Read Online Shadow Magic by Cheyenne McCray - Free Book Online Page B

her and she barely choked it down. She moved her fingertips from her forehead and clenched her hands into fists as she tipped her head back to look up at the fog-obscured sky.
    â€œWhere. Are. You?” she said through clenched teeth. “I need you.”
    Something blocked her mental powers. Or Balor was somewhere her mind could not reach.
    If only bringing her beloved husband from Underworld had not depleted most of her strength and left her with little power. Since that day, feeding off human flesh and taking human souls gave her just enough of that strength and power to last from one night to the next.
    Instead of being able to gather great quantities of souls to replenish herself, she had only been able to dine on and claim the souls of two humans at a time, no more.

    Not enough. Not enough!
    Even though she gained strength whenever she claimed humans for food and souls, if she attempted to take any more, it only replaced what power she had to use to steal the second pair.
    It was driving her out of her mind.
    Not for long, though. She knew deep in her gut that she would find a way to come back into her full powers.
    She filled her lungs again and cleared her mind as best she could. What energy she did have she held in reserve to change from her pitiful human shell. She would return to her glorious goddess form when she was ready to attack the guardsmen who would be patrolling the street at any time.
    The sharp snap of boot steps against concrete echoed up the incline of the steep street and relief flowed over her. Much longer, and she didn’t know if she’d have the power to take their lives.
    The pair of military guards appeared at the crest of the hill. She managed a smile at the thought that she was the reason for the government’s implementation of martial law. She was responsible for the almost silenced city.
    As the guardsmen approached, their images became clearer to her bleary sight. Both wore tan and brown camouflage and smelled of sweat, and one of them stank of cigarettes.
    Keeping to the darkness, Ceithlenn let the men pass her. She pushed away from the brick wall and stepped from the shadows behind them. She kicked a stone from the sidewalk and it clattered as it bounced and rolled across the asphalt street.
    The click and snapping sounds of the guardsmen’s rifles bit the quiet night as the men whirled and trained their weapons on her.
    The guards remained stiff-shouldered as one of the men shouted, “Don’t move. Hands above your head.”
    Ceithlenn obeyed. In her Sara form, dressed in human jeans and a T-shirt, with her short, punk-red bobbed hair, she
knew she appeared innocent and just as weak as she’d been feeling.
    In anticipation of her meal, adrenaline shot through her veins and what strength and power she still commanded came to her in a rush.
    â€œState your name,” the same guardsman demanded. He wore a military cap and the bill shadowed his eyes. “And state your reason for being out of your home.”
    â€œSara Jones.” Ceithlenn used the name of the warlock whose body she had joined with. She took a step forward but stopped at the sound of another sharp click of their rifles. She didn’t think they would shoot, but if they did her human shell would likely not survive. And that meant Ceithlenn’s death as well because she wasn’t in her goddess form.
    She had no problem faking the tremble in her voice as she continued, drawing on the lingering memories of Sara Jones, still stored in the occupied brain. “My sister is pregnant and her water broke. The baby is two months too soon. Our phone—we can’t get it to work.”
    â€œState your place of residence,” the same man demanded with no compassion and Ceithlenn decided she would kill him first.
    The heat of her anger almost caused her hair to flame and her incisors to lengthen. She didn’t have time for this shit. She controlled her