Demon's Daughter (Demon Outlaws) by Paula Altenburg

began again.
    Airie started at his touch, as if she had forgotten all about his presence.
    “We have to go,” he said. “Gather your things.”
    She looked up at him with dark, tragic eyes, and again he was struck by the illusion of beauty and innocence she presented. Instinct had him wanting to reach for her, to take her in his arms and offer comfort. Then his ribs twitched with pain and he remembered she was not all that innocent, no matter what her mother believed about her or how she presented herself. He called to mind an image of his sister and her torn remains, and of the monstrosity she had died giving birth to, and any pity he might have felt for Airie fled.
    “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. A hint of hysteria tempered her words. “I can’t leave my mother.”
    Spawn or not, this was awkward for him, and as always when Hunter did not know what to do, he opted for plain, harsh truth. “Your mother is gone. She asked me to take you with me.”
    “I heard her.” A shiver began in her as if she were cold, or in deep, physical pain, but then she pulled herself tight to contain it. “Don’t worry. You won’t need protection from me because I’m not going anywhere with you. If there’s no place in the world for my kind , then I choose to stay here.”
    So she had caught his words. Hunter could not remember the last time he had felt himself blush—if ever—and the sense of being somehow in the wrong made him angry with her all over again. “You can’t stay here. We’ll have to make a place for you elsewhere.”
    When she looked at him, it was as if she saw inside him and had no liking for what she found. Coldly polite, her contempt lashed him. “Tell me, Demon Slayer . What are you doing here on the mountain? Are you on some sort of pilgrimage?”
    He was at a loss. She was the criminal, not he. He had not thought about having to explain himself to her when he’d set out from Freetown. While he had not intended to tie her up and carry her across his saddle the way he often did when collecting bounty—past bounties had been male—some stupid part of him had assumed that since she was female, she would accompany him without resistance.
    Before he could think of a believable response to her question, another tremor shook the room. He fell against her, knocking her from her chair. He managed to stay on his own feet, although with difficulty.
    A second tremor, far more intense, rumbled deep beneath the temple floor, then rammed to the surface. Fine cracks shot up the walls, and the temple’s odd lighting flickered and dimmed. A loud crack from beyond the open entrance sounded as if the whole mountain were splitting in two, and Sally, waiting outside, let out a frightened bellow. Hunter knew he had only a few seconds before the animal bolted, with or without him.
    He grabbed Airie’s hand and jerked her along behind him as he ran from the temple to the sand swift, adrenaline lending him enough added strength to override her protests. He hoisted her into the saddle and scrambled up after her.
    The temple collapsed. A slide of boulders, dirt, and debris buried its entrance.
    “My mother !” she cried.
    Hunter did not waste time contemplating how they had been mere seconds from joining the dead priestess in her entombment, or the agony in Airie’s voice. That would come later. Instead, he gave the sand swift its head.
    The ground shook as they hurtled down the narrow path, packs bouncing and swaying.
    He intended for them to make it off the mountain before it fell beneath them.

Chapter Five
     
    The Demon Lord found the desert to his liking for several reasons, not the least of which was that it served as a natural barrier against mortal men.
    Neither could demons bear the touch of rain, the gift from the goddesses to the mortal world. It burned like acid on demon flesh and bound them to the desert, where it rarely fell.
    Demons were also solitary, and enforced confinement in any great number