root of his unbalanced state. The Dragon Queen.
“Why me, my love,” he whispered, running a hand through his mane.
“Demetri?” He turned to face Indigo"s curious stare. “Are you here with me?
You just drifted away for a moment. Is someone calling to you?”
He groaned.
Cursed priestesses. He would have to make his will stronger to conceal his
obvious connection toward the dark beauty in his mind.
He shifted in his seat, retrieved his glass and took a slow sip. “So what is her
make? Is she a demon?”
“Yes,” she replied, eyeing him incredulously. “A very powerful one.”
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Last he checked, demons didn"t have angel wings. Either he was delusional
or the priestess was clueless.
He tapped Katsumi"s handle, which rested against the arm of the couch.
“Will her death bring an end to this madness?” He had no intentions of killing her, but to
say so would divert Indigo from his uneasy state.
She shook her head. “You can"t kill her, Demetri. She is your equal. If you can
find her while she"s in mid-shift or before she turns, then maybe you"ll have a
chance of destroying her. Maybe.”
“Before she turns?”
“Yes. Apparently she"s in human form. This is why the demons are going
ballistic. It"s hard to track a superior demon who"s concealing their true form as a
mortal.”
“This I know all too well,” he mumbled. “If she has not fully shifted, why is
her scent so intoxicating? I was under the impression they didn"t release a scent
until they were completely formed.”
“Oh no, not in this case.” She retrieved her wine and relaxed back against
the couch. “She"s going through an uncontainable level of aphrodisia. She"s in heat.
At least in human form her being in heat is not that bad, but this chick is not to be
messed with once she turns. She will want, and she will get. Her hormone level
will be very high, and she will be very dangerous.”
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A helpless smile tugged at his lips. “Sounds intriguing.”
She pursed her lips and pinned him with a glare. “Don"t get too excited,
Demetri. You have to remember where there"s a Queen, there"s a King. And if you
do find her, you"re going to have to go up against him.”
He almost choked on the sip of wine he"d taken. A king? Of course.
“Well, where is this king?” he heard himself ask, a hint of animus coating his
words. “According to what you"re telling me, there"s a multitude of demons
looking for his queen. Why is he not taking action?”
“I don"t know. I only know what the prophecy foretells.”
“What will it take to destroy him?”
She stared at him oddly. “Demetri, this is not like battling regular demons.
These two are the supreme order. It is likely he"ll kill you if you go up against him.”
“Your faith in me is flattering, darling,” he uttered dryly.
Her expression softened. “Baby, don"t be like that. You know I think you"re
the baddest vamp on the planet. It"s just that I"m not so sure about this one.”
Sliding his eyes around the room for the sake of looking at anything but her,
he wet his lips. Her concerned words were useless. He"d find this king and
demolish him.
“Why are they here? I thought creatures of such power belonged in the
nether realms.”
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“Yes. We thought this much also, but something has changed in the realms.
When the prophecy of the Dragon Queen first came about, it was said that she
would be born in a later era when hell surfaces, the battle angels come down from
the heavens and the war begins. Armageddon.”
“Is that not what is happening now?”
“No.” She took a big gulp of wine. “Believe it or not, the death toll would be
greater.”
“If this is not war, then what is it?”
She set her glass on the table, her eyes darting about in thought. “I don"t
know. Maybe it"s some sort of preparation.”
He stroked Katsumi"s handle, studying her distracted face. “How are they
crossing into this realm?”
“Someone with great power had to open a portal to allow them to come
here.”
“Tell me how to find this portal and close it.”
She shook her head again. “Only those who are traveling through it can give
us that information.”
“This is almost impossible,” he growled in frustration. “They"re masters at
clearing their minds against my third eye.”
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“Then we"ve got to find a way to get the information without them
knowing.”
With the wave of her hand, Indigo conjured a silver plated book. The thick
tome was covered with a series of symbols, which glowed beneath her touch.
Clamped on the right side of the book was a huge gold lock.
Demetri stared at it in awe. The book was a magnificent piece of art. He
ached to touch it, to run his fingers along each and every symbol inscribed in it,
but knew better. It wasn"t the silver that kept him at bay; he was immune. It was
the spells in small script at the bottom of the book.
One thing he"d learned in all of his years of dealing with powerful
priestesses was you never, ever touch a book they put a spell on. The consequences
could be deadly, even for a demon vampire.
Indigo tapped the lock and it clicked open. “I haven"t shown this book to
anyone other than the members of my coven, so I hope you realize this is a big step
for me,” she confessed, offering him a bashful smile. “And don"t you go telling all of
your vamp friends about this either. That could get me in a world of mess.”
