Page 43 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
On the ground, the symbol the imp had drawn began to glow yellow.
We were out of time.
Getting to my feet, I snarled at the creature, banishing it and her father back to the Underworld.
“Come,” I said, reaching for Lily even as wings sprouted from my back. “We must be going. Now. There’s no time to waste.”
She let me pull her up. The clearing around us was bathed in yellow light.
“Belial, what’s going on? What is this?”
“Later,” I said, spreading my wings wide, pulling her into me. “We must leave here. Now.”
Flexing my legs, I leaped for the sky—
Only to be slammed back to the ground as something impossibly powerful wrapped itself around my ankle and yanked me.
Reacting immediately, I twisted, using my wings to cushion the blow. Lily slammed into my chest, bouncing slightly, but I caught her with arms and wings, cradling her to my chest.
“Run,” I told her a moment before the hand grabbing my ankle whipped me around, smashing me face-first into the ground.
I was able to brace myself in time, and as I rebounded, my tail came swishing around, cutting at the being’s hand, slicing it deep. The pressure was off my ankle, and I got to my feet just as a monstrous creature pulled itself from the glowing symbol Victor had drawn in the grass.
Off to my side, Lily stumbled back, looking up in horror at the towering beast as it shook itself, its wings of blackened feathers spreading wide.
“Hello,brother,” Astaroth the Inquisitor rumbled as he looked down at me. “It’s been a long time.”
I could see Lily’s mouth moving.B-brother?
“What do you want, Astaroth?” I said, forced to look up at him.
Demons never truly stopped growing. Given that Astaroth was the second son and I was the fifth, there was a considerable size gap between us. I was a giant among humans in my true form, over seven feet tall, but my brother had another two on me at least.
He also out-massed me by a factor of two, probably. Thick arms stretched his skin taut, revealing the thick strands of muscle, each fiber looking like corded rebar wound around his frame. The red skin gave way to black in his hands, where large claws acted as fingertips, and the onyx material shone until it glittered, even in the night sky.
Black-furred legs were spread wider than a normal human’s, ending in thick clawed feet that splayed out wide instead of to the front, giving him impeccable balance. Two horns sprouted from just above his eyebrows, curling back over his head like those of a ram. Fiery eyes glinted in the darkness, lit by the ruby flames licking up off the sword he carried in his right hand.
“I am here by request of Dannorax,” my brother said, the sword held casually out to his side, the angle not even straining the demon’s strength. I knew he could whip it around in a heartbeat and disembowel me.
Or worse, Lily. A blow from that blade would go right through her.
“You certainly got here fast,” I said, grimacing. I should have been paying more attention to what Lily’s father was drawing in the dirt. Carving the mark of a demon was an easy path for that being to emerge through if they so desired.
Yet how was I supposed to know that Lily’s mother had made a deal with the demon?
“He made me an attractive offer,” Astaroth replied, languidly waving the sword back and forth.
“I’m sure he did,” I replied dryly, shuffling slowly toward Lily.
The sword came around and down in a flash, cleaving into the ground between us.
“What are you doing, brother?” Astaroth asked, his broad, flat face filling with disdain. “This is a human. A normal. There is nothing special about her.”
Anger pulsed in me like gunfire, brutally hot and fierce. “Sheisspecial,” I hissed.
“How?” Astaroth demanded to know, glancing between the two of us.
I didn’t have an answer to that. So, I didn’t give one. There was no point in wasting words.
