Page 32 of Demon Touched (The Demon Syndicate #2)

Nova

“ F ive witches and five victims?” Zane asked, over the comms. “Seems risky.”

“If they haven’t been able to strip anything from the Black Lotus, maybe they’re making up for lost time,” she muttered as she ensured the shadows clung to her so no one could see where she was.

Dex had already left with one of the witches, so there were only two more.

“Hey, this one got your boyfriend,” Zane muttered. “Holy shit.”

Nova bit her tongue to keep from asking about it.

“Damn, do you think they need to feed like vampires?” Zane asked when she didn’t say anything.

“Probably not. I assume it’s more like an addiction.” That would make the most sense.

Magic was power, and power was heady and addictive. On top of that, they’d get the high from taking something that wasn’t.

“I’ve got three,” Zane told her. “Each of them have a victim, but I think they’re waiting for the other two.”

Seemed dangerous for them to wait, but what did she know.

“This still isn’t out of control magic,” Zane muttered. “But maybe it’ll be enough.”

Another one left with a partner.

Were all these witches really that fucking stupid or horny? And why were all five of them hunting in the same place? That seemed extremely problematic especially with all the cameras around.

Unless they’d wiped them with magic, but Nova hadn’t sensed them use any.

What the fuck was going on here?

“One more,” she whispered.

“This is going to be rough,” Zane muttered. “But if I can wake up your boyfriend, we should have a better chance of getting all of them out of here alive.”

He was unconscious?

Panic flooded her. What could they possibly have to take down Dex?

It didn’t matter. It would be almost impossible to kill him, and they were probably overestimating how long he would stay down.

Dex was going to wake up furious.

“Last one,” she whispered, watching as they passed. “If Dex wakes up, we need to get the victims and leave him.”

“Nova—”

“You need to listen to me right now.” She followed the last witch and kept her distance as she wrapped the shadows even tighter around her. “Dex is half demon, so we just need to get out of his way when he wakes up.”

He was impossibly fast, incredibly strong, and had his own magic. As long as they made sure he was awake and capable, they might just be able to get out of this with minimal damage.

“Half demon?” Zane asked, suddenly sounding unsure. “Well, I guess that explains why he looks the way he does.”

Nova didn’t understand why demons were beautiful. They just were.

From what she could gather, Lucifer loved art and beauty—symbols of humanity. He’d taken the lost human souls and created demons in forms so beautiful they could accomplish anything.

Dex was only half demon though. His other half was an angel—the warrior without a soul.

“We need to figure out how they’re stealing magic,” she told him. “Only one witch needs to be left alive and I’ll try and convince him of that. This is his territory though. He’s going to be dangerous when he wakes up. So please, whatever you do, just trust me.”

“Are you on your way?” Zane asked, sounding distracted.

Nova ran as fast as she could.

“Promise me,” she demanded “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I will do what I came here to do, Nova. If your boyfriend can take all five of those witches, then great, but I’m not going to leave him to deal with them alone.”

That made her smile despite the situation. “Thank you.”

Zane was one of the good ones, no matter how much he liked to pretend like he didn’t care.

“They’re in the basement,” he informed her.

Of course, they were.

“And it’s warded.”

Nova looked up at the moon, hating that tonight of all nights the sky was clear. It kept her range of shadows smaller. “Two more blocks and I’ll be there.”

“The last one just arrived.”

The sounds of the city seemed far away and the lights were a blur. It was finally going to begin.

“I’ve got some charms,” she told him. “Be prepared to get them out.”

She stopped just outside the door and tipped her head back, closing her eyes as she let her mind settle into that place. It was numb and warm and helped her focus—helped her push her body to the breaking point if need be.

One more breath and her magic rose up. The shadows clung to her and she prepared herself. All she had to do was break the wards and flood the building with darkness, leaving a path of light for Zane to follow.

Cracking one side of her neck, and then the other, Nova reminded herself what she was doing here. She had to save the victims, protect Zane, and capture one of the witches trying to steal magic.

The rest were fair game.

Pressing her hand to the door, she concentrated and activated one of her runes – shattering the wards. As soon as they were down she filled the place with shadows and ripped the door open.

Nova could smell their fear.

By now, they had to be aware that they were the ones being hunted.

Nova ran, jumping down the stairs and rolling. She pushed off the wall as she came up, using her purple eye to mark their locations.

Knives appeared in her hands as she dodged more than one magical attack. Nova grabbed the first victim and tossed them into a patch of light she’d left for Zane, heading straight for the second. She repeated that process until she got to Dex.

The witches were frantic, but they couldn’t see in the darkness she’d created.

“I’ve got them,” Zane told her. “I’ll get them secured and then come back.”

“No, don’t. I’m about to wake him up.”

She sliced her knife across one witch’s throat and then dodged another attack, deepening the shadows around her.

Running across the room, she dropped to her knees to avoid a magical blast and slid under it right into Dex’s side. There was a lot of blood, but his wound didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.

She pulled his eyelid up and the divine fire was blazing, but he wasn’t conscious.

Well, that wasn’t fucking good.

“This is going to be bad,” she warned Zane. “Get them to safety, I’ll get the witch we need.”

“Nova—”

“Now.”

“You better make it out alive,” Zane snapped. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”

“Stupid hunter,” one of the witches muttered. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

Neither did they.

If she could burn out whatever magic was keeping him asleep…

Nova took off her left glove and gripped Dex’s throat. it was dangerous, but he could withstand it – she knew he could.

Concentrating, she blasted a small amount of raw magic into his system. It should be enough to wake him up, but it wouldn’t short circuit his brain. She shoved a little more into him when he still didn’t wake up and his answering roar scared the living shit out of her.

Nova backed up as quickly as she could when his wings ripped from his back like they had a mind of their own. The edges glittered, almost like they were sharp.

When Dex looked down at her, the hellfire was nearly drowned out by the divine and she cursed her poor choices. Somehow, Dex could see .

Nova had no idea if she was talking to the angel or the demon, but reminding him of his duties might be the only way to get out of this unscathed.

“These witches harmed your people. They were going to kill them,” she explained.

He turned to study the witches with a quiet calm she’d never seen in him before.

This was going to be very bad.

“One is mine,” she reminded him. “Do what you want with the rest.”

A sword was suddenly in his hand, something so bright and silvery that it hurt her purple eye to the point of pain. Nova actually had to look away.

“You dared to try and take what’s mine?” he asked the witches, as if he were just bored instead of enraged.

Fucking fuck .

She got to her feet and ran, grabbing one of the witches as she headed for the exit.

One sleep charm and the bitch was out. Nova hauled her over her shoulder and took the stairs as quickly as possible.

Zane was there, waiting for her like an idiot when she burst out of the building. Nova released the shadows and the screams that followed…she’d never heard anything like it.

“What the fuck?” Zane muttered, too stunned to move.

“We need to get out of here.” Nova yanked him along, running as fast as she could while forcing Zane to keep up.

Something slammed in front of them, and only years of training kept her from screaming when she saw him.

Dex dropped his head and stared at the ground with unfocused eyes. His wings hung down his back like he was some weeping angel in a cemetery and he was covered in blood. The sword was drenched, hanging from his fingers like it might slip through them at any moment.

When he raised his head, all she could see were the divine flames. They’d completely taken over the hellfire.

There wasn’t a single trace of his demon left.