Trinity Blue Read Online Free

monsters in this world, Jen.
His words from earlier tonight reeled through her thoughts. For an instant, she’d been so certain that Daemon was talking about himself.
    She shook her head, feeling sick. Had he known about the dead woman? Was that why he’d offered to accompany her to the Shop Rite? To protect her? But if he had known, why not tell her? Of course, he might have assumed she had already heard about it.
    “You hate tomatoes, Jen Cassaday ,” Mrs. Hambly said sharply, peering into Jen’s cart. “Why are you buying them?”
    “They’re...” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “They’re for Dae — For the handyman. He mentioned he has a fondness for tomatoes on his turkey sandwich.”
    “Why doesn’t your handyman bring his own lunch?” Mrs. Hambly demanded at the same time that Gail asked, “You have a handyman working for you? Is it wise to have a stranger in the house with... well, with a woman dead and all?”
    Jen was startled by the surge of anger she felt at Gail’s perfectly reasonable questions. She shrugged with a nonchalance she didn’t feel. “He works hard. And he seems to understand old houses.”
    “But you hired a stranger! You don’t know anything about him,” Gail exclaimed.
    “He had references,” Jen replied softly. For what that was worth. They dated back a few weeks, telling her nothing of who Daemon Alexander had been before he came to Freetown.
    Before Sheriff Hale found a dead body in the woods.
    The two women pegged her with identical
are-you-crazy
looks. But Jen knew she wasn’t. She’d had this built-in radar detector for trouble all her life. It would uncoil and flare hard and bright if ever she was in danger. It had never failed her, and she was counting on that now, because the only vibe she got off Daemon Alexander was a sizzle of hotter-than-hell chemistry.
    And that was a whole other kind of dangerous.
    o0o
     
    Daemon moved through the dense woods, silent, quick. Little moonlight filtered through the heavy canopy of branches and leaves. That was fine. He didn’t need light.
    He stopped beside the rotting trunk of a fallen oak. He hadn’t wanted to let Jen go. He’d wanted to keep her beside him where he could keep her safe. It was only the certainty that what he sought was here in these woods that had convinced him to stay behind.
    The best way to keep her safe was to find the demon before it found another victim.
    Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and set the trinity free, shadows in darkness. The three misty shapes rose from his skin, snaked around his limbs and through them, blending, adapting, taking form then dissipating.
    “Hunt,” he said, sending them to their task, and they darted away into the night, unseen, unheard . Silent menace.
    Free of the trinity for the moment, he summoned his stores of magic, a surge of bright power. He could see in the dark. He could run for miles. He could hear the breath of the smallest creatures in their burrows.
    And he could sense dark magic. It was close, dripping malevolence and hate, and it made the
continuum
writhe and twist at the insult.
    Something vile laid claim to these woods. It had killed. Recently. He could smell human blood and brimstone, feel the surge of demon power in the air.
    Following instinct, he ran, skirting trees and vaulting logs, his blood pumping through him, the wind clean and cold in his face. He hunted. And he found them. Hybrids
. Brutish creatures that had been human once, but when faced with death, they had chosen to allow demon will to overtake their souls. They were human no longer, serving a monstrous master.
    There were only two of them. A scouting party. Their hands were stained with blood, which meant they had fed earlier. Daemon felt a surge of disgust.
Hybrids
preferred their prey live, bloody, and human.
    They scented him, heads jerking up, faces turning toward him. Their eyes were marble black, their expressions bestial. That was perfect. He was feeling a little