Midnight's Master

Chapter 15

“ Bastard took out her spleen.” Smith paced in front of McNeal’s desk, her hands trembling. “Gave her some kind of drug, some shit I’ve never seen before and the docs on duty in the ER hadn’t seen either, and he just cut her wide open.” Faster now, she turned and marched straight back. “She’s a kid, just a-”

McNeal caught her. Pulled her against his chest and held her. Kim Went had been discovered by his detectives just over five hours ago. As soon as he’d gotten the word about the girl, he’d sent Smith to the hospital with a police escort to get her past the red tape that would have otherwise kept the ME out of the operating room.

But, dammit, he’d wanted one of his own in there with that girl. Someone who could understand what the hell had happened to her and someone who could look for evidence.

Not that any evidence had been found so far.

“The last person seen with Went was a blond woman.” He’d dealt with his share of female killers before, and he knew that when you were talking about the Other world, the usual rules didn’t apply. So, sure, a female supernatural would easily have the physical strength to overpower the two males who’d been killed.

Could be the hunter was a woman…

They had the demon taxi driver in the interrogation room. He was giving them as much of a description of the woman as he could.

The only lead they had so far.

Well, him…and those idiots who’d tried to torch Niol’s bar. Gyth had alerted him to the guys, and he’d been waiting for ’em. They’d gotten patched up, then they’d come to him.

It had taken ten minutes to get them to tell everything they knew about the woman who hired them. Unfortunately, they knew damn little.

But McNeal didn’t believe in coincidences, and he couldn’t wait to compare their description with King’s.

“She knew what she was doing.” Smith looked up at him with those big, dark eyes that always made his stomach clench. He’d taken a look in those eyes long ago and known that he was lost. “This wasn’t the work of an amateur.” Her lips trembled, but she kept talking and she kept her chin up. My Smith. “This woman knows how to use a scalpel-”

Damn. “Am I looking for a doctor, Nathalia?” His hands smoothed up her chilled arms and he didn’t give a shit that the blinds were up in his office. If one of his cops saw them, screw it. Nathalia needed him.

And he sure needed her.

“Could be.” A hard pull of breath. “This person didn’t make any mistakes. No hesitation marks were around the wounds, just straight cuts. Quick and cold.”

An amateur would have hacked the girl to pieces.

The other bodies had been carved like hell gone bad, but the organ removal-he’d read the reports-had all been done a bit too well. Maybe the carving job had been deliberate, a way to hide the other surgical precision.

“Is she gonna make it?” He asked. He’d voiced the same question to the docs in the ER. They hadn’t answered, just stared at him like he was crazy for asking.

But they’d been human. They didn’t understand and that’s why he’d brought in Nathalia.

Kim Went had a much stronger healing system in place than a human. There was a chance, slim, but a chance she would recover-

“Niol said she would.”

Niol. He blinked. Since when was Nathalia on a first-name basis with that guy?

“He was at the hospital. Him and the reporter. They stayed in the waiting room the whole time Kim was in surgery.” She swallowed. “They care about that girl.”

News to him.

“The reporter, Storm, was crying.” That he could believe. He’d caught a few of Storm’s stories. Seen enough to know that she wasn’t the usual fluff reporter. “They didn’t leave, not until-”

She stopped, breaking off abruptly. Like he was gonna let her end there. “Until what?”

A sigh. “Until Niol got to see the girl. He stared at her a few minutes after surgery, just watched her, then I heard him tell Storm that Went would be all right.”

If the devil had said so…

The tension in his shoulders eased, just a bit. He knew Niol’s reputation. If the demon had said that Kim would live, she would.

“Another half hour, hell, another fifteen minutes, and Kim would have died.” She pulled away from him and started her pacing again. She looked tired. Dark shadows lined her eyes. Her arms hung limply and the sexy stride he so enjoyed watching was gone. “That bitch just left that girl to die.”

After she’d taken a little souvenir. What kind of freak job was he dealing with here? “Niol told Gyth we were after a human.” A human who’d taken to carving up the demons in his city and stealing body parts? Shit, what would he have to deal with next?

Sometimes, he could still remember the good old days. When humans killed humans and supernaturals kept to the shadows.

Not anymore.

Nathalia paused near his one window. “Guess we can all be monsters deep down, huh?”

