Three minutes left.
And what’s more, I could smell the scent of gasoline I’d poured out two hours ago.
It was time for the pièce de résistance—my real shock and awe.
When I reached the riverbank, I pulled out the flamethrower and flicked the lighter. As I touched the arc of flame to the ground, a wall of pure fire raced out from either side. I’d created a mouth to hell.
I leapt through the fire into the ice-cold Acheron River and swam down to the bottom, deep into the murk. Turning, I swam east for a moment and then I unzipped my fire suit. My lungs started to burn as I held my breath and stuffed the suit and tools into the backpack. I zipped it up and let it sink to the bottom, and then, my secret hidden, I swam to the northern bank.
And as I pulled myself out, I heard the sound of the klaxon blaring. There they were—the king standing by Orion’s side, waiting for me. My little victory party. A small crowd stood behind them, staring at me.
Holy fucking shit.
Holy fucking shit. I’d made it.
Joy surged through me. I’d survived. Maybe everything was going to be okay after all. Had I really done this?
Soaking wet, I hoisted myself onto the bank, trying to hide exactly how exhausted I was.
I saw the king raise his cocktail glass in a toast to me, and Orion’s pale eyes shone brightly in the darkness.
Under my fire suit, I’d been wearing a sleek black outfit—fitted black pants and a corset. If I weren’t soaked in river water, I might actually look pretty good right now.
As I stepped into the stony esplanade before the Tower of Baal, I raised my arms in victory and surveyed the demons around me. No one was exactly cheering at my survival, which seemed a bit rude. In fact, they looked a little pissed off.
And as the klaxon continued to blare, I felt a sharp tug at my wet hair, dragging me back onto the stones. I slammed down hard on the ground. The next thing I knew, Lydia was on top of me. She wrapped her hands around my throat and squeezed, fangs bared and a maniacal look in her eyes. Then she raised one of her hands, and gleaming claws burst forth.
She was going to cut my heart out, wasn’t she? That was how demons killed each other. They ripped each other’s hearts out with their claws.
“There’s only room for one queen,” she hissed under her breath.
I couldn’t breathe. Oh, holy fuck, I couldn’t breathe…
Chapter 22
Hypervigilance: a heightened state of anxiety and alertness, a tendency to scan the environment for threats.
In my everyday life, it was dysfunctional. In the world of demons, it didn’t hurt to turn up the dial, because somehow, I’d missed that Lydia had been sneaking up behind me, and now she was crushing my throat.
As my vision started to go dark, enormous hands reached down and ripped Lydia off me.
The sound of the klaxon died out at last.
I sucked in air, trying to hide exactly how fragile I was. I wanted to gasp deeply and audibly, but I was worried that would make me look too mortal. All eyes were on me right now. Had they noticed how easily she’d taken me down? Did they know I was mortal?
Unwilling to look weak in front of the others, I forced myself up.
But as I steadied my breathing, a rush of movement caught my eye. I turned to see the blood-guzzling demon running for me from the bridge, the wind whipping at his luxurious curls. With a bellowing war cry, he was charging for me at an alarming speed. Moonlight glinted off his ivory horns, and long silver claws shot from his fingers. If I tried to run, they’d all see how slow I was.
“It’s over!” called the king. “The Trial has ended.”
But the duke wasn’t listening, and he was almost upon me. Ten feet away…two feet away…
I froze in place, staring at him. The bloodthirsty duke reared back his arm, ready to strike at my chest—
Fast as lighting, Orion shifted in front of me, blocking the hit with his enormous body. I heard the sound of claws ripping into his flesh, and my stomach tightened.
Horrified, I wrapped my arm around his back to keep him upright and craned my neck to see the damage. The one way a demon could die was having his heart cut out.
The duke’s eyes were wide as he ripped his blood-covered claws out of Orion’s chest.
“What have you done?” someone shouted. “Did you kill the Lord of Chaos?”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Orion was clutching his chest, bleeding all over the stones.
The world had gone dreadfully silent, and panic tightened my throat. “Are you okay?” I whispered.
Before us, the duke’s claws retracted, and his hand flew to his mouth. “Oh, Lucifer save me, I didn’t mean to do that. I was aiming for the succubus. Why did you jump in the way, you idiot? You know what it means if she survives.”