through the streets to help curb the desire to take the weapon from her. They approached an intersection and a mage stepped out of the shadows by a fire escape and gestured upward.
Juliana nodded once and headed up, keeping her footfalls as soft as possible. He stayed right behind her. She crouched low when she reached the top and hurried to the far side of the roof. After a peek over the wall, she glanced at him. “You’re being unusually quiet,” she said in a low voice as she prepared her weapon.
He watched the movement for a moment. “It is because I am afraid if I open my mouth the only words that will come out are ‘stop,’ ‘don’t,’ or ‘go home.’”
The corner of her mouth curved into a smile. “Guess it’s a good thing you’re not talking then, huh?”
He grunted but couldn’t help returning the smile.
“All right,” she said, rising to her knees. “Let’s just hope he never knows we’re here.”
She should really know better than to say things like that. As soon as they both looked over the wall to the scene below, the demon turned his head and locked eyes with Juliana. A feral smile split the man’s face and Thomas felt her shiver beside him. “Hello, Hound.”
She huffed out a breath. “It would appear our demon has taken over an inkmage.”
Thomas eyed the mage. Dark tattoos covered much of his visible skin. They shimmered with the unmistakable glimmer of magic. Another mage attempted to approach from behind and the demon muttered a word and gestured over his shoulder, casting the spell without even looking at the target. The would-be hero froze into a solid block of ice.
“Damn fool. I told everyone to stay back,” James said as he came up behind them. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Glad you two are here. None of our spells are working. We’ve tried just about everything.”
Thomas glanced at his brother-in-law. Like most inkmages, tattoos covered the majority of his body. He even shaved his head to accommodate the tail of a massive dragon tattoo that covered his back. The same ice blue as his eyes, it was also a powerful protective ward. He was a good man to have on your side in a fight. “I would guess that’s because he’s not human. Not entirely anyway.”
“Demon,” Juliana added to clear up any confusion.
“You can’t be serious,” James said.
“Juliana Norris, come down and play with me,” the demon yelled from below them. The blood turned to ice in Thomas’s veins. Not only did it threaten his mate, it called her by name. He’d noticed it when they faced it before, but he’d thought in an aberration. A way for the demon to taunt them before the forthcoming battle. But here there were many targets, many places it could set its sights, and still it called to her. The situation was more dangerous than he’d originally thought.
A grimace flashed across her face and was just as quickly replaced with a cool mask of calm. She took aim, steadied the gun on the wall and fired. The shot pierced the demon through the shoulder.
It howled in fury and turned coal-black eyes on her.
“Vacate the host or I’ll shoot again,” she yelled.
The demon stretched both arms to the side, palms out. It began to rattle off a spell in a language that Thomas was certain predated even him.
“Shoot him. Now. And don’t miss this time.” Panic laced James’s every word.
Juliana glanced back at her friend, not liking the tone of his voice. Fear shone in his eyes. She quickly took aim again, sighting the demon through the scope of the rifle. The demon, not the inkmage. She couldn’t see the host, only the creature within, or she’d never be able to do this. A burning heat started up in her belly, like someone had set a hot pan on it. Ignoring it, she squeezed the trigger. The bullet passed straight through its mouth and out the back of its head.
It stood there stunned for a moment and then dropped to its knees before falling forward onto the street. The burning faded. She stood, shifted the rifle in her hand so she had a more comfortable grip on it. “I didn’t miss the first time. I was trying to save the host.”
“That’s very noble of you,” James said, “but if I call you in to help, it’s because something needs killing. Remember that next time please.”
“Juliana.” Thomas’s voice was tight, angry.
She looked at him in surprise, unable to think of anything she’d done recently to earn his ire. He pointed to the street below. The inkmage pushed himself up and staggered to his feet. Terror slammed through her body. The gods help her, the demon was inhabiting a dead host. She’d heard rumors of it being possible amongst the highest tier of demons but she’d never seen it. And she hoped never to see it again. Cold, dead eyes stared up at her and a rasping laugh came from the distorted mouth. Dark, thick blood coursed down the chin.
“You don’t know it, Hound, but you just did me a favor. See ya,” it said, more gurgle than actual speech. She caught a glimpse of daylight through the open mouth before the demon turned and ran down the street and through an alley faster than an inkmage had any right to move.
Thomas was over the wall and in pursuit before she could even tell him to follow.
“Did I just watch a demon animate a corpse?” James asked.
She looked at him but said nothing. It wasn’t really a question that required an answer anyway. The sound of breaking glass filled the air and she turned to watch the green haze marking the perimeter come down in a million little pieces. James’s tight lips and pale countenance told her that wasn’t supposed to happen either.
It was ten minutes later when Thomas appeared in the street below, the corpse of the inkmage draped over his shoulder. By that time, Jeremiah had joined them. They went down to meet him.
“I found him a few alleys outside of the perimeter. There was no sign of anyone else.” He dropped the inkmage at her feet.
Jeremiah pressed on the radio in his ear. “Fan out. Start looking for anyone acting odd or anything out of place. The new host couldn’t have gotten far.”
The new host could be halfway across the city by now, but she didn’t bother correcting him. She ran a hand down her face and rubbed her nose trying to rid it of the smell of cinder and ashes. The corpse still reeked of demon.
“Can you search for it with your gift?” James asked.
“Demons don’t have signatures, so I could leave my gift on and look for anyone not glowing. In theory,” she said. “Problem is I fried myself yesterday. I’m not sure I could call it up today even if I was stupid enough to try.”
James sighed. “I don’t like this, Juliana. That’s a first-level demon and he’s obviously interested in you for some reason.”
“What was the spell?” she asked to change the subject.
“What?”
“The spell that had you ordering her to blow his head off before he could finish it,” Thomas answered, his voice clipped.
He shifted his weight. “It’s a forbidden spell. It’s not supposed to be used except in times of war and then only with my express permission. To do otherwise is an automatic death sentence.”
“That must be some spell,” Jeremiah said.
James pursed his lips. “You could say that. It incinerates the target from the inside out.”
“Like spontaneous combustion?” Heat flared through her stomach in an echo of the earlier sensation.
James looked at her, a bitter smile on his face. “Something like that. Only this spell takes about six hours to come to completion and there is no counterspell. Hence the reason it’s forbidden.”
A shudder ran through her. There’d be no coming back after slowly burning to death from the inside out. And that was almost her fate, would have been if she hadn’t killed the host. Right now, she’d be lying in the infirmary with her insides melting as she burned to death and they tried to find a way to fix her. Her head felt light and she took a deep breath hoping the air would help. It didn’t.
“While you’re here, I’d like to get your opinion on the book,” James said, giving her a new topic to focus on.
“I think it’s dangerous.”
