Widening my stance, I focused on the dimpulse of life beneath my feet once more. It wasn’t much, but if Idug deeper, beneath the boards, I could feel the cool dirt of theearth as if it were slipping through my toes.
I could possibly feed off the life force ofthese things, but I’d prefer not to get close enough to them totry, and I had a feeling the pulse they radiated would besickening. However, if push came to shove, I’d feast on thesethings if I had to.
The life of the earth seeped into me, but myfingers remained spark free as the woman took a step toward us. Ipreferred not to let any of these things know what I might becapable of unless it became absolutely necessary.
“This is a first, our prey coming to us,” thewoman said in a husky voice that slid over my skin like silk.
She was a pit of iniquity and it radiatedagainst us now. Beside me, Vargas swayed again and a dazed lookfilled his eyes as he lowered his head to stare at his feet.
I have to get him out ofhere!
Raising my chin, I held her gaze as I spoke.“You took some of our friends.”
She tossed a strand of hair behind hershoulder. “If we did, then they are ours now, as are you.”
“No, they aren’t and neither are we.”
“No?” She laughed as she practically glidedacross the floor toward us. “You have no idea what you walked into,dearie, but you’ll learn.”
Her fingers skimmed over Vargas’s arm,causing him to moan when she walked around him. The lascivioussmile she gave me revealed two small fangs in the top of her mouth.“I could take him upstairs now, and he wouldn’t argue. He’d tripover himself to get there. And you,” she said to me. “The things Iwill do to you, the sounds I will cause you to emit, the pleas youwill issue for me to stop even as you’re begging me tocontinue.”
My eyes narrowed on the woman as she steppedtoward me. Then, her gaze latched onto my neck. With a ruthlessshove, she pushed Vargas out of the way and came at me. He stumbledforward before regaining his balance and shaking his head as iftrying to clear it from a fog.
Her hands clasped my shirt. She went to pullme forward, but I dug my feet in and grabbed hold of herwrists.
“You’ve been marked!” Her disbelief and furybeat against me.
“Let go of me!” I hissed, my handsconstricting on her wrists.
One of her nails tore through my shirt. Itscraped against my skin to leave small beads of blood on my flesh.She leaned closer to me, inhaling deeply. My heart thundered in mychest as she peered at me from under her thick fringe of redlashes. I would torch this bitch before I ever let her feed on meor my friends, but I didn’t want to start a fight when we were sooutnumbered. Not if there was some small chance we could walk outof here without incident.
“Smell so sweet, so ripe for the picking,”she murmured. “I smell demon on you though.” Her gaze went to themarks on my neck again. “Couldn’t be.”
My eyes held hers when she leaned away fromme. Malice flashed within those emerald depths as her lips skimmedback to reveal those small fangs once more. “Couldn’t be!” shespat. “Not a human, he wouldn’t choose ahuman.”
Kobal had said demons would know I belongedto him, and apparently he’d been right, but the knowledge of who myChosen was only seemed to infuriate this woman more. I somehowmanaged to keep it together as I gestured to the stage. “We camefor our friends.”
“He may have marked you, but you walked intomynest. That means you are minenow as are your friends. I will have you wasted and wanting sobadly you won’t remember your name or his.”
“Try it and I’ll have you screaming in agony.We don’t have to fight, just let us leave here with ourfriends.”
She laughed before releasing my shirt andsliding her hand suggestively over her breasts until her nipplespuckered. “Silly human, there is no leaving a canagh demon.”
“If you know who has marked me, then you’llknow he’s on his way.”
“He’s not here now, which leads me to believehe’s realized his foolishness in marking a human. A male demonrarely allows his Chosen out of sight for long, and he wouldneverallow her to come to me.”
I couldn’t explain to this woman what I’ddone and I didn’t intend to try. The cloying scent of her engulfedme, threatening to gag me when she leaned toward me. Done withtrying to play nice, I threw up my arms, knocking her back a step.She fairly spit with anger before she recovered. I thought she wasgoing to fly at me and slice me apart with those talons, but sheremained where she was, her eyes burning into mine as she ran herhand down the front of her gown.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, andexcitement pulsed from the other canagh demons as they moved closerto us.
CHAPTER 38
River
The woman’s countenance never changed whenshe lashed out at me, her talons whistling as they sliced throughthe air. I jumped back, barely managing to avoid their deadly arcat my throat. This wasn’t Kobal and training. This woman was outfor blood,myblood. She swung atme again, this time an upper cut that would have broken my jaw andsliced my jugular open.
My leap to the side brought me up againstVargas, jarring him out of whatever strange stupor he’d been in. Heblinked before pulling his gun free and pointing it at the woman.One of the other demons leapt forward. The demon smashed his armdown on Vargas’s, causing him to lose his grip on his gun. Itclattered against the wood floor when it hit the ground. Vargasswung at him, but the demon had already stepped away to watch thewoman as she circled me like a shark on the hunt for its prey.