He raised a single brow. “What vamp friends?”
She snickered and flipped her locks from her shoulders. “Anyway, all of the
top level priestesses of this realm possess a book such as this. It"s what gives us our
guidance and foresight.”
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She held her hand over the tome and willed it to open. The pages turned
rapidly, stirring up a breeze that blew the hair back from his face. The turning
ceased once it came to a page illuminating the symbol of a dragon.
“According to the book, she"s almost 500 years early.”
“500 years?”
“Yes,” she murmured, her eyes roaming over the page.
“What"s her purpose?”
“The same as yours. Balance,” she uttered.
He stared at her in silence for a moment. “So, she"s an ally?”
“No, not necessarily. You see, she"s a product of Heaven and Hell, so she
could go either way. She has to decide which team she"s going to play for. So, until
we know for sure, she is our enemy.”
“Heaven and Hell…” Well that explained to wings.
Demetri eyes fell away from hers. His thoughts wondered to alluring vision
of his distant angel, sitting upon the iridescent mound, her skin shimmering in
gold lust and the blinding spans of light that cast from her shoulder blades. One
part Heaven. Her sensual touch, her tantalizing kiss and the sweet prick from her
sharp fang. One part Hell. A half-breed.
He shuddered at the memory.
A product of Heaven and Hell. Such an insane, yet beautiful combination.
>
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“What is with you tonight? You are so distant.”
He didn"t even bother to look at her. He"d been caught yet again visualizing
the seductive creature who had taken refuge in his mind. “Tell me about her king,”
he muttered, studying the lines in the palm of his hand. He would not tell her. It
was not for her to know, not yet.
“Demetri—”
“Her king,” he voiced a little louder, cutting her a side glance. “What is his
make? Is he also a product of heaven and hell?”
There was a short moment of nervous silence where all she did was stare at
him. “Okay,” she sighed as she began to flip through the pages again.
A faint grunt caused him to look up and lock eyes with her. Perplexity
crossed her face.
“I was wrong. She hasn"t chosen a mate yet. One of the many demons who
are in search of her will be crowned as her King. She will choose the strongest
demon in this realm. Once she has chosen him, she"ll take blood from him and give
blood to him at the same time, and at that moment he will be crowned.” She
pushed out a heavy exhale and scratched her head. “This will happen during her
mid-shift. Now once she fully shifts and gives to him again, he will be supreme.
After that, the only being that"ll be able to take him down is a battle angel.”
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“Hmm. You"d think these demons would be a little less aggressive being that
they"re searching for a creature with the strength of heaven and hell within her
grasp.”
She nodded anxiously. “Exactly! This is how I know the demons who are
killing these girls are amateurs. Any creature of the underworld knows a Queen of
this magnitude chooses her mate, not the other way around.” She pursed her lips.
“Damn Chingi roaches, the stupidest race of demons ever created and so fucking
hard to kill. They thrive on sex and death, which totally blinds them to the fact
that she"ll destroy them in the blink of an eye if they dare to demand her blood.”
Raising his wine glass to the light, he swirled the liquid around causing a
light film of the scarlet life-giving elixir to tint the inside of the glass. “Interesting.”
He took his eyes off the liquid to look at her. “So, she"ll choose the strongest
demon? Even a demon vampire?”
He could hear the rapid increase of her heartbeat. She stared at him hard,
her lower lip quivering. “Demetri, what are you not telling me—”
Her eyes grew wide. Sweat emitted from her pores. Her body began to
convulse. Her beige skin turned pale.
“Indigo,” he called, studying her intently.
She shot to her feet and slapped her hands over her ears. The book fell to the
floor and vanished. Her eyes stark white, she tilted her head back, and a gut
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wrenching scream ripped from the base of her throat. Her piercing screech
shattered the wine bottle and glasses, spilling the bold mixture onto the wood
floor.
Several young women ran into the room, their hands clasped over their ears.
One of them held a small bag. He could smell the chemical substance from where
he sat.
The alarmed woman approached Indigo with the bag clutched tight.
“No.”
She stopped in her tracks and stared at him while trying to cover her ears.
He grabbed Indigo"s arm, yanked her back down onto the seat and grabbed
the sides of her face. Blood tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
“Focus. Focus on me and control it,” he behest.
Her eyes squeezed shut, she shook her head violently and tried to writhe out
of his grip.
Demetri stared into her terror-stricken face. He attempted to mentally link
with her, but she was trying so hard to extract the visions and screams from her
mind that in the process, she locked him out. He didn"t want to force himself into
her domain and project his being to her astral location without her consent. It
could destroy her psyche.
