The demon blinked. That obviously hadn’t been the answer it expected. He tried not to let his gaze slide down to the big, bloody patch on what had been a crisp, white nightgown. It had probably been starched as well.
“How strange. You seem unconcerned about your imminent demise. Most humans soil themselves and start calling on your pathetic gods.”
“Yeah? Pussies.” With no cards left to play, he chuckled. Nothing like laughing in the face of danger or going for the insanity plea.
The demon drifted closer, toes still a couple of inches above the dusty floorboards. Strangely, since he had way more important things to consider—like how the hell to get out of this alive—the sight really pissed him off. What was wrong with walking like the rest of them?
“You find your own death amusing?” it asked, curiosity replacing the childish tone. Curiosity was good. The longer the thing found him interesting, the longer he and Tiffany stayed alive
He looked up to meet its eyes. They were black. Soulless.
“My death?” He shrugged. “Not particularly, but Death? Here?” He cracked a grin. “I think that’s gonna be a blast.”
The demon’s eyes searched his good one and it tilted its head. Way too far. Vertebrae crunched and he swallowed again.
“You’ve been locked up a long time in the third. Haven’t you?”
Its lips curled back in a hiss, revealing blackened, sharpened teeth that weren’t human. Crap, what was in there?
Skinsuit. The word shivered in his mind like the clang of a solitary bell. Unwelcome thoughts of what a creature that fit inside a human body would look like crowded into his brain.
“Long time. Too long.” Its skin shivered like a nest of snakes lay within. “I’m free now. Free to run and kill and feast and fuck.”
Old lady demon porn. That was so not an image he wanted. Pretending he hadn’t heard that, he lifted the shoulder on his good side in a shrug.
“Well, while you’ve been out of it, things have changed around here.” He dropped the grin and gave it his best badass combined Reilly and Laney look.
“You can kill me and Tiffany here if you like—” His words were almost drowned out by a moan from behind him. “But when you do...that’ll put this place on the map and you’re gonna have one pissed off Reaper breathing down your neck.”
“Reaper?” It blinked at him myopically. Perhaps it was limited at least a little by its human body? “You mean that pathetic almost-human when I first escaped?”
Its laugh was amused and terrible, promising horrible, painful things to come. Shoving its face closer, it grinned, sharp teeth glinting in the wrinkled mouth.
He couldn’t look away. Fear flooded his mind and kept him immobile as those teeth got closer. The memory of the girl without a face at the Kaufman house swam uppermost in his mind. With those razor-sharp teeth in front of him, he knew how she’d gotten that way.
Biting back a whimper, he yanked his head to the side. Fetid breath heavy with the stench of corruption washed over him.
“You’re going to die.”
He didn’t want to die. Not here and certainly not now. The realization crystallized within him, stealing his breath and weakening his limbs. Laney’s face filled his mind and regret jostled out some of the fear. He didn’t want to die with their last words being of anger. Without telling her how he felt.
“And she’ll die with you.” It cackled, releasing another wave of corpse breath. Perhaps he should suggest a breath mint or two, especially if it was looking to get laid. Ugh, there was the old lady demon porn again.
He surged to his feet, fury overriding both pain and any sense of self-preservation.
“You touch her and I’ll tear your skinny little demon ass right out of that fucking skin you’re wearing.”
The backhand knocked him across the room to crash into a broken table. Tiffany screamed, trying to make herself as small as possible. He blinked away the stars in his vision. Fuck. He hadn’t even seen it move.
“No,” it decided, hovering over him, its expression suddenly duplicitous. His stomach dropped. This wasn’t going to be good. “No, I think she’ll die first. I thi...nk,” it intoned, “the last thing she sees should be your face. As you kill her.”
Longer than human fingers caressed the sides of his face as sick anticipation twisted its borrowed features.
“She was pretty.” It shivered, eyes half-closed in pleasure. He was sure it was going to have a demon orgasm on the spot. “I want to watch as you hold her down. I’ll make you fuck her first. Let you watch from within as I use your cock to rip into her. Tearing up her pussy... Oh, and her ass. Nothing sweeter than the screams they make from a good ass-fucking. Then, when she’s broken and crying, I’ll make you kill her. The last thing she sees will be you, holding her still-beating heart.”
At its words, he discovered something in this world was worse than his own death. A world without Laney was one he didn’t want to experience. Pain wrapped around his very soul. Without her nothing mattered. Nothing at all.
He closed his eyes. That was not happening. He’d kill himself before he let the demon use him to kill Laney. Behind him, his hand clenched and re-opened, the fingers brushing something. A broken table leg. He opened his eyes and smiled.
“You should’ve stayed in hell, bitch.”
Chapter 10
The SUV had switched back to a bike and was already running when I hit the carpool at a sprint. I whispered a quick thank you as I slung my leg over. The Grimm rustled in my mind, a comforting weight that stopped me tipping into outright hysteria. Another thought blossomed, not from me, but the Grimm 2.0 update. Far from being set in its form when I’d become a Reaper, as I’d thought, the bike would be whatever I needed it to be. I just had to need it badly enough.
Right now, I needed speed, so that’s what it gave me. No quibbles. For once the Grimm and I were in perfect accord. We were on a dude-in-distress, white knight rescue, horse not required. I opened the throttle, and the town became a blur.
Troy’s lifeline pulsed steadily in the corner of my eye, the thin silver line stretching out down the road in front of me like my own personal sat-nav.
“Stay down, Troy. For fuck’s sake, stay down,” I muttered through gritted teeth as I left the town behind.
The wind roaring in my ears, I concentrated on the road, throwing the bike into corners at high speed. Screw safety, if I took a spill it wouldn’t kill me, and no amount of pain would stop me getting to Troy.
A few buildings sped by, but I paid them no mind. The line led me off the main road and down a loose gravel track. Under me, the bike lurched, growling to get my attention. Automatically, I stood up as it altered configuration, going from sleek speed-machine to dirt-bike as we hurtled down the road.
Sitting again, I kicked down a gear and hit the throttle, spraying dirt in my wake. The engine roared, alive as we raced toward the house at the end of the road. Already I could feel the pressure against my skin, the tingle in my Reaper-senses that indicated the presence of a demon. The bike lurched, ready and eager to pounce.
Troy’s timeline swelled, almost at the point of going active. I’d seen it before. The slight movement as someone considered a decision that would get them killed.