She nodded mutely.
Raum pulled his cloak hood over his face until the faintest gleam of his golden eyes was all she could see beneath it.
And then…he grew.
He gained almost a foot of height, but as far as she could tell, he was still in human form. Until she noticed the claws and leathery skin of his hands.
“What—?” She cut herself off. It seemed rude to bombard him with questions about his appearance, but she couldn’t deny her curiosity.
“I’m half shifted.” It was impossible to discern his emotions with his face hidden behind the hood. “It’s safer to look like a demon at the Market.”
“That makes sense,” she said stiffly, but she was too busy wondering what he looked like beneath the hood.
Heading over to where she’d dropped the sack of gold, he hefted it over one shoulder. Then he returned to her and held out his free hand.
She placed her palm in his, and they stepped into the hellgate together.
12
Den Of Iniquity
Images of that cursed dream haunted Raum worse than any nightmare.
Every time he looked at Sunshine, he saw her naked and writhing beneath him, whispering promises of devotion, begging him to take her blood. Obviously, he had a death wish because that was the only reason he’d be fantasizing about drinking angel blood in his dreams.
Demons weren’t vampires and didn’t need blood to survive, but they had fangs, and it tasted delicious and was always enjoyable to imbibe. Unless it was poisonous angel blood, of course.
Worse than the blood fantasy was howhehad responded to her. He’d been so…passionate. He’d never been like that, even before his missing memories.
So why the hell would he dream it? It was disturbing.
He couldn’t seem to get his head straight in Sunshine’s presence, and since she was going to have to stick to him like glue while they were at the Market, that was really damn unfortunate.
The Blood Market was dangerous even when one wasn’t a wanted fugitive, and he needed to keep his wits about him.
As he’d warned Sunshine, the minute they appeared on the other side of the hellgate, they were surrounded by chaos. Bodies pressed into them from all sides. Shouting deafened him. He hadn’t formed his wings when he’d shifted because they were encumbering in a crowd, and he was glad for it now.
The hellgates were positioned in the center of the Market beneath a large pavilion with sturdy black pillars. There were over a dozen gates, full of demons coming and going. Even more crowded around, pushing and shoving, impatient for their turn.
There was no standing in line in Hell. It was first come, first serve. Every demon for themself.
As such, the instant Raum and Sunshine appeared, they were surrounded, claws shoving them from every direction, people fighting to push them out of the gate.
Someone shoved Sunshine back, breaking her grip on Raum’s hand. Gripping the sack of gold on his shoulder, he spun and saw more demons surrounding her, pulling her away from him.
He swiped the claws of his free hand into the crowd, forcing those in his proximity to duck or get cut. Rules of the Market stated that no blood was to be spilled within its boundaries—disputes had to be taken outside. But right now, he didn’t give a fuck.
He started shoving people who wouldn’t get out of his way, hard enough that they lurched back into the crowd. When he caught sight of Sunshine’s hood and saw her struggling to reach him…something stirred inside him.
It was likely that stupid dream making him delusional, but a sudden dark wrath filled him, a need to destroy anyone that put a hand on her.
He fought back the urge to start a bloodbath and kept pushing through the crowd, albeit a bit more violently. When he finally reached her, he gripped her arm tightly, pulling her against him. She was so much smaller than him when he was in this form.
Shaking the madness from his head, he started working his way through the crowd again, away from the hellgates, keeping Sunshine at his side and holding on to the gold sack.
At the edge of the pavilion, they descended the steps to the ground level. Here, the crowd thinned substantially, but the Market was still busy. Narrow lanes stretched in every direction, lined with ramshackle booths and bedraggled tents.
There was no system to the network of streets. Anywhere a lane could fit, it was made. Anywhere someone could squeeze in a stall without it being trampled, it was constructed.
