Page 13 of Bellamy

The demon smirked. “I’ll enjoy picking my teeth with her bones.”

“Over my dead body.” I swung at him.

“More demons just showed up here,”Raiden said telepathically.“Both shades and mid-level ones.”

I heard the evidence of that fight as hits and grunts came from the nearby alleyway.

“A demon attacked a girl.”I stabbed said demon in the chest.“I’m taking care of it. Girl is cut up but not too bad.”

“Good.”

Four other demons materialized around me. Only upper-level demons had the power to blink to and from places. Well, I called it “blinking,” but teleporting was the correct term. They could go anywhere in an instant. Appear and vanish at will.

Just like Phoenix.

Fuck, don’t think about him.

Gritting my teeth, I gripped both my swords tighter and attacked. I lopped one’s head clean off before turning to another. One thrust a dagger at my side, and I spun to dodge it. Power came off their weapons, a low hum of energy. The same power that came off mine.

“Ray! Be careful. These bastards have celestial blades.”

“Shit”was his response.

As I fought the last three, something felt off about this whole damn situation. A demon attacks a random human woman, and then four upper-level ones show up? I didn’t have time to think about it too much.

They put up a better fight than other demons I’d faced in a while. Good. I had needed a decent fight. Kept things interesting. Once the three of them were in bloody heaps at my feet, I wiped off my blades.

Damn. I had actually broken a sweat.

“All finished here,”Raiden projected into my head.“Heading over to you.”

The woman had stopped crying. Either she’d calmed down or passed out. Both would save me from having to deal with a frantic human. I still sensed a demonic presence, so I surveyed the area, using my enhanced vision to see through the window into the dark warehouse beyond it. No one else was inside.

Were they above me, then? Hiding in the surrounding shadows?

A cold blade pressed to the small of my back.

“Hey, handsome,” the woman said from behind me, pressing the blade hard enough against me to break the skin. “I commend you for your bravery. You saw a poor, helpless hottie and had to fight for my honor and all that. Just as he said you would.”

“He?”

“Oh, I think you know him. He’s the daddy of the little blond runt.”

Belphegor.

“Bell?” Raiden asked as he approached.

“Stop right there or I’ll drive this dagger into his spine!” Her multilayered voice as she shouted revealed her for the demonic bitch she was.

Raiden stopped in place, his confusion shifting to worry.

Fuck, I was so stupid. I had sensed another demon but hadn’t even considered it could be her. I had fallen right into her goddamn trap. Easily. Alastair would slap me upside the head for being so clueless. Because looking back on it now, it was pretty damn obvious from the get-go. But hindsight was 20/20.

Okay. Focus. I was a warrior. I’d fought in countless battles and knew how to take an enemy down. The celestial blade at my spine complicated matters a little. She might not be able to deal a fatal blow before I swatted her away like the pest she was, but she could severely wound me.

“Use me,”Lust whispered.“Set me free.”

I could release pheromones into the air that made me irresistible to everyone, whether they wanted me or not. A diversion that gave me the upper hand no matter the situation. No one could resist. It was an awful power I despised using. Because sex was never supposed to be used as a weapon. But I had made it my specialty.