Balance (The Divine, Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page B

I
could feel the animosity pouring off of her. Even if she had been a little girl
smiling at me and offering me candy, I would have known her intent.
    "Oh
crap," I cried as I leaned to the side and started flailing like a fish,
desperate to get off the box and away from the thing.
    The
force of her strike put chips in the wall where my chest had just been. The
momentum of my flailing sent me off my seat and onto her, shoving her back and
onto the floor. I fell on top of her, and by her expression I could tell she
was surprised by the maneuver. I guess she had been expecting someone who
actually knew how to fight.
    Recovering
from her shock, she grabbed my shoulders and literally threw me off of her,
sending me slamming against the wall next to the door. I looked at it
longingly, but who was I kidding. There was no way I
could outrun or outfight this thing. I was done before I had even gotten
started.
    She
hopped to her feet, not even using her hands to help push up. I got a good look
at her now. She looked to be between eighteen and twenty two years old, five
and a half feet tall, an athletic build, and a small face with high cheekbones.
Her eyes had changed from all black to a more human looking, and quite striking
blue. She was wearing a cropped leather jacket over a pink tank, a short black
skirt and medium-heeled black boots that cut off just below the knee,
accentuating her pale, well-toned legs.
    She
stood there and looked at me. If she hadn't been a demon-spawn who was about to
kill me, I might have been thinking about asking her on a date. Why wasn't she
finishing the job? I was the mouse and she was the cat. It made sense.
    "What
are you?" she asked me.
    I
hadn't expected her to speak. It caught me off guard. "Wh .. . what ?"
    "You
smell like a seraph,” she said, “but you fight like a human."
    I
didn't know what to say. I figured either way I was about to become a meal, so
I went with the truth.
    "Just
part, actually," I replied. I inched my way towards the door while I
spoke. She just stood there. Why should she be worried? I was pretty sure she
could close the gap in half a second or less. "Part angel, part demon,
part human. I just found out today."
    "A
crossbreed?” she asked. “You?"
    Okay,
maybe I wasn't much in a fight, but the way she said it was just insulting. I
glanced over and saw I had almost reached the door. As I had thought, she
noticed. She was on me in two strides, her long delicate fingers gripping my
throat and pulling me to my feet. She put her face right into mine, and then
leaned into my neck. I could feel the heat of her breath against my skin, and I
prepared to be food.
    Instead,
she pulled her head back and looked into my eyes. It was the same look Dante
had given me, the one that I had felt deep within my soul.
    "Indeed,"
she said. She let go of my throat and backed up a few steps. "How did you
get here?"
    I was
shocked enough by the fact that she hadn't bitten me. Now she was engaging me
in conversation? "I was dropped off here," I said. "I haven't
been Awake for very long."
    She
laughed. "That much is obvious. Today is your lucky day crossbreed. I only
hunt pures. Sometimes humans when I need the sustenance, but angel blood tides
me over longer, and to be honest it’s much more tasty." She looked me over
like she was trying to pick out a pastry. "I can't be sure if you'd be
more like a chocolate bar or a clove of garlic." She smiled, showing off
her fangs. She started to step around me to get out the door.
    "Wait
a second," I said. That was one of the oddest and most stomach churning
things I'd ever heard anyone say, and she scared the heck out of me, but since
I had limited sources of information I had to see what I could get from her.
"I was told your kind would rip me apart without a second thought."
    "Most
of my kind would," she replied. She gave me that condescending look again
that made me feel like I was less than dirt. "You're no good to feed on,
and you're no sport at all;