She wasn’t going to let this happen. She wasn’t weak. She’d recovered from Lou’s death. It was in the past.
Michael pulled up behind her. “Pull the damn trigger, Mandy”
She blinked and leveled the laser, but the demon leaped and came at her, knocking both her and Michael to the ground. Too late to fire, she swung the butt at the demon’s head, knocking it off balance. Her rifle went flying.
Shit. She scrambled for her gun, grabbed it with her fingertips, and turned around, aiming for the demon as it grabbed her feet. She aimed, and there it was again.
Lou’s face. Not the demon’s.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“No,” she whispered, pulling back from the sight.
It was Lou. Not the demon. She held her hand out in front of her, trying to banish the visual. “No, I can’t.”
“Mandy!”
She heard Michael’s voice, but it was as if it came from a tunnel, far away. All she could see was Lou in front of her, coming toward her, his hands outstretched, reaching for her.
God, she missed him. Tears filled her eyes. She leaned up toward him. “Lou.”
Her world tipped when Michael shoved her out of the way. Shocked back into reality, her vision cleared just in time to see the demon leap over her and lunge at Michael.
Oh, God, what had she done? She’d utterly lost it. It hadn’t been Lou reaching for her, it had been the demon. And now Michael was being attacked by the demon, who’d landed on top of him. She tried to get up, but her legs felt like rubber, unable to support her. All she could do was stare in horror as the demon wrapped its fingers around Michael’s throat.
Mandy held her breath, feeling what Michael felt as the demon squeezed.
But Michael wedged his gun between his body and the demon’s and fired, slamming the demon off him.
James looked down at its chest and then back up at them, smiling.
“You can’t stop me with bullets.”
But then its smile died, its eyes widening as the liquid nitrogen began to work. The demon started to jerk wildly, falling to the ground like it was having some kind of neurological attack, then stilled completely. After waiting a minute, Michael leaned over the demon, still holding the pistol trained on its chest.
Michael punched his comm. “Security and tech, we’re on second level and demon is contained. Get up here.”
Within a minute a security team and three technicians showed up. The security team inspected the demon first, then pronounced it dead so tech could remove it.
“Restrain it and keep watch. I want to see if it comes to.”
They nodded and removed the demon. Michael holstered his pistol and went to Mandy bending down to help her up.
She pulled away from him and pushed herself to a standing position, hating the weakness that still made her legs feel wobbly. “I’m fine.”
Michael took a step back and nodded. “Let’s go to debriefing.”
Mandy followed Michael silently, not understanding what had happened.
For someone so grounded in the here and now, what had gone down had been really fucked up. She’d always been able to do her job.
So what the hell had happened to her?
Michael led her into the office and waited while she stepped in, then closed the door behind him. Mandy laid her weapons on the table, took a seat and stared down at the floor.
She knew what was coming. This wasn’t going to be fun.
Michael pulled a chair across from her.
“Want to tell me what happened in there?”
No. “I froze.”
“So I noticed. Literally or figuratively?”
“Both, I guess.” She leaned forward and laid her head in her hands. “I don’t know what the hell happened to me. I was ready to kill that thing. I really was.”
“Maybe this is too much for you too soon.”
She snapped her gaze to his. “No, it isn’t.”
“You couldn’t pull the trigger, Mandy You had the demon in your sights, your finger on the trigger, and you couldn’t get it done. That demon could have killed you.”
Or it could have killed Michael. And that would have been her fault. Just like Lou was her fault. Perfect. Another death of one of the Realm’s Keepers on her head.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Michael said.
She shrugged, leaned back. “I’m not thinking anything.”
“Bullshit. You either come clean with me or I’m pulling you off active duty.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you serious? I had one second of hesitation and now you think I can’t do my job?”
“It wasn’t one second. Something happened up there. Something that wasn’t normal for you. You could have died. I could have died. We need to talk about it.”
She hated that he presumed to know all about her. He knew nothing about what was “normal” for her. “We don’t need to talk about anything.”
He cocked his head in disbelief, then pushed the chair back. “We’re done here.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means until you’re ready to talk to me, or to someone else, about what really happened up there, you’re no longer a hunter.”
She shot out of the chair. “What? You can’t do that.”
“Yeah, I can.” He started to walk away but she grabbed his arm and forced him to turn to her.
“Who made you judge and jury over me? Who put you in charge?”
His gaze never wavered as he said, “Lou did. The Realm did. You report to me now, Mandy Lou is gone.”
“I know that. Don’t you think I know that?” All too well, unfortunately. She couldn’t begin to explain to Michael what had happened. Not when she didn’t understand it herself. And no way would she reveal anything that could be considered a weakness. Especially not to her Keeper. He’d ground her for sure. Permanently. “Look, there was just something not right about the situation. It just didn’t feel right.”
Michael shook his head. “That’s not it and you know it. And if you can’t be straight with me, then this isn’t going to work. I said you’re off duty and I meant it.”
Fury filled her. She fisted her hands at her sides, but knew striking out at Michael would seal her fate. He looked down at her hands as if he knew what she felt. She saw only compassion in his eyes.
Goddammit. She didn’t want his compassion. She didn’t want anything from him, especially not the caring she saw reflected in his gorgeous baby blues.
He turned and left the room.
This time, Mandy didn’t try to stop him.
She had nothing left to say. Nothing at all.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dalton was drinking coffee when Georgie came around ‘the side of the cabin and into the backyard. He smiled at her.
“What are you doing down here?” he asked.
“I came to check on you.”
He’d pulled on jeans this morning, careful not to wake Isabelle. Without his shirt on, Georgie could see his stomach.
“I can’t even tell where you were injured, Dalton. Pretty impressive.”
“Yeah, well, I heal quick,” he said, lowering his voice.
“You haven’t told her, have you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He glanced at the back door, turned to Georgie. “I’ve told her all I can.”
Georgie crossed her arms. “If you haven’t told her everything, then it’s not enough. How can you hope to succeed in what you plan to do if she doesn’t know the entire story? Until she knows all, I won’t be able to help her, and neither will you.”
He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. “Georgie, no one knows except your family.”
“Knowledge is power. Isabelle will need all the power she can wield in order to make it through this trial by fire you have in mind for her.”