“Will you stop!” she snapped at him as she drove over the backcountry roads like they were her own personal racetrack. “You’re pissing me off with all that buzzing in my head.”

Ronan hadn’t dared let her out of his sight. He’d insisted that if she wanted the demon delivered to Joseph, she was going to have to be the one to do it. And the only way she could was if he guided her to the meeting point.

Surprisingly enough, she’d relented, agreeing to drive while he navigated.

“Who are you?” he asked. “Where did you come from?”

She shot him a surly glance and readjusted her grip on the steering wheel. “Are we there yet?”

“Almost. You didn’t answer my questions.”

“No. I didn’t.”

“Will you?”

“No. I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Listen, vampire,” she began.

“Sanguinar. Not vampire.”

“You stalk the night, drink blood, are all pale and far too pretty for your own good. If the shoe fits . . .”

“Too pretty?”

“Sorry. Did I step on your pretty little vampire toes? Should I have called you handsome?”

He would have enjoyed that. Instead, he was unsure of what she thought of him, and that made him flounder in insecurity. Did she like the way he looked? He certainly loved looking at her.

“Take a left at the next intersection,” he said.

“You didn’t answer my question.” She shot his words back at him with a mischievous glow lighting her silvery green eyes.

“You answer one of mine, I’ll answer one of yours.”

A wide grin spread across her luscious mouth. “I love games. But I get to go first.”

“As you please.”

“How are you able to find me?”

“I drank your blood. It’s a part of me now. So are you. I’ll be able to find you wherever you go for as long as you live.”

She shivered, and he had no idea if it was the good kind or the bad kind. “Does that upset you?”

“Yes,” she said. “Next question.”

“But it’s my turn.”

“You just asked yours. You wanted to know if I was upset. I told you. Thus, my turn.”

Clearly, he was going to have to be more careful in his dealings with this woman.

“Is there any way to hide from you?” she asked.

“No,” he said, being as curt as she’d been, with no explanation. “Why do you keep running from me?”

“Because I really don’t want you to bite me again. It was . . .” She trailed off, leaving him squirming with curiosity.

“It was what?”

“Unsettling.” She turned where he’d indicated, putting them only a couple of minutes from their destination. “Next question.”

“You tricked me. That isn’t fair.”

“File a complaint with my supervisor.”

“Fine. It’s your turn again.”

She turned and captured his gaze. He truly couldn’t ever remember seeing a more beautiful woman. Even Athanasian women were average compared to her, and they were utterly stunning.

Then she asked, “How do I kill you?”

“Why would you want to do that?”

She shook her head. “My answer first. Then yours.”

“I bleed much the same as any other creature. Or you can cut off my head. Just don’t try sunlight, unless you want to die right along with me.” Giving her that knowledge had been easier than he would have thought. He wasn’t sure if it was because he trusted her, or if it was because he’d given it within the context of a game. Or perhaps it was something else entirely.

He pointed to a wooded patch containing a row of trees with purple paint marking their trunks, along with several prominent No Trespassing signs. “Park here. I’ll text Joseph and tell him that we’ve arrived.”

“It doesn’t look like anything,” she said.

“That’s rather the point. The people who live back in these woods don’t want to be found.” He sent Joseph the text, telling him they were waiting for him at the entrance to the Slayer settlement.

When he was done, he said, “Now answer my question. Why do you want to kill me?”

“Because you’re interfering with my work and slowing me down. You have no idea how . . . upsetting that can be for a woman like me. If I thought I could just ask you nicely to stop following me, I would, but something tells me that the only way you’ll stop is if you’re dead.”

“Your assessment of the situation is accurate.”

She nodded and reached under her seat. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

Ronan didn’t see her next move coming. One second she was sitting beside him, playing their little game. In the next, she had a heavy flashlight in her hand. She smashed it into the side of his head with a numbing impact. The blow was so hard, his head hit the glass, shattering it.

Warning bells went off in his mind, clanging about his impending doom. Sadly, he was too stunned to do more than make note of them as he fell unconscious.

Chapter 36

Justice hated breaking open such a pretty head, but she had no choice.

The fates giveth, and the fates taketh away.

She had no idea why they were so fickle, driving her to save his life one moment and demanding that she smash his head the next, but she’d learned long ago that there was no point in fighting it. Every time she did, she suffered.

Before the smell of his blood could draw any nasty monsters, she used a roll of duct tape in her ready bag and bandaged him up so well, it was going to take him days to cut through all the layers, and even more to get the adhesive out of his luxurious hair. No way were demons smelling anything through that.

Then she went around to his side of the car and eased him onto the ground. The demon in the trunk came out next, and it was all she could do not to puke as she made contact with its rubbery, cold skin.

Once her cargo was unloaded, she got back into her rental car and headed north, at the urging of the fates.

She had no idea what was up there waiting for her, but it really didn’t matter. One direction was the same as another.

Every journey ended in suck.

*   *   *

Lyka was so stunned by Joseph offering to let her go, she hadn’t thought of a single thing to say to him for the past thirty minutes. She kept running over the conversation again in her mind as they hiked back to the road to meet Ronan. His timely text had saved her from saying something she’d regret, but only because she’d started thinking about what was on the other end of this hike.