His hands clenched. This was a sore point for him. Nathalia was freaking beautiful and perfect and… human. For a time, he hadn’t believed she’d want him, not if she knew the truth about him.

He sure wasn’t beautiful. More like scary. He’d been called that a few times. Perfect-uh, that was another word that would never fit him and the shit that was his life.

As for human…not quite.

Even when he held Nathalia late at night, when she was beside him in bed and he could feel the soft beat of her heart, he worried he’d lose her.

Because he was a monster, too. And no matter what that crap in storybooks said, Beauty didn’t want to spend her life shacked up with the Beast.

She wasn’t looking at him now. Just staring out the window with her shoulders slumped. “When I…first found out about the Other-”

He winced. That had been a brutal introduction, and just thinking about the attack she’d suffered made him want to kill .

“-I thought all supernaturals were evil. Even though Gyth saved my ass, my head-” She glanced back at him and McNeal thought he managed to wipe the desperation from his face. “-it was all messed up.”

An attack by a psycho could do that to a woman.

“It’s okay.” His voice sounded gruff. He hadn’t planned that. He’d wanted to sound soft and comforting, but his voice was always like gravel. “You don’t have to-”

“That girl-Kim. When I saw her, I didn’t think about her being human or Other. I just saw a victim.”

Because that’s what the girl was.

“Monsters, humans-we’re all a tangled mess, just trying to survive.” Her eyes held his. “And I’m not afraid anymore, Danny. I’m not afraid .”

That cracking was his heart. Breaking-no, bursting, because dammit, he loved her. A woman who’d walked through hell, but could still understand the monsters.

He walked to her, slowly, even though he knew she wouldn’t frighten off. “You don’t need to be afraid anymore.” He’d never let her be in danger. Never.

“But others do. Kim. Holly Storm. They have to be careful.” She turned fully to face him. “This killer is smart and she’s good.”

She’d sure managed to clear out of that house fast. Gyth and the crime scene guys had been poring over that place and they’d found jack shit. A guy with a nose like Gyth’s wouldn’t miss anything.

Which meant there was nothing to find.

And it meant they had three dead bodies.

And one live victim.

Thanks to the demon king of the city. Owing that guy stuck in McNeal’s throat, but he’d make sure he paid his debt.

McNeal always paid his debts.

After the killer was caught, and he would catch the slicer, he’d handle Niol.

Her eyes were grainy from crying. Because, yeah, she’d cried like a baby when she’d been in that ambulance with Kim. Cried and prayed-prayed like she hadn’t prayed in years -and used every bit of her strength to will Kim to live.

And so far, she had.

So far.

Holly climbed from Niol’s SUV, her knees shaking and her calves trembling. Her stomach was one hard knot. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten and she just wanted to crawl inside and wash away the blood staining her fingers.

Just wash it away.

“Holly…”

Niol’s voice. Tense.

She didn’t stop walking. She didn’t know what to say to him then. The guy confused her too much. She wanted him. She needed him and-

And if she wasn’t careful, she’d lose her heart to him.

Because she knew Niol wasn’t the staying kind. Or the loving kind. He’d warned her of that, himself.

Her steps were heavy on the sidewalk. She wasn’t paying attention to-

“Holly?” Not Niol’s voice. Feminine. High. Screech-level.

Her head lifted. Her gaze searched the darkness and saw the figure standing on her porch.

Mom?

Oh, damn.

“Tried to tell you.” Now Niol was talking. Quiet. Whisper-like. “We aren’t alone.”

Her mom was there. Since when did her mom pay her late-night visits? Or any visits?

Click. Click. Click. Her mother’s shoes on the steps. “I’ve been waiting here for hours, Holly Ann Storm. Hours. I called your cell at least a dozen times and you couldn’t be bothered to answer.”

She’d had to turn the cell off in the hospital. Frowning, she dug around in her purse and, after a moment, felt the cool touch of the phone. Forgot to turn it back on.

Holly continued walking, one foot in front of the other. She passed her mom and pulled out the house keys. “Sorry, Mom, I was-”

“Out. With a man.” A sniff. “You sounded like you needed me, Holly Ann. I came all the way from Birmingham and you weren’t even-”

Holly shoved open her front door. The alarm beeped as she flipped on the lights and punched in the security code and-

“ Oh. My. God. Is that blood?”

