Demon Night

close to him. Forming his wings pulled at the bullet still lodged in his back, but he was glad of the distraction when she wrapped her arms around his neck, when she gasped and laughed in startled delight as they caught air.
    This time, though he went straight up, he didn’t have to go so quickly. He slid his arm under her knees, shifted her weight. It was easier for him to maneuver—and more comfortable for Charlie—if he carried her cradled against his chest rather than hanging. Her breath puffed against his throat, formed a cloud of vapor that slid instantly away with the wind as they ascended.
    “Ethan.” His name vibrated through her chattering teeth. “Do you have my coat?”
    He didn’t need to gain any more altitude; they were high enough that no one looking up would see them. He hovered, his wings beating steadily. “You’ve got to hang on to me.”
    She nodded, her arms tightening and holding her face close to his. He slowly lowered her knees, let her take her own weight. Draping the coat around her shoulders was awkward, the wind threatening to rip it away, the wool flapping and twisting.
    Until Charlie wound her legs around his waist, held on with one arm, and stuck her other arm through the sleeve. She switched sides and quickly repeated the action before bringing her eyes even with his.
    Her hair was blowing against his face, caught in the seam of his lips. Her thighs tightened at the sides of his hips, and she lifted her hand to his mouth, dragging the strands away with a curl of her finger. “Thank you, Ethan.”
    He gave an abrupt nod. “It’s what I do.”
    Charlie regarded him steadily, but he didn’t dare sink into her emotions to discover if anything more than gratitude lay behind that expression. After a long moment, she sighed and laid her cheek on his shoulder. Her hand trailed over the frame of his wings on its journey back around his neck.
    Ethan pushed her legs down over his hips and slipped his arm beneath her knees before she felt how much he’d wanted her to lay her lips against his again.
    In gratitude, in awe—for any damn reason at all.

CHAPTER 7
    Ethan had a heartbeat.
    Charlie wasn’t certain why that reassured her so much, but the deep sound and even rhythm of it did. After a few moments of listening, she braved her face and eyes to the freezing wind created by his flight. Seattle stretched out below them—then abruptly the city lights were gone, everything below them dark as they crossed Lake Washington.
    Giant residences lined the opposite shoreline. She knew of the area, though it had been a long time since she’d been invited to anyplace like it, and that hadn’t been in Seattle. Eastside was home to the billionaires of the tech industry or the likes of Senator Brandt.
    And, apparently, Ethan. Instead of heading farther inland, he skimmed above the placid water before landing on a wooden dock. She swayed in time with the lapping of the water against the floats until her knees adjusted to the motion. Moonlight whitewashed the stairs that led up the hill and gleamed in the windows of the lodge-style house. Tall firs broke the peaked line of the roof’s silhouette.
    Ethan was looking up at the large, rustic home with the same appreciation—and, she thought, a little bit of surprise. She saw him glance at the address placard tacked to the dock post, check it against a piece of paper that appeared in his hand, and shake his head.
    “You don’t own this?”
    “No.” His hand captured hers. The trees cast shadows across the upper half of the stairs, leaving it too dark for her to see—but he had no trouble navigating the steps and the flagstone path that led to the lakeside entrance. “Ramsdell Pharmaceuticals does. I just figured it’d be…fussy.”
    She blinked quickly. The job hadn’t been a lie? Did he live a normal life at the same time he fought vampires—and whatever he considered to be worse?
    “What was coming back there at the phone booth?”
    “A demon.” The door opened at his touch. Though he had them folded tight against his back, his wings brushed the sides and top of the door frame. He paused just inside, consulted the paper again, then moved to the security panel situated between a giant picture window and a framed landscape painting.
    A demon. She didn’t know much about them, only what she’d seen in movies and operas, but she had a good idea what the opposite of a demon was.
    Charlie stared up at his profile, then at the wings