Page 27 of Demon Demands

Sloane sprang forward, landing in a crouch in front of Jack, as Grim swung his scythe. A head hit the ground and rolled to my feet, blank eyes staring up at me from a blue face. Hyde maneuvered her way through our group, and Dolyn stopped me as I reached for her.

“Let her. She’s almost as dangerous as Sloane.”

The succubus charm crashed into us full force, like a tsunami leaving only victims in its wake. The other four demons who’d been beating Jack gazed at Hyde with heavy-lidded eyes.

Then they dropped dead. Faster than I could snap my fingers. They were alive one moment, dead the next. And the charm was gone.

Grim used his scythe to cut the chain between Jack’s cuffs as Sloane supported his weight. She had his arm carefully wrapped over her shoulder, and hers around his waist to catch him if he fell.

I rushed forward to tuck myself under his other arm, helping to hold him up as Grim took Sloane’s place. She stood in front of him, rubbing her left thumb over the keyholes of the cuffs on each of his wrists, and they popped open, clattering to the ground.

“How did you do that?” Vaughn asked, glaring at Hyde as if she’d grown an extra head.

She shrugged. “Our mom was a succubus, but my dad is a basilisk.”

The fae arched an eyebrow. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

Hyde sighed. “I lured them in with my charm, and then I killed them with my eyes. I can’t make it any more simple than that.”

“But how?” Vaughn pressed.

“I don’t know,” she said in exasperation. “It’s just my powers. Basilisks have that kill you with my eyes power, and I just do it. I’ve never thought about the how of it. How do you do your frosty fingers thing? It’s just a part of you. You just do it.”

Hyde stalked away, Franklin hot on her heels, muttering about the universe and “how the fuck should I know.”

“Follow her,” Jack commanded. “We need to find the rest of the guys down here. There’s around thirty.”

“Around twenty,” Sloane corrected. “We’ve killed nine so far. And you’re not going. You need to heal. Grim can take you outside to the hellhounds. I’ll send Cronus and Atlas with you.”

Dolyn swapped places with me as the blue and yellow butterflies flitted from Sloane’s horns to Jack’s hands. The moment Cronus’ blue form landed on Jack, he sighed in relief and grinned. “A temporary truce, Cronus?”

The butterfly flapped his wings languidly in reply, and Jack chuckled. “I’m still mad at you for chewing your way through all my designer shoes, but thank you.”

“Let’s go,” Sloane demanded. “If we’re not out in an hour, send in a few hounds. We’re going down the center path.”

Once we were at the mouth of the center path, we all pulled our weapons out. We hadn’t needed them between Sloane and Hyde, but if what Jack said was true, then we’d be facing two-to-one odds. Not that we couldn’t handle that.

Not that Sloane and Hyde couldn’t handle twenty demons by themselves.

Fuck. The little succubus was scary in her own right. We’d seen Dolyn turn into a living nightmare as well. Both of them had terrifying mixes of powers.

I couldn’t wrap my head around feeling lustful one moment only to look the little succubus in the eyes and drop dead. Imagine how frightening it would be to feel that same heady dose of lust and then watch the incubus turn into your worst nightmare.

The thought made my whole body shiver.

The end of the center path was a community room of sorts. Black and gray smoke tumbled through the room as Sloane walked in, flanked by Stone and Hyde. Their demonic natures were hidden in the smoky shadows, but would we be covered too? I had no idea.

Franklin didn’t think twice about following, so the guys and I ambled forward on silent feet.

The male demons in the room began to panic slightly, glancing around but not seeing us. I was sure they could feel the power flowing around them, though.

When we were all positioned in the middle of the room, Sloane waved her hand, clearing the air.

“Where is Hannibal?” she asked in a voice that sounded like steel and flowers, hard and feminine. “I have secrets for him.”

No one moved a muscle until Sloane snatched a knife from the chain around her waist. She flicked her wrist. The knife grew as it sailed through the air, embedding itself between the eyes of a male inching his way out the doorway.

She hummed under her breath, something she did before getting sassy or homicidal. “I’ll ask again, since you didn’t hear me the first time. Where. Is. Hannibal?”