The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 by Ivy Sinclair Page B

shock. “I saw something like it on the road on the way here earlier. That’s why Samuel and I were coming in the back way.”
    I was relieved that he was okay. Everything had happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to think. “What are we supposed to do?”
    “I think you know what we have to do,” Riley said. “I’ve got your back.”
    For the first time, I realized what happened next was falling squarely on my shoulders. It was surreal and scary, but at the same time, it felt oddly comforting. I was in control of my destiny now. No one else was setting the course for me, and I was okay with that. I was more than okay with that. And in the process of finding myself, I had also found Riley. I was more than okay with that too.
    I held the relic up, and I saw the demons at the front of the pack shift backward slightly even though I hadn’t even moved toward them.
    “Are you feeling any different?” I asked him in a low voice. I was more than a little concerned about the relic’s effects on us now without the shield Benjamin had kept around it.
    “I think we’re okay for at least a little while,” Riley said. “That isn’t normal metal that the watch casing is made out of. It’s Plythen steel. That’s no doubt why every bad event attributed to it takes some time to unfold.” Riley was always full of fun facts like that.
    “Okay then. You’re sure about this?”
    “I didn’t have anything else on my agenda for this afternoon. Closing a Hell Gate sounds interesting enough.”
    I smiled, which I knew had been his intention. Taking a deep breath, but keeping the relic in front of me, I knelt down and picked up my gun. I wasn’t sure if I’d need it, but having it made me feel better. I grimaced at the long trail of ooze that accompanied it as I pulled it off the ground. The demon that had been at my feet had dissolved completely.
    “That’s one I haven’t seen before,” Riley commented.
    “I’m just full of tricks today,” I said. I put the gun back in its holster, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the demon ooze remains would cement it in place. I forced myself to stop thinking about that. I was doing nothing but procrastinating against the inevitable.
    I stood there because I realized that my feet didn’t seem to want to move. I felt my arm holding the relic start to shake. Then I felt Riley’s hard body press against my back and his fingers wrapped around my wrist steadying my arm.
    “I’m here with you every step of the way. I’ve got you,” he said.
    I felt a ripple of warmth down my spine as his words caressed my ear. It focused my mind on what I needed to do. I needed to walk forward. And then I felt my foot move as I stepped forward.
    I forgot about the black ooze at my feet.
    I forgot about the fact that Benjamin had betrayed me.
    I forgot about the demons who blocked my path.
    Riley was with me, and we would take care of this business once and for all.
    As my mind focused on that, the relic in my hand began to glow. It knew where I wanted to go, and I just had to follow it. So I did.
     
     

CHAPTER NINE – RILEY
     
    I had to give my girl props. Once she set her mind on something, she didn’t hesitate. I liked to think that I had something to do with it. If she had told me that she’d rather go back and take on the dickhead archangel instead, I wouldn’t have blamed her. What was going on now was the scariest damn thing to happen to me since my short trip to Hell five years ago.
    It was quickly apparent that not all of the demons could back away from us as we approached them. The tunnel was relatively spacious, which made sense considering there was a Hell Gate down here somewhere, but it was crammed full of demons of every variety. I had seen a fair number of them in my day, but my eyes continued to find ones in the mishmash that I had only read about it.
    As a joke about a year ago, Klein started making his own demon trading cards. When business was slow, we played