Page 83 of Sweet Violence
When she slumped on my giant sword4I let a flicker of victory move through me, stretching my face with a grin.
I knew there were other demons lining up to weaken me, but I won this fight, and only by sheer dumb luck and a pinch of recklessness.
"Joseph!" X screamed, making my whole body jolt at his panic-stricken tone.
I dissolved the fiery sword, letting Glim crash to the floor with an almighty thud, and scoured the great hall. I'd ended up further away than I thought, leaving Joseph vulnerable. And someone had taken full advantage of it.
A candlestick had been thrust into Joseph's chest, and with immense force. It was buried so deep I couldn't even see the tip of it.
"Surrender," a deep, throaty voice commanded, and I gave the demon who'd spoken a death glare. He looked almost normal, except for the eels that came from the back of his head instead of hair. Like a slimy Medusa. "Or I'll finish him."
"You're dead," I replied, my voice strangely cold, strangely hollow.
I shuddered as fire blazed around me when I crossed the room, my eyes fixed on Joseph. He was beaten and bruised and newly bleeding. So badly hurt he didn't even wake at this new pain.
"I said," the bastard growled. Ikea—I knew that deep rumble. "Surrender. Or watch your mates die."
I swallowed my terror, letting only rage out to play. My breathing came fast but even, and something I only glimpsed before built into a deadly force in my chest. I felt it when Eidolon nearly killed Arkan. But that was like a drop of water; this was an ocean churning with stormy waves. Ready to drag ships and sailors to their deaths.
I took my eyes off Joseph for a second to see why Ikea was so confident about killing X, too. My incubus was on the floor, barely moving, with an axe in his stomach. His eyes fluttered, struggling to stay open.
Bile rose in my throat and I twisted aside, unable to fight the nausea. Vomit splashed the bloody floor, and my whole body shook. Well, that explained why there was so much pain coming from my bonds.
Dev, I pleaded.Come on, come on!
I needed him to respond, because even with all the power in Hell, I couldn't fight these bastards when my mates' lives hung in the balance.
They'd muzzled me.
I spat in Ikea's direction.
"You kill them, and I'll hunt down everyone you've ever loved, every fling you've ever had, everyone evenremotelyconnected to you, and I’ll slaughter them so painfully they'll scream your name." I smiled, cold and cruel. "And I'll force you to listen to their pleas until their voices break and they take their last breaths."
Izan laughed under his breath, the eels attached to his head writhing in the air. "So you surrender?"
I curled my upper lip, a growl coming from deep in my chest, sounding much more demonic than human. If I knew how to shift into my other form, I could—
Do nothing. Because my mates would still be killed.
"Don't," X croaked weakly.
Fuck! He was too weak to hold a conversation, let alone defend himself. Ihadto do this.
"Fine," I said through gritted teeth.
Izan smirked as he strolled across the room for a closer view, the big bad’s pale face monstrous in its lack of humanity. "Good job, Ikya. But Aveline, drop the knife." He nodded to my hand.
I snarled, but threw my invisible knife to the floor, my heart skipping at the finality of the noise it made when it hit the floor.
"Tie her up," Drill Bastard commanded his remaining minions. "We'll do the blood binding."
Ah yes, the blood bond to make me kill the devil. My mate. Whom I was pretty sure I was already bound by the laws of my soul tonotkill. Fun times.
"Stay still," ordered a swampy-looking guy with long hair and a backwards baseball cap—presumably Coryx. He came towards me with a grim expression and rope in his hands that glowed ominously ruby. Well, at least he wasn't smirking and taunting me. He looked like he'd rather be at home flicking through his Pokémon card collection, though.
I didn't trust any of these fuckers to be demons of their word and leave my mates alone, but I had to buy some time. If I could just—
Someone screamed when the far wall exploded, plaster, brick, and dust raining down around us. A particularly big chunk of brick landed on Drill Bastard, knocking him to his ass on the ground and pinning him there.
