Page 1 of Knight’s Dominion

CHAPTER 1

One cool thing about killing demons? When you cut off their heads, the fuckers turned to ash.

Made cleanup unnecessary.

Thank you, demon scum.

If things went the way Grace hoped tonight, she’d end her evening buried to the knees in that shit.

She quickly swiped another cotton pad over her face, the heavy mask she wore daily disappearing before her eyes. Music thumped through the floorboards. A song she recognized. Tina was on stage, doing her last dance of the night.

Adrenaline made her hands shake slightly as she brushed the tangles from her long blond hair and pulled it back into a sleek ponytail. Kicking off her six-inch heels and sliding off her pantyhose and garter, she wriggled into soft leather pants.

It took a few minutes, but she got the laces of her corset undone and tossed the final traces of her alter ego, Gigi Fury, on the bed.

After tugging on a long-sleeve, fitted T-shirt, she shoved her feet in combat boots, did them up nice and tight, and bounced on the balls of her feet.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Could the real Grace Paten please stand up? She didn't know who that was anymore, hadn't in some time.

Her hand automatically lifted to the gold rings hanging side by side from a delicate chain around her neck. They were warm from her skin, and she let the weight press against her palm, familiar, comforting—fuel for her rage.

What would her parents think of what she was, who she'd become? Would they know her if they passed her on the street? Would they want to?

Shutting those thoughts down quickly, she grabbed her crossbow and bolts, slinging them over one shoulder, snatched up her mask, and climbed out onto the fire escape.

The rusting steel groaned like it always did, like her own personal call to war.

The alley below was dark and still, but the streets beyond were alive with rowdy humans seeking a good time, laughing with friends, looking to escape their lives for one drunken night.

Whatever they were after, they made themselves easy targets.

The cityscape with its golden halo, caused by a multitude of streetlights and fluorescent signs, silhouetting skyscrapers and apartment buildings, was just like any other.

And if it wasn’t for that pesky gateway to Hell right here in Roxburgh, it would be. The portal opened every solstice and equinox, spewing out demons faster than they could kill them.

And yep, the Knights of Hell were here, too—the half-demon, half-angel assholes created to control the invading monsters.

Unfortunately, they sucked at their job, and their “leader” Chaos was the absolute worst of them all.

The knights were supposed to protect her kind—demi-demons—demon–human hybrids who developed special abilities. Well, that was another thing they sucked at, and why Grace was heading out under the cover of night with weapons strapped to her body.

On light feet, she quickly climbed the ladder to the roof. She’d done it so many times, the darkness wasn’t a problem anymore.

Three figures dressed in black stepped out of the shadows when she reached the top.

"We were starting to think you wouldn’t show," Mark said, voice muffled under his mask.

She hadn’t missed an equinox since she’d joined this fight, and she wasn’t about to now. "I had to make sure the place was tip-top before I left. Vince heard through some goon of Oden's that he might stop by the club. Vince couldn't hide his boner, was all but frothing at the mouth waiting for him to arrive so he could fall to his knees and lick his leather Berlutis."

Mark made a gagging sound. "Nice mental image, thanks."

She loved Vince, he wasn’t just her boss, he was family, but he was so desperate to find an “in” with some of the powerful demi-demons who occasionally popped by the club that he went a little nuts around them.

They'd ignored his overtures so far.

“Where's Tina?" Laney murmured from Mark’s side.

Both worked at the club, Laney dancing and Mark behind the bar. Most of their crew worked at, or had once worked at Revelry, the burlesque club under her apartment. Grace pulled on her mask. "We'll give her a few minutes. She was still working when I left the floor. Has everyone else checked in?"