Demon Slayer (Part One) Sample Chapters
Chapter One
Izzy
Isabel Gordon was certain she was going to die. Rune had her by the back of
the head with a thick lock of hair in his fist. His face was only inches away
from hers.
He was mad. His rage rolled off of him like waves of heat that seemed to boil
the perspiration on Isabel’s skin. His copper colored eyes looked livid.
"She will come for you," he said, growling the words through his teeth. "This
is the only thing that keeps me from ripping your throat wide open and eating
your meat."
"Please—" Isabel sobbed. Her entire body trembled in fear. "Just let me
go!"
Rune let go of Isabel’s hair, shoving her head away from him as if disgusted
by the sound of her voice. He moved away from her and carefully sat down in the
grass. He leaned against the broken barn wall behind him. He was wounded. His
wing had been broken. It hung strangely at his side, while the other one flared
out around him in a large half-circle. Even in the dusk, his copper colored
feathers shimmered. But the broken one did not. Isabel was certain that the wing
was dying.
Isabel tugged on the rope that Rune had wrapped around her wrists and secured
to the old, rotting post behind her. He had tied her up so tightly that the
circulation to her fingers was restricted and her finger tips were tingling and
numb.
After he had taken her from her car on Rabbit Trail Pass, he brought her up
the mountainside to an old, jalopy homestead. She knew this place. Roman had
taken her up here before. It was a long, steep hike up the side of Rabbit
Mountain. The homestead was just at the top. It rested in a small clearing that
was surrounded by thick vegetation.
No one would find her here.
It seemed the longer Rune sat there, the more his pain increased. That he had
carried her all the way up the mountain in his condition, simply astonished
Isabel. But it was his condition that gave Isabel a shred of hope, and what he
just said about not ripping her throat open.
Luna was lying in the grass on the side of the road when Rune had yanked
Isabel out of her car. Demeter and Aine escaped with Luna. Luna was safe. At
least, Isabel hoped she was. How safe could she be in the hands of a coven that
wanted to sacrifice her? And now Rune planned to use Isabel to bait Luna, to get
her to come to him. Isabel had to wonder if Luna would ever be safe again.
Luna would come to him. Luna would risk her life to save Isabel, and Isabel
knew this. Luna had risked her life to save her before. Isabel felt a tremor in
her belly, a sinking sensation in her heart.
"How will you even be able to talk to Luna?" Isabel asked. "How will she know
where to come to you?"
"Close your mouth," Rune grunted. It seemed the pain made it difficult for
him to speak. Maybe he would pass out from the pain, and Isabel could escape.
She tugged on the sharp, prickly rope, testing them again. They were still
tight, of course.
Isabel felt helpless. There was no way she was going to be able to keep from
being the bait Rune was planning for her to be.
"Please, Rune," Isabel begged softly. Tears came to her eyes.
Rune’s head shot up, his eyes cutting into Isabel. She shivered at the
intensity of his anger. She forgot he had told her to be quiet.
Rune cocked his head, looking at Isabel a little differently now. The look in
his eyes, though she did not understand it yet, frightened her more than she
already was.
"I’m sorry," Isabel whispered, hoping an apology would change the way he was
looking at her. Isabel couldn’t help but feel like she suddenly became the prey,
like Rune was hungry, and that he realized she could be the one to feed him.
Isabel froze beneath his gaze. She held her breath as he continued to look at
her like this.
Keeping his eyes in hers, Rune slowly, carefully rose up from the ground. His
face twisted in pain. A deep, guttural growl rolled from his throat. Rune moved
toward Isabel.
Isabel shook her head, denying in her mind the reality of what was to come.
In her heart she knew what Rune was about to do. "No," she whimpered, as Rune
drew near. "Please," she begged. But Rune wasn’t listening to her. He seemed to
be transfixed on her scent, pulled to her by invisible strings.
Isabel pressed her spine against the post behind her, trying to move away
from him. Rune was so close now that she could feel the heat radiating from his
massive body. He raised a thick, rippling arm and took Isabel by the side of the
head with a fist full of hair. Then he yanked her head to one side.
Isabel screamed, as Rune’s face fell to her neck. He inhaled, long and deep,
while her scream faded into a brief moment of silence. Then his teeth scraped
along her flesh, slicing open the skin from her earlobe to the middle of her
neck. Before Isabel could let out another scream, Rune sank his teeth deep into
her neck and locked his jaw.
And then he drank.
****
Chapter Two
Rune
Because Isabel’s fear for him was so incredibly potent, the pain in his wing
lessened to a much more tolerable level after only a few swallows of her blood.
But he drank more than this. The more he allowed himself to drink, the less pain
he would feel. It would only be a temporary fix, but Isabel wasn’t going
anywhere any time soon. He would drink from her again if he needed to.
But he had to be careful. He could not take too much from her at one time.
