City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials Book 1) by C.N. Crawford

Author:C.N. Crawford [Crawford, C.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Hypervigilance: a heightened state of anxiety and alertness, a tendency to scan the environment for threats.

In my everyday life, it was dysfunctional. In the world of demons, it didn’t hurt to turn up the dial, because somehow, I’d missed that Lydia had been sneaking up behind me, and now she was crushing my throat.

As my vision started to go dark, enormous hands reached down and ripped Lydia off me.

The sound of the klaxon died out at last.

I sucked in air, trying to hide exactly how fragile I was. I wanted to gasp deeply and audibly, but I was worried that would make me look too mortal. All eyes were on me right now. Had they noticed how easily she’d taken me down? Did they know I was mortal?

Unwilling to look weak in front of the others, I forced myself up.

But as I steadied my breathing, a rush of movement caught my eye. I turned to see the blood-guzzling demon running for me from the bridge, the wind whipping at his luxurious curls. With a bellowing war cry, he was charging for me at an alarming speed. Moonlight glinted off his ivory horns, and long silver claws shot from his fingers. If I tried to run, they’d all see how slow I was.

“It’s over!” called the king. “The Trial has ended.”

But the duke wasn’t listening, and he was almost upon me. Ten feet away…two feet away…

I froze in place, staring at him. The bloodthirsty duke reared back his arm, ready to strike at my chest—

Fast as lighting, Orion shifted in front of me, blocking the hit with his enormous body. I heard the sound of claws ripping into his flesh, and my stomach tightened.

Horrified, I wrapped my arm around his back to keep him upright and craned my neck to see the damage. The one way a demon could die was having his heart cut out.

The duke’s eyes were wide as he ripped his blood-covered claws out of Orion’s chest.

“What have you done?” someone shouted. “Did you kill the Lord of Chaos?”

My heart slammed against my ribs. Orion was clutching his chest, bleeding all over the stones.

The world had gone dreadfully silent, and panic tightened my throat. “Are you okay?” I whispered.

Before us, the duke’s claws retracted, and his hand flew to his mouth. “Oh, Lucifer save me, I didn’t mean to do that. I was aiming for the succubus. Why did you jump in the way, you idiot? You know what it means if she survives.”

Orion raised a bloodied hand. “I’m fine,” he said at last, and then he darted forward and grabbed the duke by his neck. The duke’s eyes bulged, and Orion lifted him by the throat, choking him. Silver claws shot out from Orion’s fingertips.

Oh, God. He wasn’t going to—

Orion’s claws sliced into the demon’s chest, and one sharp, ruthless swipe carved out the heart. The glutton demon’s bony corpse fell to the ground with a thud, his chest cavity gaping open and his body still twitching.

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