Demon Night

hunters and lawmen they’ve killed while evading capture, the jails they’ve broken out of when they did get caught.”
    Charlie stopped dead, stared at him. “You’re serious?” Please, let him be pulling something over on me .
    But a solemn expression had settled over his features, and she couldn’t find a hint of a joke behind it. “Yes. But it wasn’t until 1886 that Drifter’s death is finally recorded—then Caleb’s, right after.”
    She let that sink in. The ache in her chest wasn’t just from the exercise or frustration now—she wanted to see Ethan, hold on to him for a long, long time. A spot of trouble, he’d said. And he’d given up his life to get his brother out of it.
    “So, I can’t tell you what Drifter was like when he first got to Caelum, or anything much before 1968—and even then, I only saw him a few times before he was assigned as my mentor in the early nineties.”
    “I—” Imagining the span of Ethan’s lifetime was knocking her loopy. Charlie huffed out a breath, tried again. “I’m slow adjusting to thinking in these time periods, but I’ll catch up.”
    “I understand. I still can’t fathom Michael’s age, and he’s God-knows-how-old.” He laughed a little, but Charlie had just gotten the joke when he added, “Anyway, when I first met Drifter, he was with another Guardian, a really pretty young…Hot dog, that had your back behind it. Are we going for another sweaty round?”
    “Sorry,” Charlie muttered, and reminded herself that she was cooling down.
    His grin flashed, all too knowing for her comfort. “Anyway, it was nothing serious. I think they were just fu—” Jake cleared his throat. “Friends.”
    “Fuck buddies.” Which was all Charlie would have asked for. Impossible for her now. Not just his determination not to use her as a salve, and her determination not to be used as one—there was no chance that she could keep that emotional distance from him.
    Her sister, her job, the most fascinating man she’d ever met…Charlie’s life was just getting more and more fucked by the second.
    At least she had too many endorphins running through her to feel sorry for herself right now.
    “Yes. Until she Ascended with the others, and then I think it’s just been random human women, because I’d have heard if it was a Guardian. Back in the eighties, there was a rumor about things going sour between him and a vampire, but I don’t know if it was legitimate, and I only knew him by his coat and his height then.” Jake turned his head. “Do you think you’re even? Because he’s lowered the spell around his room.”
    No. She wanted to hear more about the vampire and about where he lived on Caelum and what Ascending was. But she only nodded and said, “I think so. Thank you.”
    He streaked into the house, leaving Charlie alone on the deck. The sun was setting over the city, painting oranges and purples in long strokes across the sky and the water. The air was cool, and now that she wasn’t active, it pricked gooseflesh over her sweaty skin.
    She tried to keep the fear from her voice in her final message to Jane, just convey a sense of urgency, but she wasn’t certain she managed it. When she hung up, only the knowledge that the phone was the one way Jane could reach her prevented Charlie from throwing it into the lake.
    “She’ll be all right,” Ethan said softly, coming to stand beside her. He leaned his elbows on the rail, clasped his hands, and stared out over the water. “Sammael cares for her. I don’t rightly know how corrupt it is, but he’s protective. He won’t allow her to be hurt.”
    “If he’s the one telling the vampires to kill me—”
    “Turn you into one of them.” His gaze lowered to his hands. “They’re looking to transform you.”
    Her breath hitched. “Either way, he’s got to be one sick and twisted motherfucker not to realize that hurting me would hurt Jane pretty damn bad, too.”
    Ethan nodded, a tiny smile kicking up the corner of his mouth. “He’s a demon, Charlie, which means he’s both sick and twisted—and since it pertains to you, I’m laying it out straight. This is why I’m not taking you with me at night, even if it means it won’t be as easy to get to Jane. I don’t want you out there, because the vampires can hurt you. The demons can’t.”
    A short laugh escaped her, and she shook her head. “Well, as much as I’d like to hang outside her window and wave until she sees me, I don’t