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That night long ago, she’d had only brief impressions of him He , which explained why she’d dispatched hiht he’d need to be fully planted on the earthly plane to defeat her Tonight he was as real as a nuclear device, ticking toward zero She wondered how much blood had been spilled toin a position of casual indolence against the light post The town liked those traditional ones with the globe on top, the turned spindle posts It suited him Horror movies liked to depict creatures of darkness with ross, powerful, monstrous bodies, but the reality was they often looked like the front-row audience at a New York fashion show

He had long silver hair Not gray, not white, but actual gleaed with a silver band proh to be noticed and coly coordinated fashion His clothing choice definitely wasn’t a blend with the coastal environernails that shiive the is, and she wondered how they got hold of Colgate whitener strips in Hell

A ruby pendant hung on his neck, secured to his body with additional silver chains that ran to the belt of the tunic and down his back They ran around the joining point of his wings Large, dark leathery-looking things with tattered edges at the trailing ends and taloned scallops higher up that looked like sharp teeth The talons oozed so the leather

He was beautiful and terrible Like the children at the end of the hallway in The Shining, no one wouldto happen

"He outthought "

She didn’t care what he meant or why She mainlined the Darkness in herself, pulled on the elements around her, and shot power at hi arc of fire and speed

He countered with his own volley, one that made the earth shudder beneath her She dove into the alley between the hoether The fire rolled by as if ejected froht of the explosion was as red as that ruby around his neck She shielded herself against the heat, feeling it blast over her Then all was darkness, silence

She scra She eased out, just a sliver of her face, then all of it The street was eravity a nonissue, unlike her biped self Nothing The residual was there, but the substance wasn’t

He’d been solid She’d felt it So how had he deht here Close by Way close by

He outthought ed in her throat, and she bolted out of the alley Derek Derek had gone into the chamber without her, but not to betray her He’d felt As and went to protect Rose Even as her heart nearly burst with love for hi Asmodeus alone, with Rose to defend and hah about the ht harm the soul within it

She’d left him blind, handicapped She could very well lose them both

Chapter 20

THE METAL DOOR TO THE BASEMENT HAD BEEN BLASTED on its hinges, charred fra with sparks It was Derek’s work, in too ency only increased her own At one time, she and Derek had been so close, they could alhts, sense the other’s pain and distress, but she wasn’t getting anything right now Maybe there was tooOr, noble bastard that he was, he hadn’t wanted to draw her back here She was betting on the latter

That explained why Asoad her into co as fast as possible He’d tossed her around a bit to rattle her, of course, but the deive hi her as a real threat, which, while insulting,

Even knowing she’d been pulled here deliberately, it didn’t slow her down The er That was all she needed to know