“What are you doing here?” Fang demanded, his tone tight with anger.

“Wondering the same thing about you, buster. You know when last we parted about twenty minutes ago, you weren’t exactly in the shape to go out on a walk.” She pushed the blade back, taking care not to cut her hand in the process. “Never mind fight something that requires that”-she looked down at his weapon-“to get its attention. Do you even know how to use a sword?”

He scoffed at her anger. “It’s not exactly hard. They’re pretty self-explanatory. You use the sharp end to stab your opponent.”

“Yeah, right… take it from someone with centuries of experience, they’re not that easy to use.”

He flicked a slide on the hilt and the blade retracted. “And take it from someone who’s been relying on them for the last few months to stay alive, I’m a real quick study.”

Perhaps, but she still didn’t want him in the street alone while he wasn’t in his best fighting shape. “What are you doing out here, Fang?”

Fang wanted to answer that question, he really did. But how did he explain to her that he’d saved her life by offering up his soul? It wasn’t something she’d welcome. Knowing her, she’d curse him for it. The one thing about Aimee, she didn’t like people protecting her.

But damn, standing there in front of him with the streetlights reflecting off her pale hair and her brow furrowed by worry for him, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

How he wanted a bite of her apple…

Forcing his thoughts away from that disaster, he cleared his throat. “I need a few minutes alone. Do you mind?”

She didn’t relent in the least. “To do what? And if it’s anything nasty like Dev would say to shock me, please spare me the details.”

He let out an aggravated breath. “Does everything have to be an argument with you?”

Her face offended, she gaped. “I asked a simple question.”

“That has an extremely complicated answer. Now-”

His words were interrupted by a harsh scream. Fang cursed as he realized it came from the same general area where he’d been headed.

It was the demon. He could feel it. The one thing he’d learned in the Nether Realm was how to sense one anytime it was near. The stench and chill were unmistakable. And his new mark was burning like fire.

“Please, Aimee. Go.”

As expected, she refused. She even rushed ahead of him toward the scream’s origin.

Fang shook his head in disgust as he flashed himself to the demon in a dark alley, narrowly appearing there before Aimee. Wasn’t it mules who were supposed to be so stubborn? Obviously someone had missed the memo on bears.

He pulled up short as he caught sight of the mountain of a beast. At least seven feet tall, the demon had flowing black hair and eyes that held no discernible pupil or white in his eyes. They were jet stones set in a face that was contorted by the pleasure he took in causing pain.

The human looked to be in her midtwenties. Pretty and tiny, she was dressed in a blue restaurant uniform. Her face had been torn open by the demon’s claws. She sobbed and begged for help while the demon held her there by her dark hair.

As soon as Phrixis realized he wasn’t alone, he released her and turned toward Fang.

Extending the sword, Fang flashed himself between the human and Phrixis. “Get her out of here.”

Aimee nodded as she wrapped her arms around the hysterical human and carried her away from the danger.

Phrixis laughed as he raked a repugnant sneer over Fang’s body. “What pathetic creature are you?”

“Pathetic’s really not a word that applies to me.”

“No?” Phrixis blasted him.

Fang dodged the blast and swung the sword straight for the demon’s throat.

Phrixis laughed. “How weak and worthless do you think I am?” He landed a solid punch to Fang’s side. It was so fierce that he swore he felt his ribs crack.

The pain of it drove the breath from his body. Fang fell to one knee, but he refused to go down. He was a wolf and Phrixis was about to learn what that meant. Shifting forms, he attacked.

The demon staggered back as Fang set his teeth into his arm and ripped it open. Phrixis hit him in the head, but all that did was strengthen his resolve as he shredded the demon’s arm. In this form, there were few who could take him down.

Phrixis slammed him into the wall with the force of a Mack truck hitting him.

Fang felt his grip loosen under the assault. As the demon moved to grab him, he ran at his feet, skimming between his legs to emerge behind him. Rolling, he changed to human form so that he could grab the sword from the ground.

Phrixis turned to confront him.

The moment he did, Fang stabbed him through the heart. He buried the sword in to the hilt, then snatched it out and stabbed him again.

Phrixis laughed. “Do you think-”

Fang ended his words with a backstroke that severed his head completely from his body.

The demon crumbled slowly to the pavement where he landed in a lump as blood spewed out.

Fang spit at his remains. “Tell me again how great you are, asshole. Nothing like a steel enema to ruin even your best day.” His body weak and trembling, Fang leaned back against the wall as he struggled to breathe with his damaged ribs.

At least it’d been an easier kill than the demons in the Nether Realm. Panting, he pulled the phone from his pocket and called Thorn.

“It’s done. I killed him.”

To his shock, Thorn appeared instantly at his side. “What the hell did you do?”

“Nice attitude, dick.” Fang contracted the sword as he scowled at Thorn’s angry glower. “I killed the demon like you told me to.”

Thorn let out a sound that was a mixture of disgust and rage. His clothes turned from the navy business suit to bright red armor as his hair seemed to become flames. “I didn’t say kill him, dumbass. I said to send him back where he came from.”

“That’s what I did.”

Thorn kicked at the demon’s body on the ground and cursed. “No. You killed him.”

Obviously, he was missing a major piece of this puzzle because in his universe killing a demon wasn’t considered a bad thing. Most days, it was considered a public service. “In my world those two things are synonymous.”

Thorn sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. He held his hands as if he were trying to restrain himself from killing Fang. “You know, it’s really not that hard to kill a demon, especially with the brand I gave you. Any half-witted preternatural creature can kill their ass. What I needed you to do was to return him to his realm. That’s a little more sophisticated and a hell of a lot harder.”

“Then why did you give me a sword?”

“Did you look at it before you used it?”

“Yes.”

Thorn gave him a doubting glare. “And I repeat. Did. You. Look. At. It?” He snatched the hilt from Fang’s hand and held the sword up for him to see the words inscribed there.

Strike hard. Strike fast. Strike thrice. Avast.

Who knew Thorn was a pirate? Fang squelched that thought. Avast was simply an archaic word that, no offense to the sword-smith, he hadn’t used even when it’d been popular vernacular.

But he couldn’t cut all sarcasm from his demeanor. “And in your world, Captain Scary, that would mean?”

“You hit him three times and then you stop. It’s in English. Hell, it’s in your English. You were born then.”

Fang gestured toward the demon’s now decaying body. “That was my third hit.”

Thorn covered his left eye with his right hand as if he had a vicious migraine brewing. “I have a tumor. I know I have a tumor. I just wish I were mortal so that it could kill me.”

Frustrated, Fang rolled his eyes at Thorn’s anguish. “I still don’t understand what’s so wrong with what I…” His words died under a wave of excruciating pain.

“Wait for it, wolf.” Thorn gestured sarcastically at him. “You’re about to have enlightenment. It’s about to suck to be you, mein freund.”