Well, shit.
Things were suddenly much, much more dangerous. He wasn’t an Other expert like the doc, but he knew demons healed fast.
"They’re low level." She stood beside him. Their backs were near the wall of the alley. "Maybe a one or a two."
He didn’t really know what that meant, and he made a mental note to quiz the doc on Other lore sometime later. Once they’d gotten out of the alley and far away from the jerks who were trying to kill them.
"Stay behind me," he ordered, now eyeing the perps with deep suspicion. They could attack again at any moment.
The guy who’d made the mistake of going after Emily climbed to his feet. A deep gash swept across his forehead, and blood trickled down his face. "Catching on now, cop?"
The others pushed to their feet. Crept up behind the one ballsy enough to talk. Colin figured him for the leader.
"He cut me, Scott." The snarled words came from the guy bleeding out a river in the back.
Colin held up his hands, let them see the claws springing from his fingertips. "And I’ll do it again." He’d cut the demons apart if they came at him or if they tried to attack Emily. He’d been pissed enough before when they’d first jumped him, but now that he knew they weren’t human, all bets were off. He’d use every bit of his shifter strength to make them wish they’d never stepped into the alley.
"Let’s kill ’em!" Same demon talking. The bastard who was currently bleeding out in the alley. He was a tall guy, lean but muscled.
"You can try," Colin said. "But I don’t think you’ll succeed. Especially considering the fact that I just kicked your asses." And he’d be more than happy to do it again.
Emily’s nails dug into his back. "Someone else is here. Someone a hell of a lot more powerful than these guys."
The night just kept getting better. "I don’t see anyone," he muttered, and it was true. The night was dark, but with his enhanced vision, he could see perfectly in the alley. He could even see the snake tattoo swirling around the left wrist of the bastard he’d clawed. That’ll help identify you later, asshole.
"He’s here," she repeated softly. "And-"
"Stay the fuck out of our business, cop!" This snarl came from the leader, the guy who’d been called Scott. "Tonight was a warning. You and the doctor won’t get another."
Our business?
"Stick to your own kind!" Now snake tattoo was shouting his own warning. "Leave the demons alone."
Oh yeah, like that was going to happen. If anything, these idiots had just made him all the more determined to plunge straight into their world.
"Who sent you?" Emily asked, and she sure as hell didn’t sound like she was frightened. She sounded royally pissed. "Who told you to jump us in the alley?"
Scott stiffened.
"Was it Niol?" She pushed. "Is he the reason you’re threatening us? Did he tell you-"
A siren sounded nearby.
The men cursed, then turned, fleeing down the alley just as the swirl of blue and white lights lit up the scene.
Two uniformed cops jumped out of the vehicle, guns drawn. "Hands up, now!"
"Shit." Colin lifted his hands and watched in disgust as the demons disappeared into the shadows. He’d find those bastards again, he’d make certain of it. "Listen, I’m a cop. Detective Colin Gyth, badge number 2517." He made no move to reach for his ID. The cops looked more than a little nervous to be confronting him in the alley, and he wasn’t about to give these green guys a reason to become trigger happy.
Emily had her hands lifted up too. One of the patrolmen approached her, pulling her away from Gyth.
"Come with me, ma’am."
Hot rage still coursed through Colin’s body. He took a deep breath, inhaled the stench of the alley, the sweat from the cops. He needed to regain his control, needed to cage the beast.
His claws began to recede. Slowly, slowly.
"Show me your ID, Detective." The patrolman still held his gun on Colin.
Carefully, Colin reached inside his jacket and pulled out his ID. The cop took it, stepped back. "Don’t move." He crept toward the car, and Colin heard him radio in his information.
"We were attacked! The guys who jumped us are getting away!" Emily still sounded pissed as she raged at the cop.
He glanced toward the end of the alley. Correction: they’d already gotten away.
"Okay, Detective, you check out."
Colin lowered his hands. "I need you to start a search in the area. Four men just attacked us." And warned us to stay the hell out of demon business.
Not gonna happen.
"They were wearing black ski masks, shirts, pants." Which would make identifying them damn hard. "But one guy had a snake tattoo on his left wrist. And the leader was a man named Scott." Not much to go on, but it was all they had.
"Four men attacked you?" This from the cop who’d taken Emily away.
"That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you," she snapped.
The patrolman dutifully radioed in the information Colin had given him. "Are either of you hurt?" he asked.
Emily shook her head.
Colin remembered the icy flash of pain he’d felt in his hand when one of the bastards had cut him. The wound had already stopped bleeding, and his ribs only ached in a brief echo of pain. "No." He’d be completely healed long before any EMT could arrive to help him.
"Why’d they jump you?" The cop who’d radioed in their information cast a level stare Colin’s way.
Because I’m getting too close. Colin shrugged. He had to be careful now. He couldn’t very well reveal that the demons didn’t like him sniffing around their territory.
Ah, but his presence had sure made someone nervous.
And that was good. Very good.
Emily crossed to his side. She’d picked up her glasses, and she was rubbing the lenses against her shirt.
"Is he still here?" he asked her, pitching his voice low so that the patrolmen wouldn’t hear him. She’d said the watcher was a strong Other, and Colin wondered if the guy had stayed around to catch the rest of the show.
She shook her head. "No. He left right after the patrol got here."
Colin grunted. Figures. "Well, Doc, looks like we’ve managed to catch someone’s attention." He flexed his fingers, feeling the newly healed flesh stretch lightly.
"Yes, I guess we did." She gazed at the dark end of the alley. "Are we going to heed their warning?"
She’d put a nice, subtle emphasis on the we. "What do you think?"
She pushed her glasses onto her nose. "I think I don’t like it when jerks in black ski masks jump me in an alley."
He fought the curve of his lips. "Yeah, I don’t like that too much either."
"I also think it’s good that someone’s nervous out there." She lifted her chin, still gazing into the darkness. "It means we’re on the right track."
His lips tightened. "It’s a dangerous track, Doc." And he didn’t like her being in danger. When that bastard had put his hands around her throat-
"Despite what you think, Gyth, I’m not some delicate flower." She finally looked at him. There was determination in her eyes-determination and, unless he was mistaken, excitement.
He realized the doc liked the thrill of danger. She enjoyed the hook of adrenaline that came from staring straight into fear.
Oh, but he could really like this woman.
"No, you aren’t delicate," he agreed, remembering the way she’d attacked the guy who’d tried to jump him from behind. The bastard was probably still tasting his balls.
The doc was a hell of a lot stronger than he’d originally thought, but the fact remained that she was human. And the guys who attacked him, the demons, they could easily kill her.
As for the shifter, the "Night Butcher," well, he’d be even worse. A human would never stand a chance against a guy like that. Emily would never stand a chance.
"You’re not going to shut me out," Emily said, and he wondered for an instant if she’d used her powers to read his mind. "Threats from two-bit demons aren’t going to make me run."