Page 12 of Taken to the Deadlands

For the first time in years, a smile threatened to tug at my lips.

I leaned forward, close enough for my nose to brush across her chest. Her heart was beating so fast it drowned out all sounds around me.

I inhaled deeply.

Pain stabbed deep at my gut. My throat constricted. Drool pooled in my mouth. My teeth ached.

I jerked my head back, not trusting myself to get any closer.

The frenzy was already playing at the corners of my mind, reminding me of how long it had been since I feasted. Memories of my sharp teeth tearing at human flesh, of the taste of their blood bursting across my tastebuds, of their magic filling my veins hit me like a truck.

I closed my eyes.

“I won’t eat you,” I forced through clenched teeth. It had an edge to it that I hoped wouldn’t scare the human. “I have other plans for you.”

Another scent hit me. One I wasn’t too sure I had enough control to assess.

This time, I shot up to my feet and exited Yien’s shadows.

I hadn’t heard the commotion, but as soon as I was away from the human, my senses flooded back.

Demons were growling and yelling all around us. Chairs were being thrown. Bodies clashed against bodies.

“Empaths are a hot commodity, it seems,” Madam called out over the roaring crowd. “Let’s add something interesting to this bet, hm? Does anyone have another soul sphere to offer?”

Yien raised her hand. Panic burst through me.

I don’t have what she’s offering.

“Put your hand down right fucking now. You do not have a?—“

“I do,” she said, her tone not giving any indication of her lie. “A soul sphere for the human. No royal coin.”

Madam threw her head back with a loud, crazed laugh.

“Don’t kid yourself,” she spat. “Anyone else?—“

“A soul sphere… of a realm ruler.”

Silence fell across the room.

It’s not possible.Demons didn’t have a soul to capture, so how?—?

“Proof,” Madam demanded as the human on the stage shook with fear, her eyes wide as she watched us.

Yien gave her a quick nod before looking over the crowd. When her eyes fell to the already dead Demis, a slow smile spread across her face. She didn’t move from where she stood. All she did was send her shadows over.

All-black tendrils shot out from her shadows and circled Demis’s large body. With ease, they held him up, and we all watched as the shadows attacked him, moving over his skin as if searching for something. Then they started pulsing. With each pulse, the body they covered got smaller and smaller until?—

“How is that possible?” I breathed. “He was dead.”

The shadows dissipated until there was only a single, black orb with a red core floating where the body had been.

Quicker than I could have thought possible, I turned around and yanked the human out of Yien’s shadows.

Yien’s eyes cut toward me.

“That hurts me,” she deadpanned. “I thought we were friends.”

---