Free Renegade by Cambria Hebert Page A

thoughtful. “I’ve heard murmurings of the Soul Reaper being found.” He pinned me with an intense stare. “Are you him?”
     
    So the others didn’t know about Heven. The only one who knew her identity was Beelzebub. Interesting.
     
    “Never heard of him.” I replied. “Well, I should be going,”
     
    He stepped in my path. “I wondered why you were here. I wondered what a renegade like you would be doing picking a fight with someone like Beelzebub. Someone you have no chance of defeating.”
     
    I titled my head. “You’re probably right. Now if you’ll excuse me, I better get on with being defeated and killed.”
     
    I wanted out of there. I had to think. I had to talk to Heven and Sam.
     
    He laughed, a great booming sound that echoed around the motorcycles. “I cannot let you leave. You shouldn’t have come here. You were smart not to show me your hand when we first met because I allowed you to live. I didn’t care when I thought your war with Beelzebub wouldn’t affect me, but I see now that it does. Those souls are very much my business, and I am sure whatever you are trying to do will not benefit me at all.”
     
    “I don’t take it well when people try to kill me.” I warned, my voice coming out as half a growl.
     
    His response was to send one of the large, ornate chandeliers hanging above hurtling down with a great arching sweep. I braced myself and, instead of running, leapt at it, stepping up and using my weight to send it swinging back toward him.
     
    He leapt out of the way as the chain broke and I went flying with the fixture into the other room. I let go, pushing myself away from it as it plunged through a window on the far edge of the room. Tinted glass shattered everywhere and I slid across his desk, scattering everything and then landing on the floor with a thud.
     
    He made an outraged sound as I wasted no time, shifting right there behind the desk and then lunging across the room, taking his feet out from under him and pinning him to the floor. He fought against me, of course, managing to avoid my snapping teeth and most of the swipes from my claws. I did manage to get him once, right in the chest, shredding his shirt and drawing blood.
     
    I was flung off him then by some invisible force ( What is it with all these guys from hell and that stupid invisible force? ), but I landed steady on all fours and lunged at him again. His response was to throw me into the fireplace, which was raging with fire.
     
    Silly Prince. Fires are for humans.
     
    I stood up on my hind legs, inside the mouth of the fireplace as the flames licked around me. And then I kicked out a few burning logs, effectively catching his very fancy rug on fire. The fabric caught like bone-dry timber in a forest fire and immediately his study was blazing.
     
    He looked at me then, pure hatred burning in his eyes, but there was also something more. He underestimated me.
     
    I loved when people did that.
     
    With a sharp growl, I left the fire and lunged again, right through the living flames he was trying to avoid. You think with all their power they’d somehow manage to get a body that was indestructible.
     
    I guess he was too busy watching football.
     
    Beneath me, the carpet slid, and I used it like a flaming skateboard to skid closer to him, watching as he backed away. He waved his hands using more of that invisible power and the flames went out. Smoke wafted through the room, making the air heavy and thick.
     
    I shot to run past him, but he caught my tail, yanking me back, and I jerked around, sinking my teeth into the flesh of his hand. I’m pretty sure I cracked some bones. He released me, howling, and I knew it was time to leave.
     
    I rushed into his showroom, shifting back into my human form, and jumped on one of the Harley’s with a skull and crossbones on the tank.
     
    “Close the drawbridge!” Leviathan ordered from the other room.
     
    The key was in the ignition and I grinned,