Asmodeus(12)

He accepted the light feeling that came over his body, unable to withstand the sweet caress of slumber.





Brianna knew the second Asmodeus was truly asleep. His mouth had gone slack and a soft snore filled the car.



She needed to get away from him, now. Far away. The longer she waited to distance herself, the harder it would become. The consequences of summoning a demon from the Abyss were one thing, but she was sure if she summoned Michael, and Asmodeus had the strength to kill him, they might not overlook her part.



Besides, the bastard had stolen her magical knife.

Kelly had given her that knife. Brianna hadn't lied when she had told Asmodeus a man had pawned the knife. Someone had pawned the knife—in Kelly's shop. Kelly had told her the knife had tremendous power emanating from it. Powers that could help in casting spells. Being a practicing witch who needed all the help she could get, the knife meant everything to her.



She'd been thinking of a plan to escape him while he had teetered on the verge of sleep, but nothing had come to her. It was nearing one o'clock in the morning and the streets were deserted in her small neighborhood.



As she pulled to a stop at a red light she eyed the dark streets with longing. How easy would it be to slip out of the car right here and now? She could go home, find a spell to send him back, and since she had the directions to his friend's house she could locate him later. Better yet, she could go to Kelly's. He wouldn't look for her there—and he would look for her.



No. She couldn't drag Kelly into this. She'd have to do this on her own.



The sight of him asleep, vulnerable in every way, made him look like any other man. Any other man who also happened to be the sexiest, most delicious man she'd ever seen. Her senses were telling her he was never truly vulnerable. If she attacked him right now, with all her strength and a weapon of her choice, he would still come out on top.



Which had everything to do with her flight response. She had to get the hell away from him or she was going straight to Hell with him, and that thought wasn't particularly pleasing.



Allowing herself no more time to think, she slowly pulled to the curb and put the car in park. She carefully slipped the dagger from his limp hand, stuck it in her bra, opened the door and took off.



The red light turned to green, reflecting its light off the wet pavement as she ran to the Circle K parking lot across the street, jogged toward the back of the store and kept going. When she came to a six-foot-tall fence she whistled to see if the owners had a dog. When none came slobbering up to the fence she pulled herself up and over.



Fence after fence came into view, and she snaked over each one. After a while her hands began to burn from the wood fences. Her legs had several scrapes on them, but the security the backyards gave her made her keep going.



Her legs and back hurt from her exertions. Feeling confident he couldn't drive and wasn't going to come running after her, she took a small reprieve and walked down a sidewalk. She had to take a break and catch her breath. Her lungs were burning from her exertion. A runner she was not.



Her cell started to ring and she quickly fished it out of her pocket. The ID let her know it was Kelly.



She stopped to adjust the knife in her bra and answered the cell. The leather sheath was sticking out of her shirt. "Hey, I am so glad you called. I need a huge favor. Do you have a protection spell I can put over my whole house to ward off demon entry?"



She had to get home as fast as possible, ward her house and then find a spell to send him back. The spell book that summoned him should contain something to send him back. All she had to do was get to it in one piece.



"Hold on, let me look. Actually, I think I do. Are you all right? I tried calling you back earlier. What the hell happened?"



Brianna let out a pent-up breath. The darkness that surrounded her, lit with the occasional front porch light, felt like a physical weight. Every sound had her twitching, every shadow had her looking over her shoulder. She started walking again. "I'm all right for now. It's just a lot of crap happened, and all of it is my fault. Listen, I'll be home in a few minutes, and I'm sure that demonic bastard—"



A car turned down the street, and she squinted as the bright headlights hit her in the face. She thought about flagging the car down, but decided against it. If Asmodeus did come after her she didn't want to involve anyone.

She kept walking until the car passed under a street lamp, then she stumbled to a stop.



Damned if it wasn't Asmodeus driving her car.



"Fuck." She lowered the phone from her ear and took off in a dead sprint, her heart slamming against her rib cage. She ran through a nicely manicured front lawn and tore across a makeshift garden, petals flying in every direction.