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think Charun has targeted one of you next.”

Chapter 3
    She’d been warned.
    If anyone asked, Amity would freely acknowledge the fact that she should have heeded Nortia’s warning and taken just a little more care.
    But had she listened?
    Of course not. She hadn’t believed Charun would come after her. She was such a minor goddess in comparison to Lucy and Tessa. Even when she’d been in full command of her powers, all those millennia ago, she’d never been what most people might call popular.
    Sure, she’d had followers, but mostly, she’d been worshipped only when someone was gravely ill. That made for a lot of weeping people and though she was always glad to help, it was slightly depressing.
    Before Paris Hilton, before Marie Antoinette… hell, before Cleopatra, she and Kari had been the original party girls, drinks in one hand and a man, or two, on the other.
    And really, who could blame them? It’d been their way of decompressing from the death and destruction inherent in their duties. Amity may have lost some of the joy in life that Kari retained, but that didn’t mean she was ready to hand herself on a platter to Charun.
    The night sky held no glow from the moon, and clouds obscured the stars as she ran along the trail past the Reading Museum. The creek to her left babbled cheerfully, swollen after a full day of rain, concealing the sound of the demon chasing behind her.
    It was late, yes, and she should’ve stayed inside the hospital but she’d sensed no danger when she’d walked across the street to the park. She’d just needed a respite. After her unsettling meeting with Nortia, she’d spent the entire day working with her patients. She’d needed a few minutes by herself to gather her thoughts before she met Remy and Rom for a late dinner. Remy had called to say they’d be late to pick her up and asked her to wait for them at the hospital.
    Since she’d had a few minutes, she’d decided to take a walk on the beautiful grounds of the museum. Yes, the overcast sky made it darker than normal at seven o’clock on an early May night. And the air held a chill from the earlier rain.
    But she’d never imagined she’d be running for her life from a wiry blue demon.
    With her heart pounding in her chest and her lungs burning, she ran faster than she ever thought possible, considering she’d never been much for exercise. A goddess just didn’t have to worry about gaining a few pounds or losing muscle tone. She was as she’d always be.
    Since she happened to be five-foot-three and 130 pounds, she had curves other goddesses didn’t. Which meant she lost points for maneuverability.
    Still, the demon didn’t appear to be gaining on her. And that didn’t make sense.
    Charun’s enforcer must be playing with her.
    She wanted to call the thing nasty names but bitch and bastard were gender specific and tukhulkha demons were gender neutral. No one knew why. That’s just the way it was.
    And didn’t mean a damn thing at all to her situation right now.
    She needed to get back to the safety of the hospital, where the demon wouldn’t dare enter for fear of being seen by the eteri , those humans without magical powers. Screams would be sure to follow if an eteri caught sight of the nightmarish creature.
    Of course, she’d begun to run in the wrong direction, and if she tried to double back now, the demon would be that much closer.
    “Stupid. How could I be so stupid?”
    Pretty freaking stupid, apparently, for all she thought of herself as a levelheaded person.
    Luckily, she hadn’t changed into the heels she’d brought for her dinner date. She still wore the comfy red running shoes she favored for long days at the hospital. They’d never gotten a workout like this before, though.
    “Amity.” The demon called her name, drawing out the three syllables to creepy lengths. “You know you can’t outrun me. You’re just not built for speed, dear. But please, keep running. This is so much fun.”
    Ooh,