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The demon was in human form. He was much more slender than his human counterparts, but looks were deceiving in his case. Demons didn’t need massive muscles to be strong. His eyes went red and he took a step back, now obviously more wary than the humans. He knew I was something different, and different in our world could be deadly. “I don’t know what you are, but you better not mess with me. Do you have any idea who I work for, bitch? I have a piece of his power.”

“I don’t care.” I couldn’t. I had to get Liv and Casey out of here. I couldn’t give a crap who this dude’s master was. “We can work this one of two ways. I can kill you quickly and walk out of here or…I can’t think of another way, sorry.”

I had no choice. If they reported back to Winter or the Brandon guy, my cover was going to be blown. I needed to get into Winter’s place. I couldn’t risk it. I quickly raised the Browning and all hell broke loose.

I went for the humans first. Do I feel bad about killing a couple of guys in league with demons? Nah. I was doing them a favor because at some point that shit was going to get real for them. The first guy went down without a shout, falling backward. I started moving, rolling to take cover behind the desk because now the other guy was firing.

“I need backup at the clinic,” the demon shouted into a cell phone. I tried to shoot it out of his hand, but he was quick.

The desk thudded at my back, thumping as they shot into it. I kind of hoped they would run out of the damn things.

There was a brief lull in the firing, and I felt something rush past me in a great gust of speed. The door to the clinic opened and then shut again. The demon cursed and seemed to try to take out his frustrations on the desk again. I was ready to take out some frustrations of my own.

Casey. The bastard had run and left Liv behind. He’d been quick, but I caught sight of the shirt he’d been wearing as he ran past the window. I swore if I survived this, that brat and I were going to have a long conversation.

Casey running left me with no choice but to get this done now. I no longer could pray that Casey was smart enough to take Liv out the back. I had to get her out of here and fast. Someone was going to hear the shooting. Someone would walk down the street, hear the obvious sounds of gunfire, and the cops would be called. I didn’t know who I was looking forward to dealing with less—the Dallas PD or whatever the clinic considered backup.

Either way, Liv would lose, so I had to fix this situation now.

“Hold her down,” the demon shouted. “The cavalry is on its way.”

I wasn’t waiting on the cavalry.

“Liv, you run when I give you the go!” I shouted, not waiting for a response.

I needed to get some distance between us and the clinic. Then I would have to swallow my pride and call my uncle or Trent to pick us up. Without pausing to consider the idiotic move I was about to make, I leapt on the desk.

“Go!”

 I put a quick two rounds into the nearest guard. The last human shouted and went down, but not before he got off a shot of his own. I felt a massive force shove me to the side. I went tumbling onto the carpet as the bullet whizzed by.

The residual magic in the air gave the demon a momentary pause. Liv stood in the open, her palms up. She’d saved me by shoving me out of the way. Now she shook with the force of the power she’d used. The demon saw his opening. His hand was out and reaching for her.

I jumped up and put myself between the demon and my best friend. He grabbed my arm, and I felt the power in him.

“Bitch, this is from my master,” the demon hissed. “Jack Frost says hello.”

I gasped as cold entered my skin and the world around me seemed to freeze.

Chapter Twelve

The pain was horrible. I’ve taken a lot of damage, but this was something different. Pain is usually hot, like a flash fire through my system. There was nothing warm about this. It was foreign, as though ice had suddenly replaced the blood in my veins, and the chill went straight to my soul. My arm felt like it was swelling, and for a moment I actually wanted the damn thing to burst. It would relieve the horrible ache.

Then something even worse happened.

It completely went away. I couldn’t feel anything from the elbow down on my right arm. It was like my forearm ceased to exist. The Browning dropped uselessly to the floor. Instinctively, I punched out with my left hand, hitting the demon squarely in the face, and he let go of my now useless arm.

I would have kicked out and continued my assault, but I dropped to my knees. Panic threatened. I could feel it welling up inside me because that chill was still in me. Alien. Foreign. It curled around in my body, and I worried that whatever had happened to my right arm was going to happen to the rest of my body. I looked down at my hand. It was sort of waxy looking, the skin going an odd opaque. Thick blisters were coming up as though I’d shoved it into a pot of boiling water.

And I felt nothing.

“Oh, shit.” I was in trouble because the demon was back on his feet.

He walked toward me. His eyes had bled to red, and his hands were out. Those hands were coming for me. They contained Julius Winter’s power. Somehow this shitty halfling—who I should be able to kill without breaking a nail—had the power to freeze off my body parts.

A smirk hit his mouth and his hands were squarely aimed for my throat. I scrambled, trying to move the gun to my left hand. I wasn’t great with my left hand. Marcus made me practice with it, and I was grateful to him. It didn’t look like it would matter. I couldn’t get a grip on it fast enough. I fumbled and fell back on my ass. Just as the demon was about to wrap those cold hands around my neck, gunfire exploded, and his red eyes widened. His hands fell, shocked as a neat hole opened in his forehead. He slammed backward.

“Are you all right?” Liv stood over me. She still held the gun she’d used to save my throat from becoming Elsa’s playground.

I wasn’t. Not even close, but I was alive for the moment. That was all she needed to know. Nausea rolled in my stomach, but I managed to nod. “Nice shot.” I forced myself to my feet, protecting my damaged hand. “Thanks, Liv.”

“I have no idea how I did that.” Her whole body was shaking. The gun she’d used to save me twitched in her hand. “What did he do to your arm?” She looked a little sick as she caught sight of my useless limb. “Oh god, Kelsey…”

There wasn’t time for sympathy. I managed to get the Browning into my jacket pocket. “We have to go. They called for backup and the cops will be here any minute. I don’t think we can use the train. They’ll look for us there. We have to run and hide and hope my uncle can get to us before the bad guys do.”

Liv helped me, putting her shoulder under my good arm. I shoved the bad one into my jacket, Napoleon style. I was worried if I let it dangle, it might fall off. We started to make our way to the door.

Suddenly Casey was standing in front of us, his blue eyes wide with pure anxiety. He went a little white as he noticed the bodies on the floor. He took a long breath and I saw his fangs lengthen. Blood. There was blood everywhere. Casey was a baby vamp so he had impulse issues. Yet another thing I probably should have thought about before taking him into the field. Luckily, he was also an academic, and control was their stock-in-trade.

Casey shook off the blood lust and got to the point. “Come on. I hot-wired a car. Dude, what happened to your arm?”

“Talk in the car.” Liv pushed past him, dragging me along, and sure enough there was a nice SUV sitting on the snow-covered street.

Liv shoved me in the front seat then hopped in the back. Casey jammed the car into gear, and I held on for dear life. It was harder than usual since I only had the one hand to hold on with.

“I’m sorry it took so long. I had to find one with four-wheel drive,” he explained. “It’ll handle the ice better. I also called in. Henri is beyond pissed. Marcus is on his way. I don’t know how he knows where we are, but he’d already called Henri.”

I knew what had happened. Marcus had felt my terror and potentially my pain. The fact that he was out there, trying to get to me gave me great strength. Casey moved down the street as I heard someone pull on to the road behind us. I managed to turn in my seat. The van behind us was dark. I prayed it would stop and whoever was inside would go into the clinic and waste precious moments investigating.

Unfortunately, the van barely slowed down. When we turned, it turned, and I saw an arm come out of the passenger side window and a glint of steel reflecting our way.

“We have company.” I pulled the Browning with my left hand, trying to keep the right hand as still as possible. “Keep your head down.”

Liv lay down in the backseat, getting her head out of the way in case they decided to fire into the car. “Are they following us?”

“Yes. They’re coming after us.” I reached up and hit the button that opened the sunroof with the back of my hand.

Casey glanced my way. “Uhm, Kelsey, I don’t think we need fresh air. If you haven’t noticed, it’s snowing. Let’s keep the cold air out.”

I groaned as I turned in the seat and got up on my knees. “You just drive, pretty boy.”

Cold air blasted in from the sunroof. Casey was booking it and the wind whipped in. The last thing I wanted was to get more of my body frostbitten, but I had a better chance with a clear view of the car behind me. I got to my feet and popped the top of my torso through the sunroof.

Pure cold bit into my skin, chaffing every inch of me that was exposed. My lips cracked, but I concentrated on the van racing behind us. I held the Browning tightly in one hand, preparing myself for the recoil. I lined up my shot and pulled the trigger as I released the breath I’d been holding.

Just as I shot, Casey slid across a patch of ice, throwing me into the side of the car. My feet slipped on the leather seats and I slammed my head as I went down. My peripheral vision started to fade, but I managed to keep it together.

“Sorry.” Casey wrestled with the steering wheel to get control over the vehicle.

He turned into the slide and the van behind us took advantage. There was a loud crack as the passenger shot at me through his window. He hit the mirror on my side of the car. I forced myself back up and managed to get a shot off while Casey straightened out the SUV and started toward the freeway.

Blood dripped down from my forehead, clouding my vision. Naturally, I didn’t have a free hand to wipe it away with. I was going to miss my right hand if Henri had to amputate. I hoped Marcus’s blood could heal it, but it felt really dead. I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t have time to miss my arm if the rest of me got shot up.

Casey cursed as the wheels spun out again.

“Hey, could you keep it steady for more than two seconds?” I have to admit that I was the tiniest bit irritable.

“Don’t bitch at me.” Everything about Casey seemed tense. “I’ve never driven in this shit before.”

The van behind us wasn’t having the same trouble. Perhaps their security detail had been brought in from someplace cold. I struggled back into a position to fire from. Again, this is where Trent would have come in handy. I bet that Boston boy knew how to handle some snow. “Try to keep us on the road.”

“Maybe we should wait until Marcus gets here.” Liv hunkered down in the floorboard of the backseat.

“Not an option,” I replied.

The back windshield cracked as it took a bullet.

“Owww!” Casey yelled. His right arm was bleeding freely, staining his shirt. “I think I got shot.”

“Stay calm,” I ordered. “Keep moving. Whatever you do, keep moving.”

Casey tried. He really did. It became impossible when the van slammed into us and our SUV hit the side of a building. The impact jarred through my body and seared my senses. The sound of metal tearing hurt my ears. The airbags deployed, leaving an acrid smell hanging in the air. I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so I slammed against the side. Pain flared and then the sound of gunfire seemed more distant than before. I could hear someone shouting, but the world seemed hazy and then dark.

When I came to, it was to the sound of gunfire. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I was in a car. It was the car Casey had stolen, but it wasn’t moving. The window had shattered and I could feel blood on my cheek. There was glass everywhere, though it was in tiny bits. I tried to sit up.

Casey had my Browning in his hand. He was firing out the sunroof, trying his damnedest to keep the bastards off of us. There was blood on his coat. Lots of it. He’d been hit more than once.

I groaned as I pushed myself up, which wasn’t easy because only one arm worked. I looked into the back, desperate to make sure I hadn’t managed to kill my best friend. Liv was still huddled in the seat, but she had one hand out of the ruined back window. She fired randomly. Her head was down, so she couldn’t see a thing. I guess she had to try something.

That’s the thing about being desperate. You’re willing to do anything.

“Can you get us moving?” I had to yell to be heard over the loud pop of guns firing.

Casey grunted as his body took another bullet, slamming him against the back edge of the sunroof. If he hadn’t been a vampire, that impact would have likely damaged his spine.