Read Online Defying Instinct (Demon Instinct Series) by Jaye A. Jones - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t know what.  I was
just so glad to see him, I didn’t care if Rowan and the others could feel it
loud and clear.
    “No
more lies,” the severity of his words striking my central nervous system like a
bolt of lightning.
    “All
right,” I bowed my head and closed my eyes.  “Then we need to talk.”
    If
there weren’t going to be any lies between us, I wanted to get it all out. 
    “I’m
gonna go shake hands with a Tempter,” the gleam in his expression making me
smile my first real smile all day.  “Coffee after closing time?”
    “Definitely,”
I said, grinning and imagining what it was going to be like to tell him.  It
would be a first for me.  I was excited.
    The
idea of telling Benn, having a true confidant about every detail of my unusual
life was a gift I’d never expected.  I wished I could go back in time and make
all the right decisions with him.  I wished I’d found the nerve to tell him
what I was years ago.
    Before
Benn made it across the room to where Grayson and Cyrus sat, red flashed before
my eyes.  A creature stood before me on the other side of the check-out counter. 
He hadn’t walked in from the frosty afternoon air. 
    He
just appeared. 
    Red
smoke wafted up to the ceiling, making me suspect it had something to do with
the sudden appearance.
    If
Sorcerer demons had the ability to use glamour, then this one was choosing not
to.  It clarified why when he ambled up to the counter like any old patron in
the place, uncommon shock forced me to hit the telepath panic button.
    “Greetings,
Savannah Cole, Daughter of Iliana,” the Sorcerer said, his voice abrasive, like
metal grinding on stone.
    Classic
images of the Devil flashed through my mind as I stood frozen.  This full-caste
demon had waxy, red flesh and beady, onyx eyes.  Black, jagged horns took the
place of hair on the top of his bald head.  A mouth filled with yellow, pointed
teeth, like a piranha’s, a forked tongue and I was willing to bet a forked tail
too, topped off the image of true evil.
    All
I could manage to say was, “Hi.”
    It
delighted the creature.
    I
was in danger.  I could feel it burning into every instinct, human and demon. 
This thing, this Devil was not here for a social call.
    My
eyes darted to where I knew the three demons who had been tailing my every move
since last night for this very reason were supposed to be.  Why hadn’t they
intervened?  Why hadn’t they tackled this black-eyed Sorcerer and gotten me out
of here?
    “Your
guards cannot help you,” he said, either watching my eyes or literally reading
my thoughts.  At this point, I couldn’t rule anything out.
    Benn
and the three demons frantically punched and clawed at an energy field around
me and the Sorcerer.  Each blow radiated a distortion in the field and rippled
outward all around us.  I wondered if they could still see me or if whatever
the Sorcerer was doing to keep them out meant they thought I’d disappeared.  
    Either
way, they kept fighting, all four of them, making zero progress.  It made me
feel a fullness in my chest, but I didn’t know what it was.
    My
first panicked telepath must have gotten through, but nothing else I tried reached
them.  My attempts were met by a painful ping each time I tried.
    Rowan? ... PING.
    Can
anyone hear me? ... PING.
    After
the third try that felt like my head was being split in two, I gave up.
    “Who
are you?” I asked.
    “I
am Hadrian,” he announced like his name should mean something to me.
    When
I human-like shrugged, unimpressed, Hadrian bared his piranha teeth and spat,
“I created you.  This unfortunate human you see in the mirror each morning.  I
am the brilliance behind that face.”
    Masking
the trickle of alarm I felt with words of calm, I muttered, “then I owe you twenty
years of grief.”
    Whether
it was my calm, or the bold words, I appeared to have pleased him.
    “There
is hope for you yet, Daughter of Iliana.”
    Impatiently,
I tapped my fingers