Yeah, and a lot of it. She’d scrubbed as hard as she could in the hospital, but her fingernails were still stained red and her shirt, though dry now, had Kim’s blood coated on the front. “It’s really been one hell of a night, Mom.”

Her mother had followed her inside. The lights flickered off the red of her hair, a shade softer than Holly’s own, one that had a bit of professional help. Her mom was in her early fifties, but could easily have passed for a woman just hitting her mid-forties.

Holly dropped her bag onto the sofa and thought long and hard about collapsing next to it. Her mom seemed stunned, staring at her with wide eyes-a perfect shade match there-and parted lips.

Niol loomed in the doorway behind her. Holly wasn’t sure her mom had even seen him yet. “Uh, it’s not my blood, Mom.”

“You take these dangerous stories. You stay out all hours with strange men-” She finally glanced back over her shoulder at Niol as she snapped, “It could be your- No! ”

The last was gasped. And that horrified gasp was full of recognition. Recognition that a human who’d spent the last seven years living in Birmingham, Alabama, shouldn’t have for a demon in Atlanta.

Holly got a really, really bad feeling in her gut.

No, no she wouldn’t have kept this from me. Not all of these years. Not after Peter-

Her mother still had her eyes glued to Niol. He lifted a brow and his own black eyes stayed locked on her.

“S-send him away.” Hoarse.

Holly blinked. “What?”

Her mother’s head turned toward her. Very slowly, as if she were afraid to take her gaze off Niol. Her mother had always been smart. “Send him away.” Stronger now.

Holly glanced over at Niol. No expression there. She took a deep breath and said simply, “No.” Then she motioned to Niol. “Shut the door so the alarm will kick in.” And she walked away.

Silence behind her. Then a hand caught her arm. She swung around and met her mom’s wild eyes. Used to be so calm. Not anymore. “You don’t know what you’re doing! This-this man, he’s not for you! Go back to that nice doctor you were seeing. He was a good man, safe. He was-”

“Screwing around on me.” Which her mother already knew. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Niol walked past them. Made himself comfortable on her couch.

Her mother’s nails dug into her skin. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

But her mother obviously knew Niol. Holly kicked off her pumps and heard the whisper of relief from her feet. “Niol, you didn’t tell me that you knew my mother.”

His gaze swept over her mother’s figure. Kelly Storm kept herself trim from a vicious workout routine. She’d been working out every day, for at least an hour a day, since her husband had passed away from a heart attack just over two years ago.

“Never met before.” He offered a smile, one that didn’t look reassuring.

“I know who you are.” Kelly’s voice was arctic. “And I want you to stay away from my daughter. She’s not your kind. She’s-”

Holly’s heart slammed into her ribs. She gazed at her mother and just felt…sad. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Enough crap. Enough tension.

Kelly blinked. “I don’t know what-”

Her hand waved toward Niol. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.” Lies. “Are you a demon, too, Mom?”

“No!”

Such a fast denial. “Who, then? It has to be someone in the family. Dad? Was he-”

“I will not talk about this.” Her hand fell away and her thin shoulders straightened. “This is nonsense. Ridiculous. There are no-”

“I’m a demon.” The first time she’d confessed. Made her feel…strange. Right. “Peter was, too. But you knew that, didn’t you? When he started talking about the voices and the things he’d seen, you knew what he was and you said nothing!” Rage bubbled up, hard and too fast. Rage . All those years when her mother had been so distant with her. Those years when she’d watched her brother slipping away.

Wasted years.

When she’d known.

A tear slipped from the corner of her mother’s eye.

Holly had seen her mother cry three times in her life. Peter’s funeral. Her father’s hospital bed and now.

“Easy, Holly.” She jumped. When had Niol moved to her side? He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “Easy, love.”

Shit, she was crying, too.

One hell of a night.

“You should have told me.” The rage was gone. Now she just felt tired. “I could have helped Peter, I could have-”

“You were a little girl.” Whispered. “There wasn’t anything you could do. I-I didn’t know, not until it was too late…”

Peter’s face flashed before her.

No.

Kelly licked her lips. “I-I don’t guess I need to ask how you-how you found out.” Her eyes darted to Niol.

