stop it!”
“Too late,” Yonah said in a pitiless tone. “Ian will either absorb the spell or it will kill him.”
Why did we ever trust a demon? This was the second time one was putting Ian’s life in danger!
Another howl tore from Ian as blood suddenly coated him as if his capillaries had erupted violently enough to burst through the surface of his skin. Then he shuddered with such violence, I could hear as well as see his bones break.
I let my other half free with a ferocity that made my vision turn black and my own skin feel like it had split open. For once, my other half and I were in complete agreement: If Ian died, Yonah was going to die with him.
I spread out the darkness haloing me until I felt its width surpassing the demon’s curious wings. Then my power sought the energy in the water surrounding this island. Once it found it, I felt the Leviathan, their sinuous bodies cleaving through the sea as if they were lethal, sentient waves. But something else felt me touching them, and it snapped back my power like the retracting coil of a whip.
Ah, the Leviathan had a ruler. One that walked on land, too. Intriguing but at the moment irrelevant. There was more than enough water on this island to fuel my power, and . . . had my vampire finished screaming? Good. The sound had been grating.
I opened my eyes. The demon had stayed in his corner, his wings now tight against his body as if he were about to charge me instead of run. A worthy opponent, then. Did I owe him death?
I glanced at Ian. My vampire no longer shuddered from agony and his bones no longer broke. He lay still, eyes closed, that former silvery glow and the fiery one now nowhere to be seen.
“Are you alive?” I asked, crossing over to nudge Ian with a foot. No answer, but he wasn’t shriveling into a state of true death. Then again, being killed by magic might preserve his body. I’d seen that before. My nudge turned into a kick.
“Stop,” Ian muttered, opening one eye. Then both eyes opened and widened. “Why hallo, my lovely demigod,” he said in a careful tone as he slowly sat up. “We’ve never been properly introduced. I’m Ian.”
Did he think me simple? “I know who you are,” I said, giving him a raking look. “And you should be running. Didn’t she make you promise to flee if you saw me?”
Ian held out a hand to Yonah, who started to circle me in a predatory way. “I’ve got this,” he told Yonah in a crisp tone.
His confidence was amusing, if misplaced.
“If she breaks free and threatens any of my people—” Yonah began, stopping when I swung to give him an icy smile.
“She won’t,” Ian said with that same confidence.
My gaze swung back to him. “You believe you could stop me?”
Ian smiled, lifting himself out of the hole in the floor with surprising grace. Then he brushed the shards and splinters from his bloodied torso as if dusting lint off a suit.
“I won’t have to.” Another smile, this one crafty as well as charming. “It’s also why I lied when I promised to run if I ever saw you. There’s no need. You quite like me.”
Impertinent. Perhaps I should rip the blood out of his body and slap him with it. “Do I?”
He came closer, that smile never slipping. “Oh, you do. You burst free whenever I’m in danger, and I also see you lurking behind Veritas’s eyes when she loses control in other ways.”
His caressing tone left no doubt as to which ones. Then he reached out, trailing his hand down my arm. The sensations that followed weren’t unpleasant, so I allowed it.
“She thinks you’re not her, but you are, aren’t you?” Almost crooned as he continued to stroke my arm as if gentling a wild beast. “You’re just another side to her. We all have our different sides. Yours is simply more . . . well-defined.”
“She thinks me evil.” Saying it made something sting as if I’d been poked with a clumsy stitch. Bitterness, she’d call it.
“I’ve seen evil.” Now his hand was in my hair. I tilted toward it to see if I enjoyed that more. If I didn’t, I could always rip his hand off. “You’re not even close.”
I did enjoy his hand in my hair. It was even more pleasant than the strokes on my arm. His