Demon From the Dark Read Onli E

  Rae Wilder Novels

Book Three

DEMON DARK

Penelope Fletcher

CHAPTER ONE

Breandan ran as if the gods themselves cracked whips at his heels. Tucked safely into his breast, my arms were looped around his cervix, and my head bounced off his breast.

He kept the straightest path possible, vaulting over obstacles, and skidding under collapsed bridges equally they appeared in our way. His booted anxiety splashed in oily puddles as he dexterously navigated the uneven ground, and each of his low-cal footfalls were followed a heartbeat later on by a lighter footstep.

Daphne, deadly in her silence. At times, she detoured to destroy the faster vampires who had managed to gain on us, but always came back to guard the rear.

We had i direction, back towards the forest where those of fairy blood were strongest. In that location we stood a chance of survival.

Making it out of the infested inner metropolis, we sprinted downward a broad street daringly out in the open, but the most straight path out of vampire territory.

Salivating, a vampire dropped from a edifice above and landed in a shower of rubble another slammed to the concrete a few meters behind.

Without suspension, Breandan leant forward, increased his footstep, and swerved.

The vampire opened his oral cavity wide and screeched in my ear. The rank scent of rotting mankind and putrefied remains wafted over me. Clay encrusted fingers reached to take hold of my hair.

Icy tremors rippled across my scalp. Whimpering, my body shrank back and I tensed, waiting for the pain.

Daphne abruptly changed direction, keen her fist into the face of the vampire who reached for me. He crashed through a wall. An explosion of grit billowed beyond the street and bricks showered down on the concrete. The sound echoed through the city. The other vampire defenseless the tail finish of the rubble spray and twisted her talocrural joint, rutted chunks scattering across her path. She tripped, head snapping dorsum at an odd angle when it hit the flooring. Her legs folded over her back until she was doubled over on herself.

Our pursuers scrambled around the corner, bare chests gleaming off-white. Their emaciated bodies moved with frightening speed and demented grace. Covered in raggedy tunics and jeans, they growled and snarled as they tracked us, set loose by the deranged Vampire Queen, the long time consort of my vampire, my now expressionless vampire, Tomas.

Hurting sliced through me. Flashes of memory saw his lifeless, headless body sinking to the ground. I shuddered, pushing the images away.

Daphne stopped and took upwardly stance. The vampires chasing the states did non hesitate. 3 attacked her every bit one and some other broke past her guard heading for us.

In motion, Breandan leapt onto a pile of bricks and spun on his heel at the elevation. Unsure of what he planned, my gaze slid over the straightness of his nose and the stiff planes of his cheek and brow to residuum on his optics. A heavy elevation brow and sharp cheekbones drew together to create a fearsome scowl on his sculpted face. His bold eyebrows and masculine lips added intensity to his grim expression.

For this warrior, the deepest of yearnings poured through my limbs making them near equally heavy as my grieving heart.

Unsheathing the dagger at his hip, he shifted my weight onto i arm. As he finished this nigh turn, his arm curled into his body. The pocketknife tip halted at his ear, a slender ellipse with a precipitous point the ears of fae then jackknifed out with speed and precision. He threw the dagger ane handed at the vampire who crested the slope.

The blade slashed through the air, the silver point cart-wheeling before embedding itself deep in the vampire s neck. The bloodied tip ripped out the other side. Blood spurted. The vampire snapped back and landed flat on his dorsum, tumbling down the incline.

Breandan nodded in satisfaction at his kill.

His strong chin jutted out with pride and character, a sensual curve that made me empty-headed under the melancholy, an odd combination that had shivers crawling up and down my spine in lingering tickles.

Through my disorientated haze, I decided we needed that dagger back. Tugged past an invisible hand the blade pulled free of the corpse and shot towards us.

Surprised, Breandan caught it before it sailed by, and sheathed information technology back at his hip.

He looked down at me, questioning, his eyes catching the faintest gleam of moonlight to twinkle, their oval shape heavily rimmed past lashes the colour of soot.

Tucked securely in edgy stillness, a cursory respite from the frantic race from danger, the power of his stare hit me full force. His irises were stake as liquid silvery, and circling his dark pupils were cerulean rings. By gods, I fell into his eyes and was surprised I didn t glimpse fallen stars subconscious in their shimmering depths. Lovely. So yes, I stared back at him, knowing my own eyes were flat and lifeless. Too full of shame and regret, but I was unable to look away, fifty-fifty knowing danger lurked and sought u.s. out.

Permit it come.

I did not fearfulness the dark bathed in his light.

Rain beat the top of my head and soaked my clothes. My rapid breaths rushed out in plumes of vapor. I shivered. This time my trembling was not the attraction to the 1 who held me, but from the biting cold seeping through my clothes, too thin to withstand the moisture chill.

I often didn t experience the cold, but I d never had such an emotional trauma before either. Who knew what information technology would practise to me? My emotions were all over the place.

Breandan waited for Daphne, restlessly scanning the dark.