“Holly’s not a half-breed.” He spoke with cold certainty, but his hold on her was warm. “Not you. Not her father-”

“Her grandmother.” She looked so frail then. So small. “George’s mother was a-a demon.” Her gaze turned back to Holly. “I swear, baby, I didn’t know what she was. She died before I married your father and he seemed so normal. I-I thought he was. Until Peter…”

A swallow. Loud in the quiet room. “George thought you were both just like him, that the demon trait or gene-or whatever the hell it is-had just passed you by. God, baby, I prayed it had passed you by.”

Her head pounded. “You knew and you let Peter-”

“I did everything I could for Peter! I loved him! He was my son! Mine ! Demon, human-it didn’t matter!”

She’d never heard such passion in her mother’s voice.

“I sent him to doctors. One after the other. For days. Months. They tried every treatment, every therapy but noth ing worked. He slipped away from me while I watched because nothing worked. ”

My boy’s goin’ into the dark.

And it was happening again.

“Then he left me and I was so scared you’d leave me, too.”

So she’d started to shut me out. “You weren’t ever going to tell me, were you?”

A shake of her mother’s head. “I just prayed you weren’t-”

Like him.

A fist squeezed her heart. A cold, clammy fist that just tightened and tightened.

“Peter had a…sickness.” Niol, his voice softer, pitched with sadness. “We call it the Dark Touch in the demon world.”

Kelly’s lips trembled. “Could you-could you have helped my son?” A pause, so brief, then. “You’re strong. Some say maybe the strongest born this century.”

Well, that was a new one for Holly.

“Could you have helped him?”

Her mother’s words twisted with Jon’s. You got to help my boy.

Holly looked up at him, saw the clench of his jaw. “Not then. No, I couldn’t.”

Brutal honesty.

“But I’m sure as hell working to make sure no more kids go Dark.”

The fist eased its hold. Niol glanced down at her with eyes cloaked in so many shadows.

He looked worried. For her.

Niol pressed a kiss to her lips. “Talk to your mother. Get past this. It can’t eat you up anymore.”

He would know all about being destroyed from the inside.

His head inclined toward her mother. “Interesting meeting you, Mrs. Storm.”

Her mouth parted.

Then he walked away. Calm, slow steps. In moments, the door clicked closed behind him.

Holly stared at her mother. Two feet between them, but it sure seemed like so much more.

Do you hear the voices, Hol?

“He…he’s not what I expected.”

A cold-blooded killer. She knew that was what most people expected. “There’s more to Niol than just-” His reputation for death. “What you see and hear.”

Her mother crept forward, hesitated.

Holly couldn’t move.

“I didn’t know how to tell you. There weren’t any signs, I thought it had skipped you-”

It. There was no it. She was a demon. Blood, bones, and soul.

“You’re afraid of Niol.” Her voice sounded rusty. Of course, most folks were rightly afraid of Niol. “Are you-are you afraid of me, too?” Because of what I am.

Another inch forward. Her mother’s hands lifted, then fisted. “No.”

Holly wanted to believe that.

“I’m not afraid of you, baby. I love you. ”

Holly couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard those words.

One more inch. “But I understand just how dangerous this world is, especially for you.” An inhalation of air that sounded too loud in the room. “I just want you to be safe.”

With a demon-hunter on the streets, that wasn’t going to be an easy order.

Her mother’s gaze searched hers. “You…care for him, don’t you?”

That damn fist was back, but Holly managed to nod.

“I saw it, in your eyes.”

Had Niol seen it, too?

“I always wanted you to be safe, with a man who’d protect you.” Her mouth lifted into the ghost of a smile. “Guess Niol knows how to protect what’s his, doesn’t he?”

Holly opened her mouth to answer and-

“He’d better,” he mother continued, that smile vanishing, “because if that demon lets anything happen to you, I’ll kill him.”

Then her mom threw her arms around her, squeezing so tightly that Holly struggled for breath.

Dr. Emily Drake sat behind her desk. Her gaze darted to her watch. Nine twenty-eight a.m. Her first appointment would be checking in soon. A charmer.

She liked the charmers. They were the most easygoing of the Other. Actually, most of their trouble usually came from their creature companions. Communication issues.

She tapped her pen against the top of the desk. Yes, her patient would be here any minute and she was glad for that fact because she needed a distraction.

She couldn’t get the demon-hunter case out of her head.

