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“You’re not sure?” she parroted. “That doesn’t sound like the Hadley Harris I know.”

My head throbbed. My palms were little more than mincemeat. My calf had a heartbeat, either I was overdue for pain pills or an infection was setting in. I’d gone into this far too cocky, and now I was neck-deep in shit. “This place is fucking weird.”

“You mean, your hometown?” she teased.

I tossed my smoke out the window then immediately lit another. It was a matter of time before she found out. If she hadn’t known the whole time, which was more likely.

“Yes, my hometown,” I exhaled. “Full of wights, Black Annis, ghouls, demon-blessed witches and⁠—”

“Werewolf packs that maybe don’t eat people?” Donny finished for me.

Fuck, I wasn’t subtle enough. Not that there was a subtle way to ask.

“I’m not focusing on the possible pack right now. I’m focusing on the witch and the wolf that does eat people.” I left out the little nugget that the werewolf in question was an old flame. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but have you heard much about … demon princes?”

I prepared for another scoff or a chuckle from Donny. But there was only silence.

My stomach pitted at the length and seeming weight of Donny’s hesitation.

“Holy shit, are they real?” My lungs struggled to work, and it had nothing to do with cigarettes.

“Hadley, I’m going to tell you to do something that you definitely won’t do.” Her voice was strained and serious. “You need to get the fuck out of that town. Right now.”

Her words shocked me so much I nearly drove off the road. Donny. Telling me to run? Donny sounding … scared?

I laughed because I didn’t know what else to do in the face of such an unnerving emotional outburst from Donny. “You’ll have more luck getting your molars back from the tooth fairy,” I told her.

“I figured,” she muttered. “I’m going to ask you to do something almost as unlikely. You need Dante. If this witch is blessed by a demon prince, you need him.”

Now Donny was not only telling me I needed a man, but that I needed fucking Dante? I would’ve said hell had frozen over, but apparently, that motherfucker was burning hotter than ever, cooking up demon princes.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek instead of protesting, flattening my foot on the accelerator. I hated to admit that she was right, but the gash in my side said otherwise.

“I don’t need Dante,” I growled, taking a turn faster than was safe, veering into the wrong lane.

“Then you’ll die, Hadley.” Donny spoke with a certainty that chilled my blood.

“Ye have little faith,” I teased her, my bravado faked.

“Faith won’t help you against a demon prince,” she replied somberly. “But Dante will. He will keep you alive.”

I ground my molars together, pedal still pressed to the floor, a hairpin turn approaching. If I didn’t slow down, even I couldn’t safely round the corner. But I kept my foot flat, death in sight.

“Please,” Donny said quietly.

The soft plea hit me square in the chest.

I took my foot off, slamming on the brakes before hitting the turn.

“Don’t be another hunter who dies because they’re too proud to ask for help,” she said just as softly.

“I’m a lot of things, Donny, but I’m not proud of the shit I’ve done or have to do.”

I hung up the phone before she could unnerve me with that soft tone any longer.

For the first time in my life, I could feel death.

And if Donny was to be believed, Dante was the only one who could help me chase it away.