Read Online devil 03 - tween hearts fire and devils delight by sam cheever - Free Book Online

his face.
    I needed to get another knife into the ’goyle but I couldn’t release my grip on its throat or it would be on me like stink on a sewer demon and I’d be dead.
    I realized I’d have to do it the new-fashioned way. Forcing myself to concentrate on pulling the power forward I felt it beginning to build. But my arms started to give out before I could draw enough power forward and I lost my concentration. The ’goyle’s snapping, blood-coated teeth grazed my cheek and a string of drool dripped like acid down my cheek.
    I knew Emo had returned when one of the goyle’s front legs was suddenly severed from its body and he sank more deeply onto me.
    Emo’s face finally popped up over the ’goyle’s shoulder. “I’ve cut off three of the thing’s four legs, Astra and it still keeps coming.”
    “Cut off the last one then, hurry.”
    “If I do it’ll crush you.”
    I felt one of its teeth slide into the soft flesh of my cheek. “Just do it!” I screamed.
    Emo swung hard and the last leg collapsed away from the raging gargoyle.
    I grunted as two hundred pounds settled completely onto my chest and another tooth entered my face.
    Emo kicked a trunklike, severed leg out of the way and reached around the gargoyle to grab its neck. He used a power-induced wrenching motion to pull the thing off me and fling it away. I screamed as the gargoyle’s teeth ripped my face on the way out.
    The legless gargoyle landed on its belly several feet away from us and immediately started trying to shimmy along the blood and gore covered ground to get to us.
    Emo took one look at me and said, “Holy shit, Astra. Are you okay?”
    I nodded. “Just finish that thing, would you?”
    He shot the gargoyle in the chest with a jolt of all the power he could muster. It almost died. The huge jaws still snapped at us, the eyes glowing with hate and menace. Emo stalked over and, using his longest knife, sliced the head cleanly from the body. The thing finally stilled and the light left the red eyes.
    Emo helped me stand and we collapsed together onto a nearby bench, panting.
    “That was no ordinary gargoyle,” Emo finally said when he could catch his breath.
    I nodded. “It was being impelled by something. It didn’t even really seem to feel pain.”
    Emo touched my face, his warm, slightly rough hand lingering there. “You need to heal that.”
    I nodded, placing my hand over his and gently removing it. “Just let me sit here a minute and breathe.”
    My daemon hickey sparked and Dialle was suddenly there. He glared at my partner before kneeling before me and placing a large, impossibly warm hand on either cheek. Pulsing heat entered my skin and I sighed as a pleasurable tingling replaced the pain of ripped flesh.
    Dialle leaned close and kissed me softly. I knew he was probably just making a show of it, proving to Emo that he had already staked a claim on me but I was too tired and it felt too damn good to complain.
    “Perfect again, my princess.”
    My eyes rolled open lazily and I stared into his black velvet gaze. “Don’t call me that.” The words didn’t have as much oomph as I’d hoped.
    He grinned and stood up. Looking around he frowned. “Where are the rest of them?”
    I tried to stand up and my legs screamed at me. It took two tries. “Very funny.”
    Two elegant, black eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Are you serious? One gargoyle did this much damage?”
    I nodded. “Unfortunately. I think the thing was impelled.”
    His head swiveled to take in the numerous dead humans. “It certainly looks that way.”
    Screams broke the silence. I sighed. “Well, maybe it did have friends after all.”
    Dialle smiled at me. “Would you like some help?”
    Emo jammed his long knife back into its sheath and turned away, a scowl on his handsome face. “We don’t need your help to do our jobs, Royal.”
    Dialle’s jaw tightened as Emo stalked in the direction of the screaming. “As you wish, Tweener.”
    Both men made the