The voices rose to a crescendo, filling every corner of my consciousness. I shook my head and tried to focus on something other than those deafening whispers, but the harder I tried to drown them out, the more voices joined in.
Then I felt it again — that strange burrowing sensation. Only these claws were digging into my mind.
Then I understood.
Julian had served his purpose, and the third demon had left his body. The demon was looking for his next host — trying to invade my mind.
I tensed as those clawed things caressed my consciousness once again, and terror rippled through me when they found a crack in my mental armor and dug in.
In an instant, those whispers filled every nook and cranny in my mind, replacing every other thought. The witchwood blade clattered to the ground as I instinctively slammed my hands over my ears. I couldn’t block them out, and it wasagony.
Every thought and feeling was crowded out, replaced by something evil andother. Something that did not belong to me. Something that would break me if I didn’t get it out.
It felt as though my head might split in two, and I was powerless to stop what was happening. My stomach heaved as my knees hit hard asphalt, but the pain barely registered. I retched, and it felt as though my stomach were twisting itself into knots — trying to expel the vile thing that had taken root inside of me.
I looked up, and the twelve demon copies parted. They turned in unison to face the mouth of the alley, where a tall figure stood shrouded in shadow. A pair of enormous wings fanned out behind the newcomer, gilded in the silver glow from the streetlights.
Then a silky male voice rang out — cutting through the roar of voices in my head and caressing my very senses. “Well, well . . . fancy seeing you two here.”
Chapter
Four
The voice echoed off the buildings around me, strumming every nerve in my body. Instantly, those claws retracted from my mind. The torrent of whispers faded to nothing, and I slumped forward in relief.
The little bits of me came crawling back to the forefront of my mind, which was blissfully quiet in the wake of the demon’s retreat.
I squinted at the winged figure standing at the entrance to the alley. With the glow of the streetlights beaming behind him, it was impossible to make out his face. I could only see those enormous wings — spanning nearly the width of the alley — and the figure’s considerable height.
Instantly, the demon copies vanished — the illusions shooting back into the original demon’s form like a rubber band snapping into place. The demon’s black eyes narrowed in what might have been anger, but I also sensed a tremor of fear. It strummed through its body like a ripple passing over a still lake. Then it, too, sprouted wings —spiny black ones tipped with razor-sharp talons — and flapped off into the night.
The strange male took a step forward, and I saw that his wings were an iridescent black — almost insectlike in their appearance. As if he sensed me watching him, he folded them behind him, and then they vanished into thin air.
Slowly, I rose into a crouch — preparing to run or fight if this male turned out to be another adversary rather than my savior.
He cocked his head to one side, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking past me to something I could not see — the demon that had possessed Julian and clawed its way into my mind.
A volley of whispers floated down the alley with a sound like skittering leaves, and goosebumps sprang up all over my arms.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not nice to play mind games?” came the male’s deep, silky voice. His tone was light, almost playful, but there was a menacing undercurrent there that made my insides clench.
He took another step, and an unnaturally icy wind billowed down the alley — so strong it stole the air from my lungs and sent dirt and debris whipping across the pavement. I threw up a hand to shield my eyes from the flying grit, and those eerie whispers faded into the dying breeze.
The demon was gone.
“Good riddance,” said the male, and every nerve in my body seemed to stretch to the breaking point as the scrape of his footsteps drew nearer.
My instincts roared that I should run, but I couldn’t seem to move my feet. Fighting against the demon’s mindinvasion had taken all my energy, and now that the adrenaline was fading, I was aware of every place the hellfire had burned through my leathers, blistering my bare flesh.
Clenching my teeth, I tried to stand, but I didn’t quite manage it before the male closed the distance between us and dropped into a crouch.
I didn’t dare move. I knew I wouldn’t be able to outrun him in my current state, and I needed to know what I was dealing with before I attempted to fight my way out of the alley.
Heart pounding, I let my eyes drift up his leather-clad shins. He’d propped a forearm on his knee, his long, slender hand dangling carelessly. My gaze traveled up to the strange male’s face, which was peering down at me with a mixture of interest and concern.
I was relieved not to see the gleaming pupil-less eyes of a demon staring back at me. His were a steely silver-gray that reminded me of the ocean before a storm. And thatface. There was nothing demonic about his face.
High cheekbones met a strong, sharp jawline, which seemed at odds with the sensuous curve of his lips. His mouth was unreasonably decadent for the harsh planes of his face, and yet he was undeniably the most beautiful male I’d ever seen.
