Ignoring her protests, he wrapped his arms around the woman and blurred her back to the street, safe in a sea of strangers once again. She wobbled on her feet, her body instinctively reacting to the unnatural speed as her brain tried to process everything she�d seen.

Dorian hated what came next, but there was no way he�d leave her in this state. The demon attack, the brutal vampire counter-attack, the blurring� Such nightmares were his curse to bear; he wouldn�t allow them to darken her memories. Not now. Not ever.

Taking her face between his hands, he held her gaze and spoke softly, willing the compulsion to do its work. "You and I enjoyed a lovely, uneventful stroll through the park. We saw nothing out of the ordinary�just shared a few laughs and a lovely goodnight kiss."

He�d be lying if he said he wasn�t tempted to compel her to accept his invitation home, but that was a line he wouldn�t cross, no matter how desperately he wanted her in his bed.

The woman blinked rapidly, then finally nodded, the color returning to her cheeks, her breathing soft and even once again.

"Holy shit." She gazed up at him, then at the street, confusion creasing the skin between her eyebrows. "What� what�s going on?"

"Are you all right?" Dorian didn�t have to feign the concern in his tone, though she�d never know his true reasons. "You nearly fainted."

"What? I�ve never fainted in my life. I� Wait�" She pulled out of his embrace, then spun around, scanning the park behind them. "Those dickheads in the park� I thought� What the hell happened?"

Dorian bit back a curse. In his efforts to keep his mental meddling to a minimum, he hadn�t taken the compulsion far enough.

"What do you remember?" he asked cautiously.

"I�m not sure." She pinched her forehead and let out a soft sigh. "We were kissing under the tree, and those guys came out of nowhere. One of them said something about payback? After that it�s� Everything�s kind of a blur. Did someone help us? I feel like� No, that can�t be right."

He smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "Just a couple of punks trying to score some quick cash. And you�re right�a jogger came by and helped chase them off."

"Really? And I didn�t fight back?" She opened her purse, frantically digging through it. "Damn it. Where�s Beyonc�?"

"The situation unfolded rather quickly," he said, closing his hands over hers. "You must�ve dropped it in the confusion."

She bit her lip, likely trying to reconcile his version of events with her own. Despite his best efforts at a convincing tone, Dorian knew it sounded like bullshit, and he waited for her to make the obvious suggestion about calling the police and filing a report.

But she said nothing more about it, accepting his explanation with little more than a long, shaky exhale. "I guess I�m a little overwhelmed. Still processing, you know? That was fucking weird."

Dorian nodded. He still hadn�t processed it himself. He�d been a mere heartbeat away from oblivion. He�d smelled the brimstone, felt the heat in his lungs. They were going to unleash hellfire, certainly killing him.

As for the woman�

A shudder wracked his body. Dorian didn�t even want to think about what they would�ve done to her in his absence.

Yesterday, the very idea of demons even setting foot in Manhattan would�ve been preposterous�the Accords prohibited it, and for decades, the creatures had obeyed, just as vampires avoided the demonic-held territories of Brooklyn and Queens. Violations could lead to war or widespread discovery�twin threats that, save for the occasional skirmish, had kept the supernatural communities in a peaceful state of suspension.

Yet tonight, Chernikov demons had not only set foot in vampire territory, but attempted to claim a human soul, unleashed an attack in front of another human, and damn near assassinated the Redthorne vampire king.

If war was what they were after, Dorian could deliver their dreams on a silver fucking platter.

"Oh, great," the woman said suddenly. "Another ambush."

He followed her gaze to a black SUV that had pulled up to the curb. From the backseat, a man emerged�late fifties, maybe, with thinning gray hair slicked back off a high forehead and a mediocre suit trying its damnedest to look expensive. He glared at the woman with such contempt, Dorian wanted to tear out his heart and feed his soul to the demons�a peace offering for his mortal enemies.

Instinctively, he reached for the woman�s hand, but she ignored his touch, folding her arms over her chest instead. Everything inside her tensed, her pulse racing with new urgency. JrNovels.com