Demons are Forever: Confessions of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom Read Online Free PDF Page A

back there, was a master of stealth.
    I didn’t slow my pace, didn’t give any sign that I knew I was being followed. But as I walked, I flicked my left wrist, causing the stiletto concealed inside my jacket sleeve to slide down to a ready position.
    Silence.
    And not the good kind. I whipped around, my right hand grabbing the handle of the stiletto as I lunged for my stalker. He loomed behind me, at least a head taller, his face hidden by the hood of a dark gray sweat jacket. Without hesitating, I attacked, then faltered when I saw his eyes. He jumped all over my hesitation, parrying expertly and thrusting his cane out to trip me up and hook me sideways off the boardwalk.
    “David!” I howled, losing my balance and falling backward into the sand.
    He didn’t retreat at all. Instead he straddled me, his strong hands pinning me at the wrists, his face only inches from mine.
    My breath came faster and faster, but whether from fear, exertion, or something else, I wasn’t sure. “Dammit, David!”
    “You’re out of practice,” he said, his face still close to mine. “And that means you’re dangerous.”
    “Only to myself,” I muttered. “Now get off me.”
    He flashed a lopsided grin. “You’re lucky it was only me.”
    “I’m on my ass because it was you. You’re the one who’s lucky. If I hadn’t seen your face, you could have a stiletto in your eye right about now.”
    “Not a chance,” he said. “You’re too good to make a mistake like that.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you just said I was out of practice.”
    He laughed, then shifted his hips, trying to reach his cane, the pressure more than a little distracting. A second later, he was standing. I was still on the ground, trying to mend my tattered dignity.
    He reached a hand down to help me up, and I took it grudgingly. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway?”
    “Looking for you,” he said.
    “Here?”
    “I saw the article about Tomlinson. I figured you’d come check it out.”
    “Monday’s the first day back at school,” I said, looking up at him as I wiped sand off my jeans. “Your odds would have been better looking for me in the carpool lane.”
    “Not exactly conducive to what I wanted to say.”
    “Oh? What’s that?”
    He leaned in close, his voice low. “That you’ve been avoiding me.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but I think the fact that I didn’t meet his eyes and started walking in the opposite direction suggested otherwise.
    He caught up to me in no time, despite the limp and the cane. “Kate, stop.”
    I turned to him. “David, I’m tired. You jumped out of the dark and tackled me. Forgive me for not being in a chatty mood, okay?”
    “Fair enough,” he said. “But you still haven’t answered me.”
    “I’m pretty sure I did,” I countered. “But if it will make you happy, I’ll be more specific. I’m not avoiding you. Not intentionally, anyway.”
    “You’re unintentionally avoiding me?”
    “Dammit, David.” He was making me laugh, and that wasn’t good. “All I’m saying is that I patrolled alone before I met you, and now I’m patrolling alone again. It’s not nefarious. It’s just logistically easier.”
    “You only patrolled alone because there wasn’t another Hunter in town. You should have someone watching your back.” He took a step closer to me. I moved backward, until I was barely balancing on the wooden boardwalk a few inches above the sand. Another step, and I’d fall on my rear again. Not the way to appear in control of the conversation.
    I opened my mouth to say something, realized I didn’t know what to say, and pushed past him. I was here to patrol, and I told myself that’s what I was going to do. Not stand around arguing.
    David and I had hunted together while we were trying to stop Asmodeus. But before that, I’d never hunted with anyone other than Eric. He’d been my partner in so many ways— my lover, my friend, my