Seriously, this woman is something else. “C’mon, Ms. Robbins, I know you watch soap operas until midnight daily. I can hear your TV from here.”
“Fine,” she grumbles. It takes a few moments before she unlocks the deadbolt. The chain is still on, though. She narrows her eyes through the crack. “Did you get my hazelnut milk?”
“Yup.”
“I had to drink my coffee without it today. Don’t be late next time.” Huffing, Ms. Robbins slides the chain, opening the door to let me in.
Sheesh, you would think she was doing me a favor, not the other way around. My eyes widen at the short, lacy nighty she’s wearing. Where has she been hiding that body? In the absence of her stern clothes and tight bun, she looks at least ten years younger. While she disappears into the bedroom, I stride to the kitchen to put the groceries away. I’m almost finished stocking the fridge when my phone buzzes.
Noah: There’s a movie premiere next weekend. It’s supposed to be really good. Wanna go?
I purse my lips and drop the phone on the counter to my right. I’ll make up an excuse later. Sitting next to Noah in a dark movie theater where he can get handsy is not my idea of fun. If the conversation over dinner last night wasn’t strained enough, I also had to remove his hand from inching up my inner thigh while he was driving several times. And he tried to kiss me when he dropped me off.
He made me so uncomfortable I’ve decided to officially kick him to the curb. Fuck him and that fundraiser gala. Clearly, he doesn’t care how I feel. Every time I reject him, he doubles down, only to serve me what seems like a heartfelt apology after. Well,words are meaningless without the actions to back them up. What’s concerning is how good he is at lying, because I believed he was sorry the first time. But you know what they say: fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…
“You haven’t been at home much,” Ms. Robbins says as she ambles toward me, fastening a robe that matches her nighty.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy.” When I close the fridge, my onyx stone warms up. Brows furrowing, I bring my fingers to it.
“Where’s that dark-haired, broody young man? The one who was attached at your hip?”
“Oh, well, um—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence because the glass door of Ms. Robbins’s balcony explodes into a million pieces. A flying souldrake just used a voidstalker as a cannonball.
What. The. Fuck.
The voidstalker, resembling a creature from your worst nightmare with its giant, muscly rat-like body and scorpion tail, smacks the middle of the living room floor,rattling the wood planks. Shattered glass flies everywhere when it pushes to all fours and shakes its heads—made only of two gaping maws lined with razor-sharp teeth. It sniffs the air through the two slits where its eyes should have been.
Shock pins me in place a second too long. The voidstalker dashes at me.
“Ms. Robbins, RUN!” I bellow, pushing the old woman toward the front door.
I uncoil my whip, which I now carry on me at all times. I swing it in a figure-eight pattern in the air before I lash it at the demon’s neck. Ichor sprays everywhere as the leathery skin splits. The smell of rot and sulfur permeates the air. It lets out a high-pitched screech when one of its two beastly heads slaps the floor. However, it doesn’t stop its momentum.
I wait until the very last moment to crouch and roll, avoidingits poisonous tail. The demon slams headfirst into the counters where I was standing. Wood groans and splinters while plates fall, smashing on top of its remaining head. I jump to my feet, flick my wrist to crack the whip, and slice the voidstalker’s remaining head. My eardrums almost bleed at the howl of pain it lets out. I don’t dwell on it, though. I tap into my hellseeker—or whatever the fuck I am—speed and start pumping my arms.
Ms. Robbins watches everything from the front door in eerie calm. “What are you still doing here?” I ask in disbelief. She must be in shock.
Before I can reach her, something slams into me with the force of a freight train. Too late, I realize the souldrake—which looks like a humanoid vulture, with deep, spiky crimson skin—flapping its wings outside has used another demon as a missile. My lungs rattle as I hit the wall. Hard. And drop my whip. I expect to be crushed by this second voidstalker, but instead, a gigantic sphere of glowing water sends it back where it came from. The two-headed demon punches through the wall next to the smashed balcony door. It leaves a gaping hole behind, then it starts freefalling.
“Ms. Robbins?” My jaw drops as the swirling colorful dots in my vision finally dissipate to reveal a young woman—beautiful beyond reason—standing where Ms. Robbins was a few seconds ago.
“It’s Adrianna. My real name is Adrianna,” she replies. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Peeling myself off the wall, I only take two steps toward her when four more voidstalkers are thrown in the living room. Two come at me while the others corner Ms. Rob—Adrianna. I cast a quick glance at my whip, which slid under the couch. It’s not far. However, the demons keep advancing, forcing me to walk backward toward the balcony. I feign to the right, but they don’t take the bait. Instead, they snap their teeth in warning. What’sweird is that they don’t pounce or attack. As if they want me alive. Unfortunately, the only other weapon I have on me is a dagger. I swipe it from its holster at my belt.
The two voidstalkers cornering Adrianna soar through the gaping hole behind me one by one. Wet squelches resound as they hit the asphalt outside. But when she lifts her hands in the air to send another one of those powerful water spheres, nothing comes out. Her eyes widen as they fixate somewhere behind me. “Watch out!”
In the next second, sharp talons sink into my shoulders before I’m being lifted into the air. The souldrake, which I’m surprised hasn’t burned us to a crisp since it can breathe fire through its grotesque beak, had dived through the hole and grabbed me like a hawk. I use the dagger to stab at its talons. However, I don’t get the chance to take it out because the demon drops me as it lets out an ear-splitting shriek. Teeth gnashing, I hit the floor. What I’m not prepared for is another souldrake to take its place. White-hot pain ripples through me when it sinks its talons in the same spot.
Motherfucker! Where are all these demons coming from?!?
I thrash with all my strength, but it’s futile—I’m being dragged outside. When I’m almost halfway through the gaping hole, Adrianna bolts and grabs my ankles, using all her strength to pull me back into the apartment. Being the rope in a tug of war is much more painful than one would think. Especially when a demon uses its talons as hooks. It takes everything I’ve got not to pass out.
The two remaining voidstalkers slam into the water barrier Adrianna created at her back. Again and again. Relentlessly. Sweat drips down her forehead as she holds onto me, her grip unyielding. “Listen to me, Iris. Your mother saved my life. She asked me to watch over you and continue her search for an oracle if something ever happened to her,” she grits out, voicestrained.
“What?”
