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I quietly closed the door and turned left, heading away from Ruin’s house as my knees shook. His security team would be hunting me once they realized I’d made it outside. I had to get as far away from this place as possible.
A rumbling timbre registered behind me. “Are you sure she got out?” Nik, the captain of Ruin’s security team, marched onto the porch and searched the street while he pressed on his earpiece, listening to someone on the other end.
My pulse skyrocketed as the dux demon cracked his knuckles. His large, brawny build consisted of pure muscle, and he could bulldoze his way through anything, probably even a brick wall. Beyond his handsome glamor of dirty blond hair, a chiseled jaw, and blue eyes, his skin became deep bronze, and spikes ran down his arms. His true irises were an unnatural neon green with slitted pupils.
I shoved into a group of twenty-something girls headed to Wrath & Ruin, scattering them along the sidewalk. Their glares disappeared as I slipped into a backstreet that they were too smart to venture into.
Women didn’t go into alleys and side streets alone at night in this part of town unless they wanted trouble. I could handle the human criminals who slithered around this area. It was the demons hot on my tail that I needed to avoid.
I brushed my long, raspberry strands out of my face and wiped the layer of sweat off my forehead, ignoring the guy posted against the brick wall trying to sell me drugs. After I escaped from Ruin’s demons, where the hell would I go? My bag of emergency clothes and money I’d retrieved while on the run with Fane was at Logan’s. Maybe I could sneak in and grab it. Logan wasn’t the most vigilant demon out there.
A deep voice—like thunder crashing into rocks—stirred some memory in the depths of my mind, and my footsteps slowed. I pressed against the chilly wall and gingerly crept toward the corner, the bricks snagging my tank top and leggings as I peered around the edge.
“I want you to tear this city apart to find them.” The woman’s ice-blonde hair gleamed in the night like a star in a midnight sky, her attention trained toward the shadows as she spoke. “They’re here hiding somewhere, and I won’t be satisfied until justice is served.”
The baritone voice hadn’t belonged to her, so it must have come from whoever loitered in the darkness coating the alley.
“A quick death is too easy for them. Make sure they aren’t harmed beyond repair.” Her head angled in this direction as a cruel, terrifying smile twisted her crimson lips. “I want to make them suffer.” Her electric blue stare gleamed unnaturally bright.
Ice coated my flesh, and goose bumps erupted. The alabaster complexion, pale hair, and blue irises marked her as a royal demon—that and the power throbbing off her. She seemed familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her. Maybe I’d come across her while digging through some of Coltrane’s demon intel.
“I would love to participate in their torment.” The other figure finally moved out of the shadows, and my knees almost buckled. “I have a bone to pick with both of them, especially that slippery female.”
Mykel, Karn’s massive guard who captured and dragged me back to Vlehull, snarled as he stopped a few inches from the stunning royal. Like always, he wore a tailored black suit, and his ebony hair was slicked back. Beyond his glamour, bulging muscles twice as big and powerful as Nik’s wrapped the dux demon’s seven-foot-tall frame, and talons tipped his fingers while sinister yellow eyes with slitted pupils glared from his harsh face.
His daunting mass, hardlines, and darkness contrasted with the woman’s deceptively delicate appearance.
The royal patted Mykel’s meaty arm. “You will have plenty of chances to satisfy your thirst for their pain. Just find them first.”
He nodded. “I won’t let you down, Princess Venna.”
Princess? The moisture vanished from my mouth. The title meant she was either a direct descendant of one of the ancient demon families, or she governed over territory on Earth or the Underworld.
Her eyes darkened and cheeks hollowed as her beastly side fought for dominance. “I want no stone unturned until you find that hybrid bastard Fane Maverick and that ex-raven he bit.”
As her words hit me like a giant sledgehammer, the blood drained from my body, making me shiver. They were looking for Fane and me? Was it because Fane killed Karn? Was that why this royal demon wanted revenge?
Something brushed against my legs, and a tiny gasp slipped out as a fat rat scurried by. I slapped my hand over my mouth, cursing the critter, but it was too late.
Princess Venna’s head snapped in my direction as her unsettling gaze pierced through the shadows. “Who’s there?” Her voice swirled out, cold and dangerous like a poisonous snake gliding across the grass to bite me.
I searched for an escape route, my muscles so rigid I could have been a statue. Ruin’s demons patrolled the street behind me, and Mykle and Venna blocked my other exit. My only option was to find a spot to climb, but I wouldn’t get to the roof fast enough before they saw me.
As panic clawed through my chest, fingers dug into my shoulder and yanked me around, slamming me against the brick wall. My first instinct was to assume it was Fane.
It was worse.
High Demon Lord Ruin Bacchus clamped his hand over my mouth as his face lowered to mine, those vivid irises scorching like blue flames.
ChapterTwo
Lord Ruin Bacchus’spresence demanded attention and promised a painful punishment if you ignored him, and as he crushed me against the rough, icy wall, I could do nothing except bend to his will. My heart pounded, and blood rushed through my veins.
“Someone has been a naughty girl. Look what fleeing the comfortable confines of my home has gotten you.” Tattoos peeked beneath his black suit that hugged his tall, trim physique. He ticked his head toward the corner where Venna and Mykel stood, the piercings spotting the demon lord’s ear glinting in the dim streetlight. “Did you really not know people were after you?”
I shook my head since I couldn’t speak with his hand over my mouth.
“After being imprisoned in the dungeons at Vlehull, you know who Mykel is. Meet Karn’s replacement, Princess Venna. The two demons were long-time friends.” A scowl pulled at his soft lips. “She’s a hundred times worse than that overgrown bat dux demon.”
