Alex Williams has battled demons all her life. Now Lilith, the mother of all demonkind, has
declared war on the human race. To
defeat the immortal succubus, Alex must lay aside her hatred and work with two
half-demons, Colwyn and Jacob. Alex and
Colwyn are prepared to destroy each other at the first sign of treachery. What they don’t expect is the passion that
overcomes them. To defeat Lilith, Alex
must embrace what she believes profane and trust the half-demon who might turn
against her at any moment.
Genre: Horror
Warning: Contains
explicit sex and violence.
Excerpt:
Despite her best efforts, Alex
dropped right on top of the dead man.
The body squelched beneath her, and the air went muddy with the scent of
spoiled meat. His blank eyes stare into
hers, the windows to his soul looking into a bare, unfurnished room.
She controlled an urge to scream – barely. Her stomach heaved, and she scrambled off the
bed. The ripe odor of death hung about
her, and Alex held her breath as she hurried to the door. There she paused, willing her galloping heartbeat
to slow to a trot. Panic edged back but
kept a hungry eye on her.
Alex pulled the vial of holy water from
her coat pocket and unstoppered it. With
a shuddering breath she cracked the door open.
A powerful thrum slammed through her
body and forced her to stumble backwards.
The demon recognition hit her with the force of a tidal wave. She tried to scream, but only a whistling
hiss of breath escaped. Alex staggered in
a drunken pirouette to the middle of the room, one hand outstretched to ward
off the demonic presence, the other pulling back the holy water as if she
readied to throw the first pitch of a baseball game.
Alone and small, Alex had indeed
blundered into the lair of the Beast. A
moaned litany escaped her lips. “I can’t. I can’t.
I can’t...”
Staring at the dark hallway beyond
the open door, she wept the tears of a terrified child. Who was she to confront such a monster? Lilith would surely annihilate her within
seconds. With all that power, she couldn’t
be stopped, couldn’t even be slowed. Lilith
would destroy them all. Such malevolence
would crush everything in its path. Alex’s
puny arsenal of prayers and spells would be like pebbles thrown at a tank. Incantations would be no more to the ancient
demoness than nursery rhymes.
Demon recognition pulsed at her,
sending her thoughts into chaos. The
storm pounded its fury on the roof overhead, adding to the confusion. She had to get out; she had to run before the
demoness scented the interloper in her den and came for her. Alex turned back to the open window.
The corpse lying on the bed
confronted her. The bloody, torn carcass
blocked her path, stopping her from climbing out the window into the curtain of
rain, from running from the house, from leaving the state to hide from Lilith
and the Segreto forever. She couldn’t
crawl over that silently screaming remnant again.
The only other way out was to go into
the hall and chance facing the demoness.
Her mind raced between the two options like a frantic squirrel caught in
a cage. Her whimpered chant of “Ican’tIcan’tIcan’t...”
grew louder. Soon she’d scream it, and
Lilith would come. The thought didn’t
quiet her; it fed her panic and raised the volume of her voice.
A weight dragged on her neck and
grew heavier. Alex clutched at it and
grabbed her silver crucifix on its black cord.
She brought it before her eyes and stared at the tiny form of Christ,
stretched upon the cross, sacrificed to save man from evil. One man, alone. Like her, the salvation of all
humankind. The metal in her palm felt
warm, comforting. It seemed to infuse
her with strength.
I’m
Segreto. God’s warrior. Humanity’s only chance in Lilith’s hell.
The thought struck like a splash of
cold water in her face. Reason
returned. Others had faced Lilith and
driven her back to the ether. The task
was suicidally immense but not impossible.
Alex’s ragged breath eased, and her heart slowed a little. Her body still trembled, but her thoughts had
cleared.
Besides,
the bitch doesn’t know I’m here. I’ve
got a hell of a surprise in store for her.
She squared her shoulders. She approached the door to the hall
again.
Alex peeked out into the dark
hall. She discovered the room she was in
stood about halfway between the lit front room and the back door. The television spoke in a mindless drone over
the rain that pounded on the roof, the two providing plenty of noise to cover
her presence if she was careful. Alex
eased out of the bedroom.
The hum of her talent intensified as
she drew closer to her enemy. She passed
the doorway of a darkened kitchen and wrinkled her nose at the rancid odor of
spoiled food. It was still more pleasant
than the rotting body she’d left behind.
Peering into the room, she saw nothing except the reflection of metal
from the stove’s burners and its litter of pots and pans.
Alex returned her attention to the
lit room ahead. She thought she heard a
cry behind her and turned. She saw
nothing but the hallway leading to the back door. She listened, but there was no repeat of the
sound; all that reached her ears was her own breath, the drum of rain, and the
television.
She resumed her approach towards the
front of the house. As she moved closer,
she heard the polished tones of a newscaster.
“...350 bodies found in a mass
grave. Apparently, the victims had been
buried alive...”
Something chuckled over the
television’s volume. Alex halted at the
obscene sound. Her bladder nearly gave
way.
The laughter was inhuman, as if Hell
itself had gained the ability to express humor.
Some loathsome, diseased thing reveled in the destruction of
others. Something that didn’t belong
among humankind.
Alex’s upper lip skinned back from her
teeth in an unconscious snarl. She was
still awash in fear, but an instinctive hatred boiled within her as well.
You
have no business on my world. God left
it to us, you thieving bitch. You may
take it, but as the saying goes, it’ll be over my very dead body.
All her attention locked on the
doorway before her. Her fist tightened
around the vial of holy water. Alex
passed the kitchen door.
The toe of her shoe collided with a
broken wedge of a plate. It clattered
across the hardwood floor, a cymbal crash amid the drumming of rain. The whole house seemed to echo with the sound
and amplify it until she clapped her hands to her ears.
“Naamah?”
Alex froze and held her breath. Her heart thumped painfully. A shadow appeared on the wall in the
television room.
“Naamah, is that you?”
The shadow grew and glided toward
the hall, its darkness slipping eel-like towards her. Alex stepped back, watching it as it
advanced. Her foot landed on a wet blob
and slid out from under her. With a
startled gasp she crashed on her backside with a solid thump, the holy water
held aloft in her right hand. Liquid
splashed over her fingers.
“Who’s there?” The shadow charged forward. The thrum of Alex’s talent grew into a
scream.
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