“Shit. Don’t do it, Troy,” I muttered and twisted the throttle savagely. “Whatever it is, don’t do it.”
Pulling onto the driveway where it widened in front of the house, I called on the Grimm. Hijacking my senses, my mind felt empowered. Knowledge piled into my brain, a layout of the house over my vision like I was in a sci-fi film. I went from being in my own head, the on-rushing wind stealing all sounds and smells, to an almost three-sixty view of the house. I focused on one room at the front, next to one of the windows, the only one with two heartbeats and a black, dead spot.
My lips compressed into a thin line. That’s where my man was, so that’s where I needed to be. Foot down to hold the bike in place, I gunned the engine until the back tire screamed and kicked up a dust cloud. I let go, the tire bit down, and we raced toward the house. Time slowed and dilated. Abs bunched, I yanked the front wheel up, and roared up the steps to crash through the front door. Wood and glass splintered in a cascade around me but then I was through and in a narrow corridor. My mind racing, I spotted the hole in the wall and aimed the bike. The engine whined, back wheel spinning as we skidded sideways through the gap and then gained traction to burst into the room.
The bike and I parted ways just through the gap. I dropped and rolled neatly. I got a split-second view of Troy hitting the deck and the surprised face of what had once been an old lady. Right before the back tire hit her in the jaw.
Instantly I was on my feet, feeling for my blades. Only one met my questing hand. Shit, I must have dropped the other. The bike screamed, carrying on to pin the demon against the opposite wall. It didn’t stop the bitch, though. It snarled and tossed the bike to the side as though it weighed nothing.
“Get out of here!” I yelled at Troy, putting myself between the creature and the two humans.
I was one blade down, but I didn’t care. Power raged through me, but not like I was used to. Instead of the manageable surge I used and shaped to power me through a fight, it slammed into me like a freight train at light speed. I gasped, every cell in my body tingling as it swirled through my veins.
“You foolish child,” the demon snarled, dropping all pretense of human movement to stalk toward me. Its lips spilt on the smile, ear to ear. Not a grin. Not a figure of speech. The skin physically split and tore to reveal the jagged, sharpened teeth all the way to the back of the jaw, blood trickling down the ruined skin. “You think you can stop me?”
“I don’t think, shit-for-brains,” I threw back. “I know.”
It took a swipe at me, claws slashing through the air where I had been a mere moment before. I dropped into the Shade, using it as cover, and stepped out on the other side of the demon, my arm already raised. It hissed and swung around faster than anything had a right to. I screamed something, no idea what, and brought my sickle down hard. The tip caught the top of its shoulder, tearing through cotton and flesh down to the bone.
Except bones weren’t black. And they didn’t squirm like snakes.
Not-gonna-throw-up, not-gonna-throw-up, I chanted to myself as we danced around each other. I hated snakes. I hated demons as well. So freaking demon snake bones? Fuck that shit, this bitch was going down.
She, it, was fast as all hell. Those claws got close to kissing my skin more times than I was comfortable with. I drew more and more power from the Grimm until it felt like my veins would explode. The Shade wasn’t much help. This fucker was too quick for that. No sooner had I disappeared and it was ready to swipe at me wherever I reappeared. There was no way it could see me in there, so it had to be just that damn fast.
“You’ve already lossssst.”
Now the skin was torn, its disguise was breaking down. The sibilant hiss almost obliterated the words as it circled me. Troy and the girl were huddled behind me, but the demon had its eye on them all the time. Shit. How was I going to get them out? I had one blade, the bike was toast without a rider and this fucker was fast.
It hissed and slid to the side to try and get around me on my unarmed side. Spying a table leg, I hooked it with my foot and kicked it up. My hand closed around the end and I swung it like a bat. It caught the demon across the cheek. The creature whirled like a spinning top as blood and a couple of teeth hit the wall.
“Yeah? Looks like team Liberty is doing pretty good from where I’m standing.” I spun the blade around the back of my hand, like I had a thousand times before, and slashed through the air at the demon’s face. It dodged backward, its spine crunching at the back-breaking movement. “But you were really fucking dumb kidnapping a cop. Weren’t you?”
That was the thing I couldn’t work out. It had Tiffany, so why take Troy as well?
“Seeeeers...need seers. Virgin blood and seers.” The demon giggled, dancing in front of me and casting lustful glances at Troy and the girl. “Everyone knows that, Reaper-girl. Blood is power. Need blood. Want blood.”
The demon’s eyes glazed over as it fixated on the word, stroking a blackened, forked tongue over its lips. Great. All we needed was for it to start craving brains. It danced too close, so I punched it in the face. The nose broke with a satisfying crunch, splattering blood all over its face.
“There you go. Problem fixed.”
It staggered back, and its snarl of rage echoed around the room. An odd echo, like there were two—
“On your right!” Troy’s shout alerted me and I ducked a second before claws tore the air where my head had been. I twisted and lashed out automatically, my booted foot catching the new opponent in the middle of a way-too-spongey-to-be-healthy mid-section.
“What the fuck?”
I skipped back, not bothering to conceal the surprise on my face. Twin demons. Okay, I admit it. I hadn’t seen that coming.
“See, human? You can’t win,” it cackled, the mouths moving in unison. They separated, trying to catch me in a pincer maneuver. I did the only thing I could and backed up.
“Troy. Get the girl out the window,” I ordered, my voice deadly serious. Yay, go me. I sounded cool, calm, and collected, even though deep down I was shitting bricks.
“Can’t win. Can’t win.” The demon on my left caroled. I swung the chair leg again when it sidled forward and knocked a few more teeth out. Behind me, someone stumbled, the soft cry of pain telling me it was Tiffany.
The one on the right still looked like an old lady, rather than a nightmare wearing an old lady. I frowned. All my senses told me we were dealing with just one demon, so how was it controlling both of them?
The Grimm nudged me so I flicked my vision to the Shade. In the grayscape, I could see clearer. The first possessed sister’s body I’d been fighting was rife with corruption. To my enhanced vision it was a blackened skeleton—the soul long departed, but the second body interested me more.
Unlike the first, it was barely touched by corruption. Thin, black lines that looked like veins crisscrossed the skin. Like a cage. The streaks grew thicker and darker down one leg until they covered the foot completely. A tendril broke away from the heel and snaked toward the other body, disappearing into the black mass of corruption that was its foot.
I blinked. I’d heard of joined at the hip but this was ridiculous. They were tethered. Like demon Wi-Fi or something. Even worse, within the caged black veins was the weak glow of a soul.