This World Bites (Cera Chronicles Book 1)

by Loni Townsend

  I kicked Alexander in his private plumbing. “You—you…” What were some of the phrases Michael used? “You halthulatchek! Michael may be dying, and if you killed the only opportunity I had to extend his time, then I will kill you.”

  He doubled over and spread his wings for balance. “Calm down, Miss…”

  “You will call me Mistress Cera, if you know what’s good for you. I don’t give idle threats. Your death will be slow and painful.”

  I stormed closer and he took a few quick steps backward, drawing one of his swords. “Mistress Cera, please calm down. I do not wish to harm you.”

  I grabbed the end of his blade. Metal bit into my palm, slicing deep and healing in the same instance. I yanked it from his grasp and tossed it down the alley. It clanked and clattered as it skidded across the pavement. Alexander’s eyes shot from my hand to the sword and then back to me. He backed away.

  “Cera!” Duke grabbed my arms and wrestled me away from another attack. “Eddie was a black market seller. He had serum injections that temporarily countered the symptoms of the disease. We don’t need Eddie alive to help Michael. We just need in his apartment.”

  I stopped struggling. “Oh.” I looked at Alexander and blushed. “My apologies for striking you.”

  The winged man nodded and straightened his posture. “Clearly a misunderstanding.” He looked down the alley toward his fallen sword. “I can see you are in a hurry. I offer my assistance to fly you up to the room.”

  Duke’s grip on me tightened and he pulled me possessively to his chest. “We can take the stairs.”

  Alexander was waiting for us when we arrived in the room. He held a handful of glass vials and glared at Duke when we walked in. “This is classified government material. You knew he trafficked modified serums, and you didn’t think to inform anyone? I should arrest you for obstruction.”

  My date flashed his fangs. “I have gone the past three years without ingesting blood. If I can pay to spare my conscience, then I will.”

  Alexander held up one of the vials containing blue liquid. “This should have never left the lab. Who knows how it may have mutated since it entered distribution.”

  “I was Eddie’s only buyer.” Duke sneered. “When you own as many people as I do, it’s easy to monopolize the market.”

  I snatched the glass container from Alexander’s extended hand. “Will this help Michael?”

  “It is not a cure!” Alexander moved to take it back but I darted out of his reach.

  Duke shook his head. “He’s right. It’s not a cure, but it may stave off the symptoms and buy him more time.”

  “I can’t allow you to take that, Mistress Cera.” Alexander flexed his wings. “That substance is highly experimental. There is no guarantee the effects will not worsen your friend’s condition.”

  I gripped it tighter in my palm, hunching over it. “I’ll take my chances.” Discomfort formed in my bones, affected by Michael’s condition. Without my pendant, I wouldn’t be able to use a transport seal to return. I turned toward the door and ran.

  Alexander tackled me from behind, using his wings to quicken his pace. As soon as he made contact, my Miasho power reacted. It happened from time to time with creatures of high susceptibility. The power latched onto them, lured them in with overwhelming sensation.

  The winged man was strong, and I, being pendant-less, was no match. He slammed me into the wall, his hard body grinding against me, his mouth taking mine in a lust-driven kiss.

  The next instant, he was gone, flying down the hall, and not with the use of his wings. Alexander may be powerful, but Duke was fueled by rage. Enough rage to throw a man down a hallway.

  Duke shook, his hands clenching and unclenching and his breath hissing between his teeth. “I said don’t touch her.” He ran and pounced. The two men grappled, contending for the superior position.

  I knew I should stay, considering they fought over me, but Michael needed this serum. He needed me. I turned my back on the two men and started running again.

  Chapter 9

  I HEARD HIS SCREAMING FROM DOWN the hall and felt his pain echoed in my body. Michael lay on what was left of the bed, sheets shredded and bits of mattress thrown across the room. His wild gaze met mine when I entered, full of agony and pleading for relief. His thoughts formed words in my mind. Make it stop.

  “Fever has him,” Fues said. The pygmy had tied Michael’s arms to the bedposts, which bowed beneath the strain.

