Demon’s Quest (High Demon #4)(36)
Author: Connie Suttle

Perhaps it was because I was as tired as I was, or perhaps it was because the visit from Addah, Fes and Aldah had rattled me so much that I kept going over and over it in my mind. Regardless, when the Ra’Ak hissed and attempted to change in the lengthy bus, I still beat him to the punch and killed him in my smaller Thifilatha.

Chapter 9

Many passengers were injured—every Ra’Ak dusts when it dies and this one was no different. Chunks bigger than my fist blasted outward when I twisted the head from the body. Some pieces shattered windows and went flying into the street. Four of the six passengers needed medical attention, their injuries caused by flying Ra’Ak dust.

Oris and Danis, who’d been behind me, were spared because my Thifilatha’s body blocked anything from reaching them. They were both staring at me in shock, however, when it was over.

Lendill, Norian and Gavin came. I don’t know who’d called Gavin, but I was more than thankful. He placed compulsion on the passengers, telling them that it was an accident only. Norian and Lendill were smoothing things with the local constabulary, and I was thankful for that as well. My hands shaking and my entire body quivering in reaction, I sat on the back seat of the bus and let the others handle everything. Lendill brought clothing, shoes and a coat for me—everything had been burned away the moment I went Thifilatha. I’d dressed with shaking fingers in the back of the bus while Gavin placed compulsion.

"Reah, little one, shall I send for Gavril?" Gavin’s voice was low and calming. I nodded at his question—I needed someone with me right then and I knew it. Teeg showed up almost immediately.

"Sweetheart, do you want to go to the apartment or come home with me?" Teeg lifted me off the seat in the back of the bus.

"I’ll come with you," I muttered. I was still shivering and couldn’t seem to get my breath. What had the Ra’Ak been doing on a bus? I didn’t normally travel that way—it couldn’t have been looking for me. All the people on the bus were adults, too. Was this Ra’Ak even one of the six we were hunting? I couldn’t tell. Perhaps Teeg could have, or Lissa, with their perfect sense of smell. But the Ra’Ak was in chunks now and we wouldn’t know, more than likely.

"Can somebody let Lok know that I won’t be back at the apartment tonight?" I asked Lendill as Teeg carried me off the bus.

"I’ll let him know." Lendill pulled out his comp-vid.

"Come on, baby, let’s get you home. You’re cold and shaking," Teeg murmured and folded me away.

"I should have known sooner, but I was still fretting over Addah, Fes and Aldah showing up and calling me out of the kitchen like ass**les," I muttered later as Teeg dumped me in the hot water of his spa behind the palace.

"They showed up and demanded that you come out and talk to them?" Teeg was shocked. So was I, honestly. I might have walked into Desh’s to sample the food, but I sure wouldn’t alert Addah to my presence. But then Addah wasn’t afraid of me. I was of him, though. I drew a shaky breath.

"Addah tried to accuse me of stealing their recipes—said the fish stew was close to what they served. The only reason it’s close is because I designed the original recipe. Fucker." I didn’t have any kind words for my paternal grandfather. "I’m glad now that I left out three ingredients when I wrote down the yaris fish recipe for Edan six years ago. They can’t lay claim to that, either."

"Baby, stop fretting about your grandfather and tell me about the Ra’Ak." Honestly, the Ra’Ak had upset me less than my own family.

"I didn’t notice him when I walked past his seat toward the front of the bus," I said. "I was too busy going over Addah’s visit. The moment the doors closed on the bus and it started moving, he stood up. I noticed it then and went right to my smaller Thifilatha. I had to twist his head off; he tried to lash out at me but that’s a mistake with a High Demon."

"And then he dusted," Teeg added. "Did the dusting hit you, sweetheart?" He ran his hands over my body.

"I ducked and covered my head with my arms," I said. "But I got hit in a couple of places. I’m better equipped to handle that than the other passengers were."

Farzi, Nenzi and six other reptanoids crawled up in lion snake form and all of them plopped into the water. Farzi and Nenzi draped over me as well as they could while the others got as close as Teeg would allow. I think I cried a little while eight lion snakes tried to console me.

"That’s Reah." Lendill ran the images from the bus camera back, then allowed them to play again for Lok’s benefit. Norian had confiscated the recording to keep it out of the locals’ hands.

"That’s what she becomes?" Lok was surprised.

"That’s the smaller one," Lendill nodded as Lok stared at the golden scales and long white hair flying as Reah decapitated the Ra’Ak using only her hands. "She’s about six feet or so in the smaller one?" He looked to Norian for confirmation. Norian nodded. "In the larger one, she’s around fifteen feet. And she has her wings tight against her body here," he stopped the image. "They’re amazing when she spreads them out."

"So that’s what a High Demon looks like."

"When they change, but Reah is the only one with gold scales. The only other female who has ever turned is the High Demon Queen—Glindarok. Her Thifilatha is white. The males turn Thifilathi and theirs are larger and all black with short horns. Reah doesn’t have horns."

"Reah is unique." Lok nodded.

"They can’t ever get tattoos," Lendill jerked his head toward Lok’s red dragons—it was late and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. "The ink burns right off when they change."

"Their clothing burns off, too, if they’re wearing any. Reah didn’t have time to undress, obviously," Norian ran the footage forward, showing Reah coming back to herself. She was completely nude. "Lendill knew to take clothing when she sent mindspeech to him."

"I can’t even see the attack, it happens so quickly," Lok muttered.

"Neither can we. That’s how fast they are. Lissa says that the High Demons were made to fight the Ra’Ak and the other creatures that inhabited the Dark Realm. They were designed specifically for that purpose." Norian sighed.

"I was worried about her earlier—her family from the other restaurant—they came in and upset her." Lok said.

"Who was it? Did her grandfather come in?" Lendill was seething, suddenly.

"I believe so—with two others. Her uncles, she said."

"Calm down, Lendill, you can’t bring charges against someone for being a prick," Norian said.