Page 127

Well, Dante’s gun, if we wanted to get particular. Maybe it had some kind of cursed bullet that would help me out against a demon prince. Regular demons could be cast out with an exorcism, after pinning them down with a consecrated blade. They could also be killed by holy fire, the flames blessed by a priest. I only banished because I wasn’t exactly the kind of woman priests wanted to do favors for.

I doubted a demon prince could be killed at all, and I hadn’t gotten as far as figuring out how to boot one back to hell.

I was counting on Dante doing that legwork. And there he was, outside the salt circle, useless to me.

“You are the veil breaker.” The demon stepped closer to me. His voice was thick, deep. I couldn’t stop wincing at the wrongness of it.

I held my ground, though it was incredibly hard to do with two hellhounds growling at their master’s sides, muzzles dripping with foamy drool.

Gross.

Terrifying.

“I’m Hadley,” I clarified, hand on my chest. “Hunter. Whore. Excellent dart player.”

The demon tilted its head in an animal-like movement then inhaled deeply. Goose bumps erupted all over my skin as my nose started bleeding.

I wiped away the blood with the sleeve of my shirt.

“I can smell it on you. The filth,” the demon prince snarled, getting closer still. “The goodness radiating from you through the human meat suit that wasn’t designed to contain that light. You are the key.”

Though I was appropriately nervous about the obviously high-ranking demon and the two hellhounds, I felt a boost of confidence at his words because they proved he was batshit crazy. An upshot for me.

Maybe. Or maybe a batshit-crazy demon prince was more dangerous than a sane one.

I heard soft thumping sounds from behind me followed by a muffled growl that I strongly hoped wasn’t Colton turning into a wolf before his parents arrived. If it was, Dante would have to deal. Technically, that was the easier job anyway. I didn’t even risk a look in that direction; I didn’t want to take my eyes off the prince.

And, in an appropriately unnerving turn of events, I didn’t think I could look away. My eyes were stinging, aching, glued to the approaching demon. I couldn’t even blink.

“I’m not the key to anything.” I managed to rasp out the words, though speaking took all of my effort. “I’m a hunter who killed your witch.” I nodded to Shay’s husk beside me. “You’re welcome, by the way. Now you get her soul as a plaything. Grab it and go.”

The demon didn’t even look at Shay’s corpse. “The witch was a means to an end. To you.”

My lungs continued to sizzle. I clutched my chest as I choked out a wet cough from the scalding air that got hotter with each one of the demon’s steps. Grass died underneath its feet. Earthworms snaked up from the soil, grotesque, writhing forms. Snakes curled up its legs, disappearing into the folds of his pants.

The demon was less than a foot away from me, close enough for me to gag at the stench wafting from it. My teeth gnashed together, feeling the power radiating from him, tasting tin. It was utterly repulsive. Every cell in my body revolted from this being.

With great effort, as if I were moving through tar, I lifted my gun and fired.

The bullet hit true, striking him right between the eyes. It created a hole. A large, black hole. The demon didn’t so much as stumble.

The hole closed up in a handful of seconds.

Bullets didn’t work. Noted.

“Stupid girl,” it hissed.

Then, without warning, pain exploded in my cheek, and I soared through the air. Not for the first time that night. And this motherfucker was way stronger than Shay. I hit nothing but air, striking the invisible wall that had been created by my salt circle.

My body crumpled onto the ground, cheek pulsing in an agony that told me my cheekbone was probably shattered. I tried to kick out with my boot to break the circle, but I couldn’t move it.

I heard more muffled yells of my name—a fat lot of good that would do.

My head craned in the direction of the yell, where Dante was kneeling right at the edge of the circle, mere inches from me.

His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything except for the roar of my thundering heart.

I squinted at him, vomiting in the dirt before being able to even comprehend a word he was saying.