Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)

Chapter Eight

The dragon on my forearm tingled in his presence. He’d likely used it to find me. Ignoring it, I slowly got to my feet. Shya didn’t frighten me. Not anymore. He couldn’t possibly scare me more than I scared myself.

“Don’t you have some sulking and wound licking to do?” I asked, my tone ice cold. “Pretty brave of you to show your face here, isn’t it?”

Whatever reaction he’d been expecting from me, he didn’t get it. I could tell by the displeased frown he wore.

“I suppose you’re quite proud of yourself. Not only did you succeed in keeping Lilah’s empire locked away, you lured my right hand man into helping you. I guess I can’t compete with a succubus. You clearly have something I don’t.” He gestured rudely at his groin, and I smirked.

“Aww, Shya, do you have a case of vagina envy?” I snickered though it lacked mirth.

If he thought I’d fucked Falon into helping me, he was all kinds of wrong, but I had no desire to enlighten him. I didn’t really give a damn what Shya thought. Falon had been acting on Lilah’s behalf, or perhaps his own, but nothing he’d done had been for me.

“Apparently one is required when it comes to Falon. Pity. He was one of my best. But I didn’t come to discuss him.” Shya waded through the mess, picking his way carefully around the bodies as if afraid to get blood on his fancy shoes.

I watched with heavy suspicion as he made his way to me. Every step that brought him closer increased the dread growing inside me. No matter how powerful I was now, I couldn’t take Shya. If he was here for retribution, he just might get it.

Standing my ground became difficult when he didn’t stop a polite distance away. I gathered my power close, ready to go down fighting. The grim expression he wore held a hint of sly intent. He couldn’t be trusted.

Shya stepped painfully close, completely invading my personal space. Brow raised, he gave me a scrutinizing once over. Then he tasted my power.

Running a hand along my aura, close but never touching, he felt me out. It was the best way to determine how much power a person had. It was also slightly invasive and incredibly rude. The close proximity wasn’t necessary. It could be done at a distance. Shya was trying to intimidate me.

“You feel good,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half sneer. “Spectacular. Vampirism agrees with you. You’ve finally come into your own. How does it feel?”

I pushed back against him, more of a shove really. The force struck him, thrusting him back several feet. The little effort it took to get the demon out of my personal space pleased me. I could get used to this.

Despite his lecherous tone, Shya’s interest in my power was not sexual in nature. He’d never reacted to me the way so many others had. He just loved power in general, in all its forms, which was why he’d sought out so many uniquely powerful people to serve him in his quest for more.

“It feels like I’ve lost my fucking mind. In case you didn’t notice.” I flung out a hand to indicate the carnage. “No thanks to you. If you weren’t so obsessed with things that don’t belong to you, it wouldn’t have happened this way.”

He withdrew his metaphysical touch and smiled. There was a glint to his red eyes that I’d come to know meant he was scheming. “You didn’t have to interfere. That was your choice. Had you planned on being a senior citizen when you finally became a vampire? It had to happen some time.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, feeling absentminded. The rush of the kill had left me exhilarated and high. The demon was quickly causing me to crash and burn.

Shya smiled at the mess of bodies before turning his evil grin on me. “You know there is only one person you can blame for any of this. The one who took your darkness is the one who left you to be tormented.”

A deep venomous rage flooded me. With fists clenched the power spilled from me until I was vibrating with it. It was just like Shya to pin this all on Willow.

It was true that Willow had taken the dark that would have claimed me upon my turn to vampire. Because he’d sacrificed himself in my place, I was still stuck where I’d always been, holding both the light and the dark within me. The dark came from Arys, the part of him that was part of me. The light was my own. Losing it had been my greatest fear. Until I saw what keeping it would be like. Now I was just lost and confused and filled with hatred for the demon before me.

“Don’t you dare bring him into this,” I seethed, fighting to restrain myself. If I let a blast fly at Shya, he might just destroy me. Although, would that be such a bad thing?