goodbye to Kiara and AnnaMae, which is our shared we’re leavin’ to go get laid signal.
We really should have come up with a secret handshake and maybe even a phrase, but I never thought in a million years I’d have to protect myself against a possible demon abduction. Just as soon as I get their whoops in return, I’m bein’ dragged away. Morax weaves us through all the people in the club and heads straight for the exit.
My mind feels like cotton got shoved all in it, soakin’ up all my rational thoughts. My brow furrows, because somethin’ just feels wrong about what’s happenin’ right now, but I can’t think through the stuffin’ in my brain to regain any sense. It’s like my head trusts this demon more than it does me. Like somehow, he’s flipped an override switch I didn’t know I had.
He pulls me through the throng of people out havin’ a good time, and try as I might to look alarmed or ask for help, I can’t get my body to cooperate with me. The exit looms closer and closer, the door feelin’ like a representation of doom. I don’t want to walk out of it, and yet, I have no choice. His words are holdin’ me captive to smile and calmly follow him.
Luckily, right before we make it to the exit, Morax jerks to a stop. Unable to stop my momentum, I slam against his oddly springy back, and before I can even finish stumblin’ backward, he curses and turns toward me.
“What…”
“Quiet,” he snaps, and my mouth slams shut, like it doesn’t even belong to me anymore.
He stares at me intensely, but I can tell he’s not really lookin’ at me, and instead is focused on somethin’ else. His fingers dig into my skin, and his face starts to go red like he’s strainin’ to make something happen, but I have no idea what.
“Fuck,” he snarls and then seems to abandon whatever it was he was tryin’ to do and starts tuggin’ me the other way.
Frownin’, I strain to look behind me to see what spooked him, and that’s when I see the group that just walked through the club’s door. My mouth drops open in surprise at the prominent white and cream wings hangin’ off their backs. The winged people scan the crowded bar as though they’re lookin’ for somethin’, and judgin’ by Morax’s reaction, my guess would be that somethin’ is him.
A female and a male break away from the group, and they’re both pretty enough to be on a poster or star in any damn movie of their choosin’. It almost hurts to look at them. They’re also carryin’ long swords in an X at their backs and go completely unnoticed by every club patron in the room.
I want so badly to ask who they are, but I can’t.
“Curse this realm to shit. There’s too many, and I can’t fucking shift!”
My head swings back toward Morax at his words, and he grinds to a halt. Luckily, I’m able to stop this time before I run into him. I don’t know what made him halt in his tracks, and I can’t see around him because he whirls around to face me again.
“I’ll be back for you,” he says before he shoves me and then turns and hurries away, disappearin’ into the throng. My bleary mind is slow to react, and the room spins as I teeter from his push. When I put my hands out to catch myself on somethin’, I realize too late that there’s nothin’ close enough to stop my fall.
I go down, my palms and butt hittin’ the floor, the club music and cacophony of voices suddenly way too much for my sensitive ears and bruised brain.
I try to get up, but I’m so damn dizzy and disoriented that it’s all I can do to stay on all fours instead of lyin’ spread out like roadkill just askin’ to be trampled.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Just when I feel a sob clog my throat at the feelin’ of helplessness, a pair of arms are helpin’ me up.
“Are you alright?”
I have to blink several times at the face to get my eyes to stay still long enough to realize that it’s the winged lady.
She lifts me like I’m a rag doll and holds me out for a second before settin’ me gently on my feet. She’s also oddly brighter now that she’s closer. I squint as I take her in, and