Page 58 of Demon Sworn
“I would shut up, little girl.” Talons erupt from Wade’s fingers as he takes a menacing step forward. Despite the stiffness of his posture, his expression is languid, almost lazy as he considers me. “Or you might just have to be punished.”
“Or maybe you guys are spineless cunts who—”
Slap.
A-fucking-gain.
This time, the bitch curls her nails inwards so they rake across my flesh, leaving behind bloody scratches.
“I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by pissing me off,” she growls. “But I’m through playing games. The things we’re going to do to this tight little body, this cunt—” She reaches underneath my skirt and cups me through my panties, her claws precariously close to my lady parts, but I don’t give her the satisfaction of cowering away. “Can you imagine the pain and suffering Raziel and his murder will endure when they find your disfigured body?” She laughs, the noise deceptively light. “They’ll probably beg Lucillania to kill them.”
“If we’re going to do anything, we need to move. Now,” Tim barks. “Before people notice she’s missing.”
“But you asked me a question, and it’d be a shame if I don’t answer,” I say, feigning innocence. Arariel glares down at me but waits for me to elaborate. “You asked me what I hope to accomplish by pissing you off.”
“And?” Her eyes flare with irritation as she reaches behind me for the rope, easily slicing through it with a clawed finger. Before I can make my escape, she roughly grabs my upper arm and yanks me to my feet.
“And…” I smile. “You made a big fucking mistake when you killed your Center. Because there’s nothing more powerful than love.”
Honestly, it sounds like the slogan to a cheesy Hallmark movie. I actually barf a little bit when I say it.
But it has the desired effect.
Arariel’s brows furrow as confusion splays itself across her stunning features.
“And?” she presses, annoyance lacing her tone.
“The men you love will always come for you.” I beam at her, positively glowing, just as the window to the gymnasium shatters into millions of tiny pieces and four hulking silhouettes materialize before us.
My demons have arrived.
23
Kastros
I stare downat the scene in the gym, and the first thing my eyes register is my mate. Blood drips from the corner of Katrina’s mouth, and her hair is disheveled, the ponytails she wore today lopsided, one of the ties about to fall out.
Ropes circle the floor near her feet, and a female demon holds her roughly by the arm.
Like a motorcycle engine revving up, fury’s growl fills my ears. My Center is bleeding. Someone’s going to pay.
When Van called us in a panic, explaining that Katrina went missing, Zolroth reluctantly agreed to stay behind and guard Adam while the rest of us rushed to the school in a flurry of muscles, vengeance, and an almost incandescent fury.
We thought we would be searching for days, until Janie St. James, the girl Katrina dislikes, found us in the hall—five monsters in human flesh—and tearfully told us that she saw William get killed and that Katrina was kidnapped by this monster with wings and horns and brought to the school gym. It was idiotic of the demons not to move her to a secure location, but I’m not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth.
My eyes travel over the demons in the gym, and I realize with a start that it’s Arariel’s murder. I shove down the shock that tries to invade my system because if there’s one thing I learned in Hell, it’s that enemies abound.
Reasons don’t matter.
Protecting Katrina does.
I swoop down, heading straight for my girl.
I feel a crippling wave of lust magic fill the gym and my eyes glaze for a second before I use my own magic to burn it back so that it rolls like smoke down my spine and off my wings. Vengeance trumps lust any day, Daniel, I think. I want to yell it at him, but I can’t.
Arariel turns and spots me, and a dark, devious smile spreads across her thick lips before she reaches into midair and pulls out a flaming sword from what looks like nowhere.
So that’s it then, huh? Centuries of friendship are going to end in a battle. Fine. I let my claw reach out and rip through the realms to a secret location where I keep my own stash of weapons. I bring back a mace, a long metal pole that I had custom made. On one side is a sphere as big as a bowling ball covered in curved spikes like talons—the curves help rip flesh to ribbons. On the other side is a pike, so that I can throw the fucker like a spear when I want.