Colin had come to her just before dawn. Eyes stark, the scent of blood on his body. He’d told her about the young demon they’d found and the horror she’d endured. McNeal had already sent orders that as soon as the girl woke up, he wanted Emily in that hospital room with her.

But Emily didn’t think Kim would be in the mood for talking right away. No, the rage and the fear would be too strong at first.

She’d survived. Barely.

The first victim to live through an attack by the hunter. She was lucky, but Emily wasn’t certain Kim would feel that way when her eyes finally opened. She didn’t know if-

Her office door swung open. Emily glanced up, pasting a smile on her face.

“I said you can’t go in there!” Vanessa’s voice, reaching shriek level.

But the man in her doorway didn’t flinch. His legs were braced apart, his arms loosely at his sides, and his black eyes zeroed in on her.

Niol.

Well, damn.

Her palms started to sweat. She hadn’t seen Niol in months. She’d stayed out of Paradise and he’d stayed out of her way. Fair enough arrangement.

She and Niol didn’t exactly have a good history between them.

And she knew that her wolf shifter lover really wanted to kick the demon’s ass.

“Tell the witch to back off.”

She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Niol knew about her assistant’s Other powers. The guy always seemed to know everything.

But he’d never come to her office before.

Emily rose to her feet and cast a glance at Vanessa. The woman was pale, with wide eyes- she knew about Niol’s reputation -but she wasn’t backing down.

“It’s okay. I can talk to Mr. Lapen for a few moments.” A glance at her watch, a deliberate and fake one this time. “My appointment will be here soon-”

A grunt. “Shaughnessy won’t be here today.” A smile that made the hair on her nape rise. “He had a…change of plans.”

Niol knew too much.

He glanced over his shoulder. “Treat my friends well, witch.”

His friends?

Oh, this couldn’t be good.

Vanessa gazed back at her and Emily managed a nod. Her glasses felt too tight, as if they were pinching her nose and a dull ache had begun behind her left eye.

Always happened around Niol. His power was so strong it seemed to lap at her.

The door closed with a soft click. Emily didn’t sit down and Niol just kept staring at her.

When he finally moved, stalking across the room toward her, she braced her hands on the desk. “Why are you here?”

His head tilted. “I came to collect a debt.”

“What?” She didn’t owe that bastard anything. She knew how he operated and she’d made absolutely sure that she didn’t-

“Come now, Emily, don’t look so surprised. You had to know I’d come calling one day.” He glanced over at her black leather couch. “Interesting. Bet the wolf likes that.”

Her cheeks heated. Yeah, Colin did.

Control. “I don’t know what debt you’re talking about-” She wasn’t going to touch the couch reference, “but I’ve got clients who need my help. I don’t have time-”

“I need you, too, Emily.”

He said her name as if they were close. Friends. Lovers.

They’d never been either.

After a moment, he headed for the couch. Didn’t lay down, just sat, with his legs sprawled before him. “You’re such a smart lady. Surely you’ve wondered…”

His eyes were so dark. Humans could get lost in those eyes. She knew that-she’d seen it happen.

And Holly was dating him? Sleeping with him?

“I remember the first time you walked into my Paradise. You were shaking because you were afraid-”

Terrified might be a better word.

“And because you were so hungry.”

Slowly, she sat back down into her chair. The leather creaked beneath her.

“You needed my world, didn’t you? Needed to touch it, to feel it in order to keep surviving.”

She’d always suspected Niol’s mind was razor sharp and that his instincts for people were dead-on. No wonder the guy was such a fine predator. “Where is this going?” Her voice was cool and perfectly calm. She was good at that, good at pretending. She’d had so much practice over the years.

Niol’s gaze said he knew that and his slow smile had her stiffening.

“I let you into my Paradise. Gave you free rein in my world.”

Okay, yes, she’d always wondered about that, but-“You also introduced me to the asshole who tried to shove his way into my mind.” Myles. Demon bastard. He hadn’t been expecting her to fight back.

His mistake.

The faint lines around Niol’s mouth tightened. “When I realized what was happening with Myles…it was too late.” His brows lifted. “You took care of the problem before I could intervene.”

Lie. Emily didn’t buy that one for a minute. “Bullshit-”

“Doctor- language. ”

Emily growled.