Isabel was an invaluable treasure to him right now.
Luna will come for me when she learns I have her friend!
This thought lightened Rune’s mood. It excited him in a way he hadn’t been
excited before.
Luna will come to me. And, finally, we will be alone, she and I. There will
be nothing to stop me from having what I want from her, whenever I want it. It
will be her and me and no one else! Me, in the flesh. It will be my own hands I
lay upon her. No one else’s. Mine!
These thoughts made it much easier to unlock his jaw and detach his mouth
from Isabel’s throat. She had passed out anyway, causing the fear-laced plasma
lipids in her blood to diminish quite rapidly, ruining the taste of her. This
was something that would have normally agitated him. In any other circumstance
he would have waken her up and punished her for causing him this agitation. He
would have inflicted a great amount of pain upon her. And then he would have
drank some more.
But not this time. His excitement lent Isabel mercy.
Rune cupped his hand over the open wound on Isabel’s neck, closing the flesh
beneath his palm. He would not leave her open and bleeding like he had done to
Persephone. He would not risk losing Isabel before Luna could come to him.
With the pain in his wing easing even more as Isabel’s blood flowed through
him, Rune moved swiftly. He had to make hast. He had to cloak the scent he and
Isabel left behind when he climbed the mountain side. Bane would be coming for
him. The scent of his immortal blood, and that of the human’s, would lead Bane
straight to the old homestead.
Rune did not doubt, not even for a moment, that soon, Aradia would give
permission for Bane to come through the outer ward in order to be able to hunt
Rune down and bring him back to her. Aradia lusted for Rune. His absence was
certainly devastating for the queen. Rune was certain of this. Aradia would do
what ever she could to bring him back to her.
He had no doubt in his mind that his brother would find him, even despite his
effort to cover his scent by cloaking his trail in the shadows of his blackness.
Bane would still smell him and Isabel. He would smell the blackness. But it
would take him longer to do so. And this would buy Rune the time he needed to
snare Luna in his trap.
How will I snare you, my Little One?
As Rune moved down the mountain, cloaking his scent in darkness, he opened
the link he shared with his brothers, listening to the thoughts of Hex and
Vodou. Bane was unreachable. He was still protecting Luna by walling her
thoughts and closing his link to his brothers, so Rune was not afraid Bane would
find him when he opened his own link.
Vodou, having been detained in the dungeons beneath The Coven’s lair, was of
no use to Rune.
Hex, on the other hand, just might prove to be useful after all.
That antithesis of a demon. That amicable imbecile. What an
ignominy!
But Hex was with Luna at this very moment. He was there, in her room. There
had to be something Rune could do to coerce Hex into helping him. If Hex hadn’t
rendered Roman immobile by breaking both his arms and his legs, Roman would have
definitely come in handy. He was still linked to Roman therefore he could still
possess the man and use him to do his bidding. But there wasn’t much Roman could
do for him while he lies in a hospital room.
There is the Hylander. The Coven’s high priest was once very valuable to me.
He has proved worthy of my possession, time and time again. He is weak right
now; and vulnerable, after having been possessed by me for so very long. I could
repossess him. It would be easy.
Cloaking himself in darkness, Rune turned around in the ditch at Rabbit Trail
Pass and started back up the mountain side.
Hex will be of no use to me. He is subservient to Bane. He always has
been.
The dull, annoying pain in Rune’s wing grew a little more annoying. He
quickened his pace, knowing he needed to get back to the old homestead before
the pain flared and made it difficult to move. Rune was growing frustrated. His
desire to have Luna in his arms was all that mattered to him anymore. Everything
else meant nothing to him.
How has this happened to me?
"I am the angelic immortal, second-born son of Lucifer! I am omnipotent, and
I am heartless and cold!" Rune growled to the forest of trees around him. "She
should not have this much power over me!"
For a brief moment, Rune desired to rebel against his feelings for Luna. He
would return to the old homestead, and he would take his frustrations out on
Isabel Gordon. He would use her up. He would torture her and stretch out her
pain as long as was possible. And then he would kill her. He would leave Sleepy
Hallow and get himself as far away from The Coven as he could. He would get
himself as far away from Luna Lanchester as he could. Perhaps he would even beg
his father for the forgiveness he did not rightfully deserve and rule at his
side where he belonged. He would forget about Luna Lanchester, rip her from his
memory and never look back.
But the moment passed.
Yes, he was leaving Sleepy Hallow. But Luna was leaving with him.
"Perhaps I will come and get you myself, my Little One!"
Rune did not have very much time to figure out how he was going to do what he
was going to do, and he knew this. But first thing was first. He needed more
blood. He needed to induce more than just fear. According to the sharp slicing
sensations in his wounded wing that was growing more intense by the second, Rune
needed pain, pure and unadulterated pain.
