Page 45 of Thane's Demon
To the girl who had given me a reason to want a future at all.
The streets bled neon as I crossed them, the night thick enough to swallow sounds and faces but not thick enough to muffle the irritation burning beneath my skin. I moved through the city likea living darkness. Each step a reminder of how much I would rather be anywhere else. Preferably standing outside Alora’s window, watching the warm glow of her room, and letting myself imagine a world where tomorrow was the only thing that mattered.
Instead, I was being dragged back into this sinner’s world.
The one made of blood and fear.
The one I belonged to.
The one I never wanted her to see.
The closer I came to the nightclub, the more the air shifted. The scents changed, growing heavier, coarser, soaked in the particular stench of debauchery. Bass thumped beneath the ground as I approached the rear entrance, the vibration pulsing through my boots the way a heartbeat might thrum beneath bone.
Another two guards stood like statues beside the metal door.
Different men than last time.
‘Still just as weak.’
Their eyes flicked up when I approached, their spines stiffening, their jaws tightening. That single instant when recognition sparked always brought a certain scent with it. Fear. Sharp, metallic, tinged with the sour edge of adrenaline. My demon inhaled deeply, savoring it like wine.
They moved aside without a word.
Good. At least someone knew their place tonight.
The door opened into a corridor lit by flickering lights, the thrum of the music and the muffled roar of the crowd thickening, growing louder with each step. The sounds of the club pressed against me, the air vibrating with a dangerous pulse that felt almost alive.
Heat. Sweat. The scent of bodies pressed too close.
Strobe lights sliced the dark into fragments. Human silhouettes writhed like something caught in a net. My demonpurred, recognizing the territory, the same way a predator recognized a den soaked with prey.
This was Xue Long’s kingdom.
But they whispered about me.
Not him.
I cut through the crowd with ease, bodies moving out of my way without conscious thought, as if something inside them screamed at them to part. Eyes followed me, but darted away the moment I looked back. Even intoxicated, humans could sense danger when it walked directly through the room.
I continued until I reached the private corridor that led to Xue’s office. The guards here stiffened too, though neither dared speak. I entered without knocking.
Xue Long was already there.
He stood near the window, staring out at the city through heavy velvet curtains drawn apart just enough for him to peer out. The light caught the tailored lines of his suit, the smooth cut of his hair, the forced elegance he draped himself in like armor.
But beneath all that refinement…
I smelled unease.
The instant he sensed me, his shoulders tensed before he turned, rearranging his features into a rehearsed smile. Too soft at the corners. Too careful. Too afraid.
“Hei Mo,” he greeted, his voice was smooth but seemed slightly unsteady. “You made good time.”
I gave him nothing but a slight nod of my head. I had learned long ago that less was more. His gaze flickered to my face, then down to my hands, as though expecting blood that was not there.
“I trust the last assignment is complete.”
I said nothing more as I opened the black folder, scanning the details for only a few seconds before closing it again. I didn’t need longer. The target had already been dealt with the night Imet Alora in that alleyway. The only job that felt like it had true purpose as it meant saving her before that fucker could hurt her.
