Seduced by Shadows by Jessa Slade

Author:Jessa Slade [Slade, Jessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Love Stories, Paranormal, Supernatural, Demonology, Good and Evil
ISBN: 9780451228284
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2009-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

In the hotel ballroom, Sera eyed a pair of fencing foils crossed on the wall. “I wouldn’t want to face even a malice with just those.”

“Once upon a time, those were the weapon of choice,” Zane said. “They say ferales weren’t so large as today.”

Sera blinked in the misty daylight bouncing off the wall of mirrors. “Demons evolve? Fascinating.”

“Before my time. I’ve only seen them big and scary as shit.”

“I’d still rather have this.” She walked down to the machine gun display. “Doesn’t quite go with the theme of the room, but feels more reassuring.”

“The theme of the room is ‘Save your ass.’ ” Zane grinned. “The league teaches combat skills from the martial arts, swordsmanship and marksmanship, wrestling and tumbling. But possession gives you all the raw fundamentals of gutter fighting.”

Sera wrinkled her nose. “Gutter fighting?”

“Anything goes and there are no style points, because in the world of demon destruction—Hey, what’s that?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw him swing a closed fist. Her pulse ramped into overdrive, and her heart picked up a strange syncopated beat, as if assimilating another rhythm. His fist seemed to slow, trailing an afterimage.

She threw up her elbow and deflected the blow, then spun on the ball of her foot, put herself behind him, and shoved him away. “What are you doing?”

“Testing.” He rubbed at his forearm. “You pass.”

She scowled. “No more pop quizzes.”

He turned her toward the mirror, urging her with a smile when she resisted. “Did you feel the demon ascend?”

She stared into her own violet-flecked eyes. “Maybe.”

“You’ll learn to call on it, to use the power of evil for good.” He brushed one fist over the ragged hem of his cutoff sweats. The reven below his knee was a simple geometric wave—it lacked the intricacies of her mark or the raw boldness of Archer’s. “Sometimes, you won’t want to turn it off. It’s just easier to let the teshuva run rampant.”

She shifted uneasily. “Sounds a little too much like the kind of demons the preachers warn against.” She tried not to remember the sound of her father’s cry—anger, fear, and hatred like a writhing ball of biblical serpents.

“No doubt. Let’s try some moves. The teshuva may win the night, but training can save you some flesh and scars.”

When she’d contemplated taking Betsy’s self-defense class, she’s never imagined needing it to slay demons. Probably that went without saying. She’d thought it would build strength and confidence, be a good workout. Now, she had all the strength she could need and had lost confidence in anything she ever knew. At least it was still a good workout.

She panted through a third cycle of the stylized routine. “Any reason the demon couldn’t give me buns of steel along with immortality?”

Zane ogled. “Why mess with perfection?”

She rolled her eyes back. “You know what I mean.”

“You’re still human, mostly. And your life isn’t in danger, so the demon stays latent.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh. “Maybe it’s not supposed to be too easy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.