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“Indigo, I need you to focus, so I can link with you. I can"t help you if you
don"t allow me…”
Abruptly jarred, his body stiffened and his nostrils flared. The familiar eye-
watering scent circled them in the form of a thick black mist. It drew out his fangs
and ignited uncontainable fury.
This was no mere vision. In the depths of her mind, she was trapped in the
presence of a chingi demon.
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Chapter Four
Siren’s Call
Demetri"s voice sifted through the walls of her mind as she watched the
huge demon mutilate a poor defenseless mortal. The woman"s pain projected right
into her. Indigo felt like she was the one being maimed by the vicious monster.
Her flesh was clawed to pieces, insides brutally torn apart, hair ripped from
her scalp, bones crushed under his grasp and limbs yanked from her body. The
agony worsened when the demon roared in pleasure.
Clenching her teeth to endure the brutality, she raised her right hand and
conjured a sphere of electric force. She released it to hover in the air before her
then launched it at the beast. The whole right side of its body exploded into
pieces.
Before she could even blink an eye, the creature"s body regenerated.
“Fucking Chingi scum!”
With its victim"s bloody arm hanging from its mouth, it turned and
glowered at her. In haste, she attempted to conjure another power strike, but was
cut short when its dark force hurled her against the wall.
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Demetri heard her bones cracked. Blood poured from her nose and ears, spilt
over his hands, and down his arm as he held her head firmly in his grasp. He
couldn"t wait any longer to link. He moved his palms to her temples, pressed his
forehead to hers and closed his eyes.
The creature squeezed its hand around her neck and slammed the back of
her head into the wall. The loud crack of her scull echoed through the dense area.
She felt blood gushed from the wound and absorbed into her thick locks. Bile and
blood hung at the back of her throat, yet she fought to remain conscious.
Grimacing, she strained to disconnect the pain, but there was no use. She
would have to suffer this.
“You"re one of the slayer"s minions, aren"t you,” the demon hissed, his eyes
glowing green with hatred. “In honor of your master, I will devour you slowly,
witch.” It dragged his sharp, black nail down her arm, ripping open her flesh and
muscle.
Wailing against the vicious assault, she gathered her soul"s energy to resist
the agony. “Fuck you,” she spat, her vision becoming blurry.
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It tightened its grasp on her throat and stretched its gruesome mouth wide.
Its putrid yellow teeth lengthened in preparation to take a chunk out of her head.
Then the rasp of a sword drawn from its scabbard brought him to a
screeching halt. It was Katsumi"s death song.
Through clouded vision, Indigo witnessed the lovely lethal blade slide
though the demon"s neck with brutal force. She was splashed with its blood.
Before the demon had time to react, the blade turned downward and sliced all the
way through its burly body. The incision healed instantly, b
ut the creature"s fear
was revealed.
She fell from the demon"s trembling grasp. It staggered from her fallen body
and attempted to flee. In the form of a shadow, Demetri blocked its path, cutting
him off with lightning speed. It turned, whipped his thick tail at him and tried to
run the other way.
Demetri ducked, caught the extended limb, yanked it from the demon"s
body and sliced through his mid-section, simultaneously, leaving him in three
pieces. In a matter of seconds, its bottom section sprouted back out. Determined
to get away from the demon slayer, it shrieked in terror, shot off the floor and
bolted toward the window.
Before the horrid creature could shift through the transom, Demetri stepped
on its tail and with one graceful swipe of his blade he claimed the demon"s head.
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Indigo heard the thud of the still howling head hit the floor. Faintly, she
watched it evaporate into nothing, and then the room faded to black.
“Open your eyes, Indigo.”
Groggily, she opened her eyes to Demetri"s beautiful face. He gazed down at
her, emotion glowing from his bright turquoise eyes. With a weak hand, she gently
pushed the hair back from the side of his face and tucked it behind his ear.
The pain in her body diminished within his embrace. His healing energy
spiraled through her repairing broken bones and torn flesh.
Sobs and whimpers from her girls throughout the parlor filled her ears. It
had to be a horrific sight for them to see their mistress almost viciously killed by
an unseen force.
She lifted a weak hand and waved at them to calm their worried hearts. “It"s
okay girls. Go back to sleep.”
“You are stronger than that, Indigo. Why didn"t you link with me?”
“If I would"ve openly linked with you, then it would"ve known you were near
and wiped its mind. This is how it had to be done.” She brushed her fingers across
his temple and smiled. “You were toying with that demon.”
The slayer she knew never took that long to kill a demon, especially not
while wielding Katsumi. That"s how she knew her plan had worked. It was so
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