The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(68)

Closing my eyes didn’t make the world any less spinny-ride, so I opened them again. “I was hit.”

Triplet melted down to a duo, his faces furrowed in concern. “Do you know why there’s blood on the seatbelt? It doesn’t appear to be yours.”

That’s when everything came rushing back to me. “Ari,” I gasped, struggling up out of my seat.

“You need to stay put.” Hands grabbed at me. One set since he’d finally snapped into focus. “I’m going to cut you out because the release mechanism got mangled in the crash.” He jogged over to his car.

Adrenaline rode me like a little bitch, but struggle as I might the belt had me trapped tight. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed bruising around my nose and left eye. I probed the puffy skin with a pained hiss. The fine white powder from the deployment that coated me didn’t add much to the overall effect, and only half of my beloved sunglasses now sat on my head. The other half was nowhere to be seen.

Neither was the hit-and-run black SUV.

I had to get out of here. There was no way to get past the airbags to try the ignition button and, given the crumpled frame and odd way the door hung open, I doubted the car would start anyway.

Dad was going to lose his shit.

I opted to try and zap my way loose from the seatbelt, since the paramedic was taking too long to get whatever tool he needed. I was so focused on the best way to free myself that I failed to realize he’d returned with what appeared to be a very thin, orange, post-modern stapler-shaped thing.

I shut my magic down with a lame, “It’s not what you think.”

He frowned at the tool. “The seatbelt cutter?”

No way he hadn’t seen my magic. Ignoring the impossible? Dodging that bullet worked for me except something about the way he watched me–his smile a little too bright, his gaze a bit too intense–made the back of my neck prickle.

Paramedic man squatted down, sawing through the belt with one sharp slice.

I pitched sideways. The world swung around me, my hand shooting out to grab the warped doorframe for balance. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the paramedic. Underneath his image, he was rippling.

A hot, bright burst of panic bloomed in my chest. I slammed my hand into his shoulder.

For a brief second, he transformed from shaggy cuteness to a silvery-blue serpent with an overly large mouth and needle teeth, made entirely of water. My electricity dissipated harmlessly over the surface of him. A weak cloud of steam rose off of the serpent, but that was it. His only reaction was to ask if I needed help standing up.

I doubled over, hyperventilating–not entirely an act–to buy me time.

“Come on. I’ll get you to the ambulance.” He tugged on my elbow, trying to pull me to my feet.

An icy certainty that I couldn’t let him put me in there slithered up my spine. I flashed back on the guy sucking that demon’s thumb, unwilling to contemplate what this one might do to me. But if my magic was useless on him, how was I going to get away?

Another tug. “Get checked out and I’ll help you find your brother.”

My head snapped up at his words. At his encouraging nod, the picture of compassion. Except I’d never said Ari was my brother. The mention of my twin triggered the memory of Ari’s concentrated salt-coated blade that had been tossed in the car door pocket. In one fell swoop, I thrust it upward into the demon paramedic’s jugular.

His eyes widened and his glamour fell away, leaving his watery serpent self with the knife sliding downstream to his toes.

I jumped to my feet, dizzy, and tense, waiting for the clatter of the knife on the ground. Waiting for his nasty retaliation.

Instead, he puffed up, solidifying into a Jell-O-like state, the knife buried inside him.

I’m not sure which of us was more shocked.

The demon tried to move but the salt content made him unwieldy. He wobbled from side-to-side, exactly how I’d expect a giant gelatin cube to walk.

“Bloating sucks,” I said, shooting a fairly decent forked lightning bolt from my eyes, which was so fucking cool. Thanks to his super salt content, he now conducted electricity just fine. His body wobbled back against the attack.

The demon curled into his left side. He had to be protecting his sweet spot. Excellent. That left a lot of him to work on.

“Where’s my brother?”

Silence.

Electricity crackling off of my finger, I ran the tip along his wrist, slicing through him like butter. His hand dropped to the ground with a meaty splat. His face tightened but he stayed mum.

The demon snapped at me with his spiky teeth but I sidestepped him, one magic-charged hand held up. “I can do this all day. Ari. Why was he taken?”

The demon edged away from me.

“Who are you afraid of?” I forced myself to voice my deepest fear. “Asmodeus?”

His imperceptible flinch was my answer. All guilt, all terror, I shoved down into a well-buried box to torture myself with later. Then I killed the uncooperative bastard.

The demon convulsed, contorting around himself until he became smaller and smaller and then nothing at all. All that was left of him was a few drops of water splattered on the ground and Ari’s knife.

I didn’t stick around to gloat, bolting for Leo’s place, since I had no phone to call her with. Luckily, she lived around the corner. Hand pressed to my sides, lactic acid burning its way through my muscles, I leaned on Leo’s intercom, holding the wall for balance, and praying she was home.