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Leeches.

Oh,hellno.

I scrambled out of bed and yanked them off, flinging each one away. I patted down the rest of my body in a panicky flurry, ripping two more off my neck. Then I ran my hands over my skin once more.

Gone. I got them all.

I stared at their wriggling carcasses on the floor, my lungs heaving and my skin crawling.

They wriggled their way from the floor to the base of the wall, inching upward in a single file line, their suckers still dripping with my blood.

Horrified, I watched them vanish one by one into a hole in the wall boards.

Taking my blood to Grandmaddox.

She’d stuck them on me to harvest my blood.

To curse me.

Fuckthis house.

I wasn’t spending one more second in this nightmare.

Jaw clamped in rage, I swiped my holster off the bureau and dragged on my jeans, tripping in the leg holes. Boots on, I crushed as many leeches as I could, mashing them into a bloody goop. Screw the rest of my stuff. Shirtless and cursing, I raged down the hall and kicked down Lana’s door. It exploded in a blast of splinters.

She bolted upright in bed, her hair disheveled.

When she saw me, her eyes widened. “What’s going on—?”

By way of answer, I scooped her off the bed and threw her, shrieking, over my shoulder. Securing her by the legs, I kicked out the remaining door shards and strode back into the hall and down the stairs.

“Gods above,” she said, “Asher what are you doing?” Her hands pressed into either side of my exposed torso.

“We’re leaving,” I growled.

“That’s obvious enough.” Perhaps if I’d been in another mood, a better mood, I would’ve cracked a smile at a demon saying such a thing.

The halfling took my blood. With leeches, no less. Horror and fury battled for dominance.

I stormed out of that blighted house and burst out onto the cold street, the sky now a ghostly predawn blue.

Lana immediately began to shiver in my arms. But she didn’t fight my hold; half of me thought she would after what happened earlier.

Not until we reached my Hummer, parked a block away, did I release my iron grip on her to set her in the passenger seat.

Circling to the driver’s side, I hopped in the vehicle and cranked on the engine. Laying on the gas, I peeled out of there.

Back on the road.

Leeches.

I squeezed the steering wheel.

Motherfuckingleeches.

Next to me, Lana pulled her knees up to her chest and continued shivering. A yawn worked its way through her body, shaking her limbs further.

I ground my teeth together. It would be easy enough to despise her if she acted anything—anything—like the bastards I hunted. Even now it was hard to hold onto the fact that she’d worn my wife’s face only hours ago.