Cursed Demon Kissed 2 Page 0,1

this place would expose me, but I already blew my cover.

The sear of heat shot through my body in a single burst before I reappeared next to Collin. Crouching quickly, I gripped his limp hand in mine. There was a commotion among the demons as they tried to figure out where I'd gone.

A smug smile slid across my face. I'd made it. We'd be gone before they could stop us.

But all my attention was focused on the demons. I didn't notice the enormous shadow that had stretched above us. As I looked up, my voice ripped out of my throat in a raw scream. Massive black scales covered the beast's body, and it descended on us like a hawk, poised to strike. Four gnarled finger-like claws curved grotesquely as black blades elongated from its flesh. The winged monster descended so fast that the wind screeched around it. The beast made a horrid shriek that was amplified to a deafening volume. Between ear-piercing cries from its maw, the razor sharp claws, and the cracking of its black veined wings, uncontrollable terror shot through me.

My voice rang in my ears as I screamed. Shaking, I pulled Collin into my arms, and focused on the ruby stone in my ring. Efanotating two people was dangerous, but I could do it. It was part of the powers that I possessed from the tainted blood that flowed through my veins. If I did it wrong, I would kill us both. But if I didn't do it fast enough, we would both die anyway. The heat that proceeded efanotating blossomed quickly and licked my belly from within.

Only a few more seconds and that glorious burst of searing pain would transport our bodies away from here.

We would be free.

But, fate didn't allow us a few seconds. It didn't allow us any. As the heat licked my stomach, the beast's massive talloned paw materialized above us. The gnarled bones flexed as the serpent cried out, and slammed its massive claws down on top of us.

Sweat covered my face as I sat up screaming. My fingers desperately tried to find Collin's hand, but only grabbed air. Sucking in sharply, I wiped the sweat from my eyes, and pulled my knees into my chest.

"That's the third time that I had the same vision," I rasped in a shaky voice.

Shannon's hand was on my shoulder. She squeezed it, as the trembling worked its way out of my muscles. "The one with the dragon?"

I nodded, feeling too freaked to talk. That was the third time that I'd seen my attempt to save Collin fail. And it was the third time that I'd seen my own death.

CHAPTER TWO

I pushed back my seat as we soared over the Atlantic Ocean. Shannon and I were on our way to the Martis headquarters in Rome. We boarded the plane that morning and I hadn't seen land out the window since.

Some part of me wondered how insane it was to walk straight into the Martis compound, even if I was invited. Most of the Martis still thought I was evil incarnate. It was an honest mistake, but it could have deadly consequences. While describing me as the Prophecy One was accurate, the evil part was a little out of date. I proved that fighting next to Julia, the Regent Dyconisis, and other Martis on Long Island. They had regarded me as some sort of hero after that. Well, everyone except Julia. She still had suspicion plastered all over her face the last time I'd seen her. I was learning that it was difficult to expect a Martis to look beyond the color of my tainted mark. When she looked at me, the only thing she saw was certain destruction and death.

The prophecy foretold of a seventeen-year-old as the destructor of the world. Everyone believed that I was that seventeen-year-old. It was hard to deny since the prophecy was a painting and not just words scratched onto a sheet of paper. I could have contested words, but not the painting. The resemblance was too strong. Her face was the mirror image of mine.

But, it was the violet mark on her brow that was irrefutable. That intricate mark confirmed that I was the Prophecy One without a doubt, because I was the only one who had it. No other Martis had a violet mark. Theirs were all the perfect shade of blue. Their enemies, the Valefar, had a scar scraped across their forehead that oozed an ugly red.