Page 23 of Bitter Sweet Love

Waking up like that had been... well, it had been more than nice.

“We can’t stay here long,” Dez said, stretching out his wings until they brushed over mine. I shivered at the intimate contact. “The clan is hunting and, while your father approved of this trip, I doubt he’d be happy to know you’re out here at night.”

I nodded as I leaned forward, my hands digging into the ledge. My senses were going off left and right. There were a lot of demons moving around down there, more than I imagined there would be.

“How many do you think are here?” I asked, glancing at Dez. “Demons, I mean?”

He tipped his head back, eyeing the stars. “Hundreds. Mostly Fiends like the one we saw yesterday. Some will be Posers and maybe an Infernal Ruler or two.” He stood, twisting his head from side to side, working out a kink in his neck. “They’ll come across an Upper Level demon at some point tonight. Whether they capture it is the question.”

Once a demon was captured, it was promptly sent back to hell or interrogated. I wasn’t supposed to know about these things as females were kept out of politics, but there’d been many times over the past, while suffering a never-ending case of boredom, that I had eavesdropped on my father’s conversations. I knew that there were locations in the city where demons were questioned, using tactics that had frozen the blood in my veins.

Tension radiated from Dez. It was palpable in the air. “You want to be out there, don’t you? Hunting?”

“It’s hard not to.” He glanced down at me, his eyes a deep blue and lips a dark gray. “It’s ingrained in us.”

So they said. I turned my attention back to the ground below. Carrying out my desire to hunt a demon here would be too risky. We could run into a clansman and that would bring this little trip to an end. Still, the idea of that many demons out when there wasn’t even a quarter as many Wardens to handle them was disturbing.

A cool wind tossed my hair and teased the thin membranes in my wings, causing them to flutter restlessly. “Why are there so many?”

“No one knows what went down in hell or why so many demons were cast out.” Dez turned and reached down, offering me his hand. “But the numbers are growing. They’re up to something—something big.”

I placed my hand in his, letting him pull me up. “But we’re going to stop them.”

He smiled as he hopped down on the rooftop and then placed his hand on my hip. I didn’t need the help, but he insisted and I let him. “Do you want to head back to the hotel or go down to the streets?”

It was late and I knew as the hours went by, a battle of sorts would take place in the streets and even in the skies. As badly as I wanted to be out here, I wasn’t stupid. A female Warden would end up being a demon magnet and getting Dez in major trouble. My desire to experience both a hunt and more of the city would have to wait.

“Let’s go back.”

Heading to the other side of the building, I darted in front of him, tossing him a grin over my shoulder. “Beat you back to the hotel?”

His laugh was deep and rumbled through the night. “It’s on.”

Vaulting the ledge, I hit air and spread my wings, using the burst of wind to carry me up. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that he was right there. I flew up between the two skyscrapers, my laugh lost in the rush of air as I soared over the building. We shot up, circling a long and thin antenna. Dez gained on me, but I dipped, gliding down, past so many floors I lost track in the fall.

It was like old times, when we were kids and would race over the mountains, back to the mansion. I glanced over my shoulder, spying Dez through the strands of my hair. The chase was different now in a way. My muscles quivered in anticipation, and not of winning the race.

We were neck and neck as I nosedived over the top of our hotel. As I’d done above the mountains, I let gravity do its thing. I tucked back my wings and the world spiraled as I picked up speed. Lights. Darkness. Lights. Darkness.

“Jasmine!” Dez’s shout became a mere whisper.

At the last second, a heartbeat before it would be too late, I unfurled my wings and flipped, touching down in the alley on my feet. Chunks of asphalt flew in the air at my impact, startling a man walking a dog at the end of the alley, sending them both scurrying down the street and into the night.

Dez landed half a second later and was in my face even quicker. “What in the Hell were you thinking?”

“I won!” I twirled, arching my wings. “That’s what I’m thinking.”

He caught my arm, stilling me. His eyes blazed with fury. “You could’ve killed yourself pulling a stunt like that.”

“Aw.” I patted his chest. “Were you worried?”

His brows slammed down. “What do you think?”

I laughed, unwilling to let go of the giddiness of victory. “I’m still faster than you.”

“It has nothing to do with how fast you were. You suicide-bombed it right there.”

Shaking my head, I inhaled and phased into my human skin. As always, my jeans and shirt were stretched out after the change. “Chill, buddy, I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing it every night for three years practically.”

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