Malakai lifted his head slowly, blood streaking his mouth, his eyes glowing, inhuman.
Demon.
And for the first time, it wasn’t the mages that terrified me.
It washim.
The world had narrowed to blood.
It dripped from Malakai’s mouth, painting the faintly glowing markings across his neck.
I wanted to believe I’d imagined it all, that my eyes playing tricks on me, that fever still clouded my senses. But when his gaze lifted, locking onto mine, the denial evaporated.
How was it possible? Was he a shapeshifter? How had he infiltrated the Ashen Corps for so long? Was the organization corrupted? There were so many questionsbrought to the surface, but none of them helped me in this moment.
Was I next? Would he kill me too? Devour me?
Malakai smirked. “There it is, out in the open. What are you going to do, kitten?”
I staggered back a step. “Stay away from me.” My voice was shaking, my movement sloppy because of the trembles.
His head tilted, amused, as if this was another game. “And here I thought you’d be grateful. I saved you.” He waved a lousy hand at the corpse of the mage behind him. His tongue dragged along bloodied lips. “Perhaps I should kill you instead… But you’re not a regular human either, are you? Do you want to tell me what you are, kitten?”
Ice ran through my veins. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, Iknow.” His voice dropped low, dangerous. “Show me. Reveal it.”
“No.” My fingers clenched tighter on the gun. “I amnothinglike you.”
His grin widened. “Then prove it.”
He moved faster than anticipated. I accidentally dropped my gun before he was on me, steel flashing as a dagger sang for my ribs. Instinct answered, my own blade snapping up, catching his with a shriek of metal. Sparks flared in the dim light.
We clashed again, and again. He was so fast, I had a hard time keeping up my blocks. The red in his eyes glowed with amusement, a smirk on his lips as he swung his dagger at me again and again. He scraped my upper arm, and I hissed in return, swinging a wide kick out for him. He chuckled, like he was playing with me, a cat playing withits food.
How it filled me with dread, he had been calling me kitten all this time, only to be the predator all along.
His strength was overwhelming, his movements precise, but he wasn’t aiming to kill, his strikes told me as much. He wanted to drag this out, to test me, toplay. Each strike forced me harder, faster, the heat of anger burning away fear.
Steel bit across my shoulder. I gasped and lunged, knocking him back against a tree. He twisted, reversed, almost got my throat, but I slammed my boot into his stomach and drove him down.
And suddenly, I had him.
Straddling his chest, my dagger pressed to the hollow of his throat. My arm trembled with the effort to hold it steady.
“This ends here,” I hissed, my eyes locked with his.
But the blade never fell, no matter how much weight I put into it. From his chest, dark red liquid swirled, slithering across the blade, up to the hilt and my hands and held it in place. The dagger refused to descend.
Blood magic? I had never heard of that kind of power before, let alone seen anything like it.
I snarled, fighting against it, hatred spitting from my chest. “You’re a demon, Ihaveto do this!”
“You’re sobeautiful,” his voice cut through.
The words, spoken so softly and calm, slammed into me harder than any other words ever had. My breath caught, rage collapsing into something raw, vulnerable. In that falter, my control slipped.
Heat bled from my skin, fire curling unbidden around my fingers where I still gripped the dagger. Orange flames licked the air, wild and undeniable. The warmth comforted me, even if it was pure fire, it refused to burn me.
