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table and Anna jumped, which made Colin jump. Even Luca was watching the exchange suspiciously, but Colin had no idea what he was thinking. “You can’t save him, Anna! He’s a goddamned demon! And because you blew it, I’ve been out there looking for him for the past month and I can’t find him,” Dylan yelled.
    “You’ve been going out on your own?” Colin asked. That was just stupid, no matter how upset Dylan was.
    But Dylan narrowed his eyes at Colin and kept seething, “No, with Ben and Max. Some of us care enough about Jeremy to want to do the right thing.”
    For the first time since meeting Dylan over four months ago, Colin wanted to hit him. If it were just him that he was throwing these accusations at, he could deal with it, but he was hurting Anna, and Colin had never been able to handle Anna’s pain. Colin stood up and reached for Anna’s hand. “Let’s go. I think we’re done in Baton Rouge.”
    Anna looked up at him in surprise – so did Luca, actually – but she took his hand and followed him outside. Luca trailed behind them. “Um,” Luca stumbled, “can you do this? Your angel sent you here. Can you just leave?”
    Colin stopped walking to face his old friend. “She sent us here because of these hunters. One of them is now a demon, and the others consider us traitors. Our job here is through.”
    And Colin and Anna climbed into their car, already trying to decide where they should go next.

Chapter 2
     
     
    Colin and Anna dropped Luca off at Colin’s old apartment then went back to their new apartment to start packing. Luca didn’t want to leave them yet with so much uncertainty still hovering over them about the disruption of their senses, Anna’s abduction, even the difficulty in killing the demons here, so he’d offered to go with them wherever they decided to go. Colin and Anna still weren’t sure.
    They had left Baton Rouge for a few weeks after the explosion at Anna’s apartment that had almost killed the demon that used to be Jeremy, and they still didn’t even know what had happened to the archdemon. They doubted it was dead though. They’d returned to Baton Rouge when Luca finished his job in St. Paul so he could help them investigate, but they had feared their time here would be limited. Colin had been so antisocial, he hadn’t exactly endeared himself to many of the hunters to begin with, and Anna knew it was her fault Jeremy, or the demon that used to be Jeremy, was still alive.
    Luca didn’t have much to pack and called them about half an hour later to let them know he was ready whenever they were. Anna was still trying to throw her clothes back into the suitcase she’d only recently unpacked without crying. “Anna,” Colin put his arms around her and she leaned her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat in its steady soothing rhythm.
    “We’ve never failed before, Colin,” she sobbed.
    “We haven’t failed. We’ve got Luca with us now, and he’s worth a dozen other hunters any day.” Colin kissed the top of her head and Anna wanted to feel comforted by the truth in Colin’s words, but The Angel had sent them here. There had to be a reason.
    “If so,” Colin countered, “she needs to learn to be more specific. We can’t read her mind.”
    Anna sighed and wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist. “I liked Boulder. It’s beautiful there. And after the past four months, we deserve some place low key, at least for a little while.”
    Colin smiled. “You know pot’s legal there now. Everybody’s far too happy for there to be any work for us in Boulder.”
    Anna closed her eyes, and for the briefest of moments, allowed herself to fantasize of a life where they didn’t roam the Earth looking for the most dangerous areas in the world. “Good,” Anna teased, “maybe I’ll even try it.”
    Colin pulled back from her and pretended to scowl at her. “Anna Elizabeth O’Conner, you will not. We have to keep Luca out of trouble, after