My anger flared, and I tried to rein it in. “I wasn’t planning on it,” I said bitingly. “I do have resources, friends.” My arm came up and I pointed deeper into the unseen house. “But my mother has been tortured for almost thirteen hours because of me, and I’m going to do something about it!” My voice was rising, but I didn’t care. “She suffered as that bastard pretended to be my dad. She endured it knowing that if she let him out of that circle or walked away, he might come after me. I can stop him, and I will!”

“Lower your voice,” Takata said, and I just about lost it. Jaw clenched, I got in his face.

“My mother isn’t going to live her life hiding on hallowed ground because of something I did,” I said, more softly now but no less intently. “If I don’t do something, next time he might physically hurt her. Or start taking it out on strangers. Or maybe you! Not that I give a flip.”

I headed out into the hall. His footsteps were heavy behind me.

“Damn it, Rachel,” he was saying. “What makes you think you can kill him when the entire demon society can’t?”

I scooped up the keys by the front door where I’d left them, sparing a thought that the I.S. was probably looking for Trent’s car by now. “I’m sure they can,” I muttered. “I think they simply don’t have the guts to do it. And I never said I was going to kill him.” No, I was just going to take his name. God save me.

“Rachel.”

He took my arm, and I halted, looking up his height to find his expression pinched in deep concern. “There’s a reason no one hunts demons.”

I searched his face, seeing me in it everywhere. “Get out of my way.”

His grip tightened. Grabbing his arm, I did a quick ankle tuck and sent him down, resisting the urge to follow it with a fist in his gut—or somewhere a little lower, maybe.

“Ow,” he said, his eyes wide as he stared at the ceiling, one hand on his chest as he tried to catch his breath and figure out how he got on the floor.

I looked down at him and his shock. “Are you okay?”

His fingers prodded his lower chest. “Yeah.”

He was in my way, and I waited for him to move. “You want to know what it’s like to have kids?” I said as he sat up. “Some of it’s letting your daughter do stuff you think is stupid, trusting that just because you can’t do something doesn’t mean she can’t. That maybe she’s smart enough to get herself out of the trouble she gets herself into.”