Demon Night

nephilim, Belial’s demons will be doing anything they can to kill them.”
    “It ain’t going to be by fighting them,” Ethan said. “Sammael rabbited awful fast.”
    “And you tried to run, too?” Castleford asked. There was no reprimand in the question, only curiosity.
    “I would have if it had let me. Jake’s the only reason I ain’t in pieces at the bottom of Puget Sound. That, and after Jane Newcomb yelled at Sammael, the demon assisted me a bit.”
    Both Lilith and Castleford sat back, their faces reflecting their surprise.
    “Fuck me,” Lilith said. “Does he love her?”
    “I reckon.” Ethan didn’t know if that would make it all easier, or more difficult. “And it wasn’t us that the nephil came after—not at first, leastwise. But once it got wind of Charlie, it sure was eager to get a kill. I figure it was what tortured that other vampire, as well.”
    Castleford looked at Lilith. “Did the demon who told you the story mention anything about vampires?”
    “No. I don’t think vampires even existed then,” Lilith said, her voice dark. “And that adds another question: Is this nephil connected to the vampire massacres in Berlin, Rome, and D.C.?”
    If it was, Ethan sure as hell wouldn’t be leaving Charlie alone in Seattle. He made to turn toward the office door, but halted when Castleford’s gaze narrowed on him, and the other man frowned thoughtfully.
    “You’re wondering about Sammael,” Ethan guessed, figuring Castleford must have read something in his tone when Ethan had been talking about the demon. When Castleford nodded, he explained, “He’s the one who gave me the poison.”
    Lilith sat up a little straighter, a line forming between her brows. “And your brother?” she asked.
    “Sammael saw him hanged.” Ethan glanced down at his boots, then up at Castleford again. The other man was studying his expression and would know Ethan wasn’t lying. “It won’t get in the way of protecting her. I’ll do the job.”
    Castleford regarded him a moment longer. “All right,” he said finally.
    Lilith’s grin was back in place. “I suppose it doesn’t hurt that ‘doing the job’ means that you’ll probably chop Sammael’s head off.”
    Just the thought of slaying the bastard had Ethan smiling with grim satisfaction. “That it doesn’t,” he agreed.

    Ethan found Jake in the tech room at the back of the warehouse. The light shining in from the single, small window high up on the wall glared on his computer screen, but Jake didn’t look as if he was paying attention to it, anyway. He was sitting low in his seat, his hands tucked in his pockets.
    Lilith hadn’t been mistaken; Guardians did tend to beat up on themselves better than anyone else could.
    “You got the video?”
    Jake nodded without looking away from the computer.
    “Pull it up,” Ethan said, and crossed the room to stand beside Jake’s chair.
    With a deep sigh, Jake hauled himself up and fiddled with the mouse until the video was playing.
    Ethan let it run through. “There’s two things you ought to have done different,” he said finally.
    “Only two?” Jake’s reply hung somewhere between sarcasm and surprise.
    “You had to go out. If that had been Jane, and you’d watched a vampire get on her like that without doing anything, I’d be feeding your head to Sir Pup. And having Charlie assist you was a good idea, because with Jane’s throat ripped up, there wouldn’t be no way for her to get inside by herself.”
    “But?”
    “You ought to have had Charlie wait inside until you made certain it was Jane. You had to think quick once the vampire showed, and I reckon if you’d had another second, you’d have realized that. But you often don’t have seconds, so you have to think quicker.”
    Jake nodded. “How would I have communicated it to her through the spell?”
    “Charlie’s smart enough to figure that you taking off and running for your life was a damn good indication that it wasn’t Jane. Have a bit of faith in the people you protect—they want to keep themselves safe just as bad as you do.”
    A blush spread over the kid’s cheeks. “Yes, sir. What’s the second thing?”
    Ethan called in a sword, laid it next to the computer. “It takes less than a second. Next time, you leave weapons for her. Give her something to defend herself with if it all goes to hell. It may be she won’t have a chance to use them, but a little chance is better than none. A gun might have