Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex Demonized #1) - Annette Marie Page 0,94
filling an invisible mold. At almost six feet, the light solidified into the familiar shape of my demon.
My extremely displeased demon.
Crimson eyes stared down at me, their eerie glow obscuring dark pupils that had contracted to slits against the overhead fluorescent lights. Four small horns, two above each temple, hid in his tangled black hair, and a mixture of dark fabric, sturdy leather, and gleaming metal armor partially covered smooth skin the color of toffee with a burgundy undertone.
His dusky lips pulled back from his teeth, revealing pointed canines. “What did you do, payilas?”
Demons inspired panic in everyone and I was no exception—but my sharp alarm was for a different reason. I frantically checked if anyone had noticed that flare of light.
When no one started screaming about the demon in the library, I glanced from the book to Zylas. I had … I had called him out of the infernus?
“Payilas,” he growled.
“Um.” I hesitantly lifted the book. “I found the commands for the infernus?”
Those lava-like eyes narrowed, then swept away from me to take in our surroundings. His nostrils flared with a silent inhalation and his nose wrinkled in distaste.
“What is this place?” he asked, an alien accent swirling through his husky voice.
“It’s a library … part of the Arcana Historia guild. Which, uh, means you should go back into the infernus before someone sees you.”
His long, thin tail swished, the two curved barbs on the end just missing a shelf of invaluable texts. He canted his head as though listening.
“There is no one close.” He waved a hand around us. “What you need, is it here?”
“I don’t know. I only just started looking. Will you get back in the infernus now?”
His upper lip curled, flashing his canines again.
Nerves tightened my stomach. My demon was standing in the middle of a mythic library. If anyone saw him, at best, I would get kicked out. At worst, I would be discovered as an illegal contractor and put to death.
Time to test the “rest” command. I concentrated on my infernus. Daimon, hechaze!
Nothing happened. Crap. Was I messing up the Ancient Greek? I was better at Latin. I looked down at the open book.
It vanished from my grasp. Zylas held the book up as though debating whether to burn it to ash on the spot. Turning, he stretched onto his toes, reached for the highest shelf, and shoved the book into the back.
He dropped onto his heels and faced me. Barely topping five feet, I had no chance of reaching the book without a ladder. Which he knew. Jaw clenched, I turned my back on him and glowered at the nearest shelf. What was that command? Hecheze … hesachaze … hesychaza …
Warm breath brushed across the top of my head, stirring my hair.
I shot a glare over my shoulder at Zylas, who was standing obnoxiously close. “Back up. I can’t concentrate.”
“Concentrate on what? You are not doing anything.”
I gritted my teeth. The only thing worse than a disobedient demon was a grumpy disobedient demon.
“You have not done anything for weeks,” he complained. “Days and days of nothing but sleep and lounge and sleep—”
“I wasn’t sleeping because I’m lazy,” I snapped. “I was sick. I had the flu.”
“You promised to search for a way I can return home.”
“And I am. Right now. Or I would be if you’d stop bothering me.” I grabbed a book at random. “The more you distract me, the longer this will take.”
He finally stepped back, taking the scent of hickory and leather with him, and drifted away in moody silence. I unclenched my jaw, resisting the urge to order him back into the infernus. The harder I pushed, the more he would resist.
I briefly closed my eyes. If I’d learned anything in the five weeks since we’d been bound together in a contract, it was that Zylas was infuriatingly stubborn. And deliberately contrary. Defiant. Ornery. Contentious to the point of—
“Should I describe you, payilas?”
His hiss floated back to me and I flushed. Thanks to that telepathic connection that was supposed to allow me to control him, he could hear my thoughts. Not always—it depended on how forcefully I was thinking them—but often enough that it was completely unfair.
Pretending I hadn’t been insulting him in my head, I opened the book and blinked at the title page. Demon Psychology: Monsters Born or Made?
Hmm. I flipped the page and scanned the introduction.
The debate of nature versus nurture has dominated discussions on psychology for centuries. Are humans inherently good or is morality a learned behavior?
In the coming pages, we will examine how this concept applies to the preternatural creatures known as demons. Though psychology is, in theory and in practice, applicable only to humans, we now apply our well-practiced diagnostic methods to the demon psyche.
The symptoms most often displayed by demonkind (aggression, violence, lack of empathy, lack of remorse, inability to form emotional bonds, narcissism, manipulativeness) would earn most humans a swift diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, more commonly known as psychopathy.
However, the question remains: Is demonic violence a product of the demons’ mysterious home environment, or, as long believed to be the case, are they born monsters?
I peeked over the top of the book. At the end of the aisle, Zylas was crouched low as he peered around the corner. His tail lashed.
Aggressive, violent, manipulative—check, check, and check. Unempathetic, remorseless, selfish—three more checkmarks. My brow wrinkled as I turned the page and skimmed the table of contents to see if there was a nice, neat “Conclusions” chapter I could read. Biting my lip, I glanced up again.
The aisle was empty.
With a horrified gasp, I shoved the book onto the nearest shelf and sprinted to the end of the aisle. It opened into a wider path with tables lined up against the wall. Halfway along, my demon, in all his horned, tailed, leather-and-armor glory, was prowling through the library.
And I had no way to stop him.
Coming November 1, 2019
- Pre-order now on Amazon -
THE GUILD CODEX: SPELLBOUND
Sassy urban fantasy by Annette Marie
Welcome to the Crow and Hammer.
Meet Tori. She’s feisty. She’s broke. She has a bit of an issue with running her mouth off. And she just landed a job at the local magic guild.
Problem is, she’s also 100% human. Oops.
- See the Guild Codex: Spellbound on Amazon -
THE ALCHEMIST AND AN AMARETTO
The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Five
As a guild bartender, I can handle pretty much anything—mages, sorcerers, witches, the occasional demon. But show me anything family-related and I’d rather run for the hills. It doesn’t even have to be my family.
So I have no idea why I thought spending the holidays with Aaron’s mom and pop was a good idea.
Meeting his famous parents is already terrifying enough, but I’ve got a bigger problem. Students of his family’s renowned mage academy are being attacked on the grounds—and somehow no one has seen a single assailant? Unexplained tracks litter the nearby woods, rumors of forbidden alchemy are circulating the campus … and Ezra has been acting strangely since we arrived.
Something deadly is brewing in the shadow of Sinclair Academy, and the longer we take to uncover it, the more dangerous it becomes. But no matter the risk, we’ll protect the students.
And Aaron’s parents too, I suppose. If we have to.
Coming October 11, 2019
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THE STEEL & STONE SERIES
YA urban fantasy by Annette Marie
When everyone wants you dead, good help is really hard to find …
Piper knows the first rule for an apprentice Consul is don’t trust daemons. But when she’s framed for the theft of the deadly Sahar Stone, she ends up with two troublesome daemons as her only allies: Lyre, a hotter-than-hell incubus who isn’t as harmless as he seems, and Ash, a draconian mercenary with a seriously bad reputation. Trusting them might be her biggest mistake yet.
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The Spell Weaver Trilogy
Urban fantasy by Annette Marie
The only thing more dangerous than the denizens of the Underworld ... is stealing from them.
Living in exile among humans, Clio has picked up all sorts of interesting skills. But pilfering magic from the Underworld’s deadliest spell weavers? Not so much.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what she has to do to earn a ticket back home.
Conning her way into the Underworld may have gone pretty well, but now she’s got a new problem. His name is Lyre, and he’s a sinfully alluring incubus and gifted spell weaver—and her biggest obstacle to getting her hands on some forbidden magic.
- See the Spell Weaver Trilogy on Amazon -