Free Demonstorm: Heart of a Vampire #6 by Amber Kallyn

were heavy from exhaustion. In her brother’s eyes, she saw a fearful hopelessness that broke her heart.
    A shadow fell over her. Brüs slammed his booted foot into her stomach, rupturing her internal organs. Her ribs snapped and her heartbeat became a struggling flutter.
    “I told you, Witch,” he growled. “If I can’t have you, no one shall.”
    He spat on her, grinning with glee. “See you in hell.”
    The light dimmed, as the sound of her heartbeat faded to nothingness.

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    S ean glanced up as Mayah gasped. Her eyes rolled back, showing only the whites. She shook violently from side to side, then she started to fall.
    Faster than he’d thought it possible to move, he rounded the table and caught her, holding her tight against his chest. Slapping some bills down, he nodded to the kind waitress and carried Mayah out to his truck.
    She was obviously having a vision, but the times before she hadn’t jerked around or looked so pale.
    Then she let out a high-pitched, blood-curdling wail.
    He shook her, trying to bring her out of it. “Mayah?”
    She didn’t respond, just continued to scream.
    A few people from the restaurant raced out, staring. Some grabbed their cell phones, hastily dialing, most likely calling the cops.
    “She’s having a seizure,” he yelled, trying to be heard over her shrieks. “It’s okay.”
    No one looked like they believed him. He eased Mayah into the passenger seat, shaking her once more, but to no avail.
    Turning to the waitress to ask for a cup of water, Sean caught a glint in her eyes.
    Her black-ringed irises.
    Demon black.
    She mouthed the word, “Prophetess.”
    Son of a bitch. What was a demon doing here? And she knew what Mayah was.
    Without another thought, Sean slammed the door and raced to the driver’s side. Cranking the engine, he jerked the truck into gear. It roared as he sped down the two lane country road, racing for the highway.
    He had to get her far from here as fast as he could.
    Mayah fell silent. He reached over, clumsily checking for her pulse. Thready and weak, but there.
    He didn’t know what in the hells had just happened, but he hoped it never occurred again.
    Sean drove for an hour, then took a different highway, backtracking and heading south in case the waitress had called Brüs and informed him of their location. If that demon knew they were this close to his fortress, he’d be able to pick out their route—since there were few available—as well as determine approximately when they’d arrive.
    Neither of which would make his job easier.
    Finally Sean spotted a promising building tucked in an overgrown field a good mile from the road.
    Run down, looking abandoned, the barn would hide his truck and give them a safe place to rest, which from the strain in his neck and back muscles, bunched by tension, he needed. He found an opening in the field and, trying not to leave tracks, drove through long grassy weeds to the barn. Once there, he verified it was deserted, then pulled the truck inside.
    The ground was littered with old rusted tools, sharp rocks and broken glass.
    From the seat behind them, he grabbed sleeping bags and a few other blankets his father had hastily packed, and set up two beds in the back of the truck.
    There was barely enough room for two.
    He tried to wake Mayah once more, but she remained deep in sleep. He carefully picked her up and settled her in the truck bed, on one of the sleeping bags, then fell onto his own. Beside him, Mayah moaned. He watched the rise and fall of her chest, strong and even. Studying her still too-pale face, it struck him how truly vulnerable she could be.
    When hit by a vision, she was sucked into herself. Though she could fight well, at times like now, she was helpless.
    The urge to protect her, to keep her safe from harm surged through him. He was the only one who could watch over her this night.
    His duty, to his clan—but, also to the woman at his side—was to prevent the demons