Page 12 of Demon Bound

She inched closer to the demon. Heat and rage radiated from him. His eyes narrowed at her, and she felt his anger intensify. She lifted her shoe to look at the shimmering rune beneath her feet.Hold,it read. She scraped the toe of her slipper on the rune, and a tiny piece of the dried black paint flaked away.

Suddenly, the air felt very hot and close, and it was hard to breathe. Glancing at the others to make sure they still weren’t watching, she fervently rubbed the toe of her shoe against the rune. Paint flaked away.

“I don’t know if you can understand me,” she whispered. “And I know you will likely kill me if I release you. But I would rather die now, on my own terms, than by his hand. All I ask is that if you must take my life, take his, as well.”

The demon watched her impassively, giving no indication that he could comprehend her words. Raiya’s hopes sank, but she didn’t stop scratching at the rune.

Eunaios’s voice rose behind her as he chanted the words to his spell. The room brightened as the runes glowed. A few more moments, and the spell would be completed.

Raiya ground her shoe against theholdrune one last time. Its glow flickered out. She’d erased an entire line in the symbol, rendering it meaningless.

She looked up, meeting eyes with the demon, and dread raced through her.

Finally, Nirlan looked over at her. His eyes flicked down to her feet, then back up to her face. “What are you doing?”

Raiya pressed her back to the wall, as far from the demon as she could get. Everyone in the room was looking at her now.

Apprehension flashed across Nirlan’s face. “What have you done?”

The demon pulled at the chain binding his wrist to the floor, carefully, as if testing to see what would happen. The chainpulled up from the metal ring in the stone until the stone shattered.

Nirlan turned and grabbed Eunaios, who appeared frozen. “Finish the binding!”

The demon tore the manacle from his wrist, wrenching the metal into pieces as if it were clay, then reached up to grab his collar. His fingers and throat bled freely as he grasped the spikes and pulled. The metal began to bend.

All of Nirlan’s guests shouted and ran for the door, many stumbling over long robes or impractical shoes. Someone near the front of the pack fell, causing a domino effect behind him. Eunaios turned to run with them, and Nirlan grabbed him by the collar, holding him back.

“Finish the damned spell!”

The demon stood straight, his horns nearly touching the high ceiling. He threw the bloodied collar aside and took two long strides forward. That was all it took for him to reach Eunaios.

Chapter 5

The demon grabbed Eunaios with one hand, picked him up, and buried his teeth in the mage’s neck.

There was a spray of red, and a scream that abruptly cut short. Raiya’s jaw dropped. Blood cascaded down Eunaios’s twitching body, and the demon drank it down like he was starving.

The sun elf woman waved her hand, conjuring a ball of flame that shot toward the demon. It fizzled against his skin harmlessly, leaving no mark. The elf paled as the demon dropped Eunaios’s lifeless body and turned his attention toward her. She spun on her heel, only to have him grab her arm and yank her back. She screamed as her arm twisted and dislocated from her shoulder. The demon bent over to tear out her throat with his teeth.

Nirlan looked at Raiya, and outrage tangled with panic on his face before he spun and ran with the others. They’d clustered near the archway, all struggling to get through at once. Nirlan shoved them aside and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

Nirlan’s guards put themselves between the demon and the door, drawing swords, but as the demon stepped toward them,they both looked like they were regretting their courage. The demon grabbed the closest one, picked him up like he weighed nothing, and hurled him against the wall with a horrific crash that left a damp, red smear on the stone.

The second guard slashed at the demon’s chest, and there was a dull sound like metal hitting rock. Instead of penetrating the demon’s skin, the blade glanced off, like it had hit armor. The demon took hold of the guard’s breastplate, driving him to the ground, then pressed his palm against the man’s armored chest. The guard’s legs flailed as the breath was driven from his lungs. His armor creaked. Bones snapped. His entire chest crumpled inward, and he stopped moving.

The demon watched the remaining people sprint through the door. Shouts of terror echoed down the halls. Bits of mortal flesh and blood coated the floor and had even sprayed on the ceiling. Broken bodies and their parts were strewn across the room.

The demon turned to look over his shoulder at Raiya, his cobalt skin dripping red from his nose to his navel.

All the strength went out of her. Her legs trembled and then buckled, and she slipped to the floor, her back still against the wall. Her heart pounded against her ribs.

She had never known terror like this, so raw and all-consuming. She had thought she didn’t fear death. But she feared this. She feared him. It was like he had reached deep inside and grasped some ancient, primitive part of her, the part that instinctively ran from large predators with big teeth. But there was nowhere to run. There was no escape.

The demon’s eyes flared bright. Then he turned away from her and went silently out of the room.

Raiya let out a breath, shaking. She was still alive.

She glanced down at Eunaios’s broken body. There were pieces of him scattered across the floor. The demon had done that with his bare hands. Was that Nirlan’s fate?

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