All I could do was gape at the monster in horror. I could barely believe my ears.
“It’s been so long since I’ve got off, ye see. I’ll fill the tub fast. You’ll drown, but it will be less painful than burnin’ ya alive. And far more entertainin’ fer me.”
My thoughts stalled out as I made the mistake of imagining it.
This monster was set on killing me. My options? Being burned alive, or him shifting into his giant form and drowning me in cum. I had to give him creative points for that last one.
“So.” He cracked his knuckles. “What will it be?”
There’d been dark parts of my life where I’d thought about dying. Giving in. But something had snapped inside me. I wasn’t going to surrender to this beast, and I wouldn’t go down without a fight, especially if those were the only two options he was giving me.
Knowing it was probably about as useful as my grandfather’s revolver, I lifted the cultist’s gun anyway and fired at the monster. The bullet didn’t even pierce his chest; instead it clattered to the ground.
He snarled, slapping the weapon from my hand. It skated out of sight beneath one of Mrs. O’Neill’s trash cans down the alley.
I spat in his non-magical eye. He seemed more surprised by the load of saliva in his eye than the bullet bouncing against his chest.
A gut-grating growl slithered from his clenched teeth. “You’re going to regret that, girl.”
Before I could fully process what was happening, I was already on my feet, bolting down the alley as fast as my little legs would carry me.
A roar split the night.
I couldn’t let him catch me… Even though there was a small, totallyfuckedpart of me I couldn’t explain, that hoped he would.
Chapter Seven
Balor
Dark glee wound through me as I watched my mortal scurry off into the night.
Good. I was hoping she’d make a break for it.
Eating prey after a good hunt was more fun.
Taking my time, I stretched to my feet. My grin melted from my features as soon as she was out of sight. Something unexpected had me balking.
It was a damn pity she’d be dead soon.
I’d waited eight hundred years for just a few minutes of sweet revenge. Tamping down the complex knot of emotions in my chest, I drew on the magical power in my eye and waited for the energy to seep into my body.
I held my hands out, waiting for them to grow.
The shift never came.
Confusion turned to molten anger as my fingers shot to feel the crack in my eye. Magical, glittering energy coiled around my fingers and evaporated into the night.
“Mallacht mo chait ort!”I cursed at the heavens, to no god in particular.
The cultist's bullet hadn't just shattered my curse. It had broken the seal keeping my magic bound. With the crack, my magical power was leaking out faster than I could produce it. I tried to shift again, concentrating harder on the spell than I'd ever needed to before.
My body began to swell, muscles and bones growing as they absorbed my magic. I was tall enough now that I could see over the rooftops, and beyond that, Maeve's blonde mop of curls bouncing around her shoulders as she bolted down the street.
I smiled smugly to myself, knowing I'd have Maeve screaming in the palm of my hand in mere seconds.
The grin on my face vanished as the sound of splitting stone rattled my ear. I shrunk back down to my mere eight feet and traced the crack, finding it bigger than before.
FECK.