  I handed Rin the vial with a shaky hand. “Will this help him?”

  Rin closed his fingers around the glass, his eyes losing focus as his power analyzed the liquid with the vial. “It will provide temporary respite.”

  I crawled onto the bed with Michael and caressed his head, willing him into calmness. Rin pulled an injection device from one of our cases and measured out a portion of liquid. He pressed it to Michael’s neck while I held my guardian in place.

  A ring of soft yellow light glowed around the edge of skin contact before turning pale green, an indication the substance had spread equally through the recipient’s system. Michael’s breathing steadied and slowed. Sweat rolled from his hair, down the side of his face, and disappeared into the dark, wet stain of his shirt. “In the words of your father, this frigging sucks.”

  I laughed and a stray tear rolled down my cheek. Thank the beasts! He was talking again.

  We untied his arms and he went limp against me, his head pressed into the crook of my neck.

  Fues patted Michael’s brow with a cool, wet cloth. He murmured indecipherable comforts to which Michael growled in reply. The pygmy let out a soft chuckle. If we lost Michael, Fues would be devastated. Seth and I could never translate his jokes and Rin didn’t have a sense of humor.

  I looked around for Seth, but he and the two women weren’t there.

  Michael squirmed in my lap, his nose crinkling in disgust. “Beasts! What is that awful smell?” Fues chittered a response in his native tongue and Michael scowled. “No, not me. The other smell.”

  I sharpened my senses and caught the faint whiff of spoiled eggs. I let out a groan. “Demon slavers.”

  Fues looked at me with a single wooden eyebrow raised in question. “What you do?”

  “Why do you assume this has to do with me?”

  Amazing how expressive a painted mask could be. At this moment, it expressed doubt of my innocence.

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I may have killed their leader last night after he gave me this.” I pointed to the healing wound on my cheek. They knew the implications. If a demon could hurt me, it could kill all of us.

  Fues shook his head and clicked his tongue in a sound of disapproval. He and Rin exchanged a few words and the pygmy went to work drawing markings on the floor.

  I pulled a small knife from my belt and pricked the pad of my thumb until a bead of blood formed on the tip. I wiped it on the wall behind the bed’s headboard and focused on weaving an illusion. Anything connected to the wall was subject to my power, with enough concentration. I put forth my entire effort into making us insubstantial to external senses when the door and surrounding wall were ripped away.

  An all too familiar face strode into the rubble and looked around the room. “Search the area,” Katherine the bartender said. “She can’t have gone far.”

  Rin reached out a hand and touched the shoulder of the closest demon. The demon flinched and searched the space where Rin stood. The illusion held. They wouldn’t be able to sense any of us while we stayed in this room. Rin used his power to analyze the demon. “Malevolent creatures, not native to this world. It would appear they possess the ability to traverse the world boundaries and have been abducting humans to employ as forced labor.”

  I frowned at him. “I told you they were slavers. That is what slavers do.”

  Rin met my gaze. “They have come for you.”

  I tried to ignore him and maintain my focus. It grew progressively harder as the demons spread out. I had to account for ever
y angle and perspective for each searching eye. Demons checked every part of the room, scanning under the bed and invading the small storage spaces built into the walls. Others returned from scouting nearby. They found nothing.

  Michael twisted and whimpered next to me. His fingernails grew, puncturing holes in what remained of the mattress.

  Sweat broke out on my forehead and drizzled down the side of my face. Time ticked by, punctuated by the creak of falling plaster. Why wouldn’t they leave? Pain burned in my muscles, transmitted across the guardian bond. The edge of my vision blackened. I sucked in a breath.

  The illusion broke.

  Hesitation flashed across Katherine’s face, her gaze darting to the demons. Then she clenched her teeth and gritted out, “There she is.”

  The demon Rin held convulsed, electrical currents crackling over its leathery skin. It burst into ash before it even hit the floor.

