Free Breed of Havoc (The Breed Chronicles #3) by Lanie Jordan

CGE-owned facility, but why I was here, training to hunt demons. It wasn’t just about me. Not anymore. I glanced at her again, tried to smile. “Information is good, right? Greene—Director Greene—said you guys make discoveries for things when you’re looking for answers to something else.”
    “We do, yes. But still. It’s already having an adverse reaction to you, Jade. Its secure, and it can’t hurt you, but this can’t be easy for you.”
    “It should be,” I whispered.
    “Staring in the face of a demon? It’s not easy for anyone.”
    “Call Linc back. I’m still doing it.”
    As she nodded and called for Linc, I stared at my hands. I was surprised to find them shaking. Why was this so hard? It shouldn’t’ve been. It was just a demon. A caged, violent demon. The Sawthorn hadn’t liked me, either, so I’d dealt with this kind of reaction before. But it was…different, maybe. I hadn’t known why the demon had come after me so viciously before. I did now. That should’ve made it easier, not harder. Right?
    Get over it, Jade.
    “When you’re ready, Jade.”
    I nodded again, then stepped around the doctor and Linc. Linc touched my arm, leaning in close. “You okay? You’re kinda pale.”
    I didn’t quite trust my voice. I was afraid it would shake as much as my hands. “I’m good,” was all I managed.
    Slowly, I stepped out and walked to the glass. The demon locked its eyes on me and stopped moving entirely.
    “Can you move to your left a few steps and then back, Jade?” I heard the doctor say.
    Following her instructions, I stepped to my left three steps. The demon’s eyes followed my movement carefully, and when I moved back, it did the same.
    “Closer now, please,” she instructed.
    I let out a breath and moved closer. The demon started scratching again, like it was trying to dig through the glass. But its eyes never left my face. No, my chest. Or more accurately, my heart. Was this demon a thinker, or was it a mindless ones? I didn’t recognize it from my Demonology text or from my DD research last Phase, so I didn’t know anything about it. Did it know where my heart was because it knew human physiology, or could it hear my heart pounding? Or, even more likely, was it because it remembered its placement from other attacks?
    I took another step closer, until my nose was all but pressed against the glass. The demon’s eyes locked on mine again. A red glow circled its irises like something from a bad vampire movie. But it wasn’t CG effects. If this demon was like others I’d read about, then it wasn’t blood lust like from most vampire lore. It was a warning. To hunters and scientists who knew the signs, it meant the demon had its prey in sight. To demons, it meant the same thing, with an added warning not to mess with it. Some demons were ferocious, like an abused dog who attacked anyone or anything that got near its food. They didn’t like sharing.
    The demon’s blood pressure would be high. The range would be so high that it would cause most humans to have a stroke. There was so much pressure built up behind the demon’s eyes that the blood vessels were popping, which is what gave it the red glow. Well, it’s what gave it the red color. I had no idea why they were actually glowing. I hadn’t read about that yet.
    For another three seconds, the demon just stared at me. And then it pounded, scratched, kicked, and bit at the glass. The first hit had me wincing and nearly jumping back. It attacked the partition like its life depended on it. Hard, fast, vicious attacks. I rested my palm against the glass and felt it vibrating from the hits. I swiped a hand down my face. “Uh, how indestructible is ‘nearly’ indestructible?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.
    “Why do you ask, Jade?”
    “I can feel the glass shaking. Not a lot, but it’s vibrating.” And the last time I’d had a shaking door at my hand, I’d fallen through onto a demon. I wasn’t in any hurry