Playing with Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

the scene, but if I focused on grabbing the device, I could be out of here and back in Paris within the hour. But not without first checking the usefulness of the soul-retrieving device.
    I had grown up in the cozy palazzo that was decorated on the exterior with fading Istrian tiles. As I approached, I saw the demon lurking outside and cursed that he'd beat me here. I'd expected him to follow. Indeed, my weak magic was ineffective against him, but I guessed magic not aimed directly at him had some power.
    Apparently not for long.
    With an exhale, I felt courage leak from my pores. I just wanted to get inside and check on my father. I'd called ahead and the maid said he'd been sleeping for three days with little wakefulness, and he hadn't asked to eat. His breathing was raspy and shallow. Not long, the maid had commented.
    My heart crumbled to papery pieces as the demon stepped toward the main door to block my entrance. I slid a hand inside my purse to clasp ritrovatore d'anime . The cool disk reassured me for a moment, and I lifted my shoulders.
    As I neared Cinder, his overwhelming presence softened my resolve and knowing how strong he was, and how tenderly he had held me when we'd had sex, stirred up want and desire, yet also fear and caution.
    He'd said we could be an us. Really? Had the demon fallen for me?
    It wasn't so bizarre to go there. I certainly felt something toward him. But not love. Lust, as he had implied, was easier. And there was his history, which scared me for reasons he must never learn. Is that why he kept following me? Was he compelled ? Couldn't be. And such a compulsion had nothing to do with my poor spellwork. What were the odds that two destined for one another would meet after thousands of millennia? And I had only been born decades earlier.
    A teardrop splattered my nose. I hated to show him weakness, but it was impossible to prevent with father so close, and Cinder unaware of my urgent task.
    "Just go away," I said, my voice breaking into a hush. "This is family business. You can't understand."
    "You think you can get back your father's soul with that device?"
    I met his gaze. Dark eyes that had seen thousands of years and things Beneath that I didn't want to imagine. "How do you know that?"
    "It's a guess. Putting two and two together." He stood his full height, arms crossed high over his chest. So imposing. And smelling like he belonged...to me. I could taste his blood on my tongue right now, and it prodded at me as if it were an addictive substance, of which I needed one more taste.
    Christ, but I needed strength. And my soul sprang for that need.
    I plunged against Cinder's hard, steely form and clung, allowing the tears to fall, and my heart to open. "Papa's dying. I want him to have his soul back before he dies. I don't want him to go..."
    I couldn't say Beneath. Papa didn't deserve that punishment. Not when he'd ransomed his soul for me.
    "How did he lose his soul?" Cinder asked softly.
    I shook my head, unwilling to discuss this and only wanting him to close me in a hug. Yet he remained unyielding, his arms still crossed beneath my embrace.
    "Demon, if you've an ounce of compassion, let me pass."
    "I'm not familiar with that emotion."
    "You are, you just don't want to admit it to yourself. I have to get inside. He's failing. You can have the device back when I'm finished."
    "Have you the code to use it?"
    Code? I hadn't considered I'd need a code. Yet ritrovatore d'anime was a solid chunk of dark metal. Of course there must be a means to open it. Why hadn't I thought of that until now?
    "I'll figure it out. I've magic." I tilted back my head to meet his gaze. Finally he dropped his arms, yet still didn't embrace me. Demons were supposed to be emotionless and cold.
    If he wasn't going to yield, I'd do it for him. Summoning an air spell, I flung the demon aside--but his body merely swayed. Right. Forgot the magic had no power against him personally. "Just give me a head start, please," I