“Myles was a mistake.” A shrug. “But I think he certainly paid for his crime, don’t you? You blasted every bit of his power away. Wouldn’t have thought it was possible, if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”

For a moment, she was back in Paradise. The roar of the laughing crowd around her. Smoke in the air. And a demon at her feet. Dizzy, lost, she’d fallen facefirst into the gleaming bar-

And woken in a hospital.

“I’ve always wondered…” A couple of things. She drew in a deep gulp of air. The whole conversation was surreal, but she’d wanted answers for years.

Answers . She’d always craved them.

And never found them all.

Some mysteries just couldn’t be solved.

“Who got me out of Paradise?” She asked him quietly.

One black brow rose.

Damn.

“I couldn’t very well leave you bleeding on my floor, now could I? Not good for business.”

Like his clientele would have cared that an unconscious and bleeding woman was on the floor.

He eased back a bit on the couch. “I took you out, made certain there were no…uncomfortable questions at the hospital, and I stayed-”

Now that surprised her.

“-with you until you were awake again.”

What? Niol had been there, when she’d been at her weakest? Very scary thought.

His bottomless gaze held hers. “Myles had friends. Shit scum, but powerful. The eye-for-an-eye type. They would have just loved to get their hands on you.”

She’d worried about them. Had some nightmares after she’d gotten out of the hospital. But then the fear about retaliation had just seemed to vanish from her mind.

“I…eliminated the threat to you.” He spoke easily. Calmly. As if he were talking about getting rid of trash. And for him, maybe he was. Emily had never understood him. His mind had been closed to her. Always closed. Not like the others. She could pick her way so easily into the thoughts of most paranormals.

Not Niol.

Not that she’d ever really wanted to try.

Because Emily knew, deep down, that if Niol wanted to go after her, the way Myles had, well, she wouldn’t be knocked out.

She’d be killed.

Niol was just too strong. She’d heard rumors once about level-tens. The talk was that they could live for freaking ever. They could heal so fast that their bodies were in a constant state of perfect health.

But the longer they lived, the more their…demon selves emerged.

The rumors were that some demons out there, some level-tens were so old they had cloven feet and tails.

Rumors, of course; she’d never found any information to substantiate that, but-

But level-tens couldn’t be killed by any weapon of man-that much was true.

And Niol, since he more than tipped the power scale, she sure didn’t want to tangle with him.

“Since I took care of that little problem for you, I’d say that puts you in my debt.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

He held up his hands. “Don’t look so worried, Emily. I’m not the threat you think.”

She snorted.

“I just need that wonderful mind of yours. So interesting, so strong.”

Emily’s stomach knotted. “I always thought you were testing me,” she murmured, deliberately throwing the words out as her own test to see how Niol would respond.

He nodded. “Yes, I was.”

Sonofabitch. He’d let her into Paradise to test her like a lab rat, and he had the gall to sit there and say she owed him ?

“Had to make sure you were capable, that you could handle the darkness.”

She’d been handling darkness for years. She didn’t need some arrogant ass of a demon to-

“If you weren’t strong enough, then you wouldn’t have been of any use to me.”

Cold and hard. Just like she would have expected.

But-

But his eyes weren’t cold. The darkness was lit with a fire she’d never seen before.

I want in his mind.

Because Emily had the feeling that the puppet master was hiding too many secrets of his own.

He leaned forward, dropping the easy pose. “You tell no one about the work I want you to do-”

Niol wanted therapy?

“ No one, and you-”

Her office door flew open and banged into the wall.

Her breath choked out in surprise. Niol didn’t even blink.

“ What the fuck are you doing here, demon? ”

Her very much enraged wolf shifter lover stood in the doorway. Not in cop mode, definitely not. More like jealous fury mode.

And it was sweet, kind of, anyway.

Emily shoved to her feet and hurried to his side. “I’m all right, Colin. I don’t need-”

He kicked the door closed. Hard enough to have her windows rattling. “You don’t need this jerkoff giving you a hard time. I want you to stay away from Emily, got me, demon? We both know you’re trouble and-”

Niol rose slowly to his feet and despite the fact that Colin’s claws were out and his teeth were lengthening into fangs, the demon didn’t look worried. “I’m not staying away from her.”

A growl.

“I need her.” His head tilted. “And I’d hate to have to hurt you, seeing as how I know Emily has become uncomfortably fond of you, but I need her. ”

Colin sprang forward.

