Page 1 of The Devil You Know
1
SETH
We just might die tonight,and it won’t even be monsters that kill us.
Seth Tanner hunched low over the handlebars of his black Hayabusa motorcycle and urged the roaring engine to eke out a bit more speed.
Behind him, his partner Evan Malone wrapped his arms tight around Seth’s midsection and tucked his helmet against Seth’s shoulder blades.
The rev of a truck close behind them told Seth their pursuers weren’t ready to give up. Then a shot fired, changing the whole game.
“Fuck,” Seth muttered and wove from one side of the lane to the other, desperate to keep the goons from getting a clear shot.
The gunman fired a second time and a third. Seth’s luck wasn’t going to last forever, and then one of the bullets would hit Evan, the bike, or him. Seth had a good idea who had hired the hitmen, and he doubted they showed up on a dark Ohio road just to send a warning.
A light ahead drew Seth’s attention, and he skidded into the gravel lot of a cinder block roadhouse. Neon beer signs cast a crimson glow that attracted a row of pickups and Harleys. Red paint on white walls proclaimed it to beCharley’s Place.
I’ll take my chances on a bar fight over being shot in the back.
The charcoal Ford truck chasing them never slowed, rumbling past the bar too fast for Seth to get a good look, and then it was gone, swallowed by the night.
He faced the motorcycle toward the road, sheltered between a beat-up green F-150 and a red Silverado with a gun rack in the back window. Seth felt sure that he and Evan would be no more welcome inside than they’d been with the guys who chased them, so when their attackers didn’t return, Seth hit the gas and headed back the way they came.
His heart didn’t stop pounding until he slowed at the entrance to the campground where they had parked their RV. While it wasn’t late, Seth was hyper-aware of the rumble of the motorcycle’s engine, not wanting to draw attention. When they pulled up in front of their site, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here,” he said to Evan as he climbed off the bike and secured it. His body still hummed with adrenaline, and Seth scanned the area for danger as Evan followed him to the RV’s door.
Locks and security alarm aside, the fifth-wheeler and black pickup that towed it were also protected by magical wardings, courtesy of friends with supernatural abilities. The protections recognized Seth and Evan but were designed to keep out intruders.
Seth turned on the lights and gasped when he saw the blood on Evan’s jacket and realized his boyfriend was leaning heavily against the wall.
“You’re hit.” Seth helped Evan to sit at the table and went to fetch their medic kit.
“I didn’t feel it at first,” Evan said, wincing as Seth gentled him out of his leather jacket. In the light, the rip on the sleeve on his right bicep showed just how close they’d been to disaster.
“Looks like one of the bullets grazed you,” Seth said, worry clear in his voice. Once he had Evan’s shirt off, he could see the angry gash.
“Hurts like a mofo now,” Evan replied. “I don’t want to imagine what it’s like to actually get shot.”
“Let’s hope you never find out.” Seth leaned in, pressing a kiss to Evan’s lips. “Cleaning this isn’t going to be fun, but I’ve got to make sure there aren’t fibers left in the wound. I don’t think it’ll need stitches, or a trip to the E.R. Once I have it cleaned and treated, I’ll get you something for the pain.”
Hospitals had to report gunshot injuries, and that could lead to uncomfortable questions. Seth and Evan needed to fly under the radar to keep the witches they pursued and the cops off their tail.
Three years ago, a dark coven killed Seth’s younger brother Jesse as part of a century-old cycle of ritual murders. No one had believed what Seth had seen that night. Then his parents died in a car wreck under unusual circumstances, and their home burned in a suspicious fire. All Seth had left was the fifth-wheeler and truck his parents intended to take on a retirement adventure and the Hayabusa he’d bought as soon as he returned from his last tour of duty.
Seth vowed vengeance, learning everything he could about the supernatural from his mentors, Milo and Toby. He went to Richmond, Virginia, to hunt down the first of the coven’s witches and stop him from killing his next victim—Evan. Seth never expected to fall in love with the man he came to save. Evan made the split-second decision to go with Seth on his quest to stop the other coven members, and after almost a year together, they were headed to Cleveland, on the trail of the fifth witch.
Except that after dispatching four of the coven, Seth and Evan had lost the element of surprise.
Seth feared that Willis Osborn, the fifth witch, knew they were coming for him—and had decided to stop them first.
“Do you think it was Osborn?” Evan gritted his teeth against the pain as Seth cleaned his wound.
“Either Osborn wanted to send us a message, or we had the bad luck to run into a couple of armed assholes who shot at us for being gay,” Seth replied. “I don’t like either option.”
“How would Osborn know where to find us?” Evan hissed as Seth covered the graze with antibiotic ointment and closed it with a butterfly bandage.
“He’s a witch. I imagine there are locator spells since he knows who he’s looking for,” Seth said, carefully binding Evan’s arm. “With the wardings on the camper and the truck, it might be harder to tell where we are. I never thought to ward the motorcycle.”
