To my shame, there was a fraction of my soul that didn’t want to do anything. That just wanted to throw up its hands and go along for the ride. Abdicate responsibility. Overthrow conscience. Join Jaz and believe in his mad dreams.

It was a tiny part, but it had to be acknowledged. That’s what Karl had tried to tell me last night. I couldn’t keep pretending that part didn’t exist. I had my demon, and it wasn’t evil any more than was his wolf. It just wasn’t human. It lacked the ability to comprehend the conscious lives of others. It hungered and it desired and it knew nothing else, strove for nothing else but the satisfaction of those hungers and desires.

The human in me would never pass a car accident and see a covered body without feeling a jab of grief for a life lost. The demon could see only what it could take from that death: chaos. Likewise with the wolf, who would see only a meal already brought down. Not evil. Just not human.

When the demon whispered in my ear, telling me it would be easier to give in to Jaz, accept the chaos feast he’d set at my feet in offering, I couldn’t be horrified by the impulse. I had to listen, refuse and move on.

“Oh, there he is. Let’s scoot you back in the car.”

My chance was evaporating. Was I strong enough yet to knock him out? Was I ever strong enough? The element of surprise. That was my only hope.

I let him lead me toward the car. I saw his gun on the front seat, where he must have laid it while trying to get me into the back. If I could swing the door open, hit him, grab the—

The flash of fangs. A growl that skittered down my spine. I went rigid, a name on my lips. Karl. I looked around, but of course, he wasn’t there. A vision. Meaning he was close.

“Hope?” Jaz’s voice. His hand squeezed mine, the other still around my waist.

Where is she? The snarled question reverberated through my head. A crack. Blinding pain. Only I didn’t feel pain. Just chaos, rippling through the air, floating up from…

My gaze flew to the railing.

“Hope? What do you—?”

Jaz followed my gaze. A small noise. An odd noise. Like a tiny chirp of fear. He dropped me and ran for the railing.

“Son—!”

The word cut off with a strangled cry. He ran back to the car, pushed me aside, clawed at the door, finally getting it open.

Where is she, you son of a bitch?

Karl. I swore I could hear his voice. Impossible from thirty feet below, but it was as clear as if he was beside me.

I walked to the railing. Seemed to float, pulled along by the tethers of chaos.