Emily grabbed his arm, pulling back at once. “Colin, let him talk.” Something was happening here, something important.

Colin’s body vibrated beneath her touch. “Fine.” Barely human. “But if he pisses me off, I’m taking his head.”

A real threat, that.

She turned to Niol. “Why me?”

“You can build the best mental shielding I’ve ever seen in my life.” Admiring. “I need that talent.”

Like a level-ten needed help keeping his mind secure from others. “Bullshit.” Sometimes, Emily just had to call ’em like she saw ’em.

“A debt, doctor, remember?”

“You’re not gettin’ in Em’s mind! You’re not-”

Niol shook his head, interrupting Colin’s snarl. “I don’t want in her head. I want her to use her talent to get into the minds of demons-and to teach them to shield.”

Her mouth was open, but Emily didn’t know what to say. Demons had their own, instinctive shielding. It came with the psychic power. Why would-

“Sometimes what nature gives isn’t enough,” Niol said, as if reading her mind.

And the guy probably could.

He strode toward them. Stood toe-to-toe with Colin. “You’re in my way, wolf.”

Colin’s jaw clenched, but after a moment, he stepped to the side.

Niol kept walking. Grabbed the doorknob and wrenched open the door, heading into her waiting room.

“Vanessa called you, didn’t she?” Emily whispered. And the man had made amazing time. She craned her neck, watching Niol.

“Hell, yeah, she-”

Niol strode to the left. He stopped and bent toward a dark-haired man and a thin, pale teen.

Then he glanced back at her.

“Who are they?” Colin whispered.

Demons. She saw right through their glamour.

And now they were heading right toward her.

“Colin…give me a minute with them, okay?”

The fangs weren’t showing now, but the wolf was in his eyes. “You sure?”

Niol answered. “Yes, she’s sure.”

Colin didn’t move.

Emily smiled. “I’m sure.” She didn’t sense any kind of threat from them, but she did see desperation.

Niol led the other demons into her office. Emily followed at a slower pace, her mind whirling.

The teen sat on the edge of her couch, his hands clenched before him. The older demon-had to be his father, they looked just alike-stood by his shoulder, rocking nervously back and forth on his heels.

Niol didn’t sit this time. “Tell me, Doctor Drake…”

Now he was being formal?

“Have you ever heard of a demon getting the Dark Touch?”

Her heart slammed into her ribs. The Dark Touch.

A demon with the Touch was cursed to only pick up the psychic touch of the evil in the world. Killers, rapists-they all called to the dark demons.

They called and insanity and death followed.

“It first hits at puberty,” Niol said. “When a demon’s powers begin to develop.”

She’d heard that.

“It gets worse as the demon ages. The voices get louder-”

The teen flinched. His eyes were down, boring a hole into the floor.

“Some drugs quiet ’em, for a time. Others just make them scream louder.”

The father had his lips pressed together. His eyes stayed up, on her.

Help him. It was in the man’s eyes.

She glanced at Niol. And in his.

A bead of sweat trickled down between her shoulder blades. She wouldn’t give false hope. The kid would deserve better than that. “Niol, I’m not sure-”

“I am.” Absolutely certain. “You can keep a level-ten demon out of your head, you can-”

“Myles was a level-nine,” she told him. Niol should know that. He didn’t make mistakes-

“I’m not.” Black eyes held her. “And you can keep me out without even trying these days.”

These days.

It had been a test. One long-ass test.

“Teach him how to block, Dr. Drake. Teach Ken how to keep the voices out and the darkness at bay.”

The boy looked up, blinking.

Emily stared at him. His eyes…demon black, but familiar.

Because she’d seen that stark fear before. The wild horror that insanity was close.

She’d looked like that, years ago. Every time she’d glanced in a mirror, she’d seen the same thing.

A firm nod. “Right.” She reached for her pad and motioned for the door. No audience was allowed. Niol knew the rules, of that she had no doubt. “Ken, my name is Emily Drake, and I-I’m going to help you.” She would help him.

And the others she suspected Niol would be bringing her way.

Niol inclined his head and walked quietly toward the door.

When the door shut, Emily forgot him and turned her attention to Ken.

And the darkness around him. A darkness that was very different from that she sensed around Niol. Because this darkness, maybe she could fight it.