And Isabel Gordon would be the one to feed it to him.
****
Izzy
Isabel Gordon was certain she was going to die. Rune had her by the back of
the head with a thick lock of hair in his fist. His face was only inches away
from hers.
He was mad. His rage rolled off of him like waves of heat that seemed to boil
the perspiration on Isabel’s skin. His copper colored eyes looked livid.
"She will come for you," he said, growling the words through his teeth. "This
is the only thing that keeps me from ripping your throat wide open and eating
your meat."
"Please—" Isabel sobbed. Her entire body trembled in fear. "Just let me
go!"
Rune let go of Isabel’s hair, shoving her head away from him as if disgusted
by the sound of her voice. He moved away from her and carefully sat down in the
grass. He leaned against the broken barn wall behind him. He was wounded. His
wing had been broken. It hung strangely at his side, while the other one flared
out around him in a large half-circle. Even in the dusk, his copper colored
feathers shimmered. But the broken one did not. Isabel was certain that the wing
was dying.
Isabel tugged on the rope that Rune had wrapped around her wrists and secured
to the old, rotting post behind her. He had tied her up so tightly that the
circulation to her fingers was restricted and her finger tips were tingling and
numb.
After he had taken her from her car on Rabbit Trail Pass, he brought her up
the mountainside to an old, jalopy homestead. She knew this place. Roman had
taken her up here before. It was a long, steep hike up the side of Rabbit
Mountain. The homestead was just at the top. It rested in a small clearing that
was surrounded by thick vegetation.
No one would find her here.
It seemed the longer Rune sat there, the more his pain increased. That he had
carried her all the way up the mountain in his condition, simply astonished
Isabel. But it was his condition that gave Isabel a shred of hope, and what he
just said about not ripping her throat open.
Luna was lying in the grass on the side of the road when Rune had yanked
Isabel out of her car. Demeter and Aine escaped with Luna. Luna was safe. At
least, Isabel hoped she was. How safe could she be in the hands of a coven that
wanted to sacrifice her? And now Rune planned to use Isabel to bait Luna, to get
her to come to him. Isabel had to wonder if Luna would ever be safe again.
Luna would come to him. Luna would risk her life to save Isabel, and Isabel
knew this. Luna had risked her life to save her before. Isabel felt a tremor in
her belly, a sinking sensation in her heart.
"How will you even be able to talk to Luna?" Isabel asked. "How will she know
where to come to you?"
"Close your mouth," Rune grunted. It seemed the pain made it difficult for
him to speak. Maybe he would pass out from the pain, and Isabel could escape.
She tugged on the sharp, prickly rope, testing them again. They were still
tight, of course.
Isabel felt helpless. There was no way she was going to be able to keep from
being the bait Rune was planning for her to be.
"Please, Rune," Isabel begged softly. Tears came to her eyes.
Rune’s head shot up, his eyes cutting into Isabel. She shivered at the
intensity of his anger. She forgot he had told her to be quiet.
Rune cocked his head, looking at Isabel a little differently now. The look in
his eyes, though she did not understand it yet, frightened her more than she
already was.
"I’m sorry," Isabel whispered, hoping an apology would change the way he was
looking at her. Isabel couldn’t help but feel like she suddenly became the prey,
like Rune was hungry, and that he realized she could be the one to feed him.
Isabel froze beneath his gaze. She held her breath as he continued to look at
her like this.
Keeping his eyes in hers, Rune slowly, carefully rose up from the ground. His
face twisted in pain. A deep, guttural growl rolled from his throat. Rune moved
toward Isabel.
Isabel shook her head, denying in her mind the reality of what was to come.
In her heart she knew what Rune was about to do. "No," she whimpered, as Rune
drew near. "Please," she begged. But Rune wasn’t listening to her. He seemed to
be transfixed on her scent, pulled to her by invisible strings.
Isabel pressed her spine against the post behind her, trying to move away
from him. Rune was so close now that she could feel the heat radiating from his
massive body. He raised a thick, rippling arm and took Isabel by the side of the
head with a fist full of hair. Then he yanked her head to one side.
Isabel screamed, as Rune’s face fell to her neck. He inhaled, long and deep,
while her scream faded into a brief moment of silence. Then his teeth scraped
along her flesh, slicing open the skin from her earlobe to the middle of her
neck. Before Isabel could let out another scream, Rune sank his teeth deep into
her neck and locked his jaw.
And then he drank.
****
Chapter Two
Rune
Because Isabel’s fear for him was so incredibly potent, the pain in his wing
lessened to a much more tolerable level after only a few swallows of her blood.
But he drank more than this. The more he allowed himself to drink, the less pain
he would feel. It would only be a temporary fix, but Isabel wasn’t going
anywhere any time soon. He would drink from her again if he needed to.
But he had to be careful. He could not take too much from her at one time.
