Read Online Demon Heart (The Darkworld Series Book 3) by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online

the presence aside, conscious that Berenice and Leo were staring. But more urgent was the blood rapidly pooling on the pavement and Howard’s limp form.
    “Come on,” said Leo, taking a step toward the dark space and pulling Berenice and me along with him. “You leave her alone,” he told the demon.
    It merely grinned at him, its teeth flickering in and out of existence behind the black smoke.
    Together we managed to get Howard to the edge of the street. Leo told me that Influence worked by being unnoticeable, by constantly repeating the same mantra in your mind.
We’re not here. We’re not important. Don’t notice us.
I’d done it before, albeit unconsciously. I used to put it down to coincidence that at school, people often simply failed to notice me if I didn’t feel like talking, and teachers would sometimes forget I was there if I was having a particularly bad day. And sometimes people would look right through me. It wasn’t like I was particularly noticeable anyway―just one in a thousand students―so it never crossed my mind to wonder about it. Only since I’d been at university had I gone out of my way to make new friends and socialise.
    This was different. I could feel my connection to the Darkworld like something burning inside me, paradoxically ice-cold and yet hot as fire. The combined strength of the three of us meant that tendrils of the Darkworld surrounded us in a cloud, a usual side effect of using strong magic. But it surrounded me in particular like a thick dust cloud; if it hadn’t been semitransparent, I wouldn’t have been able to see where I was going. We waded through black fog, and a chill rushed through me as Leo and the others faded in and out of view, like ghosts.
    But when we walked down the main street, I could tell it was working. No one gave us a second glance, even the obviously sober bouncers watching out for anything suspicious outside nightclubs. The bus driver didn’t even glance up as we heaved Howard onto the bus; luckily, the door didn’t shut on us. We laid him down on the back seat, and I slumped down in the seat opposite, exhausted. My arms ached like crazy. I tried not to look at the trail of blood leaking onto the floor.
    “How are people not noticing that?” I whispered to Leo, not sure if I was supposed to keep my voice down or not.
    “Because we’re keeping their attention away,” said Leo in a strained voice. “I’ve never done it on this level before. You holding up okay, Berenice?”
    Berenice was still chalk-white and shaking. “Yeah,” she croaked.
    Why wasn’t it having as much of an effect on me? I wondered. Maybe I was doing it wrong.
    But I knew I was doing
something
, because otherwise the Darkworld wouldn’t be responding to me so strongly. Shadows danced around us, and I saw the flicker of violet demon eyes.
Shit.
There was a demon on the
bus.
    I looked away from the shadows, fixing my gaze on my feet instead.
This is absurd.
There’s blood all over the floor, and no one’s looking.
We’re invisible in full view. We didn’t even have to pay bus fare.
A strange, wild giggle bubbled up in my throat.
    “What’re you grinning at?” Berenice snarled at me. “You glad it got us and not you? Or is it because you think
you’re
invincible? You make me sick.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.” The overwhelming feeling faded, and I just felt confused, shaken by the strange thrill part of me got from being this close to the Darkworld. And I didn’t miss the demon grinning at me out the corner of my eye before it vanished as the bus lurched down a hill.
    After the doppelganger had gone, I’d thought the demon inside me would stay back. The doppelganger had taunted me, brought the dark presence within me to the surface, but the fortune-teller had insisted that I wasn’t dangerous. The demon was part of me. And yet… for a couple of seconds there, during the fight, she’d felt like an entirely different person.
    “Berenice, stop snapping at