Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) (27 page)

“Ronin. No!”

The boarg grabbed her from behind, drawing her in toward him and wrapping his arms around her neck. She gasped for air, flailing. It was then that she remembered the dagger in her hand. She blindly rammed it into the boarg’s side. The boarg grunted and released her. She whirled to see him blinking at the weapon in his body, as if he couldn’t believe she’d stabbed him.

“Amara,” Ronin called. A split-second later another dagger clattered to the floor at her feet. For what seemed like an eternity, she and the boarg stared at each other without moving. Then he lunged for her and she let out an involuntary screech, jumping to the side. She spun around and snatched the dagger, right as the boarg lumbered back to attack her again.

The boarg grunted and slid the dagger out of his side. Disgusting, slimy boarg blood dripped off it. He swung it at her and she hopped to the side. When he advanced again, he tripped over the hand of a felled demon and went down on his knees. The knife dropped out of his hand and he bent to retrieve it, growling at her.

Oh, hell.
She knew what she had to do, and she’d probably never have a better opportunity than this. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

Grasping the weapon in both hands, she prayed for accuracy before swinging it in a wide arc. It was a testament to the dagger’s sharpness that it easily sliced through bone and sinew, severing the boarg’s head from his body.

Only certain way to kill a demon.

She tried not to pay too much attention to the gore on the blade of her dagger as she turned and sought Ronin out. The tightness in her chest eased a fraction when she saw one of the demons who’d attacked him dead on the ground. The other was on his knees, with Ronin looming over him. The injured demon attempted to rake his claws into Ronin’s thigh, but Ronin sidestepped and grabbed the demon by the hair, dispatching him with practiced ease.

A few feet away, Dagan battled three demons. Judging by the wounds in his torso, he was having some difficulty. This time she didn’t dawdle. She leapt on one of the demons from behind, slicing his throat before he could react.

“Thanks,” Dagan grunted once he’d taken care of the other two.

“You’re welc—”

Amara screamed when something sharp pierced her side, sending a firestorm of anguish racing through her body. The burning ache she’d experienced when she’d been drained of her energy had nothing on this. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she crumpled to the ground.

“Amara!”

Dagan leapt over her and onto the demon who’d stabbed her, pulling him away.

Her eyes fluttered as she watched them fight, feeling as if they were getting farther and farther away. When the world went black, she realized her eyes had shut, and she didn’t have the strength to reopen them. Giving up the fight, she surrendered to her loss of consciousness.

Amara didn’t know how much time had passed before she came back to reality. She awoke to see Taeg, Keegan, and Dagan fighting off the last four demons. Ronin crouched next to her.

“Amara,” he breathed, his eyes bloodshot and shiny. He touched her waist, countering the burning pain with a liquid wash of cool sensation. She gasped as torn muscles twitched and knotted themselves back together, causing brief stabs of agony to meld with the wondrous sensation of reforming, healthy flesh. Then, thankfully, the pain was gone.

“Are you okay?” he asked, cupping her cheek.

“Yes. I’m fine.” Amara blinked as she sat up. The floor was littered with the bodies of the demons who’d attacked them. There were more than she’d initially anticipated, yet Ronin and his brothers had fought them all off. “You guys are amazing.”

He chuckled. “You weren’t so bad yourself. I saw you take a couple of them out.”

There was a note of pain in his voice, and no wonder. He bled through several stab wounds in his chest and arms, and his nose appeared to be broken. “What you are you waiting for? I’m fine. Heal yourself!”

“I could use a shot of the good old healing, too,” Dagan muttered. He held his mutilated arm close to his chest.

Keegan dispatched the final demon and straightened. “I can do it.”

He took no more than one step toward Dagan when a blinding stroke of energy shot across the room on a thin line of white. It rooted her in place, wrapping around her like invisible cords of lightning.

“What the fuck?” Taeg said, his words slurred from his effort to move the muscles in his mouth. “I can’t move.”

“Me either,” Keegan said.

“None of you can.”

The deep, melodious tone of Asmodeus’s voice sent a tremor of apprehension through Amara’s body. Her worst nightmares had come true.

They’d walked into a trap.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Amara’s head moved without her willing it to. It turned toward the door to the basement, where Asmodeus stood. He held a glowing silver ball in one hand, and the other was raised toward them. He flickered one finger down, then up, and her head mimicked the action.

