Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
At once, beneath Raik’s skin, the sea serpent lifted its head, shaking it back and forth in agitation. The screaming was high-pitched, piercing, one of the worst sounds Silke had heard any demon produce. She realized instantly the sound was part of the serpent’s weapons system.
Make certain Imka and Julia can’t hear this demon, she cautioned Tora.
They are unaware of anything happening in this room, Tora assured her. You watch out for yourself. This is new and unlike anything you’ve ever dealt with.
I’m going slow.
Too slow. Raik is becoming problematic in his attacks on you. I could stop him…
No. I don’t want Lilith to get the feel of a Carpathian. It may draw her to aid her demon.
He may be calling to her, Tora pointed out.
Silke didn’t need Tora to caution her. It was the biggest concern she had. If Lilith threw her power behind the serpent, an unknown demon to the slayer, there was a chance Silke could be in trouble.
Patience and discipline were her best friends. Her brain was her greatest weapon. She repeated those things over and over in her mind. Her mantra. She might have begun her training from the time she was two as well as having the knowledge of how to fight demons imprinted on her before she was born, but knowledge and training meant nothing if one couldn’t stay calm and thinking the entire time.
I will know if she joins with him. Please watch over Raik. Silke didn’t want to lose the man. He was one of the men she most admired in the village. He’d always taken good care of his family and seemed to love his wife and daughter. She found it interesting that he was the man bitten by the sea monster and injected with a demon. Was that coincidence? Or planned?
She went back to drawing out the demon. “Snaggle, I command you to show yourself to me. Leave the body you have taken over. I am in command. Do you feel my presence?”
The demon shrieked again in his high-pitched tone, thrashing and fighting the relentless compulsion to obey her. At her insistent command, Snaggle stopped attempting to chew his way through skin and muscle to get out through Raik’s arm. Instead, he swam fast toward the man’s heart.
“You will not harm this host.” The demon was powerful and fighting her every inch of the way. “Exit through his mouth.”
Silke felt the instant elation sweeping through the serpent. The demon obeyed, but at the same time, rushed to block Raik’s airway, swelling until he was a bloated mass choking the fisherman.
She took a deep breath, let it out and allowed the demon to realize she was in him, directing his movements away, first from Raik’s heart and now his throat. She was commanding him not only from outside his body but also from inside his mind.
Raik choked, his face bright red, his eyes bulging, both hands going to his throat. He began to cough violently. He took two more steps toward Silke, staggered and went to his knees. Silke refused to be distracted. She didn’t look at Raik’s purple, mottled face. She kept the relentless compulsion on the demon.
“I command you to leave that host. Obey me now.” For a brief moment, she turned the crystal sword toward the ceiling and allowed the colors to change from the vibrant watercolors to the pale pastels. She even managed to make her hand tremble just enough that the colors shimmered along the walls and ceilings. As she did, she took a firmer grip on the mind of the serpent, urging it to surface while pouring doubt and uncertainty into its head, so that the creature became confused.
The sea serpent was programmed to attack the slayer. She knew it had been bred for just that purpose. With her own seeming uncertainty adding to the chaos and indecision in the mind of the sea monster, the creature let out a hideous scream and burst from Raik’s open mouth straight at her. Savage teeth, curved and pointed, filled Snaggle’s gaping mouth. What appeared to be venom hung in strands. She swung her sword straight at the attacking demon, the colors changing from pale to vibrant as she extended the tip right at the cavernous mouth.
In midair, the demon managed to fold in on itself with astonishing speed, whipping around to fling itself at Raik. It hit the invisible barrier Tora had hastily woven around the fisherman. One of the brighter blue colors pierced the thick scales, causing more of the venom to leak out.
In the venom, Silke warned, realizing tiny little tadpole-like creatures wiggled and moved in the strings of dripping slime. The greenish-yellow threads began to slither across the floor, coming from every direction the serpent had sent the venom flying in when it had shaken its head. Stay off the floor. Protect Raik, they’re heading straight for him.