Grace and Glory (The Harbinger #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,37

erupted between my shoulder blades, erasing the lingering haze of sleep.

A demon was nearby.

Had Cayman returned? I doubted that as I shoved the blanket off and stood. The borrowed shirt slid past my hips and thighs as I reached for my daggers—

Dammit, they were still in the bathroom. I hurried in there, snatching them off the counter. I made my way into the living room. The overhead light in the kitchen had been left on, courtesy of Cayman, and I could see that no one was in the apartment. The feeling remained, though, buzzing between my shoulders. Was there a demon in a nearby apartment?

And where in the Hell was Peanut?

I started toward the door when I heard it—a clicking, scratching sound against glass. Slowly, I turned to the floor-to-ceiling windows. I could see nothing but darkness and distant, smudged light, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something scratching at the windows.

“Oh, man,” I muttered, creeping forward. Considering we were pretty high up in the apartment building, I knew there wasn’t, like, a rather harmless, fluffy animal out there.

Grip tightening on the iron daggers, I passed the couch and my steps slowed. There was definitely something out there—the shadows were thicker. The eerie clicking came again, followed by the sound of something sharp digging against the thick glass.

I stopped in front of the window, squinting as I leaned forward, pressing my face against the cool—

Coal-red eyes set above flattened, fur-covered nostrils stared back at me.

I yelped, jumping back from the window. Suddenly I knew why it seemed like the shadows were moving. It was wings I’d been seeing, and there was definitely something furry outside the windows.

“Imps,” I muttered, sighing heavily. The last time I’d seen them, they’d been sent by the Harbinger. Which meant if they were here now, Gabriel knew where I was.

Not exactly surprising, but scary.

And annoying.

Because I really just wanted to sleep, talk to the Crone and fix my slightly psychotic boyfriend. Was that too much to ask? Maybe if I just ignored the imp it would go away.

The imp slammed a clawed fist into the window, rattling the entire pane.

I guessed not.

The damn thing was going to crack the window, possibly even shatter it, and that was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

Sighing, I turned from the window. The imp hit the glass again. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you. You want to play. We’ll play.”

Barefoot, half-undressed and not even caring, I entered the elevator and hit the code for the rooftop. Hoping no one else was up there, I was relieved to find that it sounded empty as the doors quietly slid open.

I’d never been up here before, but I remembered Zayne saying once that it was designed as a green space for tenants. Solar string lights glimmered softly, strung from tall poles connected to white canopies stretched across large swaths of the rooftop. There was a pool somewhere if the scent of chlorine was any indication. Goose bumps pimpled my skin as I carefully navigated the deck chairs and round tables. Could be my eyes, but I sure didn’t seen any “green” spaces as I prowled across the rooftop. A chilly breeze caught the canopies as I neared the glass plane that prevented people from toppling off the roof.

Tapping the iron dagger off the glass, I called out, “I’m up here waiting. Please hurry. I’m tired and cranky.”

Silence, and then a low-pitched shriek reached my ears. Stepping back from the glass wall, I took a deep breath. There was barely enough light from the solar and moonlight for me to see, but it was manageable. I’d dealt with worse conditions before with far less training.

A second later, a dark shape swept up from the side of the building and over the glass wall. It landed on two clawed feet a foot or so from me, and for a moment, I really wished I hadn’t been able to see the imp.

The thing must’ve fallen down a demon tree and hit every ugly branch on the way down. It looked like a giant, walking bat as it lifted nearly translucent wings and screeched.

I slammed the iron dagger deep into its chest. “Dumbass,” I muttered as the demon went up in flames.

Imps were notoriously violent and their claws were quite toxic to humans and Wardens, but they weren’t exactly known for their intelligence, as just proven.

Yawning, I pivoted and started back toward the door, dreams of the soft, Zayne-scented pillow occupying my thoughts. I made