A Cursed Embrace(25)
Aric yanked it off the wall by its throat, ripping the wings clean from its body. The wings almost immediately shriveled to resemble dry leaves. I followed Aric, but not before Koda wrenched free the daggers and handed them to Shayna. She seemed hesitant to hold them. “Don’t worry, baby. Nothing of that thing will remain. I swear to you.”
She shoved them back in her holsters and clicked the snaps closed. “How do you and the others know so much about demon children? Especially since they’re so rare, puppy?”
Koda cupped her pixie face. “Mostly from scriptures confiscated from dark witches throughout the centuries.”
Shayna bit her bottom lip. “So a dark witch is involved?”
Koda paused. “Maybe at first. But if she raised anything strong enough to impregnate a woman with twins, I guarantee she didn’t live long enough to see them born.”
CHAPTER 6
Gemini’s wolf carried the other demon child, clenching his jaws tighter when it stirred. It still lived. I growled at it. Man, I hated these things.
Aric leaned down on one knee when we reached the path. “You may not want to watch this,” he said without glancing up.
I knelt beside him to assure him that I didn’t want to leave him, and that I’d had my fill of being scared. “I’ve seen this much, Aric. I’d rather know what to do. In case more are out there.”
He nodded.
And ripped the demon’s head off like he was cracking a lobster.
The demon child’s innards spilled like tiny maggots. Aric tossed the body onto the hard ground. Almost instantly the parts dissolved in the sun. I cringed. “Do they need sunlight to die?”
“No. Just air once you decapitate them. I did it out here because the added breeze helps.”
As the leftover bits of demon child floated away in the light wind, the stench around us was cut by half. In the silence that followed, the urge to explain myself compelled me to speak. “I didn’t know how to kill it. Sorry I wasn’t more helpful.”
Aric shot me a halfhearted smile. “You didn’t die. That’s good enough for me. But the general rule of thumb is, when in doubt, destroy the brain or heart.” He brushed his hands on his black sweats. “If you can’t, rip off the wings to render it flightless until you’re able.”
His voice sounded more didactic than warm, lacking the usual affection I’d grown to adore and crave. So I kept discussing the demon child because I didn’t know what else to say. And if we stopped talking, I feared we’d never speak again. “He was fast. It took us a while to catch him.”
Aric stood when I did. “I suppose they’re born fast to increase their chances of survival.”
“Have any ever survived?”
“Not that we’ve heard.” He wiped his large hands against each other. “Yet anyway.” The demon child screeched like a mini-pterodactyl and wriggled inside Gemini’s mouth like a mound of snakes. “Do you want to kill it?” Aric asked him.
The wolf turned his massive four-hundred-plus-pound body to where Taran stood with her arms crossed. Gemini, the human half, had his arm draped around her. She curled against him when she saw the little booger start to flap its bat wings. “I’d better do it,” Koda said, jogging up to us.
The wolf tossed the creature in the air and rushed back to merge with Gemini. Koda yanked it out of the sky when it attempted to flee, tore it in half like a French roll, dropped it on the ground, and walked back to Shayna as if he hadn’t just ripped evil in two. It took a lot to ruffle a werewolf’s feathers. A Wird sister’s feathers? Not so much. Aric should have done the honors. Shayna’s skin mimicked the color of my butt.
Aric’s eyes widened as the air cleared and his gaze shot down to my foot. “You’re bleeding,” he growled.
Blood soaked through my tattered running shoe, staining the white laces crimson. My survival instincts naturally forced me to ignore pain. Though that didn’t mean my injury didn’t throb, especially when the white leather chafed against the bite marks. I shrugged. “Yeah. The little evil bastard bit me when—”
Aric yanked me in his arms and growled some more. “Emme. Celia’s hurt!”
My tigress circled my arms around his neck, allowing me to cuddle and draw in the scent of water crashing over stone. “It’s no big deal, Aric. I’m fine. I just need some antiseptic.”
Aric sat on the edge of the porch, draping me across his lap. His strong chiseled arms curled around me. My cheek fell against his bare chest and our bodies melded and relaxed into a state of tranquility. The breeze lifted strands of my long hair, teasing his smooth skin and carrying the scent of budding tulips to my nose. His wolf murmured something softly. My tigress responded with a gentle purr. It was all so beautiful, sensual even. Until Koda pulled my sneaker and sock off in one hard tug.