Wicked Burn (Realm Enforcers #3)(114)

The demon holding her jerked her tighter against his body. He seemed to be holding off on the demon mind attack for the moment, because she could still see. “Back off or I blow a bullet through her pretty neck.” Deep and hoarse, definitely a purebred demon voice.

Garrett stalled and held up a hand for Logan to pause. “You have to know we’re not letting you take her. So let go, run, and we’ll see what happens next.” His fangs dropped.

Cara angled her wrist around, trying to keep her grip on the gun. The demon pressed his leg against her hand, trapping it against her thigh. “Drop the weapon, lady.”

She didn’t have much of a choice with his gun shoved into her neck. “Fine.” She relaxed her body, waited until his hold lessened, and then tossed the gun toward Garrett. It clattered across the concrete and finally came to a stop a foot away from him. He smiled.

The demon stiffened. “Move for that gun, and I’ll take her out.”

Garrett studied him, edging left while Logan went right. “I don’t think so. You need her alive, right?”

“Nope. Just need her, period. They can do as many tests on a corpse as on a live chick, if you ask me.” The demon dragged her toward the exposed part of the level. The overhead concrete disappeared, and rain dropped down on them.

Cara blinked away rain and tried to find an opening to fight as the boys stalked them, their steps even and in sync. “This is silly,” she whispered. “You can’t halt progress. The virus may not even negate mating bonds for still-living immortals.”

The demon shrugged. “Don’t care about halting or progress. You’re just a job to me, lady.”

Fantastic. Demon mercenaries. She tried again. “You don’t understand. There’s no new information to be gained from testing me. Just take the samples, and you’ll know everything the Realm knows.”

“My job is to take you, so I’m taking you.” The demon’s boots scraped over rocks as he moved.

Logan cleared his throat. “My brother is Zane Kyllwood, the leader of the demon nation. We are now aligned with the Realm, and I can assure you, he takes that seriously.”

“So?” the guy hissed.

“So? Well, now. You’re a demon, and he takes that kind of thing seriously, as well. He really won’t like demons attacking the Realm, especially his mate’s mother.” Logan shrugged. “You know that you’re holding a gun to Zane’s mother-in-law, right?”

The demon audibly swallowed. “I don’t give a shit.”

Logan shook his head, his body tense and ready to strike. “Believe me, you don’t want Zane on your ass.”

“I’m not afraid of some vampire-demon breed, boy.” The demon shoved the gun harder against Cara’s neck, and pain lanced through her throat. Tears filled her eyes, and she had to fight to keep from crying out.

Logan’s chin lowered, and his green eyes darkened to almost black. “Now, that just isn’t nice.”

Garrett edged to the side. “Let her go.”

The rain increased in force and pinged off the concrete.

“Get back,” the demon said, jerking his head toward the enclosed part of the construction. “Get out of the way. The helicopter is going to touch down here.”

Cara tried to eye the area. Sure, it was big and flat, but building materials littered the entire ground. There wasn’t a decent place to land. She ran through self-defense techniques she’d learned. If the demon would just move the gun a little, she could take her chance.

The hum of the rotors competed with the driving rain, and the black helicopter seemed to glide around the nearest completed building, a hotel with blue windows. She blinked water from her eyes, unable to move her arm to wipe her face. While she couldn’t move her head, her gaze caught Garrett’s as he looked over and up. His eyebrows rose.

She tried to swallow around the gun at her throat and glanced toward the long ladder part of a yellow crane. A flash caught her eye. She lifted her gaze and bit back a gasp. Talen was halfway to the top, at least ten stories above them, aiming a gun at the helicopter. His concentration was absolute, and his face was set in fierce lines.

He fired.

The green laser ripped through the front windshield of the helicopter and hit the pilot. He fell forward, blood coating the window. The helicopter jerked up and spun around. A man holding a long machine gun fell out the open side door and yelled, plunging stories down to the ground several floors beneath them. The crash when he hit the ground reverberated up.

The helicopter continued to swing around and around, emitting an odd whine. The tail swung toward the yellow crane ladder, and Cara screamed.

Talen’s eyes widened, and holding on to the sides, he jumped away from the steps. He pummeled toward the ground like he was attached to some odd zip line, his knees up toward his chest.

Cara’s entire body shook, and she gagged.

“Stop it,” the demon said, jerking her.

The helicopter’s tail smashed into the yellow cage. The impact was deafening, and the entire building seemed to rock.

Talen fell with a loud roar, hitting the cement and rolling. He came up, his fangs flashing.

Thank God. He was okay. Cara’s knees wobbled.

The helicopter whirled around and dropped, disappearing from sight. It crashed hard, and fire flew up to flare hot and bright before dropping. Another clatter echoed from down below. Smoke and debris burst up and then cascaded down with the rain.