Read Online Devil's Paw (Imp Book 4) by Debra Dunbar - Free Book Online
Authors: Debra Dunbar
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house. “I can’t. I really can’t today. Maybe after the council meeting tomorrow, but not today.”
He reached out and pulled me to him. “It will only take an hour at the most.”
Before I could protest, he’d transported us in a disorienting jerk.
~5~
I could feel the heat all around me, stealing the air from my lungs and searing my skin. The angel pressed to me, smashing a furnace of power against my front, while the natural element of the forest fire raged against my back, squeezing me uncomfortably between them. I felt the threads of my clothing smolder, exposed skin beginning to blister. We were close, practically inside the blaze.
Pull back as you burn.
I did as the angel said, distancing my spirit self from the flesh. I still was aware of the pain, but it was as if I watched another. Thick smoke blurred the angel who was inches from my face, and I closed my useless eyes. I burned.
There was a caress against me. I felt his admiration and his attraction. Whatever it was I was doing, I seemed to be doing it properly, according to him. Even with the distant pain, the edge of fear as my body died, I felt safe. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me; I’d be okay as long as he was near.
My body failed, lungs choked with smoke, skin cells erupting. I tried to move an arm, but couldn’t figure out how to do it without extending my spirit self dangerously into the dead flesh. Struggling a few seconds on my own, I turned to him, awaiting his instruction. This was a lesson, and I was an eager pupil in the arms of an angel who was older than the sun.
Let the body go. See without eyes. Hear without ears. Move without limbs.
I’d die. What did he want me to house my spirit self in, if not this burning flesh? I felt the physical form of the angel shift like molten lava, his spirit self still reassuring against mine. Did his flesh burn too?
Open your eyes and see.
I knew he didn’t mean human eyes. Reaching out with my senses, as I did while in Aaru, I saw him, a smokeless fire before me, shielding my burnt body from total consumption by the inferno around us. What would happen if my body was completely destroyed by fire? I’d learned to exist safely inside a corpse, but had an uneasy feeling I’d die if the body no longer existed. He moved, as if to leave me to the fire, and I pressed against him in panic, my spirit self clinging to his for protection.
Let it go.
No fucking way. I couldn’t think of any Owned form that would safely exist in the blaze around me. The only option left was to hold on to this angel as if my life depended on it. Because my life did depend on it.
Let it go. Trust yourself. Trust me. I’m here to catch you, like a safety net.
I was like a trapeze artist frozen at the apex of a swing, on the verge of releasing from the bar to fly free a moment before snatching another. Would I have the courage to let go, to trust I’d survive that moment of free–fall? Or would I swing back, clinging to incinerated flesh?
Let go. Become the flame.
But how? I felt his spirit self merge slightly with mine, two becoming one in a thin line of translucent white. Yes, I could create fire, but how could I house myself in a form of energy? The angel before me had, but I wasn’t an angel. None of us demons were angels anymore. We’d devolved — perhaps too far for this sort of thing. I didn’t trust that I could do it and live.
I have you. I won’t let go, he insisted.
I didn’t trust myself, but I did trust him. I jumped, feeling the remains of my human body fall away into flame and ash. There was the familiar stab of panic and joy, just like what I felt when I exploded out of my physical form and collapsed it back into a new one, converting the matter around me to my whim. For a second, I was free, a being of spirit unrestrained. I spread thin, stretched and on the verge of dissipating into nothingness. Fire of my doing burst around me, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it cloak me.
He reached out and pulled me to him. “It will only take an hour at the most.”
Before I could protest, he’d transported us in a disorienting jerk.
~5~
I could feel the heat all around me, stealing the air from my lungs and searing my skin. The angel pressed to me, smashing a furnace of power against my front, while the natural element of the forest fire raged against my back, squeezing me uncomfortably between them. I felt the threads of my clothing smolder, exposed skin beginning to blister. We were close, practically inside the blaze.
Pull back as you burn.
I did as the angel said, distancing my spirit self from the flesh. I still was aware of the pain, but it was as if I watched another. Thick smoke blurred the angel who was inches from my face, and I closed my useless eyes. I burned.
There was a caress against me. I felt his admiration and his attraction. Whatever it was I was doing, I seemed to be doing it properly, according to him. Even with the distant pain, the edge of fear as my body died, I felt safe. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me; I’d be okay as long as he was near.
My body failed, lungs choked with smoke, skin cells erupting. I tried to move an arm, but couldn’t figure out how to do it without extending my spirit self dangerously into the dead flesh. Struggling a few seconds on my own, I turned to him, awaiting his instruction. This was a lesson, and I was an eager pupil in the arms of an angel who was older than the sun.
Let the body go. See without eyes. Hear without ears. Move without limbs.
I’d die. What did he want me to house my spirit self in, if not this burning flesh? I felt the physical form of the angel shift like molten lava, his spirit self still reassuring against mine. Did his flesh burn too?
Open your eyes and see.
I knew he didn’t mean human eyes. Reaching out with my senses, as I did while in Aaru, I saw him, a smokeless fire before me, shielding my burnt body from total consumption by the inferno around us. What would happen if my body was completely destroyed by fire? I’d learned to exist safely inside a corpse, but had an uneasy feeling I’d die if the body no longer existed. He moved, as if to leave me to the fire, and I pressed against him in panic, my spirit self clinging to his for protection.
Let it go.
No fucking way. I couldn’t think of any Owned form that would safely exist in the blaze around me. The only option left was to hold on to this angel as if my life depended on it. Because my life did depend on it.
Let it go. Trust yourself. Trust me. I’m here to catch you, like a safety net.
I was like a trapeze artist frozen at the apex of a swing, on the verge of releasing from the bar to fly free a moment before snatching another. Would I have the courage to let go, to trust I’d survive that moment of free–fall? Or would I swing back, clinging to incinerated flesh?
Let go. Become the flame.
But how? I felt his spirit self merge slightly with mine, two becoming one in a thin line of translucent white. Yes, I could create fire, but how could I house myself in a form of energy? The angel before me had, but I wasn’t an angel. None of us demons were angels anymore. We’d devolved — perhaps too far for this sort of thing. I didn’t trust that I could do it and live.
I have you. I won’t let go, he insisted.
I didn’t trust myself, but I did trust him. I jumped, feeling the remains of my human body fall away into flame and ash. There was the familiar stab of panic and joy, just like what I felt when I exploded out of my physical form and collapsed it back into a new one, converting the matter around me to my whim. For a second, I was free, a being of spirit unrestrained. I spread thin, stretched and on the verge of dissipating into nothingness. Fire of my doing burst around me, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it cloak me.
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