AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ven
The demon’s claws swipe against my throat, cutting through my Hazmat suit but missing my flesh as I lurch backwards. I try to fire off a ball of magic, but it won’t go through the suit for some reason. Of course they made the suits magic-resistant.
A ripping sound as the creature surges off the table, yanking out all the cords plugged up to it. It lunges for me again. I grab the monitor on its pole next to the bed and swing it like a baseball bat, smashing the thing right in the face.
Then I turn and run.
Only to trip on a cannister the demon had thrown loose when it leapt off the bed. I hit the floor of the cavern and the breath in my lungs whooshes out. The demon stomps a foot down, trying to crush me, but I roll out of the way. I climb to my knees but it grabs my ankle, the ankle that got caught in the hex wall. A flash of fresh agony shoots through my leg and I scream.
The thing grins and yanks me across the floor toward it.
That’s when the blonde witch stabs it from behind with a gigantic needle. The demon’s eyes widen, and then it falls to the floor.
I get to my feet, adrenaline still rocketing through my veins so quickly I’m shaking. “Thanks,” I say. “I’d have been dead in another moment there.”
“Of course,” she says. “I need to check to make sure your skin didn’t get nicked. Let’s head to the elevator.”
We leave the demon laid out on the floor and stride over to the elevator. The witch closes the doors behind us so we have a barrier from the intense heat. Then she gestures for me to take off the hood of my suit, which attaches a little below the collarbone. I hesitate a moment, not wanting to reveal myself. But I’m not sure what other choice I have without blowing my cover. Especially if I do need to be checked for an injury. I take the hood off.
The witch stares at me a moment, and then her eyes widen. “You!”
I jump back, hands coming up in a defensive posture, ready to strip off the rest of the suit if I need to so I can use my magic.
“Wait!” she says, raising her hands above her head in a surrender gesture. “You’re Luciana’s friend!”
Now it’s my turn to stare. “Who are you?”
“Luciana’s sister. Tamsin.” She slowly lowers her hands. “I saw pictures of you two on her social media accounts.”
My heart skips a beat and my thoughts spin so fast I feel dizzy. “Wait—what?” Luciana had a falling out with her sister years ago. “Why are you here? I thought she…”
“You thought she didn’t speak to her sister? It’s true. We haven’t spoken in almost two decades.”
She stops and takes a moment to visibly compose herself, then removes the hood of her own suit. Short, curly blonde hair falls to her shoulders. Her eyes hold such intense pain my breath catches.
“I’m a hematologist, I study blood and disorders of the blood. I’m well known in my field. A few months ago, I was contacted by an unknown corporation with a job offer.” She draws in another trembling breath. “But I like my life in Manhattan. I turned them down right away. And then—”
She breaks off, and tears form in her eyes.
“A week ago, I got a call. They told me they had my sister and if I didn’t come work for them, they’d kill her.”
I stiffen. This situation just keeps getting worse and worse.
“So, I came. Of course. What choice did I have?” She sniffles. “I couldn’t let her die.”
“Where is she now?” I ask, my heart thudding so hard it feels like my ribcage will break.
Tamsin’s lips tremble and she waves a hand in the direction of the cavern. “Out there.”
My heart stops. “But Luciana wouldn’t have taken drix… I know she wouldn’t…”
“You’re right. They injected her with it against her will so I’d be motivated to help them.”
The world spins. My friend is now a demon. Not a half-demon, like Ryder. Not a friendly professorial demon like Fitz. A mindless, crazed demon who would kill me if she saw me.
A shudder runs through me. I can only hope she wasn’t somehow conscious as it happened. That the drugs hit her system, and then she didn’t know anything else. That in between her shift from human to demon, she wasn’t aware.
