Page 35 of Fallen Demon

The spear hit the chain, breaking it.

With a wicked half-smile, the demon rose to his feet and inhaled deeply, taking more of Lacey’s magic. Drake pulled and pulled her, but the darkfire didn’t budge, not even when the vampire lord attacked it directly.

“He’s going to kill her!” I walked closer, ready to slice him open before he broke the other set of chains.

“I don’t need to kill her.” He inhaled one more time and then the darkfire disappeared. Lacey fell heavily over Drake.

Ice shards, light magic, and darkfire rained in the demon’s direction but all he did was create a wall of darkfire that reverberate with each assault but didn’t break.

Undeterred by our attack, the demon wrapped darkfire around the chains that still connected his right arm to the pillar and tugged. It groaned but held. He closed his fists, putting more of whatever magic he still had on it, and pulled again.

This time, the chains broke.

But what he hadn’t seen was Jasmin sneaking behind us all, behind him.

She reached him and placed a hand on his back.

Instantly, his shoulders slacked and he turned to her with dopey eyes.

“She’s using her magic on him,” Zad observed.

Her siren magic.

The one that entranced anyone in her web, made them enraptured by her, inescapable from her clutches, and dictated she had to consume souls to survive.

“I didn’t know it worked on demons,” Farrah whispered.

“Me neither,” I noted. Especially a higher demon.

Unless he was faking it.

The demon stared at Jasmin in awe. He reached for her, grasped her arms, ran his hands up her neck, and cupped her face. It was as if he couldn’t get enough of her.

And then he leaned in to her for a kiss.

No, not faking it.

Jasmin turned her face and his lips planted on her cheek. Closing her eyes, Jasmin placed a hand on his chest and inhaled. A shimmer appeared around the demon, almost like a faint glittery, dark snake.

“Is that …?” Wyatt asked, his eyes wide.

“His soul,” Zad said, his voice clipped.

The demon’s soul swirled around them, until it found Jasmin’s parted lips. She inhaled deeply through her mouth and took his soul in.

“Delicious,” the demon muttered. In a matter of seconds, he crumpled to the rough ground and Jasmin stepped back, as if he would stain her shoes if he kept on touching her. “My master will want to know about you …”

He went still.

Drake helped a dazed Lacey up, then toed the fallen demon. “Is he dead?”

The princess shook her head. “No. I took a lot, so he’ll be weak for a long time.” She glanced at Rage. “Probably long enough for us to come back and question him.”

Rage nodded. “Right. We should find out who is he, why he’s here.”

“Who put him here,” Jasmin said.

“And who his master is,” Drake added.

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