Another spasm of coughing shook his frail frame.
“Wait a minute. What?” He was right, of course, though I had no idea how he knew. As soon as I got within the city gates, my body would start to heal.
“Get to safety, Rowan,” he said, and closed the door.
I could feel it now, too—an instinct, a tug between my ribs that pulled me east, toward the hill. My body had gone into survival mode, dragging itself toward the city, while I barely retained consciousness. That’s where my body had been urging me to go, the City of Thorns, not behind the trash cans to die.
I moved faster, my legs carrying me through the shadowy streets. But mentally, I was starting to become delirious. Despite my injuries, my mind heated with memories of Orion’s beauty—his pale eyes, high cheekbones, and sensual lips. His thickly corded muscles—
Why in the name of all that was holy was I thinking of that right now?
I was dying, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to sit in his lap. How it felt to have his lips graze over mine, his thumbs brush over my breasts. Heaven help me, I wanted to rip his clothes off and run my tongue over his chest. It felt like he was here right now, like I could reach out and touch him.
What the hell?
Take it off. Now. The memory of those words from him made an ache build inside me, a bittersweet pang that had nothing to do with my wounds.
I wanted it to happen again.
That’s what you think about at a time like this?
What was this, some last desperate craving for life as I was about to expire?
I looked down at the trail of blood on the sidewalk, and realization dawned. Of course.
I was a succubus now. Sex wasn’t just sex to a Lilu. Sex was life. It was healing and strength.
Sex would save my life.
I turned onto Walcott Street. I had two options now—find some random guy and make him kiss me, or make it the rest of the way up this hill.
Knowing what the men were like around here, I decided to take my chances with the hill.
But once I got into the city, what then? Orion still believed me to be Mortana, his worst enemy, and that was a serious problem. If I got anywhere near him, I had a horrible feeling he might try to kill me. True, something had stopped him before, but he’d literally made a blood oath to kill me, an oath he was compelled to keep.
And not just me. Orion was obligated to kill everyone in Mortana’s family.
I didn’t think I was Mortana, but whoever I was, I was probably related to her. After all, she looked exactly like me.
As my head swam with these thoughts, I realized I’d made it almost halfway up the slope, my blood mingling with the rainwater flowing downhill. Orange light from the streetlamps glittered off the dark puddles.
My thoughts were going dark, and I considered resting in the grass by the sidewalk, but as sirens wailed in the distance, I made my feet continue. I gripped my stomach, trying to stanch the bleeding. Blood seeped between my fingers. Across a wide street, the gates of the demon city emitted a pale, golden light, drawing me closer. The towering gates were wrought iron, twisted in the shape of thorns and vines, with a golden skull in the center.
Behind me, the sirens blazed louder, and red and blue lights flashed.
Moving faster, I dragged myself across the street. Police lights strobed, and I slumped against the gate.
Fuck. How did I open it?
The police bellowed behind me, screaming at me to freeze.
With tears stinging my eyes, I pressed a single bloodied hand against the golden skull.
A gunshot rang out, and a bullet seared my thigh. At that moment, the key symbol on my arm began to burn. Rays of golden light beamed from it, mingling with the gate’s light. The pain ebbed, and the gate unlocked. I tumbled inside, and the gate swung closed behind me.
Weeks ago, I never would have imagined it, but now this place felt like home.
Chapter 4—Rowan
It was like I’d been drowning and had finally come up for air. As soon as I crossed the threshold into the City of Thorns, I felt the healing shimmer over my limbs.
I lay on the brick, the magic already starting to replenish in my body. The wounds in my side were knitting, and the bullet was working itself out of my thigh muscle, but I didn’t want to lie here forever. It seemed mostly empty here, but I could hear a few demons talking nearby. If I were seen, word would quickly get back to Orion.
I stood, trying to get my bearings. I hadn’t come through the main gate before. When I’d entered the city before, I’d been unconscious, and I’d left half-delirious through a tunnel system.
For the first time, I surveyed the city’s entrance, a little stone courtyard I’d wondered about for many years. The entire place—the streets, the alcoves, the ornate turrets—was built of the same beautiful honey-colored stone as the exterior walls. Across the courtyard, a castle loomed. A carved lion overlooked enormous wooden doors, crisscrossed with iron and studs.
In the other buildings around me, arched windows overlooked the courtyard. Narrow alleys jutted off from the square—some with stairs that continued farther up the hill, some with stone walkways overhead. Luckily for me, it was raining heavily, and almost no one was out tonight.
I stumbled toward the narrowest alleyway, finding it dark and abandoned. Rain pattered down, and thunder boomed.
As I walked, I ran my finger over the deep, fresh scar in my side. The wound didn’t hurt at all, but it hadn’t healed as much as I’d expected.
I kept moving until I found a small, dark garden with a fountain, like a tiny public park. Water flowed from stone serpent mouths, and ancient-looking runes had been engraved along the side of the fountain. Pale pink roses grew around it, scenting the air with their sweet perfume.
Looking for the driest patch, I curled up in the grass under a bench. I hugged myself, imagining a warm bed, and listened to the gentle sound of running water.
My eyelids grew heavy. Back in my true home once more, a blanket of sleep swept over me.
I awoke in the little rose garden with my clothes drenched. Best I could figure, I’d slept for an hour or two, and the rest had done me good. I felt better than ever, completely energized, and ready to take on the world. Did I like having demon magic? Hell, yes. I never wanted to leave this place again.
I exited the courtyard and found my way out of the network of alleys, reaching the river. As always, the air in the city was warm and humid, but the rain had kept the streets mostly clear. Nevertheless, I lurked in the shadows as I walked, not wanting anyone to notice me as I made my way back to my parents’ house.
I followed the river east through the Sathanas Ward, filled with buildings adorned with carvings of monstrous heads and empty temples to the demon of wrath. Passing a windowless jail with an enormous iron door and a scaffold for executions, I soon reached the Asmodean Ward, the quarter once inhabited by the Lilu. At the easternmost edge of this section, the buildings thinned, and the river branched off into tributaries. There, I found my parents’ dark mansion. It stood on flat ground against the river. Gothic gardens spread all about the property. Mist twined around a crumbling stone wall that surrounded part of their land and billowed around the mansion itself.
I swallowed hard as I entered the outermost edge of the gardens and made my way down a gravel walk, meandering between broken statues and thorny plants.