Demon Hunters 3: Tainted (Stand Alone Series) (Demon Hunters.) Read Online Free

to. As long as she didn’t think about it too much she was certain she could manage. Maybe. He continued to beg for help and she tried not to listen to the words that tore at her.
    The demon gave a short, sharp nod and pushed her father towards the circle. He screamed as he stopped just outside the line of salt.
    Cassidy reached out with both hands, wrenching the knife from his body. She was back in the circle before the demon could react. Bile rose at the sound the knife had made and at the sight of the blood dripping off the blade and onto the floor. She forced it down and met her father’s eyes. “I love you, Daddy.” She silently promised to help as he’d always helped her.
    “Love you, baby.” He closed his eyes, his hand pressed over his stomach.
    She faced the demon. “He gave you the cells that were his. My mother’s cells were not his to give away. It took two to create me.”
    “That is unimportant. Kill your father and step out of the circle. My patience isn’t limitless.”
    Her hands tightened on the knife. She had no clue if this would work, but she could think of nothing else. And she wasn’t going to die willingly. There were still too many things she wanted to do. Like getting even with the one who’d tricked her father into calling a demon. “I bind my mother’s cells within me to your life. While you live, so do I. When I die, so do you. What is done to me is done to you.”
    The demon laughed. “And how are you going to make that work? Where is your sacrifice?”
    She smiled for the first time that night. A mirthless smile that bordered on a grimace. She emptied her mind of all thoughts. “Here, Ibaelcaurzanon.” Her knife plunged into her father’s chest. There was a moment of resistance before the sharp blade did its work. She couldn’t look down. As long as she didn’t think of what she’d done she’d be fine. Energy crackled along her skin and she let go of the knife. Her eyes stayed on the demon as she moved back beyond his reach.
    “No!” The demon roared, trying to reach her across the salt. It was like there was a solid barrier between them. “You will pay for this.” His tone was a low, threatening growl.
    “I wouldn’t make my life too miserable if I were you. If life weren’t worth living I’d have to kill myself. And I’d be taking you with me.” Her smile had no joy in it. Only bitterness. “And if I end up in jail over this,” she gestured towards her father, still unable to look at him. “I wouldn’t want to live.”
    “I’m not your lackey,” the demon snarled.
    “Aren’t you, Ibaelcaurzanon?” It was time to see if her plan had worked. It wasn’t like she could live inside the circle forever. She stepped over the salt, standing in front of him. She continued to hold his gaze, tilting her head to meet it, surprised she wasn’t shaking with fear. All she felt was a kind of numbness.
    The demon smiled slowly. “I wouldn’t start feeling too pleased with yourself. It works both ways. What is done to me is done to you. By this you have made my enemies your own. And never use my true name. Anyone could be listening. Call me Remedy.”
    She ignored the lurch in her stomach, refusing to let him see how his words had alarmed her, trying to hold onto the numbness. But it continued to slip away. “How many enemies do you have?”
    “Only two worth worrying about. And only one who knows my true name.”
    Inside she felt like a panicked child and the words ‘oh crap’ repeated themselves over and over in her mind. On the outside she kept the same calm in place that she’d needed so many times over the past eight years. “Then I guess we need to get rid of them.” How hard could it be?
    The demon laughed, throwing his head back. When his laughter ended his eyes met hers. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do all these centuries? I am powerless against a demon with my true name. That is the only one we really need to worry about. The other is