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top, a
vibrant red almost the color of blood. He had a look about him, a way of
carrying himself, that spoke of confidence born in battle. It was a look Bree
was used to seeing in her brothers and herself. This Logan guy wasn’t above
getting dirty. But his calm blue eyes were anything but vicious. Kind, they
looked clear and kind.
    Still she shouldn’t be ogling the man. Bree grabbed a damp
rag and started wiping down the counter. She’d have to see what her brothers
said. Her instincts might say that this man meant no harm to her but he also wasn’t
someone to take lightly.
    They’d have to keep an eye on him.

Chapter Five
     
    The mountains at night were the definition of spooky to the
uninitiated. Sounds echoed strangely against the hollows, eerie thuds in the
distance. Wildlife scurried in the underbrush just outside of her peripheral
vision. Worse, it wasn’t uncommon to stumble across ancient grave sites and
markers that had been attached to homesteads long since reclaimed by the woods.
At least the full moon shone down through the trees, lighting their way down
the twisting path. Bree had pinpointed one of the smaller branches of the main
nest of demons they hunted. The nest being larger than the last, this hunt
called for all her brothers’ help. But at least the hunt kept her mind clear,
leaving her little time to think about anything or anyone.
    Even Logan.
    The Colliers slipped silently through the trees and brush.
In a carefully choreographed maneuver, they stalked their prey. But as they
approached the nest they discovered something unexpected. There were at least
ten imps in the clearing surrounding a single human.
    Bree thought it was an attack and braced herself for the
rescue attempt Aaron would surely coordinate. But first she reached out for the
human’s emotions, prepared to endure an onslaught of terror. Instead slick
alien emotions, like so much slime, coated the air.
    Possessed.
    Signaling her brothers to start circling the group, Bree
crept forward. Aaron would be on the farthest side with his whistle as the
signal for attack. The waiting for everyone to get to their places was its own
torture, every nerve tingling with the urge to fight.
    At Aaron’s sharp signal, Bree leapt forward. The next few
minutes blurred into a sequence of scratching, grabbing, clawing and swiping.
She smelled the noxious odor of flaming imp as the creatures started falling.
She received a few shallow scratches and retaliated with swift precision that
sent two more imps up in ash. But something was wrong.
    There were too many.
    The ten imps they’d seen before starting their attack were
only the beginning. Ten more, then twenty scampered through the trees. The
possessed human, a man Bree had never seen before, stood back and laughed as
the numbers increased.
    Seeing that individual skirmishes would be impossible to
survive against those numbers, Bree and her brothers gathered back-to-back,
facing their enemies. She didn’t have time for the fear to set in nor did she
have the luxury of imagining her defeat. She crouched, her knife held in front
of her, as she prepared for the imps’ attack. She trusted her brothers to
protect her back and would do the same.
    Suddenly movement at the tree line caught her attention. A
large, shadowy figure slipped through the brush. But it wasn’t demonic
reinforcements. Logan, still in his black leathers, stepped out, a picture of
confidence as he faced the onslaught. He reached over his shoulder, whipping
out a long sword. He grinned as he held it in front of him and widened his
stance.
    Three imps peeled off from the group surrounding the
Colliers to converge on him. Spinning and slicing, he dealt with them with a
frightening efficiency.
    Other imps joined the fray to meet a similar fate in
frightening, ferocious speed. The air was thick with the stench of their blood
and ash. Bree tore her eyes away from Logan and started dealing with her own
adversaries. She lost track of time