Demon Bound by Meljean Brook Read Free Book Online Page A

“Jake?”
    â€œYeah. All right.” He grinned and shook his head, as if silently laughing at an inner joke. His fingers tapped against the white box, and he was answered by curious squeak. He grimaced and stilled his hands. “I’ve been specializing with Alejandro—for my blade work—most nights when Drifter’s with Charlie. So two months ago, Alejandro and I went back to Philadelphia, because we’d heard one of Lucifer’s demons moved in after the nephil was gone.”
    Alice nodded. Earlier in the year, the nephilim had massacred the vampire communities in Rome, Berlin, and Washington, D.C. Alejandro and Jake had slain one in Philadelphia, but not before hundreds of vampires had died.
    Though the nephilim usually lived in the bodies of the humans they possessed, not much stronger than vampires, they were almost unstoppable in their own form. And although they both originated from Hell, the nephilim wouldn’t hesitate to kill a demon.
    Any intelligent demon would flee a city a nephil inhabited.
    â€œI caught it with a bullet,” Jake said, rapping his knuckle against his temple to show where he’d shot the demon, “and Alejandro got him through the chest.”
    Jake jabbed the air in front of him, miming a sword and drawing a protest from the mice as they were jostled. “But he missed the heart.”
    â€œAlejandro had a sword and he missed?” Alice said, and held out her hand for the box. When Jake ignored her outstretched palm, she lowered it again.
    â€œUnheard of, right? I was like this.” Jake’s eyes widened, and Alice had to firm her lips against a laugh. He’d had the same expression after kissing her. “But the assho—Er, the demon dodged at the last second. So Alejandro got him right here instead.” He tapped his sternum. “And the demon had ahold of him, so Alejandro couldn’t back up for another strike. So he just . . .”
    Jake twisted his wrist, as if carving a tight circle with his blade, then yanked his arm back. “And the heart popped right out. Along with some ribs and lungs and sh— stuff .”
    â€œAnd Alejandro calls Irena barbaric,” Alice murmured. An upward slice would have sufficed.
    â€œDoes he?” Jake shrugged, and his arm dropped to his side. “So the heart was whole, but the demon was dead. Instantly.”
    A Guardian and a demon had similar powers—and similar weaknesses. What had killed a demon would likely kill a Guardian, too.
    Disappointment swept through her, stronger than she’d expected. She hadn’t truly believed removing the heart whole might be a solution, but however tiny the spark of hope had been, it was still a hope extinguished.
    And she needed to go, or soon there would be some histrionic scene, after all. Alice signed a thank-you to Drusilla and set off for her apartment at a brisk walk.
    â€œHey!” Jake jogged up beside her, kept pace. Blades rang behind them as Drusilla and Pim began their fencing practice. “Hey. Uh, Alice—”
    Blast and bother! She’d forgotten the box. “You’re terrifying the mice,” she observed tightly.
    â€œAnd being eaten by a giant spider won’t?” But he steadied the carton. “Does he use your shoulder as a table?”
    â€œRomulus is an adult, and doesn’t feed,” she said, and paused to return him to his web. “Nefertari eats the mice.”
    â€œNef—” He gave his head a shake. “And the vampire blood?”
    â€œIs for the young and the females.” She faced the novice. “Did Selah ask you to bring that as well?”
    â€œNo, I’d just heard that you used it.” He glanced over her shoulder, into her quarters. Searching for Nefertari? He was looking too high. “But if you want it, I carry some in case I need to heal or transform a human. Or if I run into the nephilim.”
    Vampire blood weakened the