Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“I’ll have to tell her about Viper and I at some point,” said Ella. “I wasn’t sure it’d be necessary. But last night, he made it clear that he hopes this will go the distance.”
“Are you hoping for the same?”
“Yes. I feel comfortable with him in a way I never have with anyone else.” All her life, Ella had felt like something was missing. It was much the same feeling that you got when you walked into a room and realized that something had been moved or taken. There was an absence that she couldn’t explain. Now, with him around, it was gone.
“Do you care for him?”
“Yes, I do. I actually think I’m in serious danger of falling hard for this dude.” It would be a first for Ella. She’d done a whole lot of liking. There’d also been plenty of lusting. A time or two, she’d thought she might well grow to feel the big L for someone. But it had just never happened.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a little miffed that he hasn’t yet told me all there is to know about him,” Ella continued. “But I do understand the Black Saints’ need for caution. And I don’t really have much room to judge someone for keeping things from people anyway, considering I’ve kept my involvement with him a secret.”
“Yeah, we’d be hypocrites to judge them.”
“I thought my demon might fight me on agreeing to a relationship with Viper, but it isn’t actually opposed to keeping him. Why? Simple and selfish: It’s possessive enough of him not to want another woman to have him.”
Mia snickered. “Typical.”
Ella puffed out a breath. “I guess I better rehearse exactly how I’ll break it to our family.”
As she later drove them home from work, it was exactly what she did. But no matter what way she approached the matter, no matter what angle she took, she never found a way to voice the news that would make their loved ones take it well.
“I think I’m going to have to accept that there is no way to make them take it well,” said Ella, turning onto a single lane. This short-cut to their apartment building didn’t see much traffic, instead it was surrounded by grassland. “I’ll just have to bite the bullet and tell them anyway.”
“I think Mom and Jocelyn will eventually come round, once they see that Viper makes you happy. Luka? He might hold it against Viper until the end of time.”
“I wish I could say you’re wrong, but—”
Something landed on her car and rolled off it.
Ella slammed her foot on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt.
Ghost. It was Ghost who’d hit the car. He was now pushing himself up off the ground … and glaring at the two strix looming over him. One strix lashed him with a whip of—whoa—black fire while the other blasted him with flaming orbs.
And then … everything happened superfast.
Several members of the Black Saints appeared, sans Viper.
Ella’s guards rushed out of their car behind hers and began charging forward.
More strix came sprinting across the field on her right, as if they’d been waiting there.
The rest of the Black Saints materialized, Viper included, and shed their jackets in a wickedly fast movement.
All hell then officially broke loose.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ella fumbled for the door handle, ready to jump out and join the battle, when she noticed something that made her freeze. “What the … ?” The strix were volleying balls of hellfire at the Black Saints—that was normal enough—but the angels were retaliating with ultraviolet orbs of who-knew-the-fuck-what.
Mia leaned forward. “What is that stuff they’re conjuring? It’s not holy fire, and it’s not hellfire.”
“Maybe it’s some combination of both.”
Something blasted out of Viper. A shimmering, ultraviolet wave that rippled through the air.
And sliced its targets in two.
Ella flinched back, her demon as impressed as it was leery. “Well. Fuck.”
More of those waves were tossed around, killing multiple demons at a time.
Hearing a vicious muffled curse, she looked to her left to see Razor baring his teeth at a strix. He whipped out his arm, telekinetically throwing it at another demon that had been fast approaching, sending them both flying to the ground. Yet another flip of the same arm sent a third strix soaring right over Ella’s car and into the grassland beyond it. All three strix were on their feet again within moments, only to be taken out by a series of ultraviolet thingies.
Her heart jumped when a cluster of strix surrounded Kasper and Arman.
And killed the guards in seconds.
She hissed in anger, clenching her hand on the steering wheel. “Jesus Christ. We have to—” She started in surprise as a strix approached the front of the car, sniffing. Its red eyes zipped from her to Mia, a combination of intrigue and bloodthirst there. The demon coiled its body, preparing itself to lunge.