“Isn’t this fun? You’re like my own personal puppets.” Asmodeus’s eyes narrowed in on Ronin. “You’re the angel hybrid Amara is so fond of, no?” He clenched his free hand into a fist and Ronin uttered a roar of pure anguish.

“No,” Amara screamed. “Stop!”

He laughed and relaxed his hand. “Wait until you see what I have in store for you, my pet.”

“How are you doing this?” Keegan asked.

Asmodeus waved his hand and they all flew backward, slamming into the wall behind them. “You have Amara to thank. Her and my other whores.”

Amara swallowed back her horrified gasp. It would only please him to hear it, and the last thing she wanted to do was please that sick asshole.

“If it weren’t for Amara’s amazing ability to attract powerful species, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Asmodeus clenched and unclenched his fist again, and Amara’s heart tightened as if an invisible fist squeezed it. Her scream matched that of Ronin and his brothers.

He could torture all five of them, with the tiniest bit of movement? He’d become more powerful than she ever could have imagined.

What had she done?

“Energy manipulation,” Keegan said, his voice strangled.

“Yes.”

“But this is beyond simple manipulation of energy. How can you do this?” Ronin asked.

“Easy. With some assistance, I’ve been able to take the life essences I absorb from my bed partners and twist the abilities that come with them into something of my very own. The fae can charm others into doing their will; I can physically maneuver them. Vampires suck blood; I boil it. Wolf-shifters can turn into wolves at will; I can do this.” He grinned and his face transformed into something large and hideous. Like the worst, scariest distortion of a wolf one could possibly imagine.

Taeg made a sound of disbelief. “You’ve made yourself into a superspecies?”

“Superspecies. Yes, I like that.” Asmodeus shook his head, and he morphed back into his familiar form.

“Who’s helping you?” Keegan asked. “I know of no one that powerful.”

Asmodeus laughed. “Nice try, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”

“But why do this at all?” Ronin asked. “You must have known what you were doing would eventually attract the Council’s attention. Why subject yourself to imprisonment or possible death in order to be a bit more powerful?”

“A bit?” Asmodeus’s eyes blazed with fury. He waved a hand and Ronin broke into a loud yell, his back arching in agony.

Ronin
. She resisted the urge to call out to him. It would only make things worse.

Finally, after several horrifying moments of torture, Asmodeus halted.

“Soon I’ll be strong enough to take on the entire Council. No one will be able to stop me.
No one.
All I need are a few more abilities, a few more powers to distort. That’s the only reason the four of you are still alive.”

Amara gasped. This time she couldn’t stop herself. Asmodeus planned on having them killed so he could absorb their energy in some crazed effort to become stronger? “No.”

Her protest caught Asmodeus’s attention. “And you, my pet.” He crooked his finger and she flew toward him. His hand closed around her throat, and the invisible cords immobilizing her body vanished, leaving her choking under his grasp. She flailed and lifted her hands, trying to pry free, but he was too strong. Ronin and his brothers yelled something at them, but she couldn’t make out their words over the loud roar of blood rushing in her ears. Blinding spots erupted in her vision, telling her she was seconds from losing consciousness.

So this is how I die.
She couldn’t say she was surprised.

Right before she passed out, Asmodeus flung her away. She hit the wall next to him hard, sliding down onto her side. Placing her hands over her bruised throat, she gasped for air.

“Sorry, pet, no checking out early for you. I still need you.” His grip tight on the silver ball in his hand, he leaned over her. “I’ve decided that as part of your punishment, you’ll be the one to relieve them of their life essence. I think I’ll let your lover watch as you deliver his brothers unto their death.”

Amara gasped at the implication behind his words. He really thought she would do that? But then...

If he could control her body, she didn’t have to agree, did she?

Bile rose in her damaged throat, making her gag. What worse punishment could there be than making her a prisoner to her own body, forcing her to commit crimes against the family of the man she loved? Regret filled her—she never should have asked Ronin to come here. Now he would be forced to suffer through watching his brothers die.

“Get away from her, you sick fuck,” Ronin roared.

