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need to act normal
in front of Forsyth!”
    Gray ignores Caleb’s fears for the nonsense
they are. Forsyth is not here, and besides, John has told them to
hunt the demon. To catch it…but perhaps they will be lucky, and it
will not wish to be caught, and they will have to eat it.
    “ No! We’re on the street in the middle of
the day! God, if you cause a panic, we’re screwed.”
    Gray huffs, but slows to a jog, because he
has made this mistake before. Mortals are foolish; they fear him
and try to stop him, even when he is hunting the demons which hunt
them in turn. But they fear the dark as well, and he learned long
ago it is far easier to hunt beneath the cover of night, when there
is less likely to be someone trying to cut off his head.
    So, yes, Caleb has a point. Much easier to
slow down and follow the delicious scent trailing off down the
alleyway. Although, if this one escapes them by climbing into a
vehicle, he will not be pleased. These cars of modern day are a
curse.
    He takes a deep breath as they pass by a
small open alley, barely a slot, sifting the wind to determine
which path the demon took. It reeks of frozen meat and snow crusted
with blood, underlain with the sour stench of hunger. But the scent
is oddly faded.
    No matter. Perhaps it has gone to ground and
they will find it in its lair and eat it.
    “ If she can still be exorcised—”
    Yes. I know this. You do not have to remind
me yet again.
    In the past, he would not have considered it.
Demons were food, which made anyone possessed by them food as well,
whether they could be exorcised or not. But Caleb sees them as weak
and pitiable, hurt and made victims once already by the demons, and
now Gray does as well, and he cannot bring himself to eat them.
    The trail leads out of the alley, onto the
main street, but there are still too many mortals about. He takes
to the rooftops, finding easy handholds in the crumbling brick. The
scent still carries from below, faint but clear enough, and he
breaks into a run, relying on speed and the propensity of mortals
not to look up. The shop roofs are flat, easy to travel on, despite
the obstacles of ductwork and air conditioners.
    There, in an alley below, scrounging amidst
the trash. The scent is still strangely faded, but it comes
undeniably from the figure below. He gathers himself and drops to
the ancient bricks, claws out and ready to fight—
    The figure turns at the sound of his landing
and lets out a blood-curdling scream. The rankness of sweat and
urine washes out from it, almost eclipsing the delicious odor of
the demon…which makes no sense. The demon should be moving to
defend itself; its scent should get stronger, not weaker.
    “ Are you fucking blind? We’re supposed to
be after a woman!”
    Oh. He had not noticed the mortal’s
gender.
    “ How could you not notice?”
    It did not seem important . And if
Caleb is so annoyed, perhaps he should be the one to handle the
situation.
    It isn’t as if there is anything to eat here,
anyway.
    * * *
    “Shit!” Caleb stood in the middle of the
alleyway, feeling like a fucking idiot, while some poor homeless
bastard cowered against the dumpster, screaming his damned head
off. “Dude! I’m not going to hurt you, okay?”
    The guy didn’t seem to believe him and just
kept screaming. Given the way other people reacted, Gray must look
pretty damn scary. Maybe Caleb shouldn’t have expected anything
else.
    Then again, NHEs generally meant death and
mayhem, so the average person would probably run the other way even
if Gray had rainbows coming out of his butt.
    “ You are very strange.”
    He heard running feet and looked up to see
John, Sean, and Forsyth rounding the corner. They must’ve followed
the screams. Sean’s face flushed red with exertion, but John
managed to look like he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
    “Wrong, uh, suspect,” Caleb said, his cheeks
getting hot. “He’s not even possessed.”
    A frown crossed John’s face as he drew