Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
“A few escaped out of the letterbox; there might as well have been a neon sign warning me away. Why work for these bastards? Why?”
“I’ll work for whoever pays well. Be honest, Harper, our kind is darker than theirs will ever be.”
In some instances, that was indeed true. “Do I have you to thank for the rumor about Carla?”
“That was a personal hit. Have you ever felt soul-deep pain yourself? It’s an experience unlike any other. It hurts every part of you, inside and out. Every nerve ending, every organ, every bone, and – finally – every piece of your soul. You could say it packs an emotional punch.”
“You wanted me to hurt like you hurt,” Harper deduced.
“Yes. So I did my research on you, looking for dirt. I was annoyed to find that you’re not actually an imp. I don’t like being wrong.” Jeanna tilted her head. “A sphinx without wings. That’s a little like a dog without a bark.”
Harper kept her expression neutral, betraying nothing. “You think if you piss me off, I’ll charge at you? I’ve heard worse from better.” The bitch hissed, clenching her hand around the dagger. “Ooh, temper, temper,” taunted Harper.
“I will enjoy killing you.”
A frisson of fear slithered into Harper. Shit, what if she couldn’t do this? What if she failed and let Knox down? Of course she’d fail! She was weak, pathetic. She wouldn’t—
Harper shook her head a little. She’d never thought of herself as weak. Realization dawned. “You can induce fear.” Well that wasn’t good.
“Let’s end this, shall we?”
Harper had no problem at all with causing this bitch a world of pain; her inner demon wanted to gouge out Jeanna’s eyes and shove them down her throat. But Harper needed to be away from the house before Knox arrived or he would step inside the cube to reach her. “Think, Jeanna. Knox will come, and he won’t come alone. You won’t get away from here.”
“Of course I will. Jacques is waiting for me in the woods. He’ll teleport us away.”
“You don’t want to do this, Jeanna,” Harper said, her voice compelling. “You don’t even know who I am.”
“So it’s true that sphinxes can cause confusion.”
Shit, it didn’t seem to be working here. Harper could guess why. She was still psychically weak, courtesy of Isla’s bite. And she was expending precious psi-energy on fighting the artificial fear that threatened to drag her under and make her forget why it was so important that she win this duel – Knox. She would fight because he needed her to, because she wanted to stay with him.
Resigned that this would come to bladed combat, Harper drowned out Jeanna’s next words and studied the nightmare. Jeanna was obviously comfortable with a blade. Being tall, she also had a long reach. However, her height also meant her legs were exposed.
“Before I kill you, I must ask…what is Knox? You must know.” When Harper didn’t answer, Jeanna smirked. “An amazing lover, isn’t he?”
She thought to make Harper jealous? Thought such an emotion would make her lose control? “That’s not going to work, Jeanna. You’re insulting us both by being so petty.” Hearing voices call out to each other, Harper knew she and Jeanna had been spotted. “They see us. They’ll come up here.”
Jeanna shrugged, unconcerned. “They can’t step inside the shield. Nothing can penetrate it.”
“If you kill me, Knox will kill you.”
“If he finds me, yes he will. But it won’t make you any less dead, will it?”
She had a point.
Grinning, Jeanna held up her dagger. “Like it? I bought it from the practitioners.”
“That explains why it looks more like a Harry Potter wand.”
A scowl that promised retribution. “It’s enchanted. The handle is the bone of a demon who died in glorious agony. Each time I strike you with it, you’ll hear a cry of his pain.”
“Yeah” – Harper smiled tauntingly – “if you can slice me.”
Jeanna rushed Harper, pumped full of anticipation. With the swiftness of any sphinx, Harper retrieved her blade from her boot, infused it with hellfire, and parried the blow. The blades clanged as they met. Jeanna danced backwards, eyes wide.
Harper smirked. “You didn’t think you were the only one who had a blade, did you?” Apparently so. Jeanna had thought this would be a quick win, an easy method of payback. Wrong. Harper was taught combat and fencing by imps. They fought dirty. They cheated. They were damn bloodthirsty. “You sure you still want to do this?”
Jeanna’s expression answered that. Keeping her muscles loose, Harper lunged at her; went for every weak spot, including the face, neck, and chest. She was quick. Precise. Didn’t stop moving, kept up the pressure. The blades clanged as they repeatedly clashed.
There was no hesitation in Jeanna. She parried and thrust with ease, all the while careful not to let Harper’s hands touch her. It quickly became clear she was confident and, worse, very good with a dagger. She didn’t make the error most did and try to hit the blade; she tried to hit her opponent.