Claimed by the Demon
Dear Reader
One thing I’ve learned about these mysterious demon blades...whenever they’re involved, things happen fast and furious, from the relationships to the writing.
Unlike the previous Demon Blade book in which Devin James has had time to absorb the nature of the blade, watching his brother’s journey, Mac has little understanding of the challenge overtaking him—and when the interference of a third party escalates that challenge, he has little chance of maintaining the control so necessary to a blade wielder. Not on his own...and not with just anyone.
Lucky for him, Gwen isn’t just anyone. And Mac isn’t slow to see it.
Gwen and Mac took over these pages right from the start, running full speed ahead with the words curling out behind them. Gwen’s past grew into clarity; Mac’s future grew ever more precarious. And it’s their willingness to embrace the fast and furious that will make all the difference....
Doranna Durgin
To my Arizona friends Judy Tarr and
Jennifer Roberson—because some things change,
but some things never will.
The demon blade told Devin James as much, drawing him to the expansive window of the old Rio Grande bosque estate just southwest of Albuquerque. It was a primary blade...a powerful blade. It claimed this entire region for its own, and it kept track.
It whispered to him of encroachment. Of changes. Of danger.
It suggested it should take control.
“Go to hell,” he muttered at it, arms crossed and scowling out into the early morning darkness.
A quiet step from behind; arms wrapped around his. A slightly sharp chin pressed against his shoulder. He shrugged against it, briefly increasing the silent contact.
The demon blade was named Anheriel, and it had changed everything.
It had killed his brother, threatened his sanity, remolded his life.
It had given him Natalie.
And now it had given him responsibility. This estate, inherited from the man who would have killed him— who would have taken Anheriel, combining their blades to create of himself an invincible creature—not so much possessed as in collusion with the demons within. Demons turned to trapped entities who craved redemption...but who could find it only through those wielders strong enough to resist their insidious corruptive influence.
The endless battle within.
And the estate’s library was giving him the means to fight that battle, providing information about those demons. Natalie was giving him the means to fight it.
Devin James, back from the brink.
Just in time, it would seem.
It wasn’t the first time the thought flashed through Gwen Badura’s mind, but this time might have been the loudest. She sat in her tough little VW Beetle along the side of quiet old Route 66, looking west upon the dark bulk of the Sandia Mountains and knowing she’d just about reached destination on this strange walkabout.
No little wonder. They’d had the vacation trip planned for months. And boy, had Sandy planned. After a year of urging Gwen to lighten up and have some fun before she hit thirty, her friend had targeted Vegas for the big moment—shows and casinos and plenty of role modeling. Time for Gwen to let her hair down.
It had to be said, Gwen had a lot of hair to let down. Unruly, tangled curls that passed as brunette as long as she didn’t take her head out into the direct sun or expose the coppery cast of the freckles on her arms. Stealth redhead, that’s what she was.
Stealth redhead with an attitude.
Stealth redhead looking at the Sandia Mountains and its windward foothills spread out before her, imagining Albuquerque beyond.
Right. Because there was no real explanation, was there?
She hadn’t even known where. Not until this evening.
Not until she’d pulled over to the side of the road, looked out over the mountains, and suddenly known...this was where she’d been heading. Following the inner voice that had been her companion since the night her father had died—warning her, chivvying her, getting her in trouble.
But never like this, driving her right out of her home and onto the road and here—to the city beyond the mountains. But she’d listened anyway. So yeah, she was here.
She just didn’t know why.
Michael MacKenzie sat on the hood of his Jeep Wrangler and contemplated the Albuquerque city lights, wondering what the hell he was doing here in the first place.
Restless feet, he was used to. Driven feet? Not so much.
More likely, by what.
Even the demon blade couldn’t explain it—although the damned thing usually did leave him with more questions than answers. Left him wary, too. Of himself...of others. Of the moment-to-moment byplay with the world outside of himself that most people took for granted.
He hadn’t been
Well, he was here; he’d get the lay of the land before he settled in. That meant driving the informal circuit
