Page 7 of The Demon Prince

But this wasn’t her. Katherine didn’t believe in superstitions and she knew how the real world worked. No creature was going to yank her out of her house. That had never happened before.

People didn’t just disappear in the middle of the night. Even one person going missing would put the entire town up in arms and she would have heard about any incidents. The only reason anyone disappeared was because they had sought out Gluttony’s castle and they had offered themselves up in dire circumstances.

Sometimes those people didn’t make it home. But there was a reasonable explanation for why they didn’t make it. She was a woman of science and logic. If she felt like something was staring at her, then she was strong enough to look back.

Still, her fingers curled around the chipped wood and she had to push herself to be brave. Her heart raced, her breathing quickened, but she lifted her eyes to the darkness and peered into it.

At first, she saw nothing. Just the shadows and the mist and the strange shapes the moon cast in between buildings and railings. It was her town, the same as it always was and never all that surprising.

Until she saw him.

The shape of a man waited in that darkness, almost impossible for her to see. He was standing perfectly in the shadow of a willow tree right in the center of town. It wasn’t anyone she recognized, because she knew the shape of every person.

Jimmy Tompkins had one shoulder higher than the other. Andrew Riley was much more round than this man. Even Bruce Calloway had a distinctly coifed haircut that billowed around his head like a dandelion puff. This man was none of them.

His silhouette was tall and lean, a powerful figure that seemed almost otherworldly. Not a creature like any she’d seen before, so at least she was certain nothing had crawled up out of the muck to attack her home. But there was an air of danger around this man. Almost as though it vibrated around his form.

And she felt that vibration deep in her core. A sudden heat flushed throughout her entire body, coiling through her being in an entirely unfamiliar way. Suddenly, she wanted… something. She needed it. But what she needed, Katherine had no idea, and still she wanted to beckon him closer. She wanted to know what he looked like beyond the outline of his body.

They were dastardly, foolish thoughts of a woman who had read too many romantic stories. No one was waiting outside her window because she’d beguiled them with her beauty.

Katherine had lost that future long ago. She had never been the blushing young woman who had countless men at her doorstep, hoping that she’d let them inside to visit. The fire had taken everything from her. Her grace, her looks, even the feeling in much of the right side of her body. It was ridiculous to think this man was here for any reason other than the nefarious ones.

And still, she leaned a little further out of the window. Just to catch a glimpse of this tall, dark, stranger who stood outside her window without moving even a single step.

She opened her mouth, about to call out to ask who he was, or if he needed lodging for the night. Though the thought fluttered through her mind that she was a foolish girl indeed if she thought to invite a stranger into her bed.

Then it happened.

For just a split second, she thought she saw gleaming red eyes in that shadow. But surely not. They were gone just as soon as she saw them.

Katherine took a deep breath and her hands flexed on the wood. The slivers dug into her fingers again and this time the pain startled her so much that she ripped her hands away. One of the slivers cut through the pad of her thumb all the way to the first joint. Hissing out a breath, she found her gaze on those red eyes that glowed from the darkness. Not staring back at her eyes, but watching her thumb with all too much interest.

The madness that had possessed her disappeared. Shocked at herself, angry that she’d ever make such a foolish decision, Katherine lunged away. She slammed her window shut so hard it shook the wall as she locked it. She smeared blood all over the glass, but she didn’t care.

Whatever was out there, even if it was just a conjuring of her exhausted mind, she wanted nothing to do with it.

She was logical. She was intelligent. She knew when there was danger right in front of her and that man, whoever it was, risked her very life.

Stepping back from the glass, Katherine stared at the meager shield between herself and whatever monster waited for her there. It wasn’t enough. If it wanted to come into her room, it would. It would be so easy for it to break through the glass and snag her long before anyone else had heard her screaming.

Breathing hard, she found she couldn’t move. Katherine had backed up into the very corner of the room with her gaze locked on the window. She held her bleeding thumb to her chest, pressing frantically on the wound as though the creature outside could smell her.

And when a shadow passed in front of the window, she thought she might faint in fear. It had come for her. Whatever it was, it wanted her blood.

It wanted her.

She had no idea how long she stayed frozen in that corner. Katherine wasn’t even sure she blinked before she flinched at the sound of knocking on her door.

“Katherine?” Grace asked through the wood. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the clinic?”

“I—” She could hardly speak. Her voice sounded like she’d been screaming all night, but she hadn’t. Had she?

Her door creaked open and Grace stepped inside. Katherine watched as Grace looked around, only to find her huddled on the other side of the door, still clutching her hand to her chest.

Grace’s eyes widened before she burst into action. “Katherine! What happened?”

She didn’t know what to say, even as the other woman crouched beside her and placed a hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up. Have you been here all night?”

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