They began to dance together, her hands snaking around his neck. If only she knew.
But I did, and it made watching its seduction even creeper knowing it was after her soul.
That’s when I realised it’d screwed me over.
The club was a tight space, every inch used to its full capacity. That meant there were no dark corners or storage closets to drag my prey inside. I couldn’t draw my arondight blade without hurting an innocent, and I couldn’t do an exorcism because its putrid demonic arse would just fly off into someone else. And then I’d have to repeat the whole ordeal over again…and I loathed repeating myself.
It was a fight that might end badly, no matter what I did. I risked exposure of our kind by confronting it here, or the soul of an innocent if I choose to stand down.
I sighed. I couldn’t walk away knowing I would damn her soul to complete erasure, despite her crimes to fashion.
The only way to end this was to wrestle the demon outside.
I slid through the crowd, silent and invisible, flowing past flailing arms and stomping boots, my form melting through the flashing lights. The demon didn’t notice me until I was upon them.
I pressed my hand on the woman’s shoulder, sending a flutter of Light—the magic that set me apart from humanity—into her. She blinked, then moved away from the threat, her gaze passing straight through the man she’d just been rubbing up against as if he’d never been there.
Once she was gone, I pulled the demon into the aura of my cloak, concealing it from the surrounding humans.
“Natural,” it hissed.
“No soul eating for you tonight,” I declared, closing my hand around its throat. “How about you and I take this outside?”
“Stupid girl. You’re going to die.”
It lunged, sending me flying back into the wall of dancers. The crowd parted, clubbers looking around to see what had pushed them out of the way.
I landed flat on my back with the creature on top of me, its hands clawing at my neck.
The moment skin touched skin, I could sense what it was. It wasn’t an Infernal—a cloudy essence possessing a human—it was something else. Something new. It was evolving to survive in a world cut off from its power source. We’d been warned about this.
Its tongue grew, as did the barbs along it, and licked towards my face. I pushed my Light into it, my free hand scrambling for my arondight blade. The creature screeched as my power burned its flesh.
Our desperate struggle was cut short as the demon burst into a fireball above me. Gasping, I covered my face with my arm as heat blasted my exposed skin.
My Light went into overdrive. I pushed off the floor, flipping to my feet. My hand closed around my sword hilt as I looked for my rescuer…or assailant—I wasn’t quite sure what I’d just walked into.
An ebb of unknown power drew my attention to a man lingering in the shadows and our gazes met.
Tall, dark, and handsome had nothing on this guy. Sharp, angled jaw, piercing eyes, shaved head, lean muscle, dressed in black…but he wasn’t a clubber. He wore jeans that were torn at the knees, battered combat boots, a tight, washed-out T-shirt, and a leather biker jacket that had seen better days. Rugged and dangerous—just how I liked my men, which made him a threat.
He lifted his finger to his lips, his eyes flashed silver as the strobe light pulsed above us.
I froze, my Light sensing the Darkness lingering just below the surface of his human exterior. It was also in that moment that I realised my cloak had failed and the entire fourth floor of Adrenaline was staring at me.
The man smirked and melted into the gap between a girl with a massive teased mohawk and a guy in black PVC pants and matching waist cincher.
I lunged after him, pushing through the humans. They shouted at me over the pounding music, but I wasn’t focused on them. A flash of tired black leather led me out the door and down the stairs. Barrelling past a swarm of startled goths, I chased my newest target through the club, ducking under outstretched arms and twisting around stomping cyber goths on yet another dance floor.
A demon killing one of its own kind? Stranger things had happened, but they rarely went down like this. I got the feeling the newcomer was helping me out, but I’d learned from an early age not to have such high hopes in people, demonic or otherwise.
I could be running into another trap, but this was too strange not to follow up.
Just as security rushed into the venue, I made it outside where I was invisible again.
I legged it down the lane, my Light propelling me over the slick cobblestones, and veered around the corner. Following the whiff of Dark, I turned left in time to catch sight of my target ducking into another lane ahead.
Chasing him, I skidded around the building. Leaping into the air, I propelled myself over the row of parked motorcycled and mopeds, grazed a spiked fence, and landed in the terrace gardens. They were locked green spaces for the private use of the people living in the posh houses either side, but tonight they were just yet another obstacle in a chase scene.
I paid no attention to the night around me as I sprinted down the path, following the demon. Ahead, he jumped into a tree, then swung from a light pole.
Preempting his next move, I sprang over the fence and pushed off the ground with a burst of Light. I flew through the air and drew my arondight blade. Landing on the roof of the terrace, my boots clattered against the old terracotta tiles.
I was in the man’s path.
I swung my sword,
