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The three people I loved most in this world... all dead.

All dead because of me.

My nostrils flared, and a fresh tear welled in my eye, which I smeared away with the base of my palm.

Didn’t want the demon to see this. Better if she viewed me as a stone-cold killer, not a broken man barely keeping it together.

But it didn’t matter.

Nikki and Joy... Brad... none of that mattered anymore.

I had sworn to exterminate these vile creatures or die trying, and it was starting to look like I would die trying.

Gladly.

I wouldgladlydie and take my place beside my family in the dirt.

Only a matter of time, now. Hell, I probably wouldn’t live through the day. Lately, I’d majorly sucked at killing demons. Zero for two with the last two demons I’d encountered, zero for three if you counted Lana, who’d outfoxed me with her little Bambi eyes when I should have burnt her to ash ages ago.

Losing my touch. Getting soft.

Yeah, I was a dead man for sure.

That thought took the edge off the pain.

Brad, ol’ buddy, I’ll be seeing you real soon...

For the last hour, I’d been driving aimlessly southwest, heading vaguely in the direction of Mexico or Louisiana, didn’t much care anymore. But I had no other place to go. Didn’t have a plan, didn’t have weapons, didn’t have jack.

No, that wasn’t true.

I still had Lana, the daughter of Primus Dominus—lord of all demons.

She could turn out to be more valuable than all my weapons and all my gadgets combined.

And I still had a job to do. Destroy demons, destroy their portals, eradicate them from Earth.

Louisiana was a crapshoot; I had no idea if there was a portal there.

But Central America, I would bet money on. There was definitely a portal there. Abigone.

And right about now I felt like shoving a big fat dick up it and fucking demonville raw.

Okay, new plan. Get my ass to Mexico and find that portal.

I would need Lana to locate it precisely. At the very least, I could use her as collateral when the next demon came after me.

More excuses not to kill her. It was becoming a habit.

I let out a weary sigh and circled around back to let her out, vowing to kill her the moment she stopped being useful.

Lana

When the doorsto my cage opened, and I caught sight of Asher, my breath caught.

He looked like all that was holding him together was pounds and pounds of muscle and raw determination. I marveled again at how handsome he was—his strong jaw, his gleaming eyes, the wicked curve of his lips. Even when he was frowning, as he was now, my gaze didn’t want to leave him.

His frown deepened when he caught me staring.