Free Wicked Demons 2 by Reece Vita Asher Page A

God was gone.
    Turning back, the downward bow of a female
saint in the colossal window made Andi feel tired and weighted down
by her worries. It was time to go home.
    The walk was longer than she anticipated,
having wandered farther from home than intended. Starving, Andi
reached her two-story Victorian. It looked a number of shades
darker in the shadows, though the color was officially a
medium-to-light 'wild mushroom', which was a ridiculously elaborate
term for 'tan'. Andi loved it, though. There was something about
the delicate architectural details and small sitting porch that
calmed her nerves and soothed the wanderlust that once rode her
heart from city to country.
    Andi half skipped down the long hall from the
foyer and stormed her kitchen to inhale leftover spaghetti and
garlic bread before slipping into her striped pajamas. At least a
small part of her felt satiated. Her mind, however, still hungered
for answers.
    After turning the gas logs in her bedroom on
low, she tucked into bed. The white fireplace had been converted
when she renovated the home after purchasing it. The idea of a real
fire so close to everything she held dear -being her ass, books,
and bed sheets- had scared her. The humor was not lost on her that
she happened to be a fire demon scared of fire.
    A pile of books and magazines lay stacked on
her night table, ready for service. Many nights, Andi simply laid
in bed, flipping through home decor ideas or reading some of her
most coveted literature. Tonight was no different. She was ready to
read herself into a dreamless sleep.
    And she almost succeeded.
    It was just before midnight when a cluster of
bumps and crashes roused Andi from her reading. This had become an
unnerving trend this last month. Leaping out from beneath her cushy
white down comforter, she ran downstairs with an umbrella in hand,
ready to strike someone or...stay completely dry.
    Rounding the marble kitchen counter and
crossing to the back door, she unlatched the security bolt and
slowly poked her head outside. The night air was cool as it ran
down her loose night shirt, causing her nipples to stretch against
the fabric.
    A clatter by the trashcans, located between
her and the neighbor, caused the hair on her arms to stand straight
up.
    Andi forced her breath steady as she left the
safety of walls and locks, and crept to the edge of her house,
trying to talk herself into being brave.
    "You can do this, Andi," she mumbled to
herself. "Jesus, it's just a raccoon or the neighbor's cat. Get a
grip."
    But it wasn't the neighbor's cat Periwinkle
or a scavenger.
    Her breath caught in a hiccup. Two figures
grappled under the low wattage of her would-be security light,
alternating shoves and body-slams between the house and the
neighbor's decorative wooden fence. She squinted to catch sight of
their faces. One remained a stranger, but the other! A sense of
dread clung to him like an aura. Desolation followed him like a
shadow.
    "Toryn?"
    Toryn's many teeth had turned to sharp, tiny
daggers, each one wielding a death wish. And his broad shoulders
made the other man look childlike, though the stranger was
obviously no weakling. Yes, there was something about Toryn, the
way he was made, what he was, down to his wild nature and pained
expression that made Andi want to claim him for herself.
    It also made her want to run the other
way.
    Andi's eyes were large and stressed as she
tried to think of something to do. Tried to search for something in
sight that would stop the stranger's malicious attack. The men
grunted as they brushed past her in a whirlwind, and she saw that
the unfamiliar man had something in his hand. Something shiny.
Possibly a gun or a knife.
    It took very little time for Andi to remember
that she was her own weapon. Dropping the umbrella, she waited
until Toryn was flung through the air, smashing a spare chair into
kindling, and then leapt between her fallen lover and the
intruder.
    "Stay away from him!" she warned.
    The