Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I hurry through the house, making a detour to the library so I can retrieve Julian‘s angel dagger. I’ve kept it hidden inside the fireplace and use magic to retrieve it. I shove my feet in a pair of black boots I left by the back door. Nine times out of ten, I’m wearing a black dress or black leggings, and these low-heeled boots go with everything. Then, taking Lucas his hand, we step outside. Drea has made it past the first warning, and is standing a foot back from the second line. She holds out her hand, testing the lines of magic. She shouldn’t be able to cross this one easily, regardless of her intentions. But making it past the first should be reassurance enough, showing that she really didn’t come here to hurt me.
“Miss me already?” I ask, holding the angel dagger down at my side.
“How can I not?” Drea replies. She’s inside the body of a young woman. She has short blonde hair pulled half back in a clip. She’s wearing tight jeans and a crop top with a dirty denim jacket over top.
“It’s another ethically, sourced body,” she says, and pulls one side of the jacket up, showing a stab wound to the side of her rib cage. She rolls up one sleeve and she has track marks all along the inside of the woman’s arm. “My friend here wasn’t making the best choices,” she says, and pulls her sleeves back down. “If I wasn’t in her right now, she would be bleeding out. I’m actually doing her a favor by slowing down her body chemistry or she would’ve bled out within minutes if I hadn’t jumped inside.”
“What a hero you are,” I say dryly. “Why are you here? I didn’t summon you yet.”
She makes a face and then winces. “I know, and I might have enjoyed my demonic freedom, a little too much, and caught the attention of a certain hate group.”
“You’ve got to be a fucking kidding me,” Lucas grumbles under his breath. We both know exactly who she’s talking about: the Order of the Mystic Realm.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
“Did anyone follow you?” Lucas rushes out.
“No,” Drea assures him. “This ain’t my first rodeo, kid.”
“Kid?” Lucas scoffs.
“We’re probably not that far off in age,” Drea says with a shrug. This body suits her personality better, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to heal the damage before she stops possessing this poor girl. Being possessed slowly kills the victim from the inside out, but she was right in saying that due to the demonic rotting, the blood flow has slowed. Not enough to give her a fighting chance on her own, though.
“What I’m hearing,” Lucas goes on. “Is that you were reckless and you need our help.”
“Not exactly. A demon of my stature can jump bodies easily and quickly. I don’t get caught. However, you know how much of a pain in the ass the Order can be. They’re already on alert due to an increase in magical activity caused by the both of us,” she say, making a face as she looks at me. “Whatever happened that night…before I got here…we all felt it. And we’re going to feel it again when I open the portal.”
“What about in Hell? Won’t they feel it too?” I ask.
“It’s not quite the same, though yes. But like I said, demons have been coming in and out for the last few weeks, with more activity just lately. Now is a good of time as any to get in there.”
Lucas and I meet each other’s eyes. I don’t feel mentally prepared to face Paimon, but will I ever? My heart skips a beat, and anxiety breaks out throughout my entire body. Deep inside, I had hoped that my dad and Lucifer would be by my side as I faced off Paimon. If they were, I knew I had good of a chance as possible to defeat him and get out of Hell in one piece. And if both my dad and Lucifer showed up in Hell along with me, it might not have been much of a fight at all.
But that can’t happen, not now, at least, and I don’t think we can take the risk of waiting until they can join us to face him. Paimon can attack at a moment’s notice just like how he did a few days ago. And this time I know I can’t count on any archangels to come save me. Plus, if the others find out my that dad, Lucifer, and I are responsible for the disappearances of Uriel and Remiel, all hell will break loose on earth. Technically heaven will break loose on earth, and it will be even worse. For as powerful as Paimon is, the archangels possess even greater power. When the bad guys are scared of them, you know shit is real.