Free The Demon Hunter by Lori Brighton Page B

sweets that was clinging to his bare foot and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
    “Don’t play stupid.”
    Well, wasn’t that calling the kettle black? “Left,” he said as they came to another road. He hadn’t a clue where they were headed, his memory remained a patchwork of visions that made little sense. But his senses were active and pulling him south. He’d always trusted his instincts and at the moment, they were all he had.
    She rolled up the window, cutting off the cool breeze that was tossing her hair about like ribbons on a Maypole. “Come on, you owe me at least something. You claim I have powers, but you obviously do as well.”
    He sensed no danger coming from this woman, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to trust her. As soon as one let their guard down, that was the moment the world would pounce. “Tell me your little secrets, I’ll tell you mine.”
    “Forget it,” she muttered, turning on the radio. Beethoven’s 5 th blared to life. Finally, something he recognized.
    “Turn right,” he said.
    She jerked the car right, throwing him off balance. He didn’t miss the smirk that crossed her face. A smirk that was short-lived when white lights suddenly flashed from the darkness, momentarily blinding them. A horn blared. Devon’s heart jumped into his throat as he resisted the urge to grab the steering wheel from her.
    “Shoot!” Ellie jerked the wheel and they jumped into the other lane.
    Safe, for the moment. Devon gritted his teeth, pressing his hand to his racing heart. “What do you say we stop chatting and you merely concentrate on driving?”
    She didn’t respond, thank God.
    Shaking his head in amusement, and frustration, Devon managed to settle back into his seat. He’d thought hell was difficult, but the afterlife was nothing compared to being in a car with Ellie. Forget demons, this sweet-looking woman was more than capable of killing him.

    ****

    “I think it’s working.”
    The words whispered through his mind, a memory of another time, another place. Ashley sat across from him, her face a mask of leeriness. “Do you feel anything?”
    Ashley. He wanted to reach out to her, but he couldn’t seem to control his words, his body.
    “Bored,” he heard himself saying, as if watching a play of his own life.
    She frowned and turned toward a dark-skinned woman who sat across from them. Camile, the voice whispered through his memory. A witch. Camile started to hum as they all held hands.
    The candles in front of them flickered as if an unfelt breeze swept through the room. He was in a room… somewhere. Devon started to stand, when his body began to tingle. An odd warmth that swept through his being.
    “What the bloody hell is she doing?” he asked Ashley.
    “I…I don’t—”
    The golden warmth spread up Devon’s hands, higher to his face and down his legs until his entire body flared with the light. Ashley tugged her hand out of Camile’s grasp.
    “Devon, Devon, are you all right?” Ashley jerked her head toward Camile. “What happened? What’d you do?”
    “N…nothing!” she cried out, stumbling to her feet. “Balls, what is that?”
    Their voices faded as the warmth swept through his body. The light flared, heat pouring from this form in brilliant, blinding rays. Heated…so warm, it almost burned. Devon gritted his teeth, arching his back.
    “We…we have to do something!”
    “What can we do?” Camile asked.
    A low hum vibrated around them, a song from heaven. The hum pulsed against his body, inside his body. Shocked and awed, he could merely stand there letting the wave of pleasure take over. Suddenly, the glow burst, sending sparkling gold particles through the room. Devon felt as if he’d exploded. He no longer existed. For a brief moment, he was suspended in nothingness.
    Someone screamed. Then finally, silence fell.
    Suddenly the room came into focus, bright focus. He stood, his legs trembling. He wasn’t sure how he had gotten to the windows,