And I would have. Except that this time when the degenerate opened her mouth, instead of hissing at me again, she pounced.

The monster’s clawed hands slammed into my chest and the alley tilted. My backside hit the ground an instant before my head, and the crack of my skull against concrete was enough to stun me. I tried to suck in a breath, but my lungs wouldn’t expand. A heartbeat later I realized why—the degenerate was perched on my chest.

She lunged for my throat. I threw my right arm up and braced my forearm against her neck, holding her snapping jaw inches from my face. She roared in fury, and my ears rang while her finger-claws tore at my coat. I forced my left hand between us, and when no light appeared in my palm, I groaned in frustration, then shoved her with every bit of strength I had. I didn’t expect much from the effort, and I didn’t get much from it. But I got enough.

The degenerate fell backward onto the concrete and I scrambled to my knees. An instant after that, I dropped my full weight on her, as I’d just seen Reese do.

She snapped and tried to throw me off, but I clenched her waist between my knees and her throat in my right hand, then held on tight while she bucked and sputtered beneath me. And finally my left hand was tingling.

“Hold…still…you filthy…bitch!” But she didn’t hold still, and I couldn’t make her, so I slammed my palm down on her sternum as hard as I could and shoved that heat building inside me into my hand.

The glow was weak but immediate.

She bucked harder and tried to screech, so I squeezed her neck with my other hand, and something crunched beneath my fingers. Her trachea?

Transitional strength. It had to be.

“No!” Reese shouted. “Don’t kill her. Exorcise her.”

“What does it look…like I’m…doing?” I demanded, riding out another desperate thrash while the degenerate clawed at the arms of my coat, reaching for my face.

“It looks like you’re riding a half-dead dog,” Devi said, and my temper spiked. And with that pulse of anger, the glow beneath my palm exploded in light so bright I could hardly stand to look at it. The degenerate gave one more weak twitch beneath me, then fell still. I didn’t get up until the glow was completely gone, leaving me half blind while my eyes readjusted to the shadows.

“Nice,” Finn said as I stood on shaky legs and wiped my hands on my jeans. I understood why they did that now—degenerates were filthy.

“It was adequate,” Devi said, while I stared in awe at the demon I’d just exorcised. “But slow. Let’s go before the rest of them are on us.” She glanced at Reese, brows raised in silent inquiry.