She came at me again, swinging wildly in hergrowing frustration. Before she reached me, the world fell away toallow the battle to unfold in my head. It was only her and me now,and I saw every move she would make seconds before she made them. Astrange sense of calm descended over me as I swung my forearms up,blocking each of her blows.
When she drew her arm back, I leaned againstthe beam behind me, lifted my leg, and drove it into her chest.Stunned gasps filled the room when the woman reeled backward andcrashed into another beam.
Silence descended over the other demons. Thepounding of my heart resonated in my ears when her eyes lifted tomine. Hatred burned within their clear, green depths, but I alsosaw curiosity and disbelief there. Vargas looked between the two ofus as the woman pulled herself away from the beam.
“Whatareyou?” the woman hissed.
“We only came for our friends, let us takethem and we’ll go,” I told her.
Her eyes traveled over me and for thebriefest of seconds I almost believed she would agree to my terms.Then, she came at me so fast my mind barely had a chance to processher intentions until she was almost on top of me.
Before I had a chance to react to her newattack, the front door crashed open with so much force it flew offits hinges and across the room to smash against the stairs. Theshattered wood of the doorframe rained down on the occupants of theroom. The other canagh demons leapt back and threw their hands overtheir heads to protect themselves from the debris. They scatteredout of the pathway of the seething demon who stepped inside.
Vargas threw himself to the floor and rolledacross it to retrieve his gun. He bounced back up close to theruined door. The wreckage and noise didn’t deter the woman as sheswung at me again. I dodged the claws arcing toward my chest byducking out of the way. They sliced into the beam behind me,tearing splinters from the wood and rending a bellow from Kobalthat rattled the windows.
Shoving my hands into the woman’s chest, Ipushed her away from me and scrambled low to avoid the lethaltalons of her other arm descending on me. I hadn’t completely risento my full height when an arm slid around my waist, pinning meagainst a much-loved chest. I would have breathed a sigh of reliefif I hadn’t felt the fury vibrating the muscles beneath mytouch.
Kobal thrust me behind him, bracing his feetapart as he faced the woman across from us. Vargas stood behind me,paler than normal but his eyes were clear once more, as whateverhold she’d had over him was broken.
Hatred no longer twisted the woman’sexquisite features. Her expression was now composed into thebeautiful face that would make the angels weep once more. “Kobal,”she purred with a swish of her hip.
“Lilitu,” he grated.
She smiled as she fluffed back herblood-colored hair. “You know I would have welcomed you to join inthe fun. There was no reason to destroy my door.”
“Not here for fun,” he replied, nudging meback another step.
I shot him a disgruntled look, but my protestdied at the burning intensity and the harshness of his amber gazesweeping over me. If I pushed him now, I had no idea what he woulddo. His lips skimmed back when he spotted the blood beading on myskin. His wrath blasted over me in a wave I swore blew the hairback from my face.
Lilitu’s eyes flickered between the two ofus, and then she sneered at me. Before me, the marks on Kobal’sarms shifted in response to Lilitu’s hostility. I half expected thebeasts to burst free of him, but they remained caged in preparationfor a fight.
“You couldn’t have marked her on purpose,”Lilitu said in disbelief.
“I mark what is mine,” Kobal said flatly.
Around Lilitu, the other canagh demonsmurmured again. They shifted and moved back to allow more spacedown the center of the cavernous building. Shadows fell across thebusted doorway, briefly blocking the little bit of light that hadspilled in from outside. Turning, I watched as Corson and Baleslipped inside.
“Yours?” Lilitu scoffed. “Come now, Kobal, weboth know you could never be satisfied with taking only one womanfor the rest of your days.” Her talons trailed down the front ofher dress. They slipped over her breasts before stroking over theflesh of her belly exposed by the cutouts in the sides of the gauzymaterial. “I can clearly recall what that taking was like, as I’msure you can too.”
The blood drained from my face so fast I wasamazed I didn’t pass out. I kept my face impassive as I tried notto let my distress show. Lilitu made beautiful look like theunderstatement of the year. She oozed sex, and I was certain sheknew exactly what to do to please a man. I’d known Kobal was theexact opposite of a saint long before I’d started sleeping withhim, but she was something I never could have imagined.
“Give us the others and we’ll leave,” Kobalreplied, ignoring her words completely.
Lilitu’s hand stilled on its way back up herbody in the valley between her breasts. “You could always share,”she suggested in a husky voice. “She must taste delicious.”
“No one else willevertouch her. If you try, Lilitu, it will be thelast thing you do.”
“She’s so young, so inexperienced. I havemore than a few here who would be eager to teach her how to make aman beg for more. I’m sure you recall the way I had you begging formore.”
This time I was unable to suppress a shudderat the hurt her words caused. I hated this place and thesethings.
“I don’t recall,” he replied.
I thought it might have been actual distressflitting over her perfect features before a smile curved her lipsonce more. “You’d appreciate her so much more after my men are doneteaching her. I can guarantee it.”
Some of the eerily beautiful men steppedforward, their perfectly chiseled features looking almost fake. Afew of them raked their eyes over me before licking their lips.One, with platinum blond hair took hold of his erect shaft andfondled himself as he stared at me.
With a swift step to the side, Kobal seizedhim by his neck and snapped his head to the side with a sharpthrust of his thumb to the man’s jaw. I could only stand and gawkas fire burst from Kobal’s hand to encompass the face of thescreaming demon. The man’s eyes burned from his head as flamesburst out of his eye sockets and rolled up to consume his blondhair.
