AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I snatched the knife from the nightstand and yanked the window open, my heart seizing at the four-story drop.
Fane didn’t so much as balk at it as he wrapped his arm around my waist and jumped out the window with me clinging to him.
Son of a bitch!
A scream choked in my throat as we hurtled toward the ground. Fane took most of the hit so when my boots met the concrete, instead of my legs breaking, pain flared into my knees, jarring my whole body. But I remained in one piece.
“This way.” He nudged me left, and we took off for the mouth of the alley.
Luckily, it was late at night and the bedroom window didn’t overlook the main road, or we might have scared a few humans. We turned and bolted down Turner Street. Blood pumped through my veins as my muscles strained to keep up with Fane. Of course the bastard wasn’t even going at his full speed.
Tingles radiated over my scalp.“Someone’s following us.”Speaking to him through our mental link was better than wasting my breath.
“I know.”He jerked his head to the right. We crossed the road and dashed into the next backstreet.“Get ready to fight.”
My grip tightened on my knife’s hilt.
“Now!”
We spun and charged, catching the demons following us off guard. Fane’s talons erupted from his hands, and he quickly took down the first assailant.
Damn, he was good.
I rubbed my thumb over the magical symbol on the hilt to lengthen the blade as I swung it in the air, decapitating the closest demon.
Guess I wasn’t so bad either.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as Fane and I fought back to back while a dozen demons surrounded us. Like Karn, they were all dux demons but not nearly as powerful as the lord of Vlehull. Beyond their glamours, jagged teeth flashed, and irises of varying unnatural shades seared into us.
I ducked, missing the claws of one demon while another slashed at my back, ripping into my shirt and grazing my skin. The cuts burned as I pivoted, kicked his ribs hard enough to crack them, and slammed my blade into his chest.
Black blood spurted out as I yanked my sword from him and used it to decapitate a female on my left. I returned to the guy and aimed for his neck, but another beast crashed into my right side, shoving me against the wall.
My head bounced on the rough bricks, and pain flared through my skull. Stars sparkled across my vision as blood coated my mouth.
Damn, that’s going to leave a mark.
A hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing while sharp claws tore shallow cuts into my flesh.
“Karn didn’t say anything about not maiming you.” The female, her hair the color of a murky ocean, lifted one of her long talons over my right eye. “You don’t need both of these.”
The world slowed, and the possibility of becoming partially blind stared back at me as her claw drew so close that the finely serrated edge became crystal clear. Something shattered within me like it had when Logan and I sparred yesterday, only multiplied by a hundred.
My focus sharpened to diamond points, and the shadows of the alley lifted as if a spotlight shined down. Fire erupted through my veins, searing my blood to boiling levels. Fury unleashed inside of me like a beast set free of her cage. She was hungry—starving actually—and the demon promising to blind me would be her first meal.
My lips curled into a ruthless smile, and whatever the demon saw had her bravado faltering and fear melting through her neon-green gaze. I snatched her finger, twisted until it popped, and twisted some more. Her scream became a wonderful soundtrack to my ears.
When I released the demon, she stumbled back, but I slipped around her to block her escape. “Maybe I should makeyoublind.” My voice, low and as cold as my insides were hot, glided out with a menacing ring.
She shook her head and inched away, her eyes bugging out. “I was only following orders. This wasn’t my choice.”
“Attempting to rip out my eye had been all you.” Before she could flee, I whipped her around, crushed my boot into her back, and forced her to the concrete.
She howled as I dug my heel into her ribs until they groaned and cracked. A laugh, dark and deadly, erupted out of my mouth, and genuine fear coated her.
Others had feared me for different reasons throughout my life, but terror drowned this demon, held her under a raging river as water filled her lungs and weighed on her chest. She knew her life was forfeit. And she knew I wouldn’t make it quick.
I straddled her and settled my blade against her neck just enough to draw a line of black blood across her pale skin. Violence sizzled on my tongue, and every fiber of my being craved her suffering. The distant grunts, meaty smacks of fists, and crunch of bone couldn’t penetrate the waterfall of crimson cascading over me.
