Page 69 of Heir

Was she here to hurt Omaera?

I knew that a demon had come over earlier to help Omaera with her powers, but if this was the same demon, why was she back in the middle of the night?

She couldn’t be here to check up on Omaera. Nothing about this said she gave a damn about my mate. If anything, she was here to hurt her.

I stood up from the bush and walked to the front door, grabbing my kebabs from the bench, and making sure she saw me, and that she knew I saw her. “Hello,” I said, nodding at her before punching in the code that allowed me inside.

Then it was a full-on sprint. I booked it up the stairs, taking them three, sometimes four at a time. Screaming echoed from Omaera’s apartment when I reached the fourth floor. I burst through the door to find Drak and Maxar standing over Gemma in the hallway, who writhed in agony, blood pouring out of her nose. Omaera was still asleep, but caught up in a horrible nightmare, screaming at the top of her lungs and begging for the pain to stop.

“What’s going on?” Maxar asked in a panic.

“There’s a demon outside, standing below the balcony,” I said.

Maxar ran to the balcony, throwing open the sliding glass door. Bright green flames shot from his palms downward. He jumped up on the ledge and then down four stories below. More flashes of green flames. Drak was busy shaking Omaera, trying to wake her up.

Then all the screaming stopped.

Omaera stopped, and Gemma stopped.

Omaera’s eyes flew open and the first thing she did was lunge into my arms. “Oh god, you’re not dead.”

I glanced at Drak, but held onto her tight, stroking her hair. “No, Little One. I’m not dead. I’m right here. I’m safe. You’re safe.”

She trembled in my arms. “The nightmare was so real. So, so real.”

“That’s because some demon bitch was down on the ground manipulating your dreams,” I said.

Her gaze flew wide. “Raewyn?”

“Dominatrix type? Long, black hair. Spikey boots?”

Omaera nodded, then glanced around the space. “Where’s Maxar?”

“He leaped over the balcony and chased her off with fire.”

“Over the balcony?” she scrambled out of my arms and out of bed, but paused when she saw Gemma lying lifeless in the hallway covered in blood. She dropped to her knees. “No. No! No, no, no, no, no. I will kill that bitch. I will tear her brain from her skull with my bare hands.”

I crouched down beside her and put my finger to Gemma’s throat. “There’s a pulse.” Picking up the petite redhead, I carried her to the living room and gently set her down on the couch, using the hem of my shirt to wipe up some of the blood from her cheeks and lip.

Omaera was bawling as she knelt on the floor beside Gemma. “You have to wake up. You can’t do this. You can’t leave me. Please.”

Pressing her forehead to the side of Gemma’s head, she continued to murmur how much she loved her friend. How much she needed her. Gemma’s chest rose and fell, so we knew she was breathing. We knew she was alive. It was the brain damage that was of concern.

Gemma made a noise, then another. Then she groaned and stirred.

Omaera popped up and gently shook her friend by the shoulders. “Gem. Gem wake up. You need to wake up, Gemma.”

Gemma stirred some more.

“Gemma Frances McNeil, you need to wake up right now!”

Gemma groaned and her pale blonde lashes fluttered a few times before finally opening. “Wh-what happened?”

Just then, the front door burst open and an unruffled Maxar entered, dragging a furious-looking demon woman. She was bound at the hands and around the mouth with magical orange flame ropes that flickered and sparked. She also wore a flame rope around her forehead like a crown. I didn’t know a lot of fire mages, but I knew enough that each flame color had a different intensity and purpose. Green and black were the most lethal. Orange, red, and yellow were gentler and more benign. I’d never seen a rope made of fire though.

He dragged her forward and tossed her to the ground where she grunted and glared at him like she was trying her damndest to barbecue his brain. He’d have a block in place, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try it on the rest of us.

The only person that could stop her was Omaera. Demons of higher power could block demons of lower power from trying to mind-control others.

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