Demon Night

through an artery before bringing the blade to her throat.
    She clenched her teeth against her scream. Sammael was weak, but the loss of blood was sapping her strength, too.
    “ Very disappointed,” Sammael said.
    Charlie wasn’t listening. Ethan’s head looked almost normal, and his hands were fisting.
    The demon sighed. “I suppose this means a change of plan.” His voice lifted. “We’ll see you in the house, McCabe. If I hear you call other Guardians for help, I’ll take her head.”
    Sammael was still fast. He dragged her up the steps to the rear entrance, kicked open the door, and stopped in front of the security panel.
    “Tell me the code, Charlotte.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know it,” she rasped. And if it set off the alarm, it might alert someone at SI.
    “Don’t be a fool. Tell me.” The dagger cut into her skin.
    Sweat and blood itched a trail down the front of her throat. Ethan had written the numbers for her, but they were in her bag; she hadn’t memorized them. “I don’t know it.”
    Ethan’s voice was stronger now—hopefully closer. “Give him the code, Charlie.”
    She stared at the panel. Why couldn’t she remember it? Did Ethan really think she did? No…
    No. He wouldn’t.
    A list of numbers ran from her mouth. Ten of them seemed like a good place to stop. Sammael held her in front of him, turning her toward the door as if to use her as a shield. The tip of his wing tapped out the series of numbers on the panel.
    A whirring click sounded from the wall. Charlie’s eyes widened; Sammael’s grip loosened slightly as he turned his head.
    The landscape painting beside the security panel shifted to the side. Barbed darts shot out, trailing wires. She heard them sink into Sammael’s flesh.
    But he was holding on to her, and she was wet.
    Zapped . Sparks flew behind her eyes and from the wall. And she was bending, convulsing, the current blowing her from Sammael’s grip, burning a white-hot hole through consciousness.
    Darkness filled it.

CHAPTER 28
    “Charlie.”
    Ethan’s voice cut through the black—and came from in front of her. But someone was sitting behind her, his arms around her, his body warm…
    Feverishly warm. And the pressure against her throat told her Sammael still had his knife. He must have reached her before Ethan returned to the house, but Ethan must have been the one to put the spell up. The silence from outside was deep.
    She drew a breath, and wished she hadn’t. The stink of singed meat hung in the air. Hopefully, that wasn’t her.
    “We burned the duck,” she rasped, and blinked her eyes open. She was sitting on the floor between Sammael’s legs. His knees were drawn up; his shoes were gone. She hadn’t thought his bare feet would look so human.
    Two yards away, Ethan crouched with his crossbow aimed at her head.
    No—just slightly to the left of her head, on Sammael’s face.
    Neither he nor Sammael spoke.
    Charlie said, “We didn’t follow his directions. Jane was the one who suggested turning up the oven. I think she completely disorganized one of his utensil drawers, too.”
    Ethan’s lips twitched a little. “That’s a shame, Charlie. They sure ain’t suited for one another, are they?”
    “No. He should really let her go, let her come back to us.” She had to swallow, bring up saliva to her mouth when Sammael’s arm tightened. “What’s going to happen now?”
    “Well,” Ethan said slowly, “we got ourselves a real interesting situation. Between the hellhound venom and the shock therapy, Sammael’s feeling awful poorly—but not so much that he can’t pull back on that knife.”
    And take off her head. Charlie stared at Ethan’s face, forced herself not to shake. He didn’t meet her gaze; it remained steady on Sammael.
    “I guess if he killed me and tried to get away, he wouldn’t get far.”
    “That’s a fact, Miss Charlie. Even if I missed—and I won’t—the security system would have alerted SI. And as Sammael insisted the spell go up as soon as I walked on in, he likely knows this. So it may be he’s waiting to heal, thinking he’d have a better chance at full speed.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “But I figure it’s something else.”
    What else could there be? Hoping to run and take Charlie with him as a hostage? Sammael must have wanted her for something; he’d been ready to make a bargain of some sort, even offering to spare Ethan…
    “He wants you alive,” she realized. Sammael could