Claire ran down the stairs near the man, the only exit available to her. Hearing heavy tread behind her, she raced to the only sate place she could see—a doorway leading into some sort of storage room—and slammed the door closed behind her.

She pulled a shelf filled with cans and food sacks over in front of the door just as the Atrika hit it on the other side with teeth-rattling strength. Tevan bellowed in outrage even as she wedged the shelving into a space that would prevent him from pushing the door open.

She had one advantage. The daaeman wouldn't be able to jump—teletransport themselves—for a couple of days. They needed to find true equilibrium with the vibrational frequency of this dimension before they could do that. The molecules of this place moved slower than those of Eudae, and to bend space to jump before they found a balance might kill them.

She should be so lucky.

Claire whirled, eyes wide and breathing hard. Her magick pulsed within her chest, tingled through her arms and legs, begging for release, but it was in there, mixed with the other, strange daaeman magick. She had to deny it.

Copper? Was there any copper here? All the daaeman breeds were allergic to it. It was banned on Eudae, even dug up and disposed of in toxic waste areas, but here on Earth it wouldn't be. She saw none in her vicinity that she could identify. Too bad, since likely Tevan and his friend hadn't yet been able to develop any partial protection against the metal.

Tevan pushed and yelled on the opposite side of the doorway. It was only a question of time before he found a way through magickally.

Time to leave. Frantically, she searched for a way out.

There! A small window close to the ceiling, above a low counter strewn with cans of vegetables. Apparently, this room was mostly underground.

Behind her, the door opened a crack and the metal of the shelving bent. "I am Tevan, commander in the Atrikan military, and I almost have you, little witch."

CHAPTER TWO

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Claire scrambled onto the counter and unlocked the window. Her movements made oddly precise from the terror coursing through her, she pushed with all her might until the old window gave and slid upward. She pulled herself out of the opening, standing on cans to boost herself upward.

Immediately, hands clamped down on her shoulders and yanked her up like she weighed nothing. She struggled, kicking and screaming, thinking it was the other daaeman who'd come around to guard the window.

"Stay still! We're trying to help you!" demanded a gravelly voice.

Four hands pushed her down to the cold pavement. "Let me go! They're after me. Please!" she cried.

"Yeah, yeah. We know. Demons are chasing you, right?"