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)
He never thought his salvation would come as a beautiful woman cloaked in shadow.
Nox is a demigod with a free her imprisoned sister and bring balance back to the world before their siblings ruin everything.
But her powers are acting strange, draining her, making it harder and harder to continue her mission. She needs help. And the demon might be just what she is looking for.
The longer they work together, the harder it is to ignore the heat growing between them. But with even more ancient forces rising, and their desire starts to tangle with danger, they must how much are they willing to give of themselves to stop a war that may end the world?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER ONE
Daemon
Admittedly, when I agreed to hit up the local supernatural bar to get more information about what the fuck was going on in the human world, I really just saw it as an opportunity to sneak away and shirk responsibility.
I didn’t plan on the bar’s atmosphere being thick and oppressive, the few creatures gathered around sitting in silence, cupping their drinks, and staring off into the distance.
It seemed my crew weren’t the only ones worried about the shit that was going down.
“Well, this has been… a real bummer,” I declared to no one in particular as I threw back the last of my whiskey, then slid off of the stool to make my way out.
Sure, Ace was probably going to be frustrated that I came home with absolutely nothing. But, hey, if he was expecting more from me, that was on him.
If he wanted results, he could rely on my brother Bael, a demon dedicated to all things miserable. Like research.
I was only ten feet out into the parking lot when I felt it.
I couldn’t even describe it at first.
My experience with human emotions tended to be along the lines of This is a lot of fucking fun or Holy fuck, are human women good in bed. And not of the doom-and-gloom variety.
But whatever this was, it felt like it was crushing my chest, like it was compressing my organs, like it was scooping out my brains and replacing them with this swirling, aching misery.
I spent many lifetimes in Hell, surrounded by pain. I had devoted myself to inflicting it on the humans who deserved it.
This, though, this was those sensations dialed up a hundred, a thousand. It was an all-over sort of pain that started in my chest and moved outward until it overtook me completely.
“Fuck,” I hissed as the weight of it pushed me down onto my knees.
I couldn’t get up.
I didn’t want to get up.
I wanted to lie down right there on the pavement and wallow.
But there was still that tiny voice in the back of my mind, the demon in me fighting against…. whatever the hell this was.
It told me to get up.
It demanded I fight.
“Fuck… off,” I growled, pushing my fists into the ground, pushing myself up, forcing my body to comply.
I was barely on my feet again when the sensations shifted, transformed to something else entirely.
Gone was the misery, the feeling of darkness inside that seemed intent on pulling me in and never allowing me to surface again.
In its place was something that had my chest tightening, my throat closing, my heartbeat thrumming.
Adrenaline flooded my body, making me want to run or fight.
But run where?
Fight who?
The enemy was within, was turning my mind and body against itself.
This, I realized, was that fight-or-flight sensation that the humans we punished in hell felt when we would set them loose, only to chase them down, taunt them with their own fear, with their…
Anxiety.
This was anxiety.
It was the sweat that was soaking through my clothes.
It was the strangling sensation in my chest and throat.
It was the helplessness that was overtaking me.
“More,” I heard, but the speaker was nowhere to be seen. Just darkness and shadows around me in the lot.
I started to brace myself for more of the panic, but what I felt instead was this crushing, bottomless grief that welled up from some unknown depths and overtook me completely, battling with the anxiety, with the misery that was growing again.
It was all too much, too different, too strong to fight.
And the will to do so was vaporizing with each passing second.
“Ahh!” I screamed, my hands crushing my own skull.
“Take him,” the voice called again.
There were hands then.
Grabbing.
Pulling.
Grunting under my weight when the will to remain on my own feet evaporated.
“Silence him,” the voice said, only then making me aware of my own sounds. The wails of misery. The screams of pain. The pathetic whimpers of panic.
Then, with one hard blow to the back of my head, everything went beautifully, blissfully… black.
CHAPTER TWO
Nox
I wrapped the darkness more fully around me, cloaking me entirely. Shivering at the chill it brought with it, I forced myself out of my hiding space and moved slowly toward some heavy tree cover.
I had to remind myself not to rush, to be mindful of my steps.
One foot falling on a twig and the gig would be up.
They would hear. They would come to investigate. And they would find me.
The powers of a demigod were nothing compared to them.
And I wasn’t even a particularly good demigod, at that. No incredible strength like Heracles and Achilles. No cool wings or scales like Typhon.
I was just a normal girl who could fade into the night and make people really sleepy. And it all came at great personal cost.
So, yeah, I couldn’t be screwing up.
This was too important.