  Fues sang cryptic words, dancing in a circle and shaking a rattle crafted of bone and wooden beads. Two demons standing within the pygmy’s markings let out screeches. Their bodies shrank at a rapid pace until their heads were no bigger than my fist. He grinned wickedly, snatched them by the tails, and shoved them into a burlap sack.

  The remaining five lackeys ran straight for me. I charged a fireball in my palm. Smoke puffed from my fingertips. Dammit. Without my pendant, my element manipulation was crap.

  Michael clamped his teeth around the hand that reached us first.

  I kicked, landing a blow square on the demon’s jaw. He flew backward and out the missing door, leaving his hand behind.

  I grabbed the head of the next demon, bit the inside of my cheek, and spat. Blood-tainted saliva splattered its face. Illusion wrapped around him and I thrust confusion through the blood connection. It recoiled, whirled, and then raked at his companion with gnarled, clawed appendages. The second demon retaliated and the two fell into grappling on the floor.

  The last two of the five lunged for me. I grabbed Michael and dove forward. The demons smashed into the headboard and rebounded. I thrust my knife into one’s eye and threw him off the bed. The second one landed on top of me. Spittle dripped from his maw onto my cheek. Michael bit into the demon’s shoulder, but the massive brute batted him away. The pain radiating across the guardian bond amplified. I screamed. Blood pounded against my eardrums. I thrust my arms up and drove my thumbs into the demon’s eyes. It thrashed its head, but didn’t let up. I locked its elbow and flung myself into a roll. We tumbled off the bed and I landed on top. Green blood splattered my fists as I hammered them into its snout.

  Michael howled. My muscles tensed and my back bowed. The demon beneath me threw me off and I landed against the wall. It rose to its feet.

  The static charge of Rin’s power stood my hair on end. “Cease,” Rin said without inflection. “Or I will kill you.”

  The demon ignored his warning and was unceremoniously electrocuted to death. It dropped into a twitching mass. Between Fues and Rin, the other demons had already been dispatched.

  I gathered Michael into my arms and climbed back onto the bed.

  Katherine stood alone in stunned silence. “Well.” She folded her arms protectively over her chest. “That didn’t go as planned.”

  I looked at the mess they’d made of our hotel room and pinched the bridge of my nose. “What is frigging wrong with you people? Must you destroy every building you encounter? Can’t you knock and use doors like normal people?” I hoped the shower still worked.

  She shifted from foot to foot. “You’re not going to kill me, are you? I mean, this wasn’t my idea to come get you.”

  “Then whose was it?” Not that I’d really kill her. I’d hate to waste her bartending talent.

  “Katherine!” said a cheery voice from crumbling room perimeter. “Oh, it is so good to see you!”

  Katherine’s face froze in a mask of horror. Panic filled her eyes and her voice dropped to a fierce whisper. “You didn’t tell me you knew my sister!”

  No, really? “It wasn’t at the top of my list of conversation topics.”

  Stella strolled into the ruined room behind Seth and Danielle. Seth dropped his bag of groceries and gripped his sword hilt. He glowered at the wreckage before focusing on me. “I missed the fight?”

  “Yes.” I craned my neck to look at the groceries. “Are those cheese puffs?”

  Seth snatched the fallen bag of cheese puffs and brought them to me. I alternated between eating some and tossing others into the air, which Michael caught between his teeth. He panted as he waited for more.

  Katherine whirled, forcing a smile to her lips. “Stella, it’s been so long…”

  “When Mistress Cera rescued me and told me about you, I couldn’t help but wonder what could make you go back to Daegus.” Stella shook her head with a disapproving frown. “Really, that man is no good for you.”

  “He enslaved me,” Katherine said through clenched teeth and a fake smile. “It wasn’t like I had much choice.”

  Stella cupped her sister’s face and compressed her lips with a sympathetic expression. “You always have a choice.” Patting Katherine’s cheek, she beamed around the room. “Well, this place is brimming with delicious energy, isn’t it?”

