A large, shiny red hole in his jacket reflects the light from the kitchen window. Blood flows in a stream down his chest, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, he scowls down at Jonas’s thrown dagger in his hands as it drips red blood into the earth, like the weapon itself offends him. He shoves it into his belt, still wet. His head whips back and forth on the lawn. “Where’d the Liege go?”

“Ran,” William mutters, jerking his chin into the woods opposite the back porch. “That way.” He’s still holding the goruchel with ease, watching her face carefully. It’s now a blueish color. Her crimson eyes roll back in her head. “She’s nearly out. Go get him.”

Sel is off in a whoosh. Slower than I’ve seen him, but faster than I could run, especially now. William notices me swaying on my feet and his glowing eyes flick up to mine. “She got you pretty good. I’ll heal you when we’re done.”

“Holy shit!”

There in the open doorway stands Alice, hair still wet and dripping onto her pink polka-dotted sleep tee and matching shorts.

She runs barefoot in the grass toward us just as William lowers the now unconscious goruchel onto the ground, but she stops a few feet away when she sees the demon. “Is that a…”

“Demon?” William nods as he releases the goruchel and eyes her for signs of movement. “Yes. Goruchel, the strongest and rarest. Although we’ve seen two in as many months now, so ‘rare’ may be an adjective we can no longer afford to use.”

“She looks human.”

William’s jaw clenches. “She killed the human who looked like this. Goruchels don’t leave their victims alive. They have to murder a human to replace them.”

Alice’s eyes widen in horror. Her head jerks from one part of the scene to the next as if she doesn’t know where to look first. The very real demon bleeding black blood, half-broken and unconscious on the grassy lawn, William kneeling next to her, or me wavering on my feet.

In the end, she settles on me.

“Bree, your… you…” She steps closer, wide eyes traveling over my face, lingering on my throat. The careful way I’m standing. No, the way I’m tilting… She sweeps up under my arm to catch me. The motion pulls at my right shoulder and I cry out. “Sorry, sorry!”

“I’m okay, just—” It hurts to talk, so I don’t.

“Set her down slow. Hold her head with one hand to keep it still,” William orders, still kneeling beside the demon, his hand on her shoulder. In case she wakes, I guess.

Alice complies without hesitation, lowering me to the ground. It feels safer immediately. The forest was starting to spin a little. “I’m okay!” I insist.