Demon Night

they lower the spell, the alarm will.” He glanced back; her hands were tight on either side of her head. “You ready?”
    She nodded, and he cupped his palm around the end of the cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag. It burned his throat and lungs like hell, but he kept smiling into Sammael’s now-glowing eyes.
    Then he vanished a good amount of gasoline into his cache and dumped it onto the SUV’s backseat. Even if nothing else roasted, that seat would.
    “All right then,” he said, and pitched the cigarette in after the fuel.
    His jacket was in his hands again less than a second later, and he wrapped it around Charlie, used it and his body to shield her from the rush of superheated air. The sky lighted up, orange as a sunset. Metal squealed as it warped. Glass shattered—the SUV’s windows. The sliding door had likely done the same, but he wouldn’t be hearing it.
    From beneath his jacket, Charlie whispered, “Holy shit.”
    That about summed it up. His arms tight around her, he formed his wings and took to the air, avoiding the wavering column of heat rising from the burning vehicle. The side of the house was catching, too, little runners of fire climbing the shingles like ivy.
    A light winked on in the upstairs bedroom. That’d be Jane, jolted out of bed by the alarm. Sammael was likely already in there with her. And not doing anything a human couldn’t do yet, Ethan figured, because the demon would be confident he could continue his charade indefinitely. He’d hold on to that human identity, not wanting to scare Jane away.
    And it was far too hot for a human to escape through the back, so they’d go out the front door.
    Ethan set Charlie down on the opposite side of the street, vanished his wings again. Neighbors would be coming out before too long, or peeking through their windows. He put Jane’s little car by the curb, and didn’t suppress the tiny shudder of relief that the demon blood inside was out of his cache, as well.
    A tug on his jacket spun Charlie out of it, and he steadied her without taking his gaze from the house. Shadows moved behind the closed drapes on the first floor, coming toward the door.
    “All right,” he said, slipping his coat on. “When she comes out, you yell for her, get her attention. They can’t hold her back.”
    “I can’t yell.”
    He darted a glance at her. No, she hadn’t on the roof that first night, either. At the time, he’d thought her fear had kept her quiet, but he reckoned now she’d have broken a few windows if she’d had her voice. Maybe a few eardrums, too. “I’ll get her attention, then. You just wave her on over.”
    Her fingers clenched on his arm when the door opened, and Jane ran through in a pair of flannel pajamas, holding on to Sammael’s hand and with a big bag in her other hand. She slowed and backpedaled, watching the house and looking away from the street.
    “That’s Jane. It ain’t a demon,” he assured Charlie. “Cover your ears up again.”
    He hadn’t done this in over a century, but it just took two fingers against his tongue and a blast of air from his lungs—and his whistle was loud enough it about broke his own eardrums.
    Jane spun around. A line appeared between her brows, her mouth turning down with surprise. “Charlie?” She stepped toward them, pulling Sammael along with her.
    Where was the other demon? Must be still inside—Ethan couldn’t hear the alarm yet, so the spell was up. It’d fall just as soon as they all left.
    Jane took another step, and Ethan met the demon’s eyes.
    That wasn’t Sammael.
    “Jane, darling, hold on a minute,” the demon said.
    “Come on, Jane.” It was a rasp, but Charlie’s frantically gesturing hands spoke it louder and better.
    Jane looked away from her sister to frown at the demon. “The alarm’s off, Dylan.” She tugged her hand, but he didn’t release her. “Why can’t I hear the alarm?”
    “I can’t let you go, Jane.” He held her hand tight, though she pulled at it again. His voice was almost pleading. “I can’t let you get away from me.”
    Ethan sucked in a hard breath. The demon was denying her free will. There wasn’t much Ethan could imagine would make a demon do that—unless he was compelled by a bargain with Sammael to keep Jane from leaving with Charlie.
    That sure as hell would explain the subservience. A demon might be destroyed or Punished for denying a human’s will, but many would consider the punishment for breaking a bargain