He said nothing, and they continued to stare at each other in silence for several moments. She was glad for the protection of her hood, shadowing her face.
Was he…hesitating?
“I won’t be able to communicate in this form,” he said.
She nodded.
“But I can still understand you.”
“Okay…”
“Make sure to keep yourself covered by the cloak. It’ll be hard in the wind.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Finally, when the silence grew nearly unbearable, he said, “I’m still…me. So don’t scream.”
She swallowed, trying to hide her sudden trepidation. “Okay…”
She’d watched Raum with a near obsession in the last three weeks. She knew he had a penchant for theft and a fondness for animals. She knew his demon form was that of a crow—ademoncrow—and that the Earth crow form he took was only a similar, miniature version of his true form.
What she didn’t know was what exactly a demon crow looked like.
Raum turned away, heading toward the more open part of the room. And then he shifted. One moment he was a man with dark skin and golden eyes, and the next, he was…decidedly not.
Her eyes bugged.So that is what a demon crow looks like.
He was huge, towering and formidable. His enormous body was covered in shiny black feathers, right to the tips offourmassive obsidian wings. His head was strangely reptilian, covered in leathery black scales instead of feathers—the same gnarled scales she’d seen on his arms when they’d sworn their vow—and his jet-black beak looked razor-sharp.
His legs were scaled like his head, with huge curved talons. Though he had the same fan-shaped tail as an earth crow, there was something distinctly prehistoric about his scaled head and bright golden eyes.
He was a giant, reptilian dinosaur crow…from Hell.
That great head cocked suddenly, and only his earlier request held in the scream that rose in her throat. And because he’d explained,I’m still me.
“My g-goodness,” she said, swallowing hard. He was enormous. She understood now why he’d been so confident in his ability to carry her in flight. She felt positively miniscule compared to him.
The demon crow approached, and she flinched. It was pure instinct. The only times Sunshine had been close to such monsters were when she’d battled with them. Demons and angels were enemies. It was written into the very fabric of reality.
And yet she stood with as much calm as she could muster as one approached her and lifted a talon full of deadly claws. Good lord, he was going to carry her with those feet.
She forced a weak smile. “Shall we?”
His responding caw made her jump.
He made an unmistakable gesture with his beak toward the window, so she walked over there, turning back to him. It was hardnotto look at him. “How do you want to do this?”
He gestured toward the window again.
She had no idea what he was trying to say, but she stepped closer. The window was big, which it needed to be to fit him through it. But there wasn’t room for them both, and she’d already figured out he planned to carry her in his talons.
When she glanced back at him, he gestured toward the window again.
“You want me to…jump?”
His long beak went up and down.Great.She looked out the window and glanced down. Way down. They were at the top of a high tower, which actually made her feel better. More falling time reduced the chances of her hitting the ground.
“You’d better catch me quickly, because if I feel like you won’t, I’ll use my own wings, and then we’ll both be in trouble.”