He radiated silver light, a soft glow that pulsed but beneath the surface of his skin. To the eyes, it appeared black tattoos covering his lean body shifted and moved. The runes of power and magical incantations were surrounded by swirling lines and intricate patterns that protected him from black magics helped him see the truth. His armor, dark segmented trousers, rigid across his thighs and shins, and flexible most his waist, and knee joints creaked as he shifted. Torso blank and warm, his chest was slick with pelting, steam curling from his broad shoulders and cervix.

Heart thumping under my palm, his jiff came evenly, just the inhalations were deeper and quicker than normal.

Thunder boomed overhead. Shafts of moonlight pierced the overcast and highlighted long slashes of rain drenching the crumbling city. The downpour cleansed the night air of rotten smells, but did nada to hibernate our trail from the vampires tracking us. Fairy body temperature ran hot, and the barest flare of rut from our skin in the iced metropolis was trail enough.

The sound of breaking bones and terrified whimpers drew my attention to where Breandan looked with mild appreciation.

Daphne ripped through our remaining enemies with mortiferous efficiency. Slamming her human foot down on the last skull, she sent Breandan a nighttime expect over her shoulder.

Her fangs grazed her bottom lip and her eyes ruby-rimmed and boasting a most unusual shape slender ovals downwardly tilted at the corners and framed by absurdly long lashes the colour of cream were inky black pools, the whites blotted out by the darkness that bred in all vampirekind. White-blonde braids slick with claret and gore whipped effectually equally she jerked her chin, dark eyebrows pulled together in a fierce scowl.

Get,

she rasped and twisted her heel on the vampire below her, his demise confirmed past the wet crisis that followed the activity.

More than are coming, I smell them. I m right behind y'all.

Dressed in jeans, boots, and a dark green tunic, she had the same gaunt appearance all the vampires had though in that location was a telltale flush of colour in her cheeks from biting and feeding on those who hunted us.

Displaying the innate at-home of the warrior he was, Breandan nodded and moved on.

Dawn approached in another hr at most, and the vampires tracking us would have to go to ground. That would have given usa the platonic risk to escape if we hadn t been travelling with a Nest deserter.

Daphne s modest form was lost to the gloom, and

I squeezed my eyes close, praying to the gods for her protection.

Not long afterward, she joined us again and murmured to Breandan,

They ve broken into groups. It south safer I stay shut.

She paused.

Nosotros need to detour to go the grimoire. If we carry on this manner, nosotros ll go right past information technology. It would be unwise to get out it hither unprotected.

They gave each other meaningful looks so were silent.

We slipped into a narrow alleyway, more of a nook that ended with a rutted brick wall.

Breandan made a noise of frustration.

Here?

It won t exist for long,

Daphne hissed.

She south a large girl, and she knows how to fight. Hurry up.

With reluctance, he set me down on the cold ground in the shadowed corner. The lip of a roof overhead provided scant protection from the rain, but it was enough to satisfy him.

He brushed wet skeins of hair abroad from my face up and leaned my head against the wall.

I blinked upward at him, numbly wondering if he d finally had enough of me, and was leaving me to my fate.

Rae-dearest. I need you to stay here. I m going to get the grimoire, and I need to fight.

Breandan tilted my mentum back, and my lashes lowered. I was still also ashamed to look him fully in the face. He brushed his lips over mine and stroked my cheek.

Stay here. If nosotros re not dorsum by sunrise, you run dorsum to the Wyld. If anybody merely me finds you here, run back to the Wyld. My brother will protect you.

I didn t say anything, and Breandan shook me.

Practise you hear me?

Rabid shrieks drew closer and had my middle thumping erratically. I whimpered and shifted uneasily.

Daphne gripped his shoulder.

We don t have time

Breandan shot her a common cold look over his shoulder. She removed her hand.

She will respond me, or I won t leave her.

Knowing he was truthful to his word, I nodded jerkily, keeping my gaze averted. Unsheathing the dagger at his hip, he pressed it into my palm. Fingers loosely curled around the hilt, my paw fell to the flooring, and the blade scraped the physical.

He and Daphne left like shadows, exiting the alleyway and blending into the dark.

Thankful to accept some time alone, I huddled up against the wall, my tail curled around my ankles and my fly pinions listlessly folded, the segmented membrane sopping. Footling with the terminate of my ragged tunic, using the dagger to selection at the cotton fiber, I stared at the floor. Sorting through everything that had happened made my head pound. It was a nightmare. How much easier everything would be if I sleepwalked and my reality was only nighttime terrors tormenting me.

Tomas was gone. Breandan killed him. The idea was also crazy for me to accept every bit real, merely I d seen him do it. The blood tie to my vampire-male child was gone, it would never trouble me again.

A snuffling noise roused me from my despondency.

A hunched figure slipped into the oral fissure of the alleyway and separated itself from the darkness. Bloodshot eyes peered into the corner where I was subconscious. My nature flared. A feeling of wrongness wafting from him put me on guard.

Speed and intuition was crucial.

Keeping silent, I eased myself into a hunker, cursed when the dagger I forgot was in my mitt struck the wall with a clang.

The vampire rushed toward me, fangs flashing and eyes crazed with bloodlust as the hunting instinct took over.

