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Without the moonlight, I barely saw a thing. I placed my left palm against the wall as I leaned forward, peering down the hallway.
There wasn’t a demon sitting outside my door waiting to kill me. That was a good sign. Maybe Theia had taken most of them with her. Maybe the few demons in the yard were the only ones here, with none left in the house.
I blinked, begging my eyes to adjust to the darkness inside the abandoned home.
The demons would certainly see me before I saw them, which meant I had to be silent and swift.
Adrenaline fueled my limbs, pumping through my body with fervor. I strained to listen for any movement in the house, but I heard nothing after the booming of my heart in my chest.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
I took another step, out of the room and down the hallway.
Another step.
Another.
Hell. There was no way I was going to walk right out of this house without being stopped by one of those demons. They wouldn’t leave this place unguarded and unprotected. They wouldn’t allow me to escape, to walk down the hallway and right out the front door.
The front door came into view ahead. I walked closer.
Closer.
My boots were silent as I crept forward, mimicking a shadow after a dark thunderstorm.
You’re so fucking close, Lyra. One more step and you’re at the door.
I didn’t dare slow down. Didn’t dare look behind me, didn’t dare to peer through the other rooms in the house.
I was getting out of here as fast as fucking possible.
I reached the front door, losing my patience as I flung it open and—
“I knew you were with the Night Ravens, but I didn’t know you were this fucking stupid.” That familiar groveled demon voice made me freeze.
Fear threatened me, starting to take over the adrenaline in my veins. All of that power, all of that anticipation freezing up and turning into that one emotion I couldn’t seem to keep out of my body.
The forest engulfed the area ahead. I was so close. So damn close to that dirt road, to freedom.
But the figure to my right, just out of the corner of my eye, had me pinned. Paralyzed with terror.
“You can’t kill me,” I whispered. It was a big fucking risk, but I was out of options. I hedged, “Theia needs me alive.”
The man laughed, and I had never heard anything so horrid in my entire life. It was grating, making the hairs raise on my neck.
“You think we take all our orders from Theia? She just gives us the cash. I’m more than happy to kill that boyfriend of yours, but it’s been a long night.” His heavy hand fell onto my shoulder. “Did you come out here to keep me company, sweetheart?”
It took all of two seconds for the fear that threatened my limbs to turn to anger, for that anger to build and build and build, erupting through my body and taking over my cold, stiff limbs.
When the man’s grip on my shoulder tightened, when he spun me around and tried to step closer, it was not fear that made me kick him between the legs. It was not fear that made me throw a punch to his gut before he doubled over in pain.
It was fury.
The other demons outside heard the commotion and ran over, their footsteps growing louder and louder as they got closer to us, closer to the front door of the house.
