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The demon leaned out, his jaw opening wider and wider as he gripped the edge of the crumbling slab for support—

Knowing I was about to get torched, I lowered my arms a notch and fired at the slab under his palms. Already brittle from the heat, it blew out from underneath him, and he lost his balance and pitched forward. He somersaulted and landed on his feet.

But I was already sprinting toward the garage, toward my Hummer. I slammed into the passenger side of the vehicle, scrambled over the hood, and tumbled into the driver’s seat. As I cranked the ignition with feverish adrenaline, I jabbed my finger at the garage door opener. The demon prowled after me.

The garage door retracted in the rearview, and beyond it I glimpsed a sliver of freedom.

I jammed the gearshift into reverse and slid my foot to the gas.

But hesitated.

Lana.

Helpless, abandoned, trapped in a pile of rubble that would become her grave.

This demon didn’t give a shit about her, it only cared about killing me.

Her death... it seemed like such a waste.

But she’s a demon. All demons must die...

The fire breather burst into the garage, galloping toward my car.

Ah, fuck it.

I was going to die today anyway. Might as well die doing something selfless.

I shoved it into drive instead and floored it, and the Hummer barreled toward the interior wall. The wrong direction if I wanted to escape. The right direction if I wanted to save Lana.

“The fuck you doing, Asher?” I muttered, gripping the wheel as the wall rushed up.This chick’s going to be the death of you.

Sidestepping the vehicle, the demon braced itself and unleashed a river of fire. Gritting my teeth, I steered through the flames and rammed the partition that separated my garage from my basement. Made of wood and drywall, it splintered over the hood.

Engine roaring, the Hummer burst into my bedroom in the bunker. Then, lurching over rubble, it slammed into the next wall. The engine lugged.

“C’mon, c’monnn...”

At last, the vehicle exploded into the open area, now a raging inferno, and bounced over crushed furniture. Like a battering ram, the front bumper bashed into the concrete slab that had pinned Lana in. The Hummer managed to crack a corner of it. I reversed and hit the slab again, finally breaking loose a chunk wide enough to crawl through.

I leapt from the car—into an oven—and scrambled through the hole I’d made, ignoring how the burning concrete scorched my hands. Every breath felt like inhaling pure lava. A minute in these fumes would kill me.

Behind the mangled bars lay Lana, unconscious.

But not crushed, thankfully.

I found a gap where the bars had bent and, scooting her sideways, managed to extract her slender body. Then she was free. Heaving her onto my shoulders, I staggered back to the truck and dumped her into the passenger seat.

Behind us, the fire-breathing demon clawed its way through the rubble, blocking the car’s only way out. But my four-wheeled baby wasbornfor off-roading.

The slab that had fallen on Lana’s cell made a convenient ramp up to the ground floor. Stomping on the gas, I felt the tires grip the edge and haul the vehicle upward. With a sickening lurch, the Hummer climbed out of the basement and barreled through the burning house, crashing through the blazing walls like they were tissue paper before it burst into the clear night.

The last thing I saw in the rearview mirror, before I skidded onto the street, was the demon stepping onto the front porch, straightening his immaculate suit despite the house burning to the ground behind him.

Lana coughed and stirred next to me, still unconscious.

First order of business: get her into the back, where she couldn’t tear my throat out.

Second order: figure out what the hell I was going to do now that I’d lost everything—my shelter, my machine shop, all my weapons... and my best friend.