Free Demons of the Sun by Cindi Madsen

left. She brought her elbow down on the back of his head as he passed. He stumbled forward and she leapt on his back. He reared up, backpedaled, and slammed her against the wall. She barely maintained her hold on him as all the air shot out of her lungs.
    He struggled, clawing at her arms. Re-gaining control of her body, she put one hand on the top of his head, winding her fingers through a handful of his stringy hair, the other on his chin. And jerked.A loud, grinding crack filled the air, and the demon slumped into a scaly pile. Persephone fell to her hands and knees, struggling to catch her breath.
    “Persephone!”
    Looking up, she saw Jax running toward her. She took another deep breath and pushed herself to her feet.
    His eyes widened as he neared. “How bad is it?”
    Blood ran down Persephone’s arm and dripped onto the sidewalk. “It looks worse than it is.” Actually, it hurt like hell, but she knew he’d freak out if she said that.
    The world tipped, and she had to put her hand on the wall to steady herself.
    Jax was a little blurry, but those blue eyes of his stood out, and they were studying her with fierce intensity.
    “I’m fine,” she said, because he looked so upset. “No weapons and I still killed him. Come on, you’ve got to admit that’s impressive.”
    He glanced at the demon. “Impressive, but you don’t look fine.”
    She let go of the wall to show how fine she was. Then clamped onto his arm as she started to tip.
    He gripped her arms and guided her to the ground. He dug into his bag and pulled out a small first aid kit.
    “Don’t worry, I heal fast.” The three gashes in her arm had already stopped bleeding. They were deep and ugly, but she took the clotting as a good sign. “By tomorrow it’ll just be scratches.”
    “Not if you bleed to death now,” he said. Usually she couldn’t avoid his gaze, but now he seemed to be avoiding hers.
    “How did you find me anyway?”
    He pushed up her sleeve and pressed gauze over her cuts. “I’ve got good instincts.”
    “Instincts? You instinctively thought to look for me somewhere I don’t usually go?”
    “One, I can feel demon presences, and two…” He ripped the tape with his teeth, stuck it across the top of the gauze, and finally looked at her. “I can feel you, okay? If I focus hard enough, and if you’re in danger, I can feel you.”
    “You can feel me? That’s weird.”
    “It’s necessary.” He ripped another piece of tape and continued to secure the gauze over her cuts. His movements were fast and precise—obviously he’d done this before. The muscles in his jaw clenched. “Protecting you would be a lot easier if you didn’t fight it.”
    Persephone was light-headed, but she didn’t miss the angry edge to his voice. “You’re mad?”
    His eyes locked onto hers. “Yeah I’m mad. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been this mad before.”
    “I bet if someone tried to take away your free will you’d be even angrier.” Persephone jerked away and then immediately regretted it. Searing heat shot down her arm and hot tears sprung to her eyes.
    Jax ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not trying to take away your freedom, but like I keep telling you, it’s my job to keep you safe. How can you still not understand?”
    “You think I don’t understand?” To her dismay, her voice cracked. “I’ve got to guard an object that got my family killed. I have all these rules, all this responsibility, and I don’t want it. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to crack under the pressure.”
    He covered her hand with his. “That’s why we’ve got to work together. So neither one of us cracks.” He glanced at the demon, then back at her. “With your bare hands, huh?”
    “I used my legs, too.”
    The start of a smile hit his lips, but faded in the next second. “Now that they know where you are, we’ve got to go somewhere else.”
    “They don’t know about the dagger,” Persephone said. “It was just one of