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Shade plucked the ever-present pack of guht for the coffee pot "What’s up? Did one of you nail Geh his hair "Geis, but not for the black e They want her to perforan re, and they needaway as he poured his coffee
A tic pulsed in Shade’s jaw, and when he spoke, his tone was glacial "They got Nancy"
Wraith spared no love for the nurse, but when so pained Shade, Wraith took it to heart "Is she dust?"
"Extre around in a fluid, predatory motion that, even after all these years, still surprised Eidolon Because despite Wraith’s I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude and childish fits, he was a lethal sonofabitch with expertise in every ancient andtechnique known to ain
"I told you we should have killed the Aegi bitch," Wraith growled
"She had nothing to do with it, and she doesn’t know anything" Eidolon was sure of that She’d been too shocked by what had been done to Nancy
Shade let out a harsh laugh "Sounds like so with his dick"
"Finally" A thread of ah Wraith’s still-irate ruh"
No shit
All he could think about was Tayla, no matter how hard he tried to shake her from his mind and off his skin
A beeper went off--Shade’s, which lanced at it, then shook his head and did a double-take "Fuckbrother" He bared his teeth at Eidolon in a cold smile "Looks like your little slayer misses you Got herself all beat up and in need of a lift to the hospital"
Tayla waited in the alley between a Chinese restaurant and a liquor store Scott had splattered blood in the alley, blood Jagger had collected froainst the wall, hand pressed to the oozing wound in her side, stoled scents of demon blood and cheap takeout
She’d called the hospital fro was, no one had actually answered She’d heard a click, a growl, and then the line went dead Really, she had no idea if the call had gone through If she hadn’t been in so nained soth, she had to sit still and hope the stench of Daeva dim-sum didn’t make her puke
Her patience paid off when, fifteen minutes after the call, Eidolon’s brother, Shade, and a female Umber demon he called Skulk arrived She couldn’t decide if she should be happy that Eidolon’s brother had been dispatched or not Clearly, he was no fan of hers, but then again, at least he was familiar Better the enemy you know, and all that crap
No one spoke as Shade carried her, not so gently, to the waiting black ambulance that passersby didn’t seem to notice She remembered how Eidolon hadn’t worried about his BMWmaybe whatever spell encompassed his car also protected the ambulance The demons would be safe; humans didn’t see demons unless deifted
Like Tayla, who had been able to see the fiends since the day her mother died
"I’ll ride with her," Shade said to the Ulared at Tayla fro Tay alone with Shade The saht she’d noticed in the hospital illuminated the interior of the ambulance, and the sas Aside froency vehicle Any huency vehicle staffed by deloved hands, she resisted the urge to slap thee to coiven the identical tattoo running the length of his arm, the muscular, powerful body, the sculpted features of his face, the lusciously long eyelashes
"Didn’t Eidolon tell you to take it easy?" he growled, and she rolled her eyes
"Whatever"
"Stubborn huers to her pulse "So You’re fking my brother, huh?"
"Not one to beat around the bush, are you?"
"Not so e warmth washed over her, and when her heart should have been pounding with nervous energy, it slowed, along with her breathing Relaxation turned her into a puddle Pleasure tingled through her, as if the blood in her veins had turned to carbonated crea joints with her delinquent friends
"What are you doing tothe slur in her voice didn’t sound as pronounced to hi your bodily functions and triggering a rush of endorphins Helps ease the pain" He hooked his stethoscope’s earbuds in his ears and pressed the bell to her chest "It also gives you a false sense of well-being that’ll make it easier for me to manipulate you"
"Cool Can Hellboy do that?"
"Eidolon has a different gift"
"I’ll say," she sighed
He ood in other ways Ways that sent a wave of heat rolling through her lower body just thinking about them Were all the brothers so alike, and yet so different? She eyed Shade as he inserted an IV line into her left hand, his skilled efforts efficient but relaxed, as if he could do it in his sleep
Eidolon came across as focused, tense, and in control Shade, on the other hand, seeood way More of an I can kill you and not care less sort of way
Tiny pinpricks of pain spread through her right arm, one of the familiar sensations that preceded a loss of function She winced, and Shade smoothed a palm over her belly, but she shook her head "Not the wound It’s , he reached across her body to her shoulder, which had gone numb "Make a fist"
She tried "I can’t"
"Has this happened before?" When she hesitated, he tipped her chin toward him with his other hand
"Slayer? Answer me"
The command in his voice iven by demons "I already discussed this with Hellboy Ask hiy Whenever sorew e response, and one that lent credence to what Eidolon had said about her deh she refused to admit it out loud
"You smell funny"
"It’s called irritation," he ers firmly into her elbow joint "The problem is your nerves They’ve shut down soe palm moved slowly upward to her shoulder "I need you to sit up" She did, and his hand drifted around to her back, then up her neck It felt good in a way it shouldn’t, good enough that she didn’t even notice that the rig had pulled to a stop until the back doors opened
Eidolon stood there, his expression stony, his eyes nearly black and revealing nothing Her chest constricted so she could barely breathe, because God, she’d forgotten how beautiful he was in scrubs, the way his broad shoulders filled out the top, how the V-neck revealed tan skin lightly dusted with dark hair The s on his hed at the visual orgas her