Chapter Five

She was smaller than the others I’d seen but she possessed the same glowing red eyes and sharp teeth. Her breasts were criss-crossed with scars; disturbingly, there was what looked like an old bite mark where her right nipple should have been. She cocked her head at me for a moment as if puzzled. Then she lunged.

I couldn’t move fast enough and the demon’s teeth ripped into my forearm, making short work of my jacket before piercing my flesh. I yelped in pain. It seemed that she didn’t appreciate the taste of the Clyde any more than I did, however, because she withdrew quickly, spat on the ground and glared at me as if the bitterness on her tongue was my fault.

I held up my palms, trying to ignore the lancing pain in my arm. ‘Let’s talk about this,’ I said, ignoring the tremor in my voice and trying to stay calm. ‘I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to leave quietly and go home.’

The demon was confused. She’d probably expected me to fight, not try and talk my way out of danger. I didn’t even know whether she understood me. I tapped the centre of my chest. ‘I’m Integrity,’ I said helpfully. ‘Integrity.’ I pointed towards her. ‘What’s your name?’

She didn’t like that and she threw herself at me once more. I didn’t even think; I simply rose upwards and levitated away from her grasp. Her fingers were long with cracked, dirty nails; whoever this demon was, she certainly wasn’t living the good life.

Her mouth dropped and she gaped at me. She had no tongue; I couldn’t see whether it had been removed or whether it was some kind of naturally occurring phenomenon but it made my flesh crawl. Her eyes were wild with an edge of vicious insanity. Clearly, she hadn’t expected me to use a Gift. To be fair, I probably looked as far removed from a Sidhe as it was possible to get – if this demon even knew what a Sidhe was or what one looked like.

She swiped upwards but I remained out of reach, wary that she’d use her own Gift against me. Instead she flung back her head and howled, an ear-shattering sound that could probably be heard miles away. Bugger. Dealing with one Fomori demon was one thing; dealing with a thousand would be a different matter.

Unsure about how high I could ago, I kept pushing up through the air. The trouble with levitation was that it was only a distant kin to flying and it felt as if I were moving at a snail’s pace. I rose higher while the demon below grew more frustrated. She jumped up and down, lunging for me even though I was out of reach. A minute later there were some guttural shouts in a language I didn’t recognise, followed by the sound of running feet. I threw myself towards the roof of the pillared church and lay flat on my back, scanning the sky for more of the winged bastards. Fortunately none appeared.