Speak Of The Devil
(Demon Legacy #2)
(Demon Legacy #2)
by J.M. Gregoire
Blurb:
Nearly half a year has passed since Asmodeus opened the gateway allowing an unknown number of demons to spill onto our plane of existence. A fatal standoff has left Dez on her own to hunt the stray demons down and send them back to Hell where they belong. Her life has become a never-ending cycle of violence and bloodshed, further tainted by a deepening depression and a longing for the person she had to leave behind.
When Dez receives an unexpected phone call, she makes her way to the northern Arizona desert to see an old friend. Upon arrival, there is a message waiting for her from beyond the grave, and she realizes before she can go any further, she must face the one thing she’s been dreading for months. To make matters worse, the message is meant to help her mission, but it forces Dez into an impossible choice.
Only Dez can decide which road to take, but will she be able to handle the consequences of her decision?
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Excerpt
“This is
bullshit.”
It had
been three hours since Dez sat down to start meditating, and no matter how much
she concentrated, she wasn’t getting to a calm mental place. Although her words came out steady and quiet,
Dez was ready to lose her mind with frustration. She sighed and opened her eyes, ready to give
up for the day.
“It’s
bullshit, simple as that.”
“What’s
bullshit?” Vegas had taken up a piece of
real estate on the floor, lying flat on his back with his eyes closed.
“This!” She
gestured first toward the candles and then at her head. He turned on his side and opened his eyes to
meet hers, greeting her with an arched eyebrow and a smirk.
“Every
time I get even the slightest glimmer of something, it just falls away. I think I would be happier if I couldn’t feel
it there at all. I am so close. It’s right there, I just can’t hang on to
it.”
Vegas
pushed himself up into a sitting position mirroring her own, legs crossed under
one another.
“Okay,”
he said, sounding supportive but still cautious, “close your eyes again.”
She did
as he asked and after a moment, she felt his hands lightly grasp her own. His touch alone brought her simmering anger
to a halt.
“Take long, deep breaths.”
“Take long, deep breaths.”
“You
sound like a yoga instructor,” she scoffed, opening one eye to peek at
him. His eyes snapped open and locked on
hers. Damn it.
“Eyes. Closed.”
“Yes,
sir,” she replied playfully, closing her eyes again.
“Long,
deep breaths.”
Deziree
gave in and let go. Starting at the top
of her head, she imagined each muscle, one by one, flexing and then completely
relaxing, releasing all of her tension.
She felt her limbs becoming heavy, giving in to the release. She pictured every stress she carried smoothly
flowing out of her body, pooling away from her where it could no longer touch
her.
“Visualize that space, the void.”
“Visualize that space, the void.”
Dez did
as he instructed, picturing herself standing there in the endless black. Everything around her was silent, except for
the hypnotic sound of their matched breathing.
She allowed the rhythm to let her sink into a trance, and before she
knew it, she rest of the world melted away, leaving nothing but her own mind
and the sweet, minty scent of lavender.
She
opened her eyes again, fully expecting to see Vegas sitting in front of
her. Instead, she found herself in the
ether, surrounded by the void she had been imagining. She glanced around, looking for signs of life
but was greeted instead by more of the same nothingness. Right off she noticed it was much easier for
her to reach out with her mind. Rather
than feeling strained, it felt natural.
Effortless.
She
envisioned her reach as a pool of oil stretching and spreading outward as far
as she could imagine. A few presences
registered on her radar, but none with the magical signature she was hoping
for. She briefly felt the presence of a
demon’s mind and made a quick mental note to go out hunting later.
She kept
searching, but without knowing exactly what she was looking for, she felt like
a blind person suddenly expected to find their way around Manhattan. Although they didn’t have a strong presence
and she barely felt them as her own mind brushed against theirs, she could feel
thousands of humans, each giving off a slight hum, but no complex emotions. She assumed it was what it felt like when a
human slept. Without anyone to teach her
how to use her ability, everything was one best guess after another.
“I do
believe you’re looking for us.”
The voice
came out of nowhere with no warning, booming all around her and in her
head. It was distinctly feminine, but
had an undeniable power behind it. Dez
spun around to the left, then back again to the right, but saw nothing. There was no discernable source of the voice,
but there was no mistaking its presence either.
Dez stopped moving and waited for the female to speak again. A few silent moments passed with nothing.
“Hello?”
she finally called out, feeling a little stupid for talking to herself.
“I am here.” This time the voice wasn’t so loud and didn’t ring through Dez’s head. Thankful they wouldn’t be having their whole conversation like that, she decided to start the dialogue.
“I am here.” This time the voice wasn’t so loud and didn’t ring through Dez’s head. Thankful they wouldn’t be having their whole conversation like that, she decided to start the dialogue.
“Who are
you?”
“That’s a
question for the ages. Once we were
legion. Now we are few.”
“The
Daughters of Eris.”
“Once,”
the female voice replied simply. “We
have not gone by that moniker in a few centuries. Some would be insulted to hear you use it
now.” Although it wasn’t as loud, Dez
still couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be all around her.
“Why
can’t I see you?”
“You see
what I want you to see,” the voice explained.
“We may be few, but we’re still powerful beyond your comprehension. For instance, if I wanted to appear to you as
a child, I could.”
Suddenly,
Dez heard a noise behind her. She spun
to find a young girl, maybe five or six years old, skipping toward her. She wore a white sundress with little blue
flowers all over it, matching white shoes, and her socks had little blue
ruffles at the top. She wore her curly
brunette hair up in pigtails, one on either side of her head, each held in
place by a slender bow made of blue satin.
A red balloon bobbled in the air, its string being tugged back and forth
with each skip forward the little girl took.
The girl stopped skipping a few feet away from Dez and just stared at
her for a few brief moments before speaking again. Dez found the sound of the obviously older
female voice coming from the little girl slightly off-putting.
“If I
wanted to appear as an animal, I could.”
The
little girl started skipping again, her pigtails bouncing the whole way. Halfway through a step, she dropped down on
her hands and knees, and her body morphed into another shape entirely. Where the girl once skipped along, a snarling
tiger had taken her place, stalking around Dez in a predatory fashion.
“Or a
monster,” the voice continued, echoing in Dez’s head.
The tiger
took a few steps toward Dez and started to morph again. The animal went up on its hind legs and
shifted back into the shape of a person.
This time, when it was done, Deziree Davanzatti was standing
face-to-face with herself, staring into jet black orbs where her crystal blue
eyes should have been. A wicked smile
worked its way across the face of Dez’s shadow self as it started to walk
around her. Dez felt like she was being
hunted by herself and the feeling was unsettling.
Okay, so this isn’t going to be a warm fuzzy meeting.
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bestselling author J.M. Gregoire was born and raised in New Hampshire, USA and despite her abhorrence for any season that dares to drop to a temperature below seventy degrees, she still currently resides there with her two children and her two cats. Always a passionate reader, her love of urban fantasy books eventually morphed into a love of writing them. She is currently working on the Demon Legacy series and has a Demon Legacy spinoff series, the Killer Instinct series, coming soon.
You can find J.M. Gregoire at
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This is another book that I've not heard of before, seriously where are you hiding all these books? ;) This is another one you have me curious about, thanks for sharing the excerpt with us! :)
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