Isabel was an invaluable treasure to him right now.
Luna will come for me when she learns I have her friend!
This thought lightened Rune’s mood. It excited him in a way he hadn’t been
excited before.
Luna will come to me. And, finally, we will be alone, she and I. There will
be nothing to stop me from having what I want from her, whenever I want it. It
will be her and me and no one else! Me, in the flesh. It will be my own hands I
lay upon her. No one else’s. Mine!
These thoughts made it much easier to unlock his jaw and detach his mouth
from Isabel’s throat. She had passed out anyway, causing the fear-laced plasma
lipids in her blood to diminish quite rapidly, ruining the taste of her. This
was something that would have normally agitated him. In any other circumstance
he would have waken her up and punished her for causing him this agitation. He
would have inflicted a great amount of pain upon her. And then he would have
drank some more.
But not this time. His excitement lent Isabel mercy.
Rune cupped his hand over the open wound on Isabel’s neck, closing the flesh
beneath his palm. He would not leave her open and bleeding like he had done to
Persephone. He would not risk losing Isabel before Luna could come to him.
With the pain in his wing easing even more as Isabel’s blood flowed through
him, Rune moved swiftly. He had to make hast. He had to cloak the scent he and
Isabel left behind when he climbed the mountain side. Bane would be coming for
him. The scent of his immortal blood, and that of the human’s, would lead Bane
straight to the old homestead.
Rune did not doubt, not even for a moment, that soon, Aradia would give
permission for Bane to come through the outer ward in order to be able to hunt
Rune down and bring him back to her. Aradia lusted for Rune. His absence was
certainly devastating for the queen. Rune was certain of this. Aradia would do
what ever she could to bring him back to her.
He had no doubt in his mind that his brother would find him, even despite his
effort to cover his scent by cloaking his trail in the shadows of his blackness.
Bane would still smell him and Isabel. He would smell the blackness. But it
would take him longer to do so. And this would buy Rune the time he needed to
snare Luna in his trap.
How will I snare you, my Little One?
As Rune moved down the mountain, cloaking his scent in darkness, he opened
the link he shared with his brothers, listening to the thoughts of Hex and
Vodou. Bane was unreachable. He was still protecting Luna by walling her
thoughts and closing his link to his brothers, so Rune was not afraid Bane would
find him when he opened his own link.
Vodou, having been detained in the dungeons beneath The Coven’s lair, was of
no use to Rune.
Hex, on the other hand, just might prove to be useful after all.
That antithesis of a demon. That amicable imbecile. What an
ignominy!
But Hex was with Luna at this very moment. He was there, in her room. There
had to be something Rune could do to coerce Hex into helping him. If Hex hadn’t
rendered Roman immobile by breaking both his arms and his legs, Roman would have
definitely come in handy. He was still linked to Roman therefore he could still
possess the man and use him to do his bidding. But there wasn’t much Roman could
do for him while he lies in a hospital room.
There is the Hylander. The Coven’s high priest was once very valuable to me.
He has proved worthy of my possession, time and time again. He is weak right
now; and vulnerable, after having been possessed by me for so very long. I could
repossess him. It would be easy.
Cloaking himself in darkness, Rune turned around in the ditch at Rabbit Trail
Pass and started back up the mountain side.
Hex will be of no use to me. He is subservient to Bane. He always has
been.
The dull, annoying pain in Rune’s wing grew a little more annoying. He
quickened his pace, knowing he needed to get back to the old homestead before
the pain flared and made it difficult to move. Rune was growing frustrated. His
desire to have Luna in his arms was all that mattered to him anymore. Everything
else meant nothing to him.
How has this happened to me?
"I am the angelic immortal, second-born son of Lucifer! I am omnipotent, and
I am heartless and cold!" Rune growled to the forest of trees around him. "She
should not have this much power over me!"
For a brief moment, Rune desired to rebel against his feelings for Luna. He
would return to the old homestead, and he would take his frustrations out on
Isabel Gordon. He would use her up. He would torture her and stretch out her
pain as long as was possible. And then he would kill her. He would leave Sleepy
Hallow and get himself as far away from The Coven as he could. He would get
himself as far away from Luna Lanchester as he could. Perhaps he would even beg
his father for the forgiveness he did not rightfully deserve and rule at his
side where he belonged. He would forget about Luna Lanchester, rip her from his
memory and never look back.
But the moment passed.
Yes, he was leaving Sleepy Hallow. But Luna was leaving with him.
"Perhaps I will come and get you myself, my Little One!"
Rune did not have very much time to figure out how he was going to do what he
was going to do, and he knew this. But first thing was first. He needed more
blood. He needed to induce more than just fear. According to the sharp slicing
sensations in his wounded wing that was growing more intense by the second, Rune
needed pain, pure and unadulterated pain.
And Isabel Gordon would be the one to feed it to him.
****