Page 28 of Touched By Darkness

I dive after him, plummeting toward the ground at such speed that my stomach jumps to my throat, along with my heart.

Amenadiel lands with perfect grace, whereas I stumble and fall on my face.

Spitting out grass, I roll over on my back and grin up at the sky. “That was crazy.”

Amenadiel’s face blocks out the stars. “I thought you were aiming for the Earth’s core.”

“Very funny.”

He helps me up, and I brush grass and mud off my knees before looking around.

“Where are we?”

“You behaved like such a little fledgling. I figured it would be safest to land somewhere soft.”

“And?”

“This, my little angel, is a soccer field.”

I blink at him, then set off walking.

“That’s the wrong direction, unless you want to get eaten by wolves.”

I make a U-turn, walking past him.

He catches up to me. “I was joking about the wolves.”

“What happened to the mean and vicious Amenadiel who makes babies cry and grown men shake in their boots?”

“He’s still around, but I’m too busy with myelaborateschemes to let him out to play, remember?”

With a snort, I shake my head.

“See the lights up ahead? That’s a nice little suburban street, full of colonial-style houses with picket fences. Perfect for hunting.”

I trip over my feet but manage to right myself at the last second. “Hunting?”

“You haven’t fed since you arrived in Hell. If you want to stand any chance at singeing the royal ass, you need to keep your strength up. And not only that…” He winks at me. “You’ll need to create a little bit of chaos.”

“I don’t like how excited you sound.”

“Should I sound demure?”

As if my incisors can sense the humans, they begin to throb and elongate. I don’t have control of them yet, like Amenadiel, much to his amusement.

He pokes one with his thumb. “Fierce.”

And much to my embarrassment, I snarl, stopping short of snapping my teeth like a dog with rabies.

We reach the sidewalk, and Amenadiel whistles a haunting tune that reminds me of something out of a horror show.

When I look at him strangely, he does a double take.

“What?”

“What the fuck was that?”

“It’s my routine.”

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