How to Lose a Demon in 10 Days by Saranna DeWylde Page A

didn’t dare draw Michael’s attention—and in turn, Ethelred’s—to whomever it was.
    The ache in her body continued despite her insight, a horrible ripping pain through her abdomen. Nor did the revelation fill the emptiness in her heart. This was an acute pain, so real, and she knew its source. Her need for Nikoli was like an infection, and it was gnawing away at her.
    “He’s not real, our son?” Michael continued, mocking her accusation. His lips were on the column of her throat. “What a cold, unnatural mother you are. A fitting mate for the next ruler of Hell.”
    Grace didn’t process his words. Instead, she felt terror sluice down her spine like ice water. A toddler with Michael’s eyes peered out from the bar’s office door. His blond hair was mussed and curly; there was a familiar baby-soft roundness to his cheeks that was also present in the small fingers that clutched the door. He smiled at her and held out his arms as if he wanted to be picked up.
    “Four years is a long time to be away from your son. The courts can’t help you, as you’ve seen, and neither can your demon. Get rid of him and we’ll be a happy family again. You have ten days. Get. Rid. Of. Him. Or else.”
    He bit her hard on the neck, his teeth tearing at the softness of her skin. Grace tried to scream, but he cut off her air. Not that anyone in the bar would have done anything to help. If she’d had the breath, she would have cursed him. She was reliving now all the horrible things he’d done, all the things she’d learned just before they’d split. She’d seen the bodies of the whores who had tried to leave Michael’s employ. Why had she even come here? Why hadn’t she just begged Caspian to act before Michael could counter him? Was it too late now?
    Magick crackled around her fingers, but she couldn’t stop clawing at Michael long enough to direct it. Rationally, she knew that if she just relaxed she could use her arms, her hands, her magick, but she couldn’t force her body to obey. She could feel her life slipping away. Strangulation was an art to him, and not only that, it made him hard. She could feel his erection digging into her hip, and the less breath she had, the bigger it felt. She wanted to vomit. How could she ever have been attracted to this man? How could she not have realized what he was?
    He released her just as she started to really fight. Kissing her cheek, he gave her a bloody-minded smile. “Oh, my love,” he crooned. “Such times we shall have when you come back to me.”
    She cursed him with her first returned breath. “Ego vomica vos ut persolvo pro vestri spiritus per spiritus.” The next time he choked or bit a woman, he himself would feel himself the victim of whatever he inflicted. If he killed her . . . well, Karma could be a bitch.
    Michael grinned. “I can hardly wait.”
    He obviously had no idea what she’d said or done to him, but he would. She had the urge to run out of the bar screaming—it was taking all her willpower not to do just that—but she couldn’t show him that she was afraid.
    “Ten days, Grace. Or I’ll kill Nikoli. The spell is already in place that will end his life if you fail to meet your obligations to me. If you or your demon tries to take him from me, Nikoli’s dead and so are you. Ten days. Get rid of the demon.”
    “I understand,” she said. She reached over the bar and grabbed the bottle of vodka from which the bartender had been pouring her drinks. She took a long final swig. Then, with blood still streaming down her neck from Michael’s bite, she walked with her head held high through the front door. The quiet notes of “Kentucky Rain” echoed behind her.
    Ten days to get rid of Caspian. And, she had to do it. Michael was on to the demon, and she didn’t doubt for a minute her onetime lover would kill Nikoli just as he threatened. She’d been naïve to think otherwise, been so damned caught up in getting revenge that she hadn’t considered