“You.”
5
Me.
He wanted me.
My head pounded with the beat of drums. Of battles. Adrenaline flooded my system and my skin became sensitive. Even the brush of air against it felt sharp. Painful. My breath turned ragged.
“You want me?” I asked because my thoughts were scrambled. I needed to buy time.
I could have sworn I saw amusement in his eyes as he said, “I did not stutter.”
“Why do you want me?” I replied, a harder tone entering my voice. The amusement that twinkled slowly bled out as something else took its place. Something dangerous.
“Does it matter?” he replied.
“Yes.”
“You called to me,” he said slowly. “I am intrigued.”
“Intrigued?” I repeated.
Slowly, I edged to the side, taking a single step. Black fire raged in his eyes as I did so. Faster than I could react, his hand locked around my wrist, the one not holding the gun.
A jolt like electricity shot through me.
My heart quickened. I sensed my defenses falling. I was approaching that dangerous precipice where there was no coming back.
I couldn’t let that happen. For a decade, I’d kept my secret from the world.
It would be another decade before I would let anyone reveal it.
“That’s unfortunate,” I said softly, my voice mirroring his own. I mimicked the tone intentionally. Even as my heart rate approached that treacherous line.
“How so?” he asked me, clearly perplexed by my words.
The corners of my lips turned up. I lifted the free hand with my gun and pointed it between his eyes. “You can’t have me.”
Fury flashed through his features. The corded muscle in his neck went taut. The demon’s nostrils flared, and I felt the hand locked on my wrist tighten.
Then I pulled the trigger.
A single shot echoed throughout the cathedral.
The hand gripping me slipped, and I darted to the side. While my knowledge of most of the supernatural world was good, demons were in a league all their own. They didn’t originate in this world, and there were so few of them that information about them was scarce. I had no idea if that bullet would put him down, or—if it would—for how long.
Magic pulsed within the circle, and it had nothing to do with the coven.
I turned and fired my gun at the witch closest to me.
Red splattered the dais steps as she fell to her knees and toppled sideways. Her athame clattered to the ground. The circle broke.
Cloaked figures ran, sensing their inevitable end.
I popped off two shots and killed the two closest to me that were running toward the side door.
There was ten members left. Nine of them could not leave here alive, or I’d have an even bigger problem on my hands. I fired off another round of shots, but before I could see how many coven members went down, a man stepped in front of me.
No . . . not a man. A demon.
His shadow eclipsed me entirely.
My breath stuttered.
“That was unwise,” the demon said.
“Oh?” I replied, considering my options.
He stared at me with an intensity hotter than the sun. The black flames in his eyes seemed to be reaching for me, wanting to set me on fire. I stumbled back, and he clasped both hands around my wrists.
“You called me into this world. You asked to bargain. Then you dare attempt to kill me—to run from me.” The rage in his voice called to something within me. He leaned forward, his nose skimming my blood-splattered jaw. The demon followed the trail to the hollow of my ear and down my throat. “You won’t be going anywhere.”
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
My heart beat. I pulled, trying to break his grip, but it was like moving a mountain. He didn’t budge an inch.
Panic blossomed in my chest. It was the spark, my wild, erratic emotions the fuel.
And then it happened.
My heart stopped.
I blinked. Red tinted my vision. Rage consumed me. I bared my teeth at the demon, who jerked back to see my face. He cocked his head, watching me curiously. Keenly.
I pushed at him again, and this time he budged.
Surprise flared in his eyes.
My foot slammed into his shin at the same moment my hands dropped. I flung my head forward, into his nose. I followed it up using all my strength and momentum to spin on my heel and aim an elbow-shot at his jaw.
Another crack echoed through the cathedral.
I turned to run and one of his hands tightened around my wrist once more.
The rage hammering through me burned bright. Blinding. I clenched my fist, and white flames erupted down my arm, fueled by the intensity of my hatred.
I opened my palm and unleashed every bit of fire I had in me.
The blazing inferno slammed into his chest, sending him flying.
He landed in the center aisle between the pews. Marble cracked under the impact.
I didn’t stick around at that point. One quick sweep told me the members of the Antares Coven were long gone.
Which meant not only did I lose any bargaining power with the demon by refusing him, but now I also lost Claude Lewis.
The white fire died down, and with it, the unholy rage lifted. I was still angry, but not like before. Red still tinted my vision, and I knew it would be longer before the other side effects passed.
Unfortunately, now I had an even bigger problem. Several of them, really.
Gritting my teeth, I bolted down the hall and out the back door. The metal panel banged against the brick siding, the sound ricocheting down the alley. I stepped outside and slammed the door shut behind me, taking off the way I’d come.
As I rounded the corner, two of the cloaked members stood there.
I lifted my gun, and a sharp masculine command had the metal barrel crumpling inward. I cast it aside. Speaking low under her breath, the witch started to chant softly. The warlock next to her quickly joined in.
My muscles locked. My feet became leaden. I froze on the spot, unable to move.
Wind blew and lifted the edge of the taller ones, showing the face of a young man, only a few years younger than me, by the looks of it. He took a couple of steps toward me. It wasn’t a very smart move, even if I were temporarily paralyzed, but they’d run from the cathedral before they saw what went down in there. They didn’t know the half of what I was.
“Grab her,” the girl hissed, stopping her chanting. The spell held, but only just. I could feel it start to weaken immediately.
“Do you see her eyes?” the warlock asked, stopping his own incantation. “They’re red—”
“I don’t give a damn what her eyes look like, Nathan. Grab her before—”
I bared my teeth in a malicious smile, and the warlock in front of me paled. His already milk-colored skin turning the color of bone.
“You’re a—” he started to say. I lunged forward and sunk my fangs into his neck. Blood touched my lips, and a ravenous hunger threatened to consume me. I bit down hard, and then snapped back, spitting. A chunk of his flesh hit the cold pavement.
The warlock lifted a hand to his throat. Shock running through him.
He collapsed to his knees and then toppled sideways, bleeding out.
I raised my eyes to the girl before me.
In her fear, she didn’t even try to stop me.
It was the greatest mistake she could have made.