Demon Day Penelope Fletcher (which ebook reader TXT) 📖

the gold upon my brow. “I expect morefrom myself. I won’t be a mindless killer; I’m worth more thanthat.” Pausing I made up my mind. “I understand that the Nest isstarving and I sympathize, I always have, but you must not keep mehere. You must let me leave peacefully. If I have to fight my wayout of here there will be nothing I can do to stop the otherscoming here.”

He regarded me thoughtfully, a pillarof darkness, arms loose at his sides and stance confident. “Youtruly have grown.” His head turned to the door as it squeakedopen.

I sniffed and screwed up my nose atthe dry and moldy smell that saturated everything.

A vampire-girl stepped into the room,her gaze flicking between us curiously. Her eyes were a murky browncolor and would have been rather unremarkable had they not had amost unusual shape – two slim ovals with ridiculously long andstraight lashes the colour of dried wheat. She had white-blondeslender braids and surprisingly tanned skin covered in freckles,and dark eyebrows. Dressed in cut off jeans, boots, and a darkgreen plaid shirt she had the same skinny, starved look all thevampires had, though there was a flush of colour in hercheeks.

She inhaled deeply, head falling back,and nose pointed in my direction. As her eyes opened, her fangs ranout, and I noticed a rather wide gap between her two front teeth.She started, and placed a hand over her mouth, shooting a guiltylook at Tomas.

“It’s okay Daphne,” he saidsoothingly and smiled at her broadly opening his arms.

The young girl darted another look atme before stepping fully into the room, shutting the door firmlybehind her. She blurred over to Tomas and wrapped her arms aroundhim, tucking her head under his.

“I missed you.” Her voicewas light, delicate, and if I was honest lovely – soothing andhusky.

But I was pissed off, and feeling atwinge of jealousy so it came across as inappropriately breathy andweak.

“And you are?” I askedicily, boring holes into the back of her small skull.

She looked at me over her shoulderwincing daintily. She untangled herself from Tomas, and gave me adiminutive wave. “Gwendolyn said you had a mouth on you, but Tomassays you’re nice when you’re happy. He’s told me all about you, andwhilst Gwen is my Queen I obey him above all others.” Her headleaned to the side and her braids fell forward. “I’m going toexcuse your unpleasantness as this is a less than hospitablesituation you’ve found yourself in.” Her calm rationale and amiablegreeting grated on my nerves. Huffing, I crossed my arms over mychest tightly. She gave me a sincere and beautiful smile. “I’m notyour enemy, Rae.”

My tail coiled around my legs,whipping my lower thigh in irritation. I focused on keeping mywings snug against my back, refusing to let this girl trick me intoliking her.

Tomas moved closer to me. “Daphne islike a sister to me,” he said reassuringly and stroked a hand downmy back.

I avoided a second stroke by taking ahasty side step and scowled at him. Rather than ordering him not totouch me I lashed him head to toe with my eyes, making sure disgustseeped from my every pore.

Daphne tittered behind her hand. “My,my is she mad at you.”

Tomas barked a laugh and pinched hisbrow. I stared at him. I’d never seen him like this. He almostseemed … happy. I turned my hateful gaze on Daphne who smiled at meas if we were the best of blood friends.

I nodded to Devlin’s body. When itcame to telling Wasp what had happened I had no doubt thefairy-woman would be eating out of the palm of my hand if it meantavenging him. “Can you get rid of that?” And it was a ‘that’.Devlin was not there anymore – not in that rotten corpse. The HighLord was gone, and though I wished I felt grief, I felt nothing buta vague sense of regret. Despite the fact the High Lord had notbeen the patron of evil as I had once believed, he had killed myfriend, sacrificed her. Now I understood why he had needed a puresacrifice to invoke dark magic. He had been trying to use thehe-witches source of magic against him. Devlin had known all alonga great danger gathered power … no wonder he had pursued me sostubbornly.

“Of course,” Tomas replied,breaking my maudlin thoughts, and motioned to Daphne.

She hefted the stinking thing over hershoulder without question, and in a blink was out the door, closingit behind her.

“I am sorry.” Tomas did notsound sorry at all, or particularly bothered that he sounded false.“I didn’t know that he was in here, and I didn’t want to riskmoving you with Gwendolyn so … disquieted.”

“What?” I begansarcastically. “Was the appearance of Devlin not part of yourmaster plan?”

“No, it was not. When Ileft here I was prepared. I knew you would not want to come withme. When I met you and realized you were so vulnerable, I thoughtit would be easy to convince you to accompany me here. I never knewyou were a demon, nor someone of such importance to fairykind. Ihad no idea I would find myself in the middle of a fairy uprising.How could I? This is a mess I have not planned for.”

“Then why didn’t you backoff?” My hands rose to fall with slaps on my thighs. “I can’t seewhere you’re going with this, Tomas. It makes no sense. In factit’s plain stupid if you ask me. You’ve risked everything to get mehere, and for what?”

“For them,” he barked. “Itold you we are dying out here. There is nothing to eat, and one byone my family goes insane, devoured from the inside by theirbloodlust. They attack each other then become enraged when theblood does not satisfy their hunger. We cannot sustain each other;it must be the blood of another kind, or our mindsbreak.”

I watched him coolly. “So youtravelled all that way to snag one human? How would I have changedanything? One human body does not hold enough blood to feed a Nestof hundreds.”

“Gwendolyn had a vision.She saw bringing you here would save us. I don’t know how, but shewas certain enough