“I thought I did.” His brows furrow.
“I’m leaving now.” I make a move to get up and Ethan holds out his hand. “You can’t force me to stay here. You already kidnapped me and removed my clothes. Have fun explaining that to the police.”
Ethan tips his head. “Your solution is to call the police?”
“What else would I do?” My heart hammers in my chest. I’m confused, pissed, and starting to get scared that Ethan is a certified psycho. He sounded so normal when we talked for hours on the phone, dammit. It’s always the good-looking ones, right?
His expression softens a bit. “Who are you, Anora? Who are you really? Not just anyone has a weapon like this.” He looks at the dagger and back at me. “You’re not just some horse-loving vet tech, are you? Who. Are. You?”
Swallowing hard, I shake my head. “I’m a medium. I have been my whole life.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes! Why is it so hard to believe? Are you one of those people who insists vampirism is a disease that will be cured someday too? Because it won’t.”
Ethan cocks an eyebrow, amusement starting to take over his face. “No, I don’t think it’s a disease.”
“Tell me what the hell is going on before I start screaming.” I run a trembling hand over Hunter’s head. “You said you were hunting that…that thing in the woods.”
“You really have no idea, do you?”
“No,” I say, exasperated. “But you’re freaking me out, so along with screaming, I’ll let Hunter have at you.”
Ethan studies me a moment, confliction obvious on his handsome face. “Pricolici,” he repeats. “They’re demonic bounty hunters, sent after a target by a high-level demon.”
“The man on the dock. His eyes were black. Was he a demon?”
“Yes, but not a high-level one,” he answers, and I just nod my head. Everything is so fucking overwhelming, yet makes sense at the same time. “How did you turn him into a pile of ashes?”
“I…I don’t know,” I say honestly. “That word, ig—”
“Don’t say it,” Ethan interrupts.
“Okay,” I say slowly, feeling even more confused. “That word just popped into my head.” I tighten the blanket around myself, covering my breasts. “How do you know about Pricolici and demons?”
“It’s what I do,” he answers. “I hunt them.”
“You hunt demons?”
“Yes. That’s why I was in the woods. I’d been tracking the Pricolici, trying to figure out who the target is so I could save them and get the demonic mark off their heads. I think you’re the target, Anora.”
Again, I nod, thinking back to the first time one of those things—a Pricolici—went after me. I knew the way it looked at me, the way it sniffed at me wasn’t normal. It was like it was trying to identify me, and now I know it was. “More are going to come, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” He eyes Hunter, hesitating for a second before coming over and sitting on the opposite side of the couch. “Most people freak out when they’re told demons are after them.” It’s a statement, but I hear the question in his voice. “But you don’t seem fazed.” His eyes narrow a bit, still not trusting that I told the truth. Who does he think I could be?
I twist a corner of the blanket in my hands. “It’s not the first time I saw one of those dog-creature things.”
“Pricolici.”
“Yeah, that.”
“You saw one before and lived to tell the tale?” He hikes his brows. “How the fuck did you manage that?”
“I don’t know. It was that day we met. I told you I fell off my horse, which was true. The same Pricolici that attacked us today spooked him and I fell. If Mystery hadn’t struck out and hit it in the face…I thought it was going to attack me, but it kind of just…just looked at me. It sounds crazy, I know.”
“It doesn’t.” Ethan lets out a breath and his whole body relaxes. “I want to help you, Anora, and keeping secrets will only make things more difficult.”
“I’m not keeping secrets. I’ve probably said too much as it is.” I push my damp hair back. “Did you kill it? The Pricolici?”
“I didn’t have to. Your dog ripped its throat out.”
“Good boy,” I whisper to Hunter and his tail wags, thumping against the couch.
“Where did you get the dagger?”
“My aunt sent it to me for my birthday.”
“Your aunt that recently died?” he asks.
“Yes.”
Ethan eyes me again, still looking like he thinks I’m lying, but also like he thinks I might freak out and attack him without notice. He stares at me for a few seconds, then inhales and shakes his head at his own thoughts. “Are you still cold? You’re shivering.”
I am, but it’s also the shock of everything finally weighing on me. I’ve never even had regular bounty hunters after me before.”
“Most people haven’t,” he says with a smirk. “I won’t let them get to you, Anora.” He rests his hand on my thigh. I can feel the warmth of his palm through the thin fleece blanket. Our gazes meet, and the contempt in his eyes is gone, replaced by a hunger that sends desire tingling through me.