and blurted, “Look out!” Ahead, the car headlights washed over a huge, leathery hide. For a moment, it looked as though a wall blocked our route, and then the ex Prince of Wrath swung his head around, opened his jaws, and drew his lips back. I had a fantastic view of his sharp teeth as I tried to push back into my seat while Stefan slammed on the brakes, yanked up the parking brake, and jerked the wheel, spinning the car in the road, so we faced the way we’d come. The engine roared, tires squealed, and the road heaved—or appeared to. The car lifted, and my stomach rolled. I had a moment to appreciate how the headlights lit up the swirling night sky, and then we tipped hood down, and the road rushed up to greet us.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
N o more riding in cars with Stefan, I vowed, dabbing at a sticky wetness on my cheek. Releasing the seatbelt, I landed with a thump on the underside of the roof, now acting as the floor. The glow from the instruments revealed enough carnage for me to know we were in trouble. The engine had died. Metal ticked as it cooled. Somewhere, fluid trickled. And I heard Stefan’s soft breathing. He hung upside-down, trapped by the belt in the drivers seat, out cold.
“Stefan!” I hissed, reaching up to release him.
A red orb glowed outside his window. In its center, a vertical pupil pinpointed me and dilated. I’d seen this movie. This was the part where the dinosaur ate the tourists.
Wrath snuffled at the door. His lips rippled, and a huge black tongue lolled out. Somehow, he formed growling, snarling words. “Come out, Asmodeus’s daughter. Come out and run for me.”
“Stefan. Please wake up.” His element began to unravel from inside me, and the icy touch I’d felt since the rooftop slipped away. In its wake, heat swelled, hungry and violent.
Wrath’s snout probed inside the car. He snorted hot air, snuffling and rooting around. I scurried back, wiggled through my broken window, and scrambled to my feet. “Hey…” He lifted his head, hunched, and leaped over the car. I stumbled back. Surrounded by trees, I guessed we couldn’t be far from the Institute’s facility. I had no clue what direction it was in, and if I ran, Wrath would cut me down.
His blazing eyes didn’t blink. He watched me with that eerie stillness that precedes an attack. Head down, he stalked forward. “Run, little half-blood girl.”
I did just that, turned and ran off the road, stumbling over a ditch and bursting into the trees. Behind me, branches snapped and groaned. Wrath’s snarls chased me down. I dropped my control and reached out for heat, turning demon as I ran. A beacon of light and warmth urged me to the right—a building, a large one. I veered off, tucked my wing in, and locked my gaze into the embrace of branches. I ran. Fire throbbed through my veins. My heart pounded, and my lungs burned. I glanced back once to see Wrath bounding behind me, charging through the trees, bouncing off some and knocking others flat, his eyes aglow.
The dark that Stefan had tempered spilled into my mind. Yes. The hunt. The kill. I forgot my fear as a wicked thrill strummed through my demon body.
I burst out of the forest and onto the lawns surrounding the Institute’s innocuous facility. Floodlights bathed the area in orange. As I slowed, shadows danced around my firelight. Black SUV’s grumbled. The Institute was mobilizing. Barks of alarm went up. I turned my back on them and grinned as Wrath leapt from the trees. Subterranean heat rushed to answer my call, ignited by my touch, and turned to liquid fire as I threw it all at Wrath. He bowed mid-leap, curling in on himself as the fire gobbled him up, and then he fell, landing hard on his side and tumbling over. I stalked forward, pouring more heat into him. His body twitched, wrapped in undulating flame. He howled and whined. The dark fed on my murderous intent, pleasured by his pain.
The enforcers opened fire. Standard bullets stung my molten flesh and spoiled my killing frenzy, but they meant nothing. Lifting my head, I counted at least thirty Institute men and woman scattered about the lawns. They scurried like ants, puny, insignificant, and so fragile it would almost be merciful to kill them. The fire was hungry, never sated, eager for more… Greedy.