with the enthusiasm of a hunting dog on the trail of a fox, certain she’d found the scent of another demon. She jumped through the wall into the next room before I could call her back.
Afraid I was going to be sick again, as that seemed to be my MO lately, I stumbled past him toward the miniscule bathroom near the door. He picked me up when I tripped, but I fought his hold and hurtled myself toward the toilet. The fact that I was spelunking in a porcelain bowl used for years by men with bad aim didn’t deter me from my mission. I gulped stale air and swallowed back bile as my stomach heaved unsteadily.
Reyes knelt beside me, and I felt a cool cloth at the back of my neck.
“That’s what’s driving them crazy.” He leaned forward and buried his face against my neck. “The scent of fear—your fear—is like the scent of he**in to a bona fide addict.”
“Well, I can’t help it,” I said.
“I know. It’s my fault, and I’m sorry.”
I looked up and realized for the first time that the demon had struck him. He had three bloody gashes across his face, the uppermost a mere centimeter from his lower lashes. I took the washcloth from him and dabbed at the cuts.
“Did you kill him?” I asked.
“No. He won’t be running marathons anytime soon, but we need to get out of here.”
* * *
Reyes accompanied me home in silence, probably unsure what to think of me. I wasn’t sure what to think of me either, so we didn’t really have a lot to think about. He saw me up the stairs and to my door, but I didn’t let him help me in. I was tired of suddenly being an invalid, unable to walk and chew gum at the same time.
I opened my door and stepped inside. “Can I put something on that?” I asked, indicating the cuts on his left cheek. He dabbed them with the hem of his T-shirt, sopping up the small rivulets of blood that had escaped. They were already healing, but antibiotic ointment wouldn’t hurt.
He ignored me and looked around my apartment. “Call your boy,” he said, his tone coarse.
“What boy?” I asked, suddenly very tired. “I don’t have a boy.” At least I didn’t think I had a boy. I couldn’t remember ever being in labor, and I was fairly certain that wasn’t something a girl could easily forget.
“That kid that always hangs around. Call him.”
“Angel?” I asked, and as soon as I thought it, in he popped.
He looked around in surprise, spotted me, then glared from underneath his bandanna. “Are you for real going to keep doing that?”
“Hey, it wasn’t even me this time.” I pointed to Reyes, and Angel’s bravado dwindled.
He took a step back as Reyes took a step forward.
“Stay here,” Reyes said to him in a tone that brooked no argument.
But he was talking to Angel Garza. The kid had never met an argument he didn’t like. He bit down and squared his shoulders. “You stay here, pendejo.”
Reyes was on him before I saw him move. He had Angel by the collar of his dirty T-shirt, his face inches from his own. “Do you have any idea what I can do to you?”
Angel’s eyes widened before he caught himself. “I know you can go back to hell.”
I struggled to get in between them, pushing at Reyes’s hold.
After a moment, Reyes released him and offered him an apologetic gaze. “Stay here for her,” he said, softening his tone.
With a shrug, Angel straightened his shirt and said, “For her.”
That seemed to satisfy him. He snapped his fingers like calling a dog, and Artemis appeared. She jumped on him, her huge paws leveraging her weight against his chest as her stubby tail wagged in delight. He rubbed behind her ears and nuzzled her neck.
“You stay here,” he said into her ear, “and don’t let her get into any trouble. Got it?”
When he raised his brows in question, she barked in affirmation, and I suddenly felt very outnumbered.
I frowned at her. “Traitor.”
She barked again, completely unmoved by my accusation, and jumped to play with Angel, easily tackling him to the ground. Angel laughed and tried to get her in a chokehold. It was odd how her jaw could open to accommodate the girth of his throat. His gurgling screams of agony seemed to make her happy, and that was good enough for me.
“I just need to make sure they didn’t