agonizing. I fell back as Chance lashed out, snagging Cooper’s wrist and hauling him forward.
My knees crumpled as they fought. I felt my hands wrap around the hilt of the blade still lodged in me, but I retained enough presence of mind not to yank it out. I might bleed out before we could find help.
Chance was fast, so fast. I could see his training in the way he lashed out again and again. Cooper blocked, then kicked. He connected with a brutality and strength that sent Chance reeling back. They didn’t speak. With the strange distance in my head, it was almost like watching a movie.
But I didn’t see the big finish. The rain blinded me. Pain broke me. I fell forward into the mud and woke up somewhere else.
Before my eyes focused, I recognized the rank smell of dying vegetation. Maury. Shit, I didn’t have any reserves left to fight a demon. I didn’t have any tools with which to banish him. If he meant to kill me now, I was utterly defenseless.
“Did we win?” I asked.
Maybe I’d died. Maybe this was hell.
“It’s not hell,” he told me. “And yes, you did. Well, Chance did. After you passed out, he broke Cooper’s neck.”
“I thought I dreamed you.” Well, part of me had. “Am I dreaming now?”
He didn’t reply directly. But when did demons ever give a straight answer?
“You’re used to this face,” he said. “What are dreams but a way for your brain to say, ‘Hi, here’s something you need to know’?”
“So you need to tell me something?” I shook all over, both from cold and nerves, and I was covered in mud. I could feel the stab wound like a phantom pain, but when I looked down at my midriff, I saw nothing. This wasn’t the real world, then.
“You set me free, so you get to ask a boon before I go.”
For obvious reasons, I didn’t trust demon favors. I had to think quickly, something that wouldn’t backfire. There was a lesson to be learned from that whole monkey paw deal. Then it occurred to me: I could ask it to shield me from the ill effects of Chance’s luck.
I couldn’t breathe for wanting it.
“Will there be side effects? Catches? Hidden faults that the human brain can’t conceive until it’s far too late?”
Maury grinned. “What do you think?”
I exhaled slowly. “Then I guess I’d better go with a selfless wish. I’d like you to mark all the bodies of the innocent people who died out here, and then provide me with a map. I want to give their loved ones closure.”