I shot up, back flat to the wall for support, and moved to the side. At the same time, I swung my arm out with all my might towards the spot where I d been. Flesh gave nether my thrust, the dagger violent into my attacker s back.

Slamming into the demon, I wrenched his shoulder dorsum, pinning him to the wall with an arm over his chest. Applying pressure level, I squeezed the air from his lungs to cut off whatsoever cry for help.

Avoiding his gaze afraid I would encounter life there I dragged the blade securely across his gullet. Claret sprayed beyond my neck and cheek. Clawed hands came up to grapple at my throat. The vampire fought to lean down, jaws chomping for a vein. Drawing on my knifework as Disciple of the Sect, I flipped the bract over and dragged it dorsum to cut into his spinal string, breathing out slowly equally I did then, the jarred, shuddering motility making my tum churn.

Property his torso flat to the wall with an arm across his boney breast, I tucked the blade into my waistband. Shoving his head back equally I tugged his body frontwards, both detached with a rip of sinew and crack of os.

With a strangled dissonance of disgust, I permit them both drop, staggering abroad to avoid the jumble of limbs.

Blood mixed with rainwater trickled into an oily puddle. The rank odor of disuse filled my nostrils. Deranged screams in the distance fix my teeth on edge.

I tottered abroad, my hand slapping the brick wall to steady myself every bit I retched. Hearing footsteps, I straightened and peered around the corner. My manus slipped around to my dorsum, gripping the dagger hilt, fix to swing again if needs be.

Satisfied I did not demand to attack, I slumped against the wall. Pushing my fingertips into my eye sockets, I rubbed them roughly then pushed the hair from my confront.

Breandan and Daphne rounded the corner a moment later. Stunned, at the scene, they both stopped, wary. Questioning eyes roved over me. Seeing I was hale, Daphne sniffed, and wandered over to the body in the corner.

My fogginess cleared. The adrenaline from the attack had jolted me back to my senses. I sheathed Breandan due south dagger back at his hip as he swiped blood from my cheek.

Are you lot hurt,

he asked quietly, his hands brushing over me even equally he asked.

I shook my head, and leaned my forehead confronting his chest. I limply placed my easily on his warm sides.

Get,

Daphne urged.

Now. The scent of blood is besides strong.

Equally she rushed past u.s.a., I spied a packet of night rags clasped under her arm.

Ignoring my racket of protest, Breandan scooped me up as we left the hiding place and started at speed. I wiggled in the clutch of his arms, feeling increasingly restless. The blood drained from my face as I glanced over his shoulder.

Vampires lumbered later on u.s.a., faces carved in violence. They would non allow us leave this city alive.

Had they loved Tomas? Did they chase us then zealously because beneath the madness, they felt every bit deeply for him as the fairy people did for the last Priestess, my mother, or were they simply driven by the need to eat, an irresistible desire to feed.

Breandan was exhausted.

Daphne struggled as the night grew older, her trunk preparing for the dead sleep of her night.

With a sense of resignation, I pulled myself fully from the pit of misery I d thrown myself into when Breandan had detached Tomas head from his torso. I didn t want to hurt anybody, just what I wanted, and what was needed were two unlike things. Breandan and Daphne were only running because they wanted to get me to safety.

The shock of the last few hours waned, the crushing pain dispelling and leaving my fingertips and toes in cold waves of relief.

I was back. And I was pissed.

Twisting from Breandan s artillery, I landed crouched. Off-kilter, I stumbled, my knee joint hitting the ground, palm flat in the dirt. I was back up in a moment, legs braced, and mind focused. My wings sprung out, and the moisture street shimmered with golden lite.

Daphne grabbed my arm, standing shut plenty that I could see her freckles, lite brown splotches across her nose and cheeks.

Rae,

she warned, concerned.

I shrugged her off.

Enough. The sunday volition rise, and you volition burn. Breandan is running on empty. Do the both of you run across this run and hide scenario ending well?

Turning away from her stunned confront, I lifted my chin.

We can win this. Afterwards, nosotros rest for the 24-hour interval.

Daphne cursed the gods under her breath and released me.

The vampires drew closer, tapering off into an arrow.

Breandan looked ready to outburst a blood vessel. In his eyes, I saw the a

rguments he wanted to voice, and watched with satisfaction as he dismissed them. He d gotten amend at reading my moods.

The 3 of us took upwards stance, Daphne and Breandan managing to position themselves a footstep ahead of me. Equally the vampires ran toward me there was no sense of fear, and I could not bring myself to be concerned virtually that. I calmly tracked their movement with my eyes.

Turning to Daphne, I jerked my head to the dilapidated building beside her.

Get inside, away from the windows.

She kept her attention on the advancing vampires.

Rae. &

Ignoring the caution in her voice, I drew deeply on the Source. The amount of free energy that gathered was pocket-sized, too small. I pulled deeper. Light flickered across my palm, crackled between my fingertips. I grunted, struggling to draw the magic. It was there, I was just as well tired to aqueduct information technology, to manifest it into the weapon I needed.

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