Page 80 of Thane's Demon
Then I heard it… a slap sharp enough to echo. Her muffled gasp. His venomous words.
And something inside me detonated.
I crashed through her bedroom door in a flash of shadow, just as her father raised his hand again. He froze mid-swing, a strangled sound leaving his throat when he realized his arm was no longer moving. That was because my hand held it, unstoppable and unyielding.
His robe hung crooked. His face twisted with rage as his eyes flicked from his trapped arm to my monstrous form towering over him like some dark entity. One that moments ago would have been dripping with the blood of my victims, had I not the forethought to rid myself of the evidence by supernatural means.
“That…” I growled, my voice layered with the demon’s deeper reverberation,
“…is the last time you raise a hand to your daughter.”
His breath hitched, and his legs shook. Alora stared, her cheek already reddened from the strike I had been too slow to stop. That sight nearly broke me. I tightened my grip on her father’s wrist until he whimpered, fear leaking from him like sweat.
“The only reason you are still breathing…” I continued, my voice sinking into a deadly calm,
“…is because she would not want your blood on her hands. But if she ever gives the word…” I leaned closer, letting him see every flicker of the demon in my eyes.
“…your death will not be swift.”
I released him.
He collapsed against the wall, clutching his wrist.
I turned, picked up her fallen duffle bag with one hand, and reached for her with the other. She hesitated for the briefest moment, shock still trembling through her expression, but then her fingers slid into mine, trusting despite everything she had just seen.
I led her out of that room.
Out of that apartment and out of that life.
She said nothing. Her silence pressed against me harder than any blow. Her cheek was still flushed from her father’s strike, and her hand shook faintly in mine.
I pulled out my phone with my free hand, tapping one of the only a few numbers stored in it.
“I need a car,” I said, voice flat, and Janie’s reply crackled immediately through the speaker.
“It’s already on its way.” I exhaled through my nose, a humorless scoff.
“Of course you’ve been watching.”
“Obviously, when am I not, someone has to look out for you, whether you like it or not,” she said and ignored this in favor of my next question,
“And the plane?”
“Fueled and ready to go,” she replied, efficient as ever.
“Where are you going?” she asked, and it felt like a loaded question. As if she already knew the answer.
So, I looked down at Alora, taking in her frightened eyes and trembling breath.
She trusted, despite everything she had just witnessed. Which meant that despite my own personal demons, I had a responsibility to her. To keep her safe, where I had failed before. But no more. No, now I would take her to the one place I knew would keep her safe without a shadow of doubt.
The very last place I wanted to be rumbled from my throat on a growl, as I replied…
“Home.”
33
A KISS GOODNIGHT