Asmodeus laughed, turning to Ronin. “At least you can agree it will be a sweet way for your brothers to die, correct? Too bad you don’t get to do the same, since you’re immune to her poison.”

Immune? He thought Ronin was immune?

“Not to worry,” he continued. “I have far more interesting uses for you.”

Even though Asmodeus had the ability to spy on her through her bracelet, he clearly didn’t know everything that had happened. Did he know what she’d done to Gofrey? Could she do it again? And, strong as he was now, would it even have any effect?

“By the way.” Asmodeus cocked his head. “I want to thank you for your contribution. I must say I experienced unexpectedly pleasing results when I absorbed your angelic essence. Care to see?”

Before Amara could straighten, Asmodeus crossed the room and came to a stop in front of Ronin. He placed his free hand over Ronin’s throat, and Ronin yelled. Steam rose through Asmodeus’s fingers and the noxious stench of burning flesh filled the air.

“In my hands, your healing ability has been transformed into the power to burn. And since you’re immobilized, you can’t even use your power to heal yourself. Poetic, isn’t it?”

Amara read Keegan’s widened eyes a second before the full impact of his words hit her. She stared down at her splayed hands, her mouth dropping open in shock. So that was how she’d hurt Gofrey.

Somehow, while Asmodeus had been busy absorbing energy from her, he’d also transmitted to her some of his morphed abilities. And it seemed clear that he had no freaking clue about it.

Holy hell, what other powers might she have absorbed from him?

An exciting thought, but she didn’t hold out any hope it would be of use to her now. Now was too late to experiment, and something told her Asmodeus would be able to fight her off way too easily. She was only one person, and she wasn’t strong enough to take him in a fight.

Unless...

Ronin’s yells and his brothers’ screaming curses filled the air, twisting her stomach into knots. The likelihood of success for what she considered was probably slim to none. She had no idea if it would work, but she didn’t have any other options. She couldn’t just sit here and listen to Ronin be tortured. Or worse, allow Asmodeus to use her to orchestrate the deaths of Ronin’s brothers.

It was this or nothing.

Amara took a deep breath and slid up the wall, slowly and quietly. Lucky for her, if not Ronin, the incubus fully enjoyed inflicting pain. She inched toward the long hallway leading out of the kitchen.

Keegan’s eyes met hers and he mouthed the word
Go
. With a nod, she obeyed.

She managed to back out of the kitchen without Asmodeus noticing. That was when she turned and ran toward the front of the house. The exit beckoned her with its promise of freedom. A false promise. She would never be free of Asmodeus, not while he lived. The door was not the way to her salvation.

Amara ran up the staircase to the second floor. She passed Karen’s and Briana’s rooms, flinging the doors open. They were empty.

The next room after her own was Solara’s, and when she opened the door, she was half surprised to see the other succubi in there. Briana, Victorine, Karen, and Lynn all sat on the bed.

“Amara!” Karen cried, shooting to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

Amara ignored her as she took stock of the figure in the bed.
Solara.
An agonized quiver wrenched her guts at the sight of her mother. She was beaten and bruised all over, her entire face swollen almost beyond recognition. Demons healed fast, so Solara’s original injuries must have been far, far worse.

“Mother.” The word choked out of her, her tongue tripping over the unfamiliar sound. She hadn’t called Solara that since she was a child. Since her mother had told her not to.

Solara’s eyes fluttered open. One of her eyelids barely lifted, it was so swollen. She saw Amara, and a grimace crossed her face. “Amara? What the hell are you doing here?”

Amara pressed her hand to her stomach, trying to calm the roiling. “I...”

Her movements clumsy and slow, Solara sat up. “I hope you didn’t come back for me. I thought you’d broken free.” She shook her head. “I’m so disappointed in you.”

So what else was new?

Amara fought back her familiar feeling of dejection. What had she hoped for, a teary-eyed family reunion? That had never been Solara’s way. Why would she start now?

“No.” She prayed for strength, and much to her delight, when she next spoke her voice was surprisingly firm. “I’m here for all of you.”

The brief flare of hope in Karen’s eyes morphed into bleak acceptance of her fate. “We can’t escape. We’ve tried, many times.”

“We’re not escaping.”

“Then what?” asked Victorine.

Amara took a deep breath. “Ladies, we’re going to save the day.”