Bound By Blood (Bound 1)

And Morgan hesitated. The demon had a point.

“We’l see.” Jace didn’t seem worried. “Once I slice off your hands and crack open your rib cage, we’l find out if you feel like talking then.”

But the demon shook his head. “Been there, done that. Why do you think we’re al coming out? This world…” His red eyes flew around the room. “It’s life. We’re coming, and we’re taking it over, and you can’t stop us.”

“We’l shut your damn door,” Jace promised, “and you’l stay in your cage.”

More laughter. “Not if you can’t find it.”

“You’l talk,” Jace promised. Then he glanced back at Morgan. “You don’t…want to see this.” But she read his eyes and understood. Don’t watch me do this. He would torture. He would push and push and push…because he wanted to save her. Save his people.

But sometimes, there was just too much darkness, too much of a price, to be paid for some actions.

“There’s another way.” A better way because her gut told her that the demon wasn’t bul shitting. He wouldn’t break. What can we do that hell hasn’t done?

Jace stil ed.

Morgan spared a swift glance for the vampires. Men. Women. Their gazes were determined, their bodies tense. They understood what she meant. They were ready.

She licked her lips and offered, “We can drink from him.”

The demon’s bel ow shook the mansion, and she knew that they had the bastard.

You won’t talk. Fine. “We don’t need you to talk,” she said as she crept closer to him.

“We just need you to bleed.”

Time to sample the demon’s memories.

Jace blocked her path. “This is a shitty plan.”

She smiled at him. “It’s a plan that wil work. You know we pul memories with the bite.”

“Yeah, but just what else wil happen when you bite him? You ever had demon blood?”

No. “Never had the pleasure,” she said and saw the demon tense.

“It could be poison. It could fry you from the inside out. It could—”

“I’d never had werewolf blood until I tasted you.”

That stopped him. Only for a moment. “Yeah, princess, but we al know that once you go wolf, you don’t go back.”

And there, when she shouldn’t have, when it was the wrong time and the wrong place, she laughed.

Jace froze. Then he squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” What was her wolf talking about now?

His eyes opened and a muscle flexed along his jaw. “You aren’t tasting him.” He pointed to the vamps behind them. “One of those ass**les can do it. They can all do it.

But not you.”

He pul ed her close. “I don’t want you having memories of hel .”

He stil didn’t get it. “I don’t need you to protect me.” She motioned to the vampires.

They lined up. Al of them ready.

“Because they’ve got your back?” Anger roughed his voice.

“No, because I’m a f**king vampire princess.” She bared her fangs. “And I’m riding high on my wolf’s blood.” Time for ass kicking. She pushed past Jace and grabbed the demon, wrenching him away from the wolves. “Remember me? I’m the vamp bitch who broke your neck.”

His red eyes bulged as she promised, “I’m also the one who’s going to drain you dry.”

Louis snapped his fingers together. “Now I know who she reminds me of…” His gaze flew to Jace. “You.”

Jace snarled.

“Come ahead, bitch,” the demon dared. “You think you’re strong? My blood wil burn you from the inside out.”

“Promises, promises,” she whispered and moved as fast as Jace had, a blur. She grabbed the demon’s head and yanked it back. “Bleed for me.”

She sank her teeth into him.

His blood fil ed her mouth. Warm. Not burning. But bitter. So bitter. She drank and took the memories. Fire. Hel . Screams that never ended.

“Morgan.” Jace’s hands settled on her back.

She kept drinking.

A white light entered hel . Smal . Such a narrow opening. A man’s voice cal ed.

Chanting. Serving up blood sacrifices. Trading lives because he wanted power.

“Stop!” The demon bel owed.

She drank more.

More.

The doorway opened. She saw the bastard who’d unlocked that door. Fucking ass**le. Betrayal.

The door opened in her mind, and fire raced out, burning, burning…

Morgan jerked away, screaming, as smoke rose from her mouth.

The demon laughed. “Told you, b-bitch…you’l burn…”

She could feel the blisters in her throat. But…but she was already healing. Jace’s blood.

She blew the smoke into the demon’s face. “Time for you to go back home.”

He flinched.

“Tel me you know where the doorway is,” Jace growled the words behind her. She held the demon’s red stare a moment longer, long enough to see the fear flare in his eyes, then she faced Jace. “I know.” But first she had another matter to take care of. A little matter of a blood betrayal.

“Good.” Jace pul ed her away. “Then it’s time to kil the bastard.”

The demon screamed in fury and surged against the wolves who’d grabbed him.

Morgan slipped back a few steps. She caught Paul’s stare and inclined her head toward the door.

The demon’s screams rose.

She swal owed back the taste of ash. “Where’s Devon?” She whispered to Paul.

Betrayal. She should have seen this coming. He’d always been such a power hungry ass**le.

He hadn’t been testing her with that fire. He’d wanted to kil her. So she wouldn’t find out what he’d done.

You nearly killed us all.

Paul’s eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”

“Devon kil ing humans.” Not just kil ing. Torturing. Sacrificing. “He’s the one who opened the doorway.” It made sense, but she’d been too blind to see it before. Devon was over five hundred years old. He would know al the ancient legends and spel s. He would know how to raise demons, how to open a doorway.

And to get power, he’d done it.

Only the demons he’d let out hadn’t exactly been keen on obeying him. You can’t cage some beasts.

“Bastard.” Paul’s hands fisted. The demon wasn’t screaming anymore. Out of time.