blood. I knew it wanted to eat me.”
“Honey, I hate to break it to you, but sgath feel that way about all Sentinels and blooded humans.”
“I realize that, but I knew it. Felt it. The way I do with people. I’d never been touched by a demon before, so I was a little shocked when it hit me.”
“Okay, let’s just say that it does work. How does that help us?”
“If we can find one that wants to capture more Slayers, then maybe we can follow it home or find some way to interrogate it.”
Joseph’s instant reaction was a swift, harsh denial, but he held that in and gave himself a minute to calm down before he spoke. “Let’s pretend that your idea will work. How are we going to capture a demon without killing it?”
“Leave that part to me,” said Lyka. “I’m the one who can physically touch their skin without being poisoned. I’ll figure out something.”
“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t like it. In fact, I hate it. I don’t want you getting close enough to a demon to see it, much less touch it.”
“We can’t just sit around waiting. If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“I’m sure I’ll come up with something,” he said.
“Fine. You hop right on that, brainiac. In the meantime, we should head back to the truck. It’s getting dark fast.”
Joseph went through about twenty different scenarios to trap a demon—and not just any one, but the right one. Each scenario that ran through his mind ended in utter disaster. If he had more time and some welding equipment, he might have a shot, but without those, he was screwed.
“The frustration I feel sliding off you is not exactly instilling a lot of confidence in me,” she said. “And we’re almost back at the truck.”
“I’m still thinking.”
They rounded the bend, back to where he’d parked the truck, a little ways down from where they’d left her car. Lyka was half a step ahead of him and came to a complete stop, sucking in a shocked breath.
An instant later, he saw what she had: the vehicles had been totaled. The tires were shredded, the axles bent so that the wheels sat at an awkward angle. Both hoods were ripped open, and the guts of the engines were spilling out onto the pavement. Their spare clothes were now tattered strips of cloth and leather.
“New plan,” said Lyka.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We’re screwed.”
Chapter 32
Justice watched the bloodsucker’s face fall with disappointment. In fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, he was actually hurt by her offering.
For some reason, that upset her.
What a ridiculous reaction. The man had all but killed her, and she cared about hurting his feelings? Since when?
“I’m on a schedule here,” she said, “so can you please just take this to Joseph, whoever he is, and I’ll be on my way.”
“How do you know Joseph?”
“They told me.”
“Who is they?”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. All I know is they won’t leave me the hell alone until you take the damn monster and give it to Joseph. Can you do that or not?”
“I can.” He peered into the trunk to see the unconscious . . . thing she’d captured.
“How did you manage this?” he asked.
“I hit it with my car, fought it into submission, tied it up with rope and shoved it in the trunk.”
“By yourself?”
She widened her eyes and looked around. “Do you see anyone else?”
His gorgeous face paled even more than it had before. She could tell by the compulsion the fates had given her that the dude wasn’t a fan of the sun, but she’d never seen anyone go this white. “You touched this creature? Is that where you got those scratches?”
He started coming after her again, and she stepped around the car to put some nice, sturdy metal between herself and him. “Don’t come any closer.”
“This demon is poisonous. My intent was only to help. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t,” she lied. “And I’m fine.” Or she would be once she got back behind the wheel and down the road again, away from him.
“How were you injured?”
“The thing’s fingernails. I knocked the sword out of its hands with the car, but it still put up a hell of a fight.”
“And you won,” he said, stating the obvious. “How did you win?”
She patted her ribs and the semiautomatic pistol she kept strapped there, hidden under her jacket. “I shot it.”
Ronan eased closer to the creature, gliding over the dirt floor with