Page 22 of Snowed in with the Demon Lord
Ten seconds in and I was hopelessly turned around. The only clue I had to navigate by was the noise Seeker made, which got closer and closer. I was running out of options.
Then I ran out of forest.
The clearing took me by surprise and I’d stumbled into it before I realized it was there. Without a tree for support, my bad ankle gave out, reducing me to undignified hops to keep my balance.
Seeker burst out of the woods behind me before I could get myself back into cover.
“Got you,” he hissed, his voice colder than the snow. “And now?—”
“Now, nothing.”
Startled, I snapped my head around to see Abaddon entering the clearing, his heavy steps crunching through the snow. Fury etched into his face, hellfire blazing in his eyes, lips drawn back in a snarl, he would have terrified a company of marines. Thesheer force of his rage knocked me on my ass, and it wasn’t even aimed at me.
Seeker froze for a second, but the gargoyle didn’t wilt and flee. Instead, he made the stupid choice and leaped at me, grabbing me by the throat. Sharp claws digging into my neck, he hauled me up in front of him.
“Release her,” Abaddon said in a cold, hard voice a thousand times scarier than any rant could have been.
“Oh no, no. You stay back, or I’ll spill your pretty’s blood all over this clearing, yesss?”
Abaddon didn’t stop advancing. “You will not. If you harm her, you will regret it for the rest of your miserable life. Which I will makelast.”
It dawned on me that, as scared as I’d been of him, I’d never really taken Abaddon seriously as ademon.Now, issuing that threat? I believed him in a way I hadn’t before, and I almost felt sorry for Seeker.
Almost.
My captor backed away from Abaddon, dragging me with him. “She will still be dead if you attack me. Come, Lord, be reasonable, we can work something out.”
His pitch crept upward, desperation in his voice, and his hand shook, driving his claws into my neck far enough to make me yelp at the sudden pain.
As though that was a signal, Abaddonmoved.He switched from a slow, ominous advance to a charge without warning, and his hand closed on Seeker’s wrist with a crunch. The hunter’s fingers spasmed open, dropping me, and Abaddon spun, throwing the other demon into a nearby tree.
The impact knocked the snow from its limbs, and it fell on Seeker like a mini-avalanche. With his free hand, Abaddon caught me before I’d fallen halfway to the ground. I latched ontohis arm like a drowning woman grabbing a lifeline, and felt the roaring inferno under his crimson skin.
“You came,” I gasped. Not the smoothest line. Abaddon lifted me carefully, his gaze flicking up and down my body.
“He hurt you.” It wasn’t a question.
“Not badly, just a sprain,” I answered in a hurry. “I hurt him first.”
My demon lord’s snarl turned, for just a second, into an approving grin. “That’s my mortal.”
“She’s yourdeadmortal. I will eat her soul and flay her body.” Shaking off the snow, Seeker pulled himself to his feet. His stone skin had cracked under Abaddon’s grip, and both wings trailed behind him. Rage blazed in his eyes, and black flame surrounded him like a reverse halo.
He looked like a monster, and he looked at me with a hunger that was nothing like Abaddon’s. Where Abaddon wanted to claim me, Seeker wanted to consume and destroy me. And he might do just that.
17
ABADDON
Seeker advanced, and I stepped up to meet him. He would not lay another claw on my human, that much was certain. If I had to burn myself to a cinder fighting him, I’d do so gladly.
He lunged, faster than thought, and I ducked aside. Long experience taught me where he’d attack, and that was all that saved me—the scout burned soul energy, a resource I couldn’t match him on. Long years on Earth had taken their toll.
Claws brushed my skin, and I heard Holly gasp in horror. My counterstrike was too slow, and the fucker ducked under the punch, blurring past me toward Holly. I lashed out with my tail and caught his ankle, sending him sprawling and drawing his attention back to me.
“Mine,” I growled, following my attack up with a punch that would have broken his neck if it connected. But the slippery bastard rolled aside and up to his feet, delivering another punishing blow to my side while I recovered.
“You ownnothing,”he hissed as we circled each other. “The great Abaddon, reduced to skulking among mortals. A joke, yesss, a joke that I was afraid to fight you.”
