Page 2 of Semi-Fallen

It wasn’t nearly as comfortable for the demon, though.

The scream was maybe half strength. It was still powerful enough to blow out every window in the warehouse and drop the demon out of the air like a stone.

He hit the ground at her feet, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Her team didn’t hesitate to rush forward and fit the demon with a magic-infused silver collar and handcuffs that would bind his abilities and weaken him.

No more flying and dropping hellfire on people’s heads for you, asshole!

As they were pulling the demon to his feet and ushering him to one of their waiting vehicles, Gabriel grinned at her. Great job, kid, he signed.

She felt her nose wrinkle involuntarily. I’m not a kid, she signed back.

He shrugged. You are to me.

Lane supposed that was probably true. Time passed differently in the hell dimension Gabriel came from, so he’d probably packed more actual living into his years than anyone in this dimension ever had.

I’ll allow it because you’re my boss, she signed with a half-smile.

His grin was 100% devilish, which was totally fitting since he was, you know, a demon and all.

You’d allow it anyway because it’s me, he signed.

She rolled her eyes, but knew he was right. Gabriel was hard not to like. He was the antithesis of just about every other demon they’d encountered over the years. And he’d married her best friend’s sister, Adrianne, so there was also that.

As Lane stepped out of the warehouse, a shiver shot down her spine, raising goosebumps up and down her arms. There was an electricity in the air that she’d never felt before.

It was as if someone—or something—was watching her.

Someone—or something—with energy similar to her own.

Which was impossible because she’d seen all manner of men and creatures over her years as a demon hunter, and she’d had yet to encounter anyone like her.

Gabriel and his dimension-hopping brother, Roan, thought she was a mystery, too. Her father, Hunter, was a vampire who’d been roaming the planet since the 1490s, and even he claimed to have never found another living being who contained the power and energy she did.

And somehow, if she had to guess (and she was an excellent guesser) she’d say someone like her was watching from the shadows.

Watching her.

Gabriel laid a hand on her shoulder until she turned toward him. Is everything OK, kid? he signed.

Lane glanced across the street. I’m not really sure.

CHAPTER 2

The creature he’d been sent across oceans of time, multiple planets, and countless dimensions to destroy, the creature who supposedly possessed the power to destroy Heaven and all its warriors, was just a…girl.

No, Lucien mentally corrected himself, she wasn’t a girl. She was a woman. A tiny one, but a full-grown human woman, nonetheless.

And she was pretty. In all the time he’d been hunting Nephilim, he’d never seen one quite this beautiful.

It was disconcerting.

If she were standing next to him, the top of her head would most likely only reach his shoulder. But even though she was tiny, he could tell that underestimating her would be a mistake. She moved with the strength and grace of a predator.

Just like he did.

Her thick, dark hair was tied back at the nape of her slender neck, but if it was unwound, he imagined it would reach the center of her back.

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