Reyes had definitely taken the worst of the attack. Not only was his back in shreds, but his shoulder had almost been ripped off as well. The jaws on those beasts could manage it effortlessly. I shuddered at the thought as we burst through the front doors and into the glorious sunlight.

Feeling safe for the first time, I lifted my head toward the sun. If we made it to our vehicles with no one noticing us, that would be the third miracle for the day. I’d already used up two, the first being my last trip to my vehicle, covered in blood with no one the wiser. The next being the fact that I had nary a mark on me. But Reyes sure did.

After we exited out the gate, I started for Reyes’s ’Cuda, but Garrett steered him in the opposite direction. Artemis followed us out, bouncing around and whining helplessly. I understood completely.

“My truck,” Garrett said, indicating the bed with a nod. “He needs to lie down.”

“We have to get him to a hospital this time. He’s lost too much blood.”

“No.” The Dealer brought up the rear, then sprinted past us to let the tailgate down. I saw him wince when he pulled the handle and lowered the gate.

“Look, Dealer or Daeva or whatever your name is,” I said as we eased Reyes onto the tailgate. Garrett jumped in, hooked his arms under my man’s shoulders, and dragged him into the bed. Reyes’s head lolled back and Garrett carefully lowered him onto the metal bed.

That time I winced. His right shoulder was mangled, and I honestly worried his arm would come clean off. Blackness blurred the edges of my vision. I almost fainted, but the Dealer wrapped an arm around my waist.

I pushed off him. “We have to get him to a hospital. Look at his shoulder.”

He regarded Reyes’s unconscious form, then turned to me. “Got any duct tape?”

8

Most of what I call “cooking” is just melting cheese on stuff.

— T-SHIRT

We snuck Reyes – who’d woken up mid-trip and insisted on going home instead of to the Daeva’s house – up the stairs and into my apartment. The Dealer drove Garrett’s pickup, since he was better equipped to fight the hellhounds should they show up, and Garrett drove Reyes’s ’Cuda to our place. We avoided the interstate in favor of a residential, and thus less traveled, route. We couldn’t risk someone in a truck seeing Reyes and me covered in blood in the bed of a pickup and have them call the police.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Allen,” I said to my elderly neighbor as she cracked open her door for a peek. “We’re rehearsing for a play.”

“That was so lame,” Garrett said, huffing with the burden he carried. The Dealer seemed to be handling it okay, but I felt pain radiate out of the kid with every movement. The slashes on his back were deep.

“I know,” I said, acknowledging my lame reason we were all covered in blood. “It was all I had.” I was still quaking from our most recent efforts and in fear for Reyes’s life.

“We aren’t safe here,” the Dealer said as he helped Garrett carry a grimacing Reyes up the second flight of stairs. We totally needed an elevator. “We’re making a big mistake coming here. My place is much safer.”

“They can’t come in here, demon slave,” Reyes said from between clenched teeth, echoing the Dealer’s earlier words, “or don’t you feel that?”

The Dealer paused, absorbed whatever it was he could feel that I clearly couldn’t, then nodded. “That’ll work.”

“What?” I asked, rushing ahead of them to open my door. “What will work?”

“The whole area has been blessed. It’s not exactly sacred ground, but it’ll do for now.”

“Blessed?” I asked Reyes, wanting to help but not knowing where I could touch him without it causing him even more pain.

“After the basement.”

“Oh. Right.” We’d had an infestation of demons in the basement once. I’d never thought about having the place blessed to keep them away. Then it hit me. “I knew that new bug guy looked familiar. He was a priest or something, wasn’t he?”

Reyes tried to nod but cringed in agony instead.

He must have had holy water in that canister instead of bug spray. “No wonder I’ve been seeing so many spiders lately.” Holy water may fend off demons, but spiders were completely unfazed by it.

I made a mental note to call a real bug guy ay-sap. Not that I had anything against spiders. I liked them as much as the next girl. Not.

After much effort, bickering, and fussing on my part, we got both the Dealer and Reyes cleaned up, duct-taped, and on the road to recovery. I could hardly look at Reyes’s wounds. Or the Dealer’s, for that matter. There was only so much flayed flesh I could take, and I’d been feeling quite nauseated as it was.

We put Reyes in my bed, which still butted against the head of Reyes’s bed, where there used to be a wall before Reyes went all This Old House on me. I had yet to discard mine. Artemis curled up on the end of it, resting her head against Reyes’s leg. Then we put the Dealer on the couch and Garrett in a rather comfortable recliner we’d moved into my apartment from Reyes’s.

They all fell fast asleep. Garrett didn’t want to let on how hurt he was, but I’d have bet my bottom dollar he had a cracked rib or two. His arm and ribs were also scratched up, but because his injuries were nothing compared to Reyes’s and the Dealer’s, he didn’t feel he could complain.