Crystalfire (35 page)
Authors: Kate Douglas
His arm snaked out, and he grabbed her forearm, trapping her with surprising strength. “No. No one. Don’t call anyone.”
Eddy looked down at the broad hand, the powerful fingers wrapped entirely around her arm, just below her elbow. She should have been terrified. Should have been screaming in fear, but something in those eyes, in the expression on his face ...
Immediately, he loosened his grasp. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me, but no one must know I’m here. If you can’t help me, please let me leave. I have so little time ...” He tried to prop himself up on one arm, but his body trembled with the effort.
Eddy rubbed her arm. It tingled where he’d touched her. “What’s going on? How’d you get here? Where are your clothes?”
The flickering light came closer, hovered just in front of his chest, pulsed with a brilliant blue glow that spread out in a pale arc until it touched him, appeared to soak into his flesh, and then dimmed. Before Eddy could figure out what she was seeing, Dax took a deep breath. He seemed to gather strength—from the blue light?
He shoved himself upright, glanced at the light, and nodded. “Thank you, Willow.”
Then he stood up, as if his injuries didn’t affect him at all. Obviously, neither did the fact he wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothes. Towering over Eddy, he held out his hand to help her to her feet. “I will go now. I’m sorry to have ...”
Eddy swallowed. She looked up at him as he fumbled for words, realized she was almost eye level with his ...
oh crap
! She jerked her head to one side and stared at his hand for a moment. Shifted her eyes and blinked at the blue light, now hovering in the air not six inches from her face. What in the hell was going on?
oh crap
! She jerked her head to one side and stared at his hand for a moment. Shifted her eyes and blinked at the blue light, now hovering in the air not six inches from her face. What in the hell was going on?
Slowly, she looked back at Dax, placed her hand in his, and, with a slight tug from him, rose to her feet. The light followed her. “What is that thing?” Tilting her head, she focused on the bit of fluff glowing in the air between them, and let out a whoosh of breath.
“Holy Moses.” It was a woman. A tiny, flickering fairy-like woman with gossamer wings and long blond hair. “It’s frickin’ Tinkerbelle!” Eddy turned and stared at Dax. “That’s impossible.”
He shrugged. “So are garden gnomes armed with pitchforks. At least in your world. So am I, for that matter.”
Eddy snapped her gaze away from the flickering fairy and stared at Dax. “What do you mean, you’re impossible? Why? Who are you? What are you?”
Again, he shrugged. “I’m a mercenary, now. A hired soldier, if you will. However, before the Edenites found me, before they gave me this body, I was a demon. Cast out of Abyss, but a demon nonetheless.”
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2012 by Kate Douglas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4201-2786-7
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