Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
A large impact blindsided him, breaking his hold on the strix and sending him stumbling to the side so hard he almost lost his footing.
Viper whirled on the new threat and lobbed an orb its way. The demon burst into molecules, evading the orb. Those molecules quickly reformed into an overly large bat that swooped down toward him.
He wacked it with a telekinetic hit. The winged little shit rammed into a tree with such force that wood cracked and bark—
His peripheral vision screamed a warning. The strix he’d fed from was advancing on him fast.
Viper didn’t move. He let it crash into him, let it bury its fangs into his neck, gritting his teeth against the sharp pain.
The demon jerked back with a loud screech, and Viper’s entity smirked. His once-blessed blood, now so acidic it poisoned any who drank it, immediately went to work on the strix. The demon dropped to its knees as his blood killed it from the inside out.
Viper glanced around, braced for more threats. There were none, to his entity’s supreme disappointment. Few strix were left alive, and his brothers were focused on them as a group.
He took that moment to take stock of his brothers. None were fatally injured, but many sported puncture wounds, burns, and rake marks. No fatigue could be seen on their expressions. No, they were as amped up as always when battle came their way.
“Let’s end this,” he called out … just as an owl dropped down on his fucking head.
Viper grabbed it, slammed it on the ground, and stomped his foot down hard on its body. A screech erupted from the owl. It squirmed, twisted, shifted. And then a strix lay beneath Viper’s foot in its standard form.
It coughed up blood, its body sporting burns, bruises, slices, and broken bones. The demon was dying and knew it.
Viper cocked his head as he stared down at it. “If that was supposed to be one last ditch effort to kill me before you die, it was a totally shit one. Did you really think it was wise to come after us? Did you think you could take us out?”
It bared bloodstained teeth. “My brethren will keep trying. They will eventually succeed.”
Viper pursed his lips. “Nah, they’ll just be slaughtered.”
He didn’t bother asking for the location of the colony. Strix never gave up their own, not even under heavy interrogation. But there was another way to extract information from it. Few mental shields could keep Viper out.
“Don’t do it,” Dice said to him, clearly sensing what Viper was considering. “We’ll find the colony another way.”
Jester nodded. “It ain’t worth the pain you’d go through, or the psychic burnout. And you can’t afford to be weak when you have celestials and hell-born demons to contend with.”
Excruciating pain hit any angel that tried delving into the mind of a demon, and vice versa. It also rendered them weak on a psychic level. Hence why Viper hadn’t stayed in Ella’s mind long the one time he’d invaded it to confirm his suspicion of who she was to him.
“We’ll find the others,” Jester went on. “We’ll keep chipping at their numbers until what’s left of the colony finally launches an attack. Then we’ll wipe out the rest.”
“No,” the strix objected, its red eyes like lasers of hatred. “They will wipe out all of you. My colony—”
“Stands no chance against what we are and what we can do,” finished Razor. “You should have just stayed away.”
The demon slid Viper a look. “He calls to us.”
That wasn’t something Viper could control. Neither could they, but they weren’t compelled to act on it. “You could have ignored that call. You didn’t.” He shrugged. “Now you die.”
CHAPTER SIX
“I didn’t do it,” Dionne insisted, stood in front of the office desk with her head held high. “I would never do something like that.”
“Huh.” Sinking further into the leather chair, Ella licked her front teeth. “Can’t say I believe you.”
She’d arrived at work that morning resolved that she’d fire Dionne first thing, just as she’d told her family she would. But the hellcat hadn’t arrived until after noon, while Ella was busy with a customer. It was afterward, when she and Mia had peeked over at where Dionne stood at the register, that the sisters had discovered a whole new reason why the woman needed to be fired.
Dionne’s lips thinned. “I’m not the only person who works here. Any number of people could have stolen money from the till. Just because the others are related to you doesn’t mean it wasn’t them.”
“True. But I know for a fact that it was you, so … ”
Dionne folded her arms. “Oh, I see. Because you don’t like me, you’re going to claim I stole the money.”
“I’m claiming you stole it because I saw you do it.” Ella leaned forward in her seat. “Now, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to give me back the cash you stole. And then you’re going to grab your shit and go.”