Page 60 of Mortal Heart

“No thanks,” Ronan said. “Not if you were the last piece of tail on the planet.”

“And speaking of tails,” Arkady added, “where’s yours? I bet it’s stumpy, like one of those little yappy dogs.”

Whether on purpose or not, with that jibe she’d finally found a nerve. In Ronan’s experience, upper-caste demons took great pride in three things: using their power to grind others underfoot, the golden tattoos that covered their bodies in demon form, and the length, strength, and attractiveness of their tails. Few other insults could have elicited such an instantaneous and near-crazed reaction.

Bunny—Atonoskelis—let out a piercing scream that caused both Ronan and Arkady to almost double over in agony. Never before had a demon’s cry caused him pain, much less stunned him for the few precious moments that might spell doom for them both.

In a paroxysm of rage, she launched herself straight at Arkady, changing form in midair with a pulse of sulfurous infernal magic, poisonous claws and fangs extended. Her wings unfurled like sails. Her tail whipped through the air, its barbed tip aimed at Arkady’s heart.

Arkady was still disoriented by Atonoskelis’s scream and wouldn’t be able to react in time to avoid the deadly blow. Ronan pulled his fighting sword in what might have been his fastest draw in recent memory. Certainly the fastest since his mortal life began. His swing missed Atonoskelis’s tail by less than an inch.

With no time to think, he used his momentum to put his body between that deadly barb and its intended target.

“No,” Arkady said.

Atonoskelis’s poison-tipped barb impaled him clear through his right shoulder. The pain was instantaneous and nearly whited out his vision. That pain was quickly replaced by almost mind-numbing agony as she lashed her tail again and flung him with all her might. His body weight and the force of her tail snapping like a whip ripped the barb free. He sailed halfway across the bar and crashed into a thick support column with enough force to break what felt like all the ribs on his right side.

As he hit the floor, Arkady shouted something unintelligible and threw the knife she’d palmed earlier. It was on target for the demon’s heart, but the air movement caused by her wings pushed it off-course. The blade ended up buried hilt-deep in Atonoskelis’s belly.

The demon pulled the knife out and licked her own blood from its blade with her forked tongue. “You missed,” she said with a sibilant hiss.

Through a haze of pain, Ronan felt poison and paralysis spreading from his shoulder through his body faster than he could have believed possible. He was losing blood quickly as well. If he hadn’t utilized one of the emergency transfusion kits he kept in his saddlebag, he would already be unconscious. Once that poison reached his heart, he would likely die.

Atonoskelis dove straight at Arkady again, moving so fast Arkady barely had time to draw her own sword before Atonoskelis collided with her and knocked it from her hand. As it clattered to the floor, Atonoskelis picked Arkady up and carried her through the air.

Arkady tried to stab Atonoskelis with her backup knife, but the demon broke her arm with one vicious twist. Arkady screamed as her blade fell from her grasp. “Ronan!”

He made a split-second decision and used every bit of healing magic he had in his body to heal his wounds and rid himself of the poison. That would leave none for either Arkady or himself later, but if he didn’t do this now, there would be no later for either of them.

Days, even hours, earlier, he had looked upon his mortal life with despair. Killing scumbags had seemed the only thing worth doing to pass the time while he served his sentence. Now his survival—and hers—meant everything to him.

I want more time, he thought savagely as his healing magic fought the poison and his injuries to keep his mortal body alive.

Was Michael watching him now, waiting for him to die and face another trial? Or waiting for him to draw his celestial sword to save Arkady and seal his own fate? The thought filled him with rage, and the rage got him on his feet.

He staggered against the blood-splattered column he’d struck earlier. Atonoskelis, with Arkady dangling from her grip, flew toward the wall opposite the bar. The mural painted there crackled with demonic power that scoured his skin. A portal.

He grabbed Atonoskelis’s tail as she passed. His hands were slippery with his own blood, but he hung on with every ounce of strength he had as she slammed him into tables and chairs, trying to knock him off.

Arkady, her face white with pain, reached for him with her good arm. He grabbed her hand just as his grip on Atonoskelis’s tail finally slipped.

Hand-in-hand, they plunged through the portal. Arkady’s scream was the last thing Ronan heard before they spiraled away into the darkness.

16

ARKADY

The demon realmsmelled like ass. Like anass’sass. The smell was worse than the torture, and the torture was pretty damn bad.

Arkady landed on her knees, spat out blood, and gave Atonoskelis her middle finger as best she could given her right arm was broken. “Almost felt that one, Bun-Bun. But keep working on it. You’ll get good at this someday.”

Atonoskelis hissed and stalked back and forth, her hooves clacking on the stone floor. The two smaller demons guarding Ronan’s cage howled with glee.

Arkady stole a glance at the cage on the other side of the room. Ronan still hadn’t regained consciousness as far as she could tell. He could be playing possum, waiting for an opportunity to catch their captors by surprise, but she didn’t think that was the case. That shoulder wound and getting thrown across the bar like a rag doll had seriously done a number on him. On top of that, Ronan had said a demon’s tail barb was poisonous. He had healing magic, but maybe not enough to survive this. Eons of existence, only to end up locked in a ten-by-ten cage he probably could have vaporized with the flick of a finger before.Fucking demons, she thought.

Before the past day, she’d figured vampires were the worst. Come to find out, they had competition in that category. At least vamps couldn’t drag someone through a portal to another realm where the oceans were filled with lava and everything smelled like the puddles that formed under dumpsters on a hot summer day.

Wake up, Ronan, she willed as Atonoskelis drew back one of her legs to kick her in the ribs again.I can’t take much more of this.

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