Page 44 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

XAVIER

I t came from the sky.

I’d made a web in the trees on the edge the riots, thinking of a route into the palace, when the plane cut across The Mall.

The roar of the turbines silenced the riots, every eye turned to the sky.

I lowered my tiny body from the web on a strand of silk, shifting to humanoid form when I reached the ground.

The plane bore a missile on its underside. It released it, the plane curling upward.

The crowd started to scream.

The missile hissed, aiming directly for the demon tower.

Before any intervention could bring it down, it struck with a heavy boom.

The red light of the jewel blinked out, the black structure collapsing onto the roof of the palace in a second boom.

Dust burst into the sky, the tower’s heavy beams cleaving chunks out of the palace, crashing into the courtyard, taking out parts of the fences.

Roman!

A second plane came up behind the palace.

Synth fired in a powerful cylinder from somewhere on my right, striking the plane before it unleashed its missile. Its engines blew, the missile catching fire, the plane lowering, heading straight for the riot.

I moved, leaping over bodies through the broken fences into the palace courtyard.

The screams were immense, panicked humans and demons scattering, flooding the courtyard.

I glanced back to see the plane crash and explode in violent fire.

The force hit the courtyard, throwing me and the others forward.

The palace windows blew out, raining glass down on my head.

I rolled, saving myself from a fall, springing into a run, storming the palace in a blur of speed.

I picked up Roman’s scent, followed it with all my might.

He would not die here.