A Demon Made Me Do It (42 page)

I gulp my drink, eying the two of
them. When I finish, I storm up to the bar to grab another. I
return to the table to see Catalina’s hand lingering on Bones’
shoulder, and him leaning into her as if they’re sharing an
intimate secret.

“
Sorry if I’m interrupting
something,” I say loudly and sit back down.

“
Oh, it’s not a problem,
Bones was just telling me about the time he—”

“
I thought you were
supposed to be on patrol tonight,” I say to Bones, cutting Catalina
off. Like I really give a crap about anything she has to
say.

“
I thought so too, but I
guess it’s Alik’s turn at post. That’s what Khalil said
earlier—”

“
I didn’t see him at the
bridge. No one was there.”

Bones gives me his full attention.
“Are you sure? He has to be. Maybe you just missed him.”

I shake my head. “Nope. No
one was there. Trust me, I looked. I was looking for
you,
” I say pointedly,
“but there was no one there.”

Bones stands and gulps down the last
of his drink. “I better go check it out. If there was some sort of
mix-up and the bridge was left unguarded…”

“
I’ll go with you,”
Catalina says, rising to her feet. I swear, her bright-pink outfit
might as well be painted on her body. Whore.

By now, I’m sure steam is coming out
my ears. “Not me. I have better things to do. Later—”

Just as I set my glass down, a
commotion behind me catches my attention. A thunderous crash is
followed by angry shouts and panicked screams. Then a deafening
explosion. And another.

I jump to my feet and spin toward the
main room. Suddenly a band unfamiliar demons storms in, shooting
off fireballs and knocking over tables. For a moment I’m frozen
with shock, and before I can blink, the whole room erupts in a huge
brawl. Bodies fly everywhere, and right in front of me, a young
succubus named Zanna gets vaporized by an enemy flare. A pool table
flies across the smoky room amid explosions of fire and
lightning.

Instantly the whole place descends
into chaos, and the deafening yells and screams become the sounds
of battle. Dozens more enemy demons swarm the enclave, some with
weapons, others with their own balls of fire hurling from their
hands.

“
What the—?” I stagger
towards the corner as a flaming ball of electric fire the size of a
watermelon comes flying at my head. I duck, and fire singes the
side of my face.

“
Oh...No…!”

Panicked, I turn to see a horrified
Bones. Adrenaline surges through my body, and it’s another whole
second before I realize Catalina is no longer standing behind me.
The small pile of ash beside my feet tells me she didn’t move out
of the way in time.

“
Lucky, get out of here!”
Bones shouts. He grabs my arm and pulls me to the back wall as the
whole room explodes with smoke and fire.

He braces his body over me
protectively and we half-run, half-stumble, blindly toward the
secret exit in the back. When we finally reach the small door
camouflaged in the rocky wall, I kick a stone on the ground to let
us out. Together we race down the dark, twisty tunnel, guided only
by the light in my palms. I wonder why Bones hasn’t
transformed…he’s much less vulnerable as a hellhound. I keep
checking over my shoulder to make sure we’re not being followed as
we rush through the narrow corridor, but so far we’re
alone.

Finally we emerge from the other side
of the rock and into one of Dryndara’s Dark-fairy forests. Bones
and I exchange looks as we try to regain our bearings. I don’t know
what frightens me more, the scene I just witnessed in Demon Bar, or
the terrified expression on Bones’ face now.

“
Bones, what was that? What
happened? What’s going on?” I cry, falling into his arms, panting
more from shock than physical exertion.

It takes a long moment for him to
answer me, but when he does, his normally strong and confident
voice sounds hollow…haunted.

“
That, Lucky, was a
declaration of war.”

Fire with Fire is on sale
now!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Penelope King graduated from the
University of California, Irvine. She lives with her family on the
Carolina coast.

authorpenelopeking.blogspot.com

Also available:

Fire with Fire (Demonblood Series
#2)

Witchy, Witchy (Spellbound
Trilogy#1)

A personal note from
Penelope:

From the bottom of my heart, I’d like
to thank you for welcoming my stories and characters into your
life. I hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed
writing it. As an “indie” author, the best way others can be made
aware of our work is through positive word of mouth and feedback
from happy readers. Leaving a quick review on the site you
purchased this from will go a long way in helping me get my work
out to other readers. If you think someone else might enjoy this
story, I encourage you to express your thoughts.

Thank you so much for your support and
stay tuned for the next installment of this exciting
series!

~Best Wishes and Happy
Reading~