  The demon I’d kicked out of the room scrabbled in the rubble. Stella whirled on it, chanting with outstretched hands and glowing eyes. Green bands circled the fleeing monster, caught it, and sliced it into ribbons. Katherine flinched. Stella swayed on her feet, a blissful smile on her lips. She looked down at the battered demon remains. The green bands absorbed what was left of it. She locked her gaze on Fues’s burlap sack.

  “No.” He held up a hand. “Mine.”

  She frowned and then shrugged. “I suppose I can share.”

  Danielle sniffed Katherine. “You aren’t a harnesser.”

  “One hundred percent uninfected human,” she agreed.

  “You stink of demons,” Danielle observed.

  Katherine tapped a leather collar around her neck that had previously gone unnoticed. “Slave, remember?”

  “That must be unpleasant.”

  Katherine nodded. “It’s hell.”

  Michael straightened, ears perked with attention, nose frantically scenting the air.

  Duke appeared at the point of rubble where the door once stood. “Cera? What happened? Are you alright?”

  “Yes, Duke, I’m fine.” I wiped my cheese-encrusted fingers on the comforter. “We just had a situation. Please come in.”

  He stepped carefully toward the bed, keeping a measured distance between himself and Stella. He looked at Michael. “How’s he doing?”

  “The serum helped.” I studied Duke’s face. The gash on his forehead had healed and his cheeks had filled out. I tapped my lower lip. “You have a bit of…”

  Duke touched his lip and his fingertip came back red. Quickly he licked the lip and finger clean. He wasn’t the one bleeding.

  “Off your diet?” I asked casually.

  He gave me a sheepish grin. “I may have gotten a bit carried away.”

  “Is Alexander still alive?”

  Duke’s expression turned dangerously dark. “Why do you care about him?”

  “Yes, I am still alive.” Alexander landed at the room’s edge, his wings folding in behind him.

  Stella turned and smiled. Duke’s eyes went wide. “Stella, wait—”

  Too late. Green bands circled the winged man and sliced him to ribbons. Stella giggled and looked at me. “Oh how I love spending time with you!”

  I grimaced. Insane woman indeed.

  Duke caressed my knee with a hand and Michael growled.

  “Duke.” I hesitantly petted Michael’s head. “You might not want to touch me right now.”

  “Why?” His voice hinted with jealousy.

  Michael spread his jaws and clamped down on Duke’s forearm.

  Chapter 10

  “I UNDERSTAND YOUR PAIN,” Danielle said as Seth bandaged Duke’s forearm.


  “Did you have to bite me back?” Michael rubbed his bandaged shoulder, the one opposite of the zombie bite. “I feel like I have become the resident chew toy.”

  “Serves you right.” Duke lifted his arm in mock anger. “I try to help you and this is the thanks I get?”

  I kissed Duke’s cheek and hugged his neck. “Thank you.” He’d come through for me. Michael wouldn’t die right away.

  He stiffened and looked at me from beneath lowered lashes. “Don’t mention it.” I think if he had more blood in his system, he probably would have blushed.

  “The bite was beneficial,” Rin said to Michael. “Your disease has once again mutated. Your death will be far less painful now.”

  Seth returned my pendant and I breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t burn on contact. Power warmed my muscles and I welcomed the sensation. I hated being without my elemental power and I never wanted to go without my pendant again.

  Duke cleared his throat. “Agent Holt planned on getting us the newest batch of the serum before Stella killed him.” He gave me a grim look. “It would seem our Mistress Cera had quite the effect on him.”

  “A reaction to my power.” I patted his shoulder. “That’s all.”

  Rin prepped another injection for Michael. “I have studied the calculations listed within this world’s data-store and located the error causing the initial symptoms. Though the Z0 enhancement shed at an increased rate, they noted only a single viral strain when, in actuality, there was a second.” He pressed the injection tool to Michael’s throat and waited for the injector color to change. “The method of attachment resembles the demonic enslavement process, where any physical manifestation of the bonding is unapparent. Had they not come to our location, I may have never observed the similarities.”

  “Are you saying demons are the reason our world is overrun with zombies?” Danielle sounded skeptical.

  “Yes.” Rin slipped the injection tool back into its case.