Demons Like It Hot (Demons Unleashed #2)(73)

“Expected what to go?” Matthias crossed his arms. “Just tell me you killed her quickly and that she didn’t suffer.”

Kalli balked, pulling her hand away from the necklace, surprising Matthias. “Seriously, you think I killed her?”

“How else do you explain the necklace? Josephine wouldn’t just give her most treasured piece of jewelry away.” Matthias’s jaw twitched as he fought back the memories. “I saw our home. A Paladin had been there. I sensed it.”

Kalli motioned to the other barstool. “You need to sit down to hear this, Matthias.”

“I’ll stand. Did you end it quick or did you make her suffer?”

“Damn it all, Ambrose.” Kalli reached out and grabbed his hand. “It wasn’t a Paladin. It was that bitch Salome. She made it look like we killed her.”

Salome? The one who had made him this way? “No one is that good. Not even Salome.”

“Trust me, she is.” Kalli exhaled deeply. “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you just grab one of my memories? They never lie.”

“You know of my skill?”

“I’ve been tracking you for centuries. Kind of hard not to notice.” Kalli chuckled. “None of your victims ever remembered what hit them.”

“So tell me about Josephine. What about our child?”

Kalli bit her lip. “It’s gruesome. I don’t know how to say this.”

“You can just show me.”

Kalli nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Matthias took hold of Kalli’s shoulders and said in Latin, “You will allow me to journey into your oldest memories of the year 1228, to my village near Münster.”

***

The odor of brimstone clung to the air. Kalli Corapolous swiped a piece of auburn hair from her brow and raised her nose for a better scent. The Infernati were nearby. Scanning the horizon, she spotted a plume of smoke looming. The village, her mind screamed. It was one she’d passed through numerous times.

God’s teeth! Kalli shook her head and winced. It was times like this that she dreaded being a demon.

Even after eighteen hundred years.

The smoke appears fresh. I might still have time.

She raised her hands to the sky and allowed the freezing cold portal winds to pull her toward the village.

She flung ice and snow from her plain, brown kirtle and grabbed the silver dagger hidden in her skirts. The faint sound of a baby’s cry set her senses on edge.

“Too late, you Greek bitch.”

Kalli spun around. The woman threw her head back as deep rolls of laughter thundered from her mouth. A long swath of raven hair swirled around her. A gown of crimson damask clung to her ample bosom. She’d heard stories of this one.

“Salome, what did this village do to merit such destruction?”

“Nothing. I grew bored.”

“You are as cruel now as a demon as you were in your human life.”

Salome cackled, a sinister smirk curving her lips. “Some say crueler. Especially when someone crosses me.”

Kalli lunged for her, a growl ripping from her lips. She had to stop Salome.

“I said you were too late.” Salome snapped a finger. Tendrils of black-and-gray smoke swirled around her. When it had cleared, Salome was gone.

“What in the deities?” Kalli had never seen a Peragrans like that before. No mists, no snow, no ice or frost. Only that thick, dark smoke. Was it even a Peragrans at all?

Kalli searched the village. Thatched huts smoldered everywhere. The people huddled together, soot covering their faces. No one appeared to be injured. Not the Infernati way at all.

“What happened here?” Kalli asked, scanning the crowds.

“She’s a witch,” mumbled someone from the crowd. “Why else would the demons themselves come to take her away?”

Cursed humans and their backward ways. “Who?”

“Josephine.” A girl, no more than twelve, wiped soot from her cheek. She pointed down toward a blazing cottage.

“Aren’t you going to do something?”

One of the men shrugged, indifference clouding his face. “A right fitting end for a witch, I say.”

The scent of brimstone still lingered. Bloody hell. They’d been enraptured by the Infernati.

“Well, you all might see a witch, but I still see a person who needs help.” She grabbed her dagger and kept it poised in front of her.

“You’re a witch too! We should’ve known.” The crowd lunged for her. She slashed and stabbed. It was worse than enrapturement. They were animi mortui. Dead souls. Human bodies controlled by demons. It was fights like this that caused her to truly despise the Infernati.

Slicing her way through the crowd, she made her way toward the burning straw-and-mud hut. With a final thrust, she pushed her way inside. She threw her hands at the door, charming the house with protection. The remaining dead pounded and shouted as they tried to enter.

Flames licked and flicked her skin. There was only a brief moment of pain until the skin healed itself—a minor inconvenience when saving a human life. The smoke billowed. Coughing and sputtering, she swiped the smoke from her face.

She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled toward the fire. The long blast of air extinguished the fire.

She pushed through the tight quarters, tripping over a broken table. “Is anyone here?”