Looking down, I realized I was clenching my fists so tightly that my blunt nails were digging into my palms.
Tonight couldn’t come fast enough.
3
“Stay here, Trin. I’ll be right back.”
“What—” I turned to where Zayne had been standing, but it was too late.
The mofo had already disappeared into the throng of people out enjoying the balmy evening in Washington, DC, moving faster than my vision could track.
My mouth dropped open as I stared at the blur of unfamiliar faces. Had Zayne seriously just left me on the sidewalk while he went off after the Upper Level demon that I had sensed, like I was third-string or something?
Stunned, I blinked stupidly, as if Zayne would somehow reappear in front of me.
Yep.
He’d done exactly that.
“You have got to be freaking kidding me!” I exclaimed. A man on his cell phone frowned in my direction. Whatever he saw on my face caused him to not only take a healthy step away from me, but to then cross the street.
Probably a good thing, because I was armed and irritated enough to launch an iron dagger at some random person.
I couldn’t believe Zayne had just left me, especially when seeing an Upper Level demon was kind of important. They were the most dangerous demons to walk this Earth, cloaking themselves by appearing human so that they could move in circles that contained some of the most powerful, influential people in the world. With their ability to manipulate people, they used humans’ God-given free will against them. Upper Level demons were the most formidable adversaries in the never-ending battle to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world, but they’d been scarce since the creature known as the Harbinger had appeared on the scene, months before I’d arrived in the city.
Seeing or sensing an Upper Level demon was huge, but it was even a bigger deal than normal because of where we’d seen it. Zayne and I were patrolling the area of town where the demon Bael had been seen with Senator Fisher.
There was a chance that this demon might lead us to Bael, or that we could use it to find out what the Hell the senator truly planned to do with the school. And if this demon had nothing to do with the Harbinger, I’d still be able to work out some of my aggression. But instead of joining Zayne on the hunt, I was standing here like a leftover thought, and that was not cool.
Zayne obviously didn’t comprehend that being my bonded Protector wasn’t code for leaving me—his Trueborn—behind while he went off to track down demons. Granted, our bond was new, so I was going to give Zayne this one get-out-of-jail-free card, but still.
I was not a happy camper.
A horn blew in the street and someone shouted. I plopped down on a bench, letting out an aggravated sigh as I looked around. Because my vision was so damn blurry, it was hard for me to tell if the people walking past me were ordinary humans or the dead.
Ghosts and spirits—and there was a world of difference between the two—often not only sensed me but knew that I could see and communicate with them before I even realized they were there. Since no one was bothering me, I was guessing those around me belonged to Team Alive and Breathing.
I kicked one leg over the other and jabbed an elbow into my knee and jammed my chin into my palm. Over the scent of exhaust, I smelled cooking meat, making me hungry even though Zayne and I had grabbed a bite to eat only an hour or so ago. The ever-present warm tingle at the nape of my neck told me there were demons nearby, probably low level ones like Fiends, so I wasn’t going to do anything about them as long as they weren’t actively harming humans.
I wasn’t familiar with the city, and with my poor vision, roaming around wouldn’t be the brightest of ideas, but sitting here like a dog given an order kicked my irritation into overdrive.
The chance of me throat punching Zayne when he reappeared was currently somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. Although that was probably far smarter than what I normally wanted to do when I saw Zayne.
I focused on the little ball of pulsing warmth in the center of my chest. I’d never felt it with Misha, but since there were no other Trueborns for me to compare notes with, the lack of sensation