"Yes, that’s exactly what I think happened."
"So are we looking for two killers?" McNeal demanded. "Is the demon making the shifter take his kills? What in the hell is going on?"
"Actually, I think I know." Colin spoke slowly. A powerful demon. A deadly shifter. He met Emily’s gaze and realized the doc was thinking the same thing.
Fuck.
There’s talk of a hybrid demon in town. A strong demon, a nine or ten. Niol’s words echoed in his mind. The sonofabitch had known, Colin realized. He’d known exactly what the killer was.
But did he know who he was?
"Doc, why don’t you give the captain a science lesson on hybrids." He turned on his heel, heading for the door.
"Gyth! Where are you going?" McNeal called out.
He glanced back over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. "To Paradise. I’m going to find a demon and make the bastard tell me everything he knows about the Butcher." And if he had to use claws and teeth to get the information, all the better.
"Wait! I’ll come, too! You’ll need me-"
Colin turned around, caught Emily by her wrists, and jerked her against him. "The fucking last place I want you to be is Paradise Found." The killer could be there, waiting.
Her eyes seemed so wide behind her glasses, so green.
"I can help you, Gyth, just let me-"
He kissed her. A hard, fast kiss with his mouth open, his tongue stabbing deep. Yeah, it was unprofessional. Yeah, the captain saw him.
But he didn’t really care.
He pulled away from her. "I need to do this alone, Doc." No Monster Doctor. No police partner. He inclined his head toward McNeal. "And it needs to be off the record." Because he’d do whatever he had to do to catch the killer.
No more humans were going to die on his watch.
He didn’t wait for a reply. Just turned and marched away, his mind already on the coming confrontation.
It was time to find out once and for all just who was stronger-the beast or the demon.
Colin had been gone for four hours. Emily paced the lobby of the station. Shit. She should have forced Colin to take her with him. Colin didn’t know the Other world like she did. He wouldn’t understand the demons, the vampires, the-Her cell phone beeped. Colin. She grabbed the phone, frowning at the caller ID. She didn’t recognize the number.
"Emily Drake."
"Dr. Drake!" The voice was male. Highly agitated. Voices rumbled in the background. Music blared.
"Thomas? Is that you?" It sounded like her newest patient. She’d given him her number because of the serious nature of his situation, but-
"I–I c-can’t control it! I–I’m c-changing-"
Ice seemed to freeze her veins. "Where are you, Thomas? Thomas!"
"P-paradise Fou…" His words ended in a snarl of pain.
The line went dead.
Niol had gone to ground. Colin sat at the bar, a cold beer bottle in his hand, and turned to slowly survey the bar.
He’d searched for the demon. Gone to his house. Gone to the human girlfriend’s. But the demon was nowhere to be found.
Dammit.
He gulped down some of his brew, the slightly bitter taste burning the back of his throat. He turned back to face the bartender. He figured the guy for a demon. If the guy worked for Niol, he probably had to be. Something in the employment contract…
"So how much longer is he goin’ to keep me waitin’?"
The bartender-a big, tall, black guy-smiled. "As long as he wants."
Colin sat his beer down very carefully. "You know, the game’s old now. You go tell your boss," cause he had a feeling he was close by, "that if he doesn’t bring his pointy-tailed ass out here, I’m gonna get a warrant and bust into every room in this damn hellhole you call a bar." He smiled, too, a smile that showed a lot of teeth. "And I bet I’ll find a few interesting surprises while the boys in blue and I search."
The bartender stopped smiling. Glanced slightly over Colin’s shoulder.
Niol.
Colin spun around, claws ready, fangs bared, and caught the demon around the throat. He slammed him against the bar, holding him down with one hand.
The demon’s black eyes stared up at him. "Hello, shif…ter." He choked a bit on the last word.
Emily had choked like that, when that bastard had wrapped his fingers around her.
With an effort, Colin loosened his hold. "You’ve been holdin’ out on me, Niol." And he didn’t have time to pussyfoot around with him anymore. "I want the hybrid’s name."
The bartender was standing stock still, staring at them.
Niol lifted his hand, waved him away, but his black stare never left Colin. "Let me go."
"Tell me the name." He wasn’t in the mood for this shit.
A fist plowed into his back. A strong, hard punch that drove straight into his spine.
Colin snarled and spun around. A demon stood behind him, fists raised. Colin kicked out at him, catching the guy in the ribs and sending him flying into a nearby table. People moved out of the way when the table and the demon crashed to the floor. But the music and dancing never stopped.
"Enough!" Niol ordered. He pointed at the fallen demon. "Mentaur, give us a minute."
Mentaur rose to his feet, spit at Colin, then stomped away.
Colin stepped forward, that demon ass-
"You can’t expect to attack me and not get retaliation," Niol informed him softly. "My men, they don’t like to see me bothered."
Bothered. "Yeah, well, if you don’t tell me what I want to know in the next ten seconds, they’re going to see you bloody." He lifted his claws. "And we don’t want that, do we?" The band began yelling a hard, fast tune. Guitars squealed.
Niol cocked his head to the side. "You’re convinced the hybrid’s behind the killings."
"Aren’t you?"
Niol didn’t answer.
"His name."
"I don’t know it."
"Bullshit, you know-"
"I know he’s in town because I felt the rush of his power the night you and the good doctor were attacked. But then, I’m sure she felt it too. Being as how she’s the professional at sensing our kind, I’m sure she got a better lock on him than I did."
Niol sighed and shook his head. "I don’t know who he is. I only know that he’s out there. He’s not one of mine, shifter."
"You’d better not be lying to me." But wasn’t that what demons did? Lie? Twist the truth?
Damn. He should have brought Emily with him. She’d be able to sense the truth or the deception.
But he hadn’t wanted to risk her.
Hadn’t wanted to put her in any more danger.
"You think I don’t want this guy stopped?" Niol sounded mildly curious as he stared back at him.
"I think you don’t give a damn what happens to the humans."
"But I do care about what happens to my kind."
Gillian Nemont. "Where is she?"
Niol didn’t pretend to misunderstand. "She’s already been taken care of, shifter. She was his first victim."
Sonofa- "Taken care of? What the hell does that mean?"
Niol’s black eyes hardened and the air vibrated with the force of his rage. "It means I didn’t want her dissected by one of the human doctors. Cut open. Studied. She deserved better than that."
"So what? You took her body? Hid her? Took her clothes to make it look like she’d skipped town? Destroyed evidence-"
"I gave her a burial in the way of our kind. I showed her the respect in death that bastard didn’t give her in life."
A third victim. "You can’t do that, Niol. You can’t have your own laws, your own-"
"She was my sister." His knuckles whitened as he fisted his hands. "He…broke her. Left her in an alley, with the garbage and the rats. Left terror in her eyes and left her in a bed of blood." He shook his head. "Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. She was mine to protect, and I did for her the only thing that I could."
The band stopped playing. A swirl of voices filled the brief silence.