Page 81 of Savage Hunt

Yes. More. So much more to come.

It didn’t take long for screams and chaos to fill Venna’s grand room. Demons crawled on the ground while others held their hands over their ears or eyes, attempting to block the hallucinations.

I laughed and reveled in their torment. The demon amulet didn’t have full control, but it was enough to taint me into something unrecognizable.

“This is fantastic.” Venna downed another glass of red wine as she leaned next to me at the balcony like these were front-row seats to a show. “I wish I could see what had them so frightened.”

I snatched the wine glass a demon brought to her. “One by one, the ghosts of nightmares haunt. They can’t escape the phantoms locked in their mind. No depth is too far for me to reach.” My fingers wiggled in front of her face. “Like worms plucked from the ground by a crow, I gobble them up. They taste like candy.”

What the ever-loving hell? I was talking nonsense again.

The royal demon took her glass from me. “I have no idea what you’re saying, but I don’t care as long as you keep this going.”

I swayed to the eerie music, mixed with shrieks and cries. “Down there would be even better. Closer to my prey. The better to hunt them.”

She motioned her hand toward the stairs. “By all means, Tatum. Go find more fears while you mingle with the masses.”

I skipped to the stairs, catching the attention of my beast leaning against the wall. Anger washed over his features and turned him deadly. He wouldn’t play with me.

He couldn’t resist me forever, though.

I floated down the stairs, melding into the writhing crowd. I swayed and spun in circles, dancing between the tormented partygoers. Dux and high demons cried out for mercy, making me giggle.

“Mercy is not a thing I know.” I tapped a female on the cheek and changed her fear hallucination from getting dissected by human scientists to wasting away on Earth because ravens prevented her from consuming souls.

Oh, what a fabulous idea!

I grabbed the jaws of a male and dragged his mouth toward mine. The life within demons wasn’t like the souls of other creatures, but the amulet didn’t discriminate. My body throbbed as I forced a cloud of roiling darkness out of his mouth and into mine.

Bittersweet flavor coated my tongue and sank inside. So much wickedness filled me.

So delicious.

I released him and danced through the chaos, my arms waving over my head while I carefully maneuvered around bodies. More demons unknowingly opened their life up to me, and I drank them in while feasting on their fears.

The room spun in bright colors, and I swayed to the music. I felt weightless and untethered. Free and unburdened by nasty guilt that usually weighed me down. Jayla, my friends, and even that newest one, Maddie, drifted away. The blood staining my hands from those humans Karn made me kill vanished, and the memories of beating Griffin to death when I was sixteen evaporated into dust.

The guilt didn’t matter when the Infernal Sol brought out the other me. This was the better me. She wasn’t a sad, heartbroken sap who blamed herself for everything wrong in the world.

Strong, calloused fingers gripped my arm and yanked me into a shady corner beneath the balcony. His eyes burned into me, pupils in diamond slits like mine.

“My beautiful beast.” I licked my lips, thinking of tasting his. “Come to play?”

His brows slammed down. “Snap out of this.”

My hands skimmed over his torso. “There is nothing to snap out of. I’m having fun. You should try it.”

“You’re different.” He pressed his palm against the sun tattoo on my sternum. “What is this thing doing?”

“It’s dinner and a show.” My laugh tumbled out low and manic. “Have a seat and eat a meal. Their fears are so tasty.”

Fane grabbed my shoulders, spun us, and slammed me against the wall. “You’re feeding on their fears?” As he studied me, something flickered in his gaze—maybe a memory—but the recognition quickly faded, and disgust replaced it. “I knew that amulet made you dangerous. You’ve been screwing with my emotions, haven’t you? You’ve been making me feel things.”

“You feel what you feel, beast.” My hands planted on his chest, his body heat burning my palms. “I can’t make emotions.”

The power throbbing from him lifted the hairs on my arms and made my legs tremble. His stare held mine like a talisman trying to enchant me. An invisible force wrapped around me, poking and prodding my defenses.

“Admit that you’re in my mind, toying with it,” the beast commanded, his words backed by the same energy rushing over me.

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