Page 70 of The Devil's Trials

Sierra sits across from me, and beside her is a girl with chest-length, straight black hair and purple glasses named Zara. On her other side is Wyatt, a thick-muscled guy with sandy blond hair, tied back at the nape of his neck. He offers me his hand when I sit, and I reach across the table to shake it.

Sitting across from Wyatt is a girl who looks closer to my age named Florence. She leans forward to shoot me a grin and says, “Call me Ren.”

The last trainee is Brynne, who sits to my right. She’s a curvy redhead, though her hair is darker, a cherry red, whereas Sierra’s is more of a burnt orange.

With the introductions out of the way, we order a variety of pizzas to share. Wyatt all but demands a meat lover’s, while Zara politely orders a vegetarian, which seems to amuse him as he rests his arm along the top of the booth behind her. I’m not sure why I’m surprised to find a demon hunter who doesn’t eat meat, but I remind myself there are plenty of reasons for someone to choose that lifestyle. None of which affect me or my choice to devour slices from both kinds of pizza.

We chat about training as we stuff our faces with cheesy goodness, and I find it shockingly easy to feel as if I belong here. To pretend, at least. All my worrying from earlier feels insignificant now. I don’t think I’ve had so much fun since…the last date Xander and I had. The moment the thought crosses my mind, my stomach dips, and I press my lips together at the memory.

By the time our group walks out of Two Boots, it’s well after dark. Wyatt, Brynne, and I head down the sidewalk as I zip up my sweater against the chilly evening air. The others headed in the other direction toward the parking garage a few blocks away, while we opted for the subway. The street is quiet, save for the distant sirens, which are a constant in the city that I’ve quickly gotten accustomed to.

“I’m glad I came tonight,” I say in a casual tone. “It was really nice to meet you guys.”

Wyatt offers a wide grin and drops his arm around Brynne’s shoulders. “You say that like you’re surprised.”

Casting him a sideways glance, I laugh. It’s so genuine the sound is almost foreign, but it brings a pleasant warmth to my chest. “To be honest, I sort of am. Not everybody is super keen on me being around.”

Brynne frowns. “Yeah, I heard what Cody said.”

I clench my jaw, waiting for her to mention something about my relationship with Xander. About how awful and delusional I am for being with him when I was.

But she doesn’t. Instead she says, “I suppose I can understand where the reservations lie, but he didn’t need to be a dick about it.”

Wyatt snorts. “Pretty sure that’s his default personality.”

I only nod along, because what else am I supposed to do? I understand the others’ reservations, but there’s not much I can do about them. I can’t change who I am or what happened. As much as I wish I could.

“Anyway,” Brynne drawls. “We’ll see you at training tomorrow, right?”

“Absolutely. I—”

A deep, marrow-chilling growl cuts her off, and Wyatt throws himself in front of her seconds before a demon charges into my line of sight from behind a row of parked cars. My stomach drops as I get a flash of his appearance in the dim streetlight—olive-toned skin, short salt and pepper hair, and an unfortunate tweed suit jacket. In human years, I’d guess late forties. Of course he moves with a preternatural speed that’s impossible to track, so he’s mostly just a blur of beige.

Oh, for the love of—I reach for where a dagger should be before I realize I’m not actually a hunter, and those daggers we got to hold in training are safely stowed at the academy.

Wyatt rears back and catches the demon in the jaw. It makes a sickening crack, but the demon only cackles, amusement darkening his gaze. He makes no effort to put an end to this encounter quickly.He wants to play with his food, a warning voice whispers in the back of my mind, entirely unhelpful.

“Fuck,” Wyatt growls, reeling back and shaking out his hand. “Do either of you have—”

“No,” I snap, my heart thumping in my chest so hard I can feel each rapid beat in my throat. “We should go. Yeah, we should definitely run.”

Never run from a demon. They relish the chase.

“Cami, you know—”

“What else are we supposed to do?” I cut Wyatt off.

He continues facing off with the demon, who dances around as if he’s savoring the moment before he attacks and shreds us all to ribbons. And the knowledge that he very easily could makes my blood run cold.

My muscles lock up, making each movement jerky, and the ground beneath my feet feels harder somehow, as if I’m not wearing shoes. Fear does weird things to your perception, and I don’t have time to analyze why my body feels all out of whack right now.

I slowly make my way around the demon while his attention is snared on Wyatt. If I can tackle the monster from behind, maybe—just maybe—the three of us can take down this one demon. Damn, I wish I had more confidence in my abilities, but I really am the newest of newbies in this arena. “I don’t know how long you two have been training, but I’m definitely not prepared to go up against—”

The demon launches forward, swiping out with dirty, claw-like fingers, and Wyatt barely ducks in time to avoid a nasty gash across his throat. He kicks the demon’s legs out from under him, but before he can get his fingers around the demon’s throat, it head butts him in the face.

Wyatt yelps in pain as blood sprays from his nose and he falls backward, hitting the pavement. He holds his hand to his face as red leaks through his fingers and scrambles upright, but the color is drained from his face, and he sways on his feet.

The demon straightens, peering between Brynne and me, and my heart stops. He grins slowly, and I see death in his all-black eyes. No matter what I do, there’s a very good chance none of us are going to make it out of this alive.

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