Page 105 of Bent Out of Shade
“You are correct.”
Her pronouncement confirmed that I’d finally solved the most important puzzle of my life: Dumah had killed my parents.
There was no swell of joy, no trumpets pealed across the land, and my chest felt hollow.
Laurent’s shifting had slowed from a rolling boil to a simmer, no longer transforming, merely alternating patches between fur and skin, but that was scarier, because it was like his body was giving up. From the shoulders up he was human. His torso was a misshapen hybrid, while his left arm and leg were wolf, and his right limbs those of a man’s.
I clenched my fists. I had a second chance and no one, not a demon, not a vampire, and not even a fallen angel was going to steal it. Hang on, Laurent.
“Why say I haven’t done anything for Dumah?” I said. “It seems to me that I’ve done everything.”
Kian stroked my hair, her lips teasing up, and I fought off a flinch. “It would seem so,” she said, “except for one thing. Dumah has no desire to leave Gehenna.”
“Of course he does,” I snapped. “He’s imprisoned there.”
“True.” She wrinkled her nose. “But he never was as fallen as his punishment implied. Merely poorly allied. One thing Dumah does have plenty of? Guilt. You may have handed him the key, human, but he exults in being imprisoned.”
“You’re lying,” I hissed.
“I don’t care enough to bother with fabrications,” she said flatly.
I pressed my fist to my mouth like I could physically staunch the air that punched out of me. It was horrible enough if Dumah had murdered my parents in pursuit of his freedom, but if it wasn’t that, then what did that leave? Some twisted game to pass the time?
Wake up.
A snarl escaped my lips; I’d never been more awake.
Kian lay her hand on my cheek like a caress, her eyes glittering maliciously, and magic exploded out of me, darkening the entire room for a split second. The demon gasped, her hand falling away.
I’d rammed my scythe right through her center.
Freed from the demon’s magic hold, Emmett whistled.
Wrenching the blade out with a twist to inject one more millisecond of pain before the demon dissolved into ash, I met her eyes and smiled. “Just a nothing trinket from a nothing human.”
“Miri.” The golem pressed his hand to Laurent’s forehead and made a sizzling noise.
Laurent’s half-closed lids showed only white behind them, and his face was flushed.
I sank to my knees. “Open your eyes right now, Huff ’n’ Puff,” I cajoled. “You’ve got to shift so we can get out of here.” The ward was gone, but Laurent couldn’t go into the KH and I wasn’t leaving him. I lightly slapped his cheek.
He was unresponsive, his pulse sluggish.
Emmett wasn’t faring much better. His eyes were glassy and his messed-up jaw kept spasming, not to mention he had only one arm. He couldn’t carry Laurent on his own in his condition.
“Can you hang on long enough to help get him outside?” I said. “I should have cell reception again and we can hide until Juliette comes.”
“Yes,” he slurred.
I was running on fumes, held together by willpower no thicker than Scotch tape. Delilah flickered and fell apart when I called her up, and cloaking us was out of the question. Should Vincenzo be upstairs and attack us, we were screwed.
Cell range. Focus on that.
“Be quiet and stay alert in case Vincenzo shows up.” Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I grabbed Laurent under his armpits, using my thigh to elevate his head.
Emmett took his feet and we carried him out the door. Unfortunately, being quiet flew right out the window about halfway up to the ground floor. Emmett kept dropping Laurent’s legs because of his short arm, and the shifter’s hybrid form was so awkward that there was no way to prevent his middle from bumping loudly up every stair.
Poor guy was going to be a giant bruise, but on the upside, no one came to check out the commotion.
