He swept the hair off his face so he could see her, and his mouth fell open.
Eva’s beautiful eyes were glowing.Glowing.
And oh,will ya look at that, she was growing too. Over six and a half feet tall all of a sudden, she stared at him with those glowing eyes and gave a harpy-like shriek of fury. And then, with one smooth jerk, she ripped the wrought-iron post she was handcuffed to clean off the banister.
There went his hopes about her not being a Nephilim.
But damn, she was hot.
She ran to him and smudged the chalk line of the sigil with a foot, and instantly, he was free and throwing his arms around her. Except she was taller than him now, which was a bit weird, so he shifted back to demon form so he could hug her properly.
She was shaking as if scared by what she’d just done. “Ash, w-what—?”
Bel’s next roar was so loud it rattled the windows.
They pulled apart, and he realized there wasn’t time for an explanation. He grabbed her hand, clawed fingers linking with her delicate ones, and they ran out of the house together toward the chaos.
Jacqueline Gregory was just a human. No secret, angelic bloodline, no special abilities.
And yet, a fierce determination that felt powerful had filled her to bursting. She had to help Meph.
Belial launched another stream of flame, forcing Dan to leap back, and she realized he was retreating. What his plans were, she couldn’t say, but she wasn’t sticking around to find out.
She took a second to take stock of her surroundings. Dan was clutching another knife from the holster at his thigh, and it looked like he was gearing up to throw it. He also had a large broadsword holstered at his left hip, but it was unreachable because he had pinned Jacqui against him on top of it. She knew this because the hilt was digging painfully into her side.
Before he had a chance to throw the blade, Jacqui acted. Twisting in his grip, she managed to spin within the circle of his arm so she faced upward, freeing her hands.
And then she punched him in the face.
She wasn’t a fighter, but she’d taken a few martial arts classes in her day and knew how to throw a punch. And throw a punch she did. In fact, she threw several. She threw them as hard as she could, her fear for Meph giving her the strength to keep punching through the unbelievable pain in her knuckles.
Caught by surprise, Dan stumbled and dropped her.
Landing hard, she rolled away and then sprang up and sprinted toward the building. Not a second too soon, too, because Belial’s next fireball smacked Dan square in the chest, launching him back through the air.
As she reached the building, the heat coming off Belial grew intense, the air wavering with a mirage that made everything look like it was rippling. Eyes stinging, she dropped to her knees, covered her head, and somehow managed to crawl through the doorway inside. She waited for the magic barrier to electrocute her as it was Belial, despite knowing she had passed through it before with no ill effect.
It didn’t, however. Inside, everything was on fire, but there wasn’t time to worry about that. Raum saw her coming and hope filled his golden eyes, replacing the despair that had been there moments before.
“Help him!” he shouted as she scrambled toward them. “I can’t pull it out!”
He held up his hands and Jacqui recoiled. They’d been burned down to the bone. Nothing but blood and gore and strips of flesh remained, and his fingers had been incinerated to the first knuckle joint. If it did that much damage to him, what must it be doing to Meph?
“It’s consecrated. It’s burning him alive every second it touches him.Please.”
She didn’t waste another second. Crawling to Meph’s side, she wrapped her fingers around the knife hilt, half expecting her own palms to melt off. When nothing happened, she yanked. The knife barely budged. Jesus, how hard had Dan thrown the thing?
She shifted position, bracing the soles of her feet against Meph’s still body. Throwing herself backward and using her body weight for added momentum, shepulled.
The knife finally slid free. Jacqui tumbled backward. Meph howled.
And Belial’s fire extinguished at the sound of his brother’s cry.
Tossing the blade away, she scrambled back to Meph and dragged him into her lap, cradling him like he was her own child, tears streaming down her face. In the doorway, Belial dropped to his knees and gripped his head like he was fighting for control, a low groan escaping him.
Looking up, she saw Dan standing outside, a look of horror plastered across his face. He wasn’t holding any weapons and didn’t appear to have violent intent, so she dismissed him from her thoughts for now, more concerned about the demon in her arms.
She looked up at Raum, who was cradling his horribly injured hands against his bare chest. “Is he okay?” Meph was so pale and still, and it terrified her.
