Free Above The Flames (The Flames Trilogy #1) by Cassandra Fear Page A

looks happy, doesn’t she?” a silky voice said.
    Jasmine recognized the voice instantly and tried to run, but his hands grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and slammed her back against the wall with so much force the plaster cracked. Instant pain attacked every nerve in her shoulder. She groaned loudly, then screamed as she stared into the demon’s face. The same one that killed her father two years ago.
    “You were dead…”
    “Or so you thought.” He smiled. “Obviously, you were wrong. And now you’re all alone. Because you couldn’t follow orders.” He smelled of blood and sulfur as he leaned his chest against her face and gathered her hands behind her back. He held them at the wrist. “Just in case you feel like trying your little power out again.”
    Jasmine gasped for breath. “They’ll come back. You need to let me go, or you’ll die.”
    “You’ve already killed me, or didn’t you know?” He leaned back. “Take a good look at your handiwork.” There were only a few patches of his dark demon skin left. It had all been replaced with crispy fried demon.
    “Good. You deserve everything you got. You killed my father!” she screamed.
    “And now I’ll kill you.”
    He backhanded her, and she flew to the floor on the other side of the room. The back of her head cracked against the corner of the glass case and instantly she saw stars. Her eyelids snapped shut, and she forced them open to see him getting closer, but then everything grew dark. When she opened her eyes again, he was right in front of her.
    The demon balled the front of her shirt into his fist and yanked her to her feet. Everything was a blob as she tried desperately to focus her eyes. If only there was a knob like a telescope would have. It would make it so much easier.
    “Just leave me alone,” she muttered.
    “Let me think about it.” He paused and looked up, then held eye contact with her again. “I considered your offer and have decided to decline.”
    With a closed fist, he punched her straight in her jaw. Jasmine tasted blood. He punched her again, but this time on her nose. She moaned loudly, but couldn’t muster the strength to talk.
    The demon’s eyes widened as he went airborne. Without him to hold her in place, Jasmine fell to the ground. Tears leaked from her eyes and pain lanced every orifice of her body. She attempted to look up, but her focus was blurry and she couldn’t make anything out.
    Her power was there, coaxing her, whispering to her, but she couldn’t let it free. Couldn’t find the strength to pull it out. She had no focus right now to do anything. Keeping her eyes open had become difficult, so she let them fall shut, then opened them as strong arms lifted her.
    “Grizzles. It’s you. You came back,” she mumbled.
    “We all did. Don’t worry; we’ll get you out of here—”
    Something wet spurted all over Jasmine’s face, her chest. It seemed to cover every inch of her from the chest up. She closed her mouth, but not in time to get a taste of metal. She forced her eyes to widen and saw an ugly wound straight across Grizzles neck. Before she knew it, Grizzles fell forward, gurgling sounds escaping from his open mouth.
    Jasmine screamed. Within seconds, she fell from Grizzles’ arms onto the wooden floor. She barely got her arms out to stop her face from hitting first, and instead crashed onto her chest. She panted and gasped as the air rushed from her lungs, but then Grizzles’ heavy body landed on top of her, making it impossible to catch her breath.
    Thoughts were flying through her mind faster than she could process them. Grizzles’ throat had been sliced. He was dead; there was no doubt about that. Her hands trembled, and her whole body started shaking uncontrollably. She bit her lip as her teeth chattered. It’s really cold in here all of a sudden.
    On her hands and knees, she inched forward little by little, pulling with every bit of muscle she could. Eventually, she broke free from