14. Evalee

EVALEE

I lie flat on my stomach, my cheek pressed against the cool concrete, waiting for something insanely crazy to happen next, like the ground splitting open, or a hairy monster beast gobbling me up. But the air completely stills.

Opening my eyes, I look around at the empty street in front of me, and then to my right where the demon lies. His head is angled toward me, his arms and legs limply sprawled across the ground.

“Well, this sucks.” The demon’s lips move like a puppet, his eyes open and lifeless.

“Are you dead?” I whisper, not daring to move.

The demon gives me a dirty look. “Thanks to you, I am.”

Huh?

“He should be dead,” Hunter mutters from the other side of me.

I grit my teeth, turning to face him. “Great, you’re still alive.”

“Aw, Eva, I’d be hurt if I didn’t know you really don’t mean that,” he jokes, his fingers grazing the back of my arm.

I jerk away and roll over to get some distance between us before facing him again. “Don’t touch me.” Then I trip to my feet, brushing the bits of gravel and dirt off my legs. “In fact, don’t ever touch me again.” I start to storm off down the street, but the memory of the scream has me slowing to a confused stop. I glance around at the silent street, my gaze traveling to the shut doors, broken windows, and the crooked rooftops. “Where did that scream come from?”

“From Carter.” Hunter moves up behind me, lightly skimming his finger along my lower back.

“I said don’t touch me.” I say that, yet I make no effort to move forward as I turn my head to meet his gaze. “The scream was from the demon?”

Hunter nods. “He was in pain.”

“Why?”

“Because he was dying.”

“Again, why?” I gesture for him to get along with it. “Come on, dude; you gotta give me something because, right now, I’m freakin’ out and am seriously one step away from running from you again.”

His hand darts out and snatches ahold of my wrist. “Don’t.” When I wince in pain, he frowns. “What’s wrong?”

“You hurt my wrist early when you grabbed me,” I tell him bitterly. “You know, when you showed your true evil colors and tried to force me into a demon’s arms.”

Remorse fills Hunter’s eyes, but all he says is, “Quit being overdramatic.”

I wrench my arm free from his hold and run backward away from him. “You know what? I’m out of here.”

When he stands there, watching me run away from him instead of chasing me, I know something’s wrong. Then, when he whips out his wand and points it at me, I instantly know why.

I increase my speed and move to zigzag around, searching for a place to hide. “Don’t you dare?—”

Undiluted heat slams against my back, and my legs lock up as I tip over like a falling tree. Right before I greet the pavement with a kiss, my body rises and levitates in the air with my arms and legs immobilized, facing downward.

“Seriously?” I grunt. “You hit me with a freezing spell? After I just came out of a petrifying curse?”

Hunter’s boots appear in my line of vision, and then he trails his fingers up and down my spine. Normally, the touch would send me into giddy girl, lovey, dovey land. Now, I simply shiver. Or, well, I think about shivering, but my body remains frozen due to the spell.

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this. I promise I have a good reason, though.” I feel him press the tip of his wand against the back of my neck.

“Hunter …” I plead, unsure of what he’s going to do to me, yet knowing it can’t be good. “Please don’t. I’m sorry for trying to run away, okay? I won’t do it again.”

Disregarding my whining, he mumbles the incantation to the sleep spell, causing sparkling heat to glisten across my skin, kissing my fingertips, my toes, my lips …

I let out a soft, exhausted purr before my eyelids lower as the spell overtakes me and whisks me away to dreamland.