The Devil Inside Read online

  I whirled and faced him, swords at the ready on either side of me. “You’re hereby quarantined to this planet by decree of the Queen. You will remain so until further notice.”

  “Open it.”

  “I can’t.”

  Behind me, shadows moved. Other Seraphim, finally prompted into action, surrounded me. These weren’t alchemists, these were the emissaries, the soldiers from our neighboring star-systems who had come to investigate the worthiness of the planet before allowing their delegates access to the living library.

  “Open it,” a deep voice said from behind him. I shot a glance over my shoulder and recognized a man from the brutal Ursa Constellation.

  “It has been destroyed,” I said.

  A roar of defiance broke from the Prince’s lungs as he lunged towards me. Together with his evil minions, the Prince swarmed on me and took me down. They held my arms flayed wide.

  Alkeimon leaned in until his dark and twisted face was all I could see. “Then fix it.”

  I spat at him.

  The response was a crack to my right arm as it was broken at the shoulder by the Prince. I grit my teeth at the pain. It didn’t matter. I’d done my job. The Queen was safe. The Empire was safe.

  “You can all rot here as far as I’m concerned,” I said thorough a clenched jaw. Heated flame licked up my broken arm and swelled in my body, igniting my insides, increasing in pressure, a volcano about to erupt.

  Alkeimon broke my other arm. “Fix it.”

  I laughed through the searing white heat. “Even if I could, the gate will only work for one person. And that is not me.”

  “You filthy man-whore,” spat the brat Prince.

  “Come closer and say that.” Although I lay broken, I was not beaten. My power swelled and bubbled beneath my skin, ready for one last swing, one to end anything in its way. “Come closer, murderer,” I whispered. “And I will tell you who can open it.”

  That’s right. I know your secret.

  Alkeimon’s eyes widened momentarily in recognition, then he narrowed his gaze and took me around the throat. My skin seared where our touch met, but the Prince ignored the pain if he felt any.