His brows narrow. “I don’t think—” Gadiel’s swing interrupts him before he could finish. His fist lands on my jaw.
Me and Era turns to look at him and that soft ass punch. There is a reason I asked Erazel to do it. He is a Girder demon. Everyone hires girders as bodyguards because they are the physically strongest species of demons.
I turn back to Erazel.
“Do it.”
“Boss, I—”
“Knock me the fuck out, Era!” I shout.
His fist flies across my face. Tanisha screams. But it’s lights out for me.
chapter Twenty-one
Dreams
Nasiah
I’m having one of those weird dreams. The ones that feel real but aren’t. I’m lying in my bed at Raziel’s. Everything looks the same. Well, everything I can see, because I can’t turn my head. I can’t even move my toes. I’m paralyzed.
A sound to my right draws my attention. I can’t see what it is, but I listen intently.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing,” the deep voice says.
Icy dread fills my body. I try to move, but nothing obeys the command. The bed dips on my right; something hot gets close to me.
“Wake up, Nasiah. Wake up.” I try to get myself to wake.
A deep chuckle fills the room. “Hate to burst your bubble, but that will not happen.”
A heavy hand touches my shoulder. If I had control, I’d yank away.
“Come on, wake up,” I growl.
The cover lifts, and a heavy weight moves on top of my naked body. I want to scream when the thing on top of me comes into view. It looks as if it crawled straight from hell.
His flesh has been burned away, and now only scar tissue remains. He looks as if he haunts teenagers’ nightmares on Elm Street. Beady red eyes set deep into his face. There are two holeswhere the nose should be. His thin lips barely contain razor-sharp teeth. And there isn’t a sprig of hair on his head.
I scream at the sight of him. He sits up, his legs straddling my waist. He tosses his head back, and his long black pointed tongue comes out of his mouth. It moves like a snake as he licks the air.
“Your fear tastes so sweet,” he moans.
When those red eyes turn back to me, he’s smiling.
“Do I not appeal to you, human?” he asks even though he knows the answer.
Right before my eyes, he transforms. His skin turns a deep tan color. Brown hair sprouts from his bald head along with a full beard. His nose is pointed, and his lips are slightly fuller.
Gone are the sharp teeth and red eyes. Straight, white, regular teeth replaced his razor-sharp ones, and cornflower blue eyes replaced his eyes. He looks nothing like the monster from seconds ago. However, no matter how human he looks, I still don’t want him on me.
He leans down and licks my neck toward my mouth. I seal my lips together. I try to turn away from him, but it seems like the only thing that I can control is my mouth. He chuckles against my closed lips.
“Awww, come on, beautiful. Let Abeh taste you.” He sticks out that long, black, snake-like tongue and shoves it into my mouth.
I gag as it reaches my tonsils. It’s slimy and thick. When he pulls back, a thick line of saliva trails from his mouth to mine. Tears spill from my eyes.
“Yes,” he purrs. “You taste fantastic. Too bad I can’t have you. I was only asked to kill you.” He looks upset by this.
