The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(22)

“Why’d someone choose the name the Fallen Angels? You’re not something that goes bump in the night.”

“We’re powerful beings fighting for good in the shadows.” Rohan stopped so abruptly before a thick iron door that I whacked into him. I stepped back, rubbing my nose while he placed his hand on a pad mounted beside the door to be scanned.

“Again, that’s my point. Fighting for good. Not fallen.”

“Everything falls eventually, Lolita, it’s all just a matter of when gravity kicks in. Either way, we’re the badass chosen ones wrapped in a really hot package.” He tugged on one of my curls. “Time to prove you’re one of us.”

“One of us” as in chosen? Or did I get badass and hot status, too?

The door unlatched with a click.

“Welcome to the Vault.” Rohan’s eyes lit up with an evil glint, then he pushed me inside the all-consuming darkness and slammed the door.





6





I froze, straining my eyes seeking out the demons that I was positive they had stashed in here with me.

After a moment, Rohan opened the door again. “Kidding.”

He flicked on the light to reveal a vast, well-lit studio. The ceilings and walls were the same concrete blocks as the hallway, but the floor was wall-to-wall blue padding. There were no windows.

“You’re a dick,” I told him.

He glanced down at his crotch. “It is legendary, but it doesn’t fully define me.”

“My God,” I muttered. Noting Rohan’s bare feet on the pads, I toed out of my shoes, stacking them beside the door. “Why is this called the Vault?” If there were valuables they were well hidden because there was nothing to see. Not even a punching bag.

“It’s the most secure room.”

I rolled out my shoulders. “Now what?”

“Training,” Baruch said, entering.

“Shalom, Sensei Tree Trunk,” I said, bowing with my hands together in Namaste position. “What’s first? Weapons?” I could totally rock a weapon.

Baruch and Rohan exchanged glances. “Absolutely not,” they said in unison.

Baruch’s fist whipped out and bopped me on the nose.

“What the hell, dude?” I prodded for broken cartilage and blood but it had been more of a tap for shock effect than to do any damage. I was surprised, but otherwise fine.

“Demon tag. Now you’re dead,” Rohan said.

Baruch kicked out, swiping my legs out from underneath me.

I landed hard on my back. My hands flew up to cover my face as Baruch dove down, grabbing me lightly by the throat.

“Dead.” Rohan yawned.

Baruch helped me up.

“I wasn’t ready–”

Baruch mimed ripping out my heart.

Rohan smirked. “And dead. Getting the idea?”

I turned my back to him, refusing to let him taunt me. “Baruch, please tell me what I did wrong so that I do not repeat the experience. Since I refuse to give Emo Snowflake the satisfaction of dying.”

The nickname earned me a sharp jab in my back.

The side of Baruch’s mouth kicked up in the tiniest of grins but his voice was serious when he spoke to me. “You did not access your power. Your first instinct right now is to scream and run, like you did with the araculum.” He pinned me with the weight of his shrewd blue gaze. “You’ll be dead by nightfall unless you access your power at the first prickling of trouble.”

“Got it. But the power seems to show up on its own.”

“Your magic wants to be used,” Baruch explained. “If it’s not the first thing you fire up, you won’t live long enough to use it. Activate it. Get in, kill, and get out with as little physical contact as possible. Run if you have to.”

I shook out my arms and legs. “How do I access it?”

“How do you spit?” He waved off my grimace. “I’m serious. You spit saliva. You spit electricity. Both come from inside you. What do you do when you want to spit?”

I braced for some snarky comment from Rohan but he watched Baruch with a fascinated expression. “Okay, well.” I took myself through the motions. “First, I tense up my jaw. To activate the saliva.”

“Good. Then what’s the power equivalent of that action? Close your eyes. Visualize. Where is your power?”

I did as I was told, eyes closed. “It’s like there’s a switch.”

“Touch the spot.” That was Rohan in a silky rumble, who now stood beside me. “Where do you envision it?”

Oh, Lordy. What I was actually envisioning right now? Very different from what Rohan intended. My eyes snapped open and I pushed him back. He didn’t go anywhere so I stepped away from him. “Begone, irritant.”

The look he shot me from under his eyelashes, full of wicked heat, made my mouth flood with saliva. I swallowed hard.

Baruch tsked at him. “Stop toying with her.”

“I’m not toying. I’m deliberately distracting. Seeing if she can multitask.” He smiled innocently at me. “I can’t help it if she finds me irresistible.”

“Oh, I find you something, all right,” I growled, my hands out to throttle him. My fingertips sparked.