Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Pizza is always a good idea,” Daemon told me. “Plus, I got coffees,” he said, pulling the tray off the pizza box. “And a bag of road trip snacks. But I left those in the car. Dig in,” he demanded, holding the box out to me.
I didn’t even take one of the flimsy paper plates he held. I just shoved half the slice into my mouth, chewing greedily.
Daemon put the box down on the end of the bed, reaching for his own slice. “I get that you’re on this noble mission, sweetness, but you can’t save anyone if you aren’t at least feeding yourself.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” I insisted, bristling as I reached for another slice. “I literally couldn’t go any further. Believe me, sleeping in the woods wasn’t something I wanted. I honestly can’t believe I lived, considering how cold I’ve been.”
“It’s never been like this before?” he asked.
“You mean before I started using my shadows for sneaking around the estate?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… no. At least, not that I ever noticed. If I had, I probably would have just thought I caught a chill or something like that.”
“And it’s gotten worse the longer you’ve been using your shadows?”
“Yeah.”
“At least we know that’s what it is, I guess. Maybe Arick can help with that.”
“How would a warlock know about my powers?”
“He’s a big reader. Has a whole separate guest house full of books. If anyone would know, it would be him. At least until we are back here, though, you can give your powers a rest. See if that helps.”
I wouldn’t lie—at least not to myself—I was looking forward to a break. That made me feel like a selfish coward, but there was no reasoning with feelings.
Between the two of us, we finished the pie—me eating slightly more than he did.
“Do you want to shower?” I asked, looking at his skin, still caked in dried blood that was now smeared with dirt.
The looks he must have gotten in town. Then again, things were so crazy out there right then; people were probably quickly getting jaded.
“I have nothing to change into. I’ll shower at Arick’s. He’ll have something for me to wear.”
“Okay,” I agreed, taking the coffee he held out for me. “Ready?”
“After you,” he said, holding open the door.
I grabbed my purse, then moved back out into the cold, ignoring the way I immediately started to shiver.
“What’s this?” I asked when I opened the passenger side door to find a big, fluffy blanket sitting there. Along with one of those squishy animals that doubled as a pillow. This one was a green-eyed black cat.
“Passenger princesses get to drink coffee, control the radio, point out cows, and take naps,” he informed me, waving it off.
Meanwhile, I felt those stupid tears in my eyes again.
What could I say? Things had been really freaking hard lately. Being offered something soft—even just literally—was making me emotional.
I cuddled under the blanket but clutched the cat to my chest for a while.
Until, inevitably, the heat from the vents, the layers of clothes, and the blankets, started to make my eyelids heavy.
I put the cat plush up against the window.
And I think I was out cold five seconds later.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Daemon
It wasn’t that long of a drive to Arick’s place. Though, there was a fucukva lot to see along the way.
Considering I’d just been secluded in my torture prison for a few days, it seemed like the world was literally starting to go to Hell.
Whole streets had burned down. People were camped out in tents, hollow-eyed, not sure how this had happened. And where the hell the government was to help.
Once Nox was peacefully knocked out, I switched the radio to news, wanting to know what—if anything—was being reported on.
It was… not good.
Tsunamis, torrential rains that caused mudslides, earthquakes, lightning storms that took out the power to millions of people.
No wonder there was no one to help the people who lost everything to the fires.
What were the old gods trying to do? Was it simply that they were too self-involved to see the repercussions of their actions? Did they just not care? Were they trying to terrify the masses so they would start to worship them again?
Suddenly, I wanted to get back to the clubhouse, back to the demons. Maybe my brother was back with the professor, the expert in all things old gods. Maybe she could tell us what the hell was going on.
But to go back, I needed to get Nemesis free from her prison.
And, well, I wasn’t going anywhere if Nox wasn’t going with me.
Mine.
No.
Fuck.
What the fuck was up with that?
It wasn’t because she was mine. She wasn’t. It was because I’d been on the receiving end of the brutal shit those gods liked to do to others. I wasn’t going to take any chance that she was going to fall victim to them.