“Deny?”That would be pointless, since he clearly hadwitnessed the power flowing from her fingertips.“No,” she spat.“In fact, I’ddo it again.I just hope your buddy suffered before he died.”
Drayger’s sharp laughter echoed off the walls.“That guy youblasted wasn’t my friend.I have no idea who he was.You whacked some GoodSamaritan who was probably trying to help you.”
She felt the blood drain from her face.“Oh, my God,” shewhispered.“Oh, Jesus.”
Drayger snarled.“Don’t you invoke His name.He won’t helpyou, witch.”He moved closer, his amiable demeanor turned into somethingtwisted and ugly that matched his insides.“I’ve dealt with your kind before,you know.My mom would do…things.She taught me to recognize your evil.”
Aurora’s mind was still spinning with the knowledge thatshe’d killed some innocent human, butsomehowshe hadto stay on topic.To ask questions that might help her later.
“Are...are all the women in your book...”
“They were all evil users of magic.”He spat on the floor asif just talking about magic disgusted him.“Demons, some of them.Orshapeshifters.Mostly human witches, though.”
“So that’s why you chose me?”Shock rippled through her.She’d been so careful when it came to using her abilities.“Have you beenstalking me?”
“That’s what’s so funny.”he said.“It was pure dumb luckthat I found you.I stopped at the grocery store for milk, and there you were,radiating an unnatural aura like a neonsign.”
God, it was no wonder he hadn’t been caught yet.Profilerswere probably driving themselves insane trying to figure out whathisvictims had in common, and unless someone working on thecase was aware of the underworld, supernatural powers as a commonality wouldn’toccur to them.
He lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal a leather sheathstrapped to his abs, a knife handle protruding from it, and her heart leapedinto her throat.He slid the blade free and flipped it in his hand withpracticed precision that made her skin crawl.
“Now, don’t worry,” he said as he tested the edge of theknife.“I’m not going to kill you right away.We have days of foreplay ahead ofus.Tonight is just going to be a taste.”
Inside her head she started to scream, knowing that the realscreams would start soon enough.
Chapter Three
“Dude.That’s fucked up.Does it hurt?”
“What,” Hawkyn gritted out, his breath coming in shallowpants, “this gaping hole in my chest?Yeah.Stings a little.”
Clad in green scrubs, Darien, Hawkyn’s ebony-hairedhalf-brother and Sheoul-gra’s resident healer, gestured to a chair in hisoffice.“Did you at least save your Primori?”
It waspretty safeto assume thatany injured Memitim had taken the damage during a battle to protect theirPrimori, and Hawk was perfectly okay with letting Darien believe that was truein this case.All ofthe thousands of Memitim wereHawkyn’s brothers and sisters, sired by the same male, but functionally theywere no different than anyone in the general population, stabbing each other inthe back, fighting, and being assholes.Hawkyn trusted few Memitim, and Darienwasn’t one of them.
“My Primori is fine,” he said, which was true.
“How about the guy who did this to you?”
“It was a female.And I don’t know.”An image of her,helpless and afraid, filled him with guilt as he peeled off his ruined shirtand sank into the hard plastic chair.He’d seen so much ugliness in hiscenturies of life, but for some reason, this was affecting him more than usual.But he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it if he didn’t take careof his injuries.“So, can you fix me, or what?”
Darien’s skeptical expression was all Hawk needed as answer.“I’m best with non-magical injuries.If you’d been eviscerated with a sword,it’d be right up my alley.”He kneeled next to Hawkyn with a tiny vial ofglowing green liquid.“This might work, but I need to know what kind of demondid this to you.”
“I have no idea.She vibed human.”A human who was, nodoubt, suffering right now.
“A witch, then?An Aegi?”
“Dunno.Maybe.”At Darien’s huff of annoyance, Hawkyn gaveone of his own.“So, can you fix me?”he repeated.
“I told you, I’m better with injuries of non-magicalorigin.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“You know what’s not helpful?”Darien gestured to Hawkyn’scharred wound.“Your inability to identify the type of weapon that injuredyou.”
“Don’t know what to tell you.The female blasted me withsome sort of silver-blue light.Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a pile ofsmoking flesh.”
Darien’s fingers smoothed over the edges of the wound, andHawkyn hissed in pain.“It’s partially healed.How long were youout?”
