Ryan’s eyes darted in every direction. “Is that…?”

“Yes. Let’s go,” Claire said, shoving the book into her hot pink duffel bag. “Bex?”

Bex nodded, running across the room and diving out the window.

Ryan’s expression was a mixture of disgust and alarm. “It sounds like a dying animal…a thousand dying animals.”

Claire pulled her sidearm from its holster. “You should hear one when you send it back to Hell.” She gestured to me, “Show us the way, Nina.”

The howls and screams of Shax’s minions grew louder. Jared turned to me, cupping his hands on each side of my face.

“This is it, isn't it?” I said.

Jared looked deep into my eyes, as if he wanted to pass the truth through them instead of just saying the words. But he said them, anyway. “I won't let them touch you.”

“I'm afraid,” I said, shaking. The fear was so intense I felt powerless to control my own body. As the screeching grew closer, it became a physical effort to avoid slipping into a flew blown panic. I looked to Ryan, then. “Remember what we talked about.”

Ryan nodded once. “I remember.”

I grabbed Jared’s hand and we fled, climbing the staircase, and then sprinting down the hall.

“This way!” I yelled. I stopped in front of a closed door at the end of the hallway. It was pointless to whisper, with the deafening shrieking of the demonic filling the air. I pulled on the knob, but it was locked. Jared moved me aside, and then landed a lethal blow with his foot. The door swung open, and hit the concrete wall, wooden pieces splintering and then falling to the ground.

“Come on,” he said, pulling me up the crumbling staircase.

On the roof, the wind mercilessly whipped all around us, and the night sky crowded even the brightest lights below.

Jared ran to the edge. “Which building?”

I lifted my chin in the right direction. “That one.”

Ryan frowned at Claire, unsure. “You’re going to jump the length of a football field?”

She smiled. “Yes. And you're coming with me.”

Ryan shook his head. “I’ll take the fire escape.”

I grabbed his coat, and then pushed him into Claire’s arms. “Thousands of those things are going to swarm this roof in about seven seconds. You won’t make it to the landing.”

Jared wrapped his arms around my waist, and then took three long strides, grunting when he leaped from the edge. My fingers locked around his neck. I didn’t dare look down, afraid the second I realized we were doing something impossible, his powers would fade, and we would fall five stories to the ground.

He made the same grunting noise to land as he did when we departed, but the landing was not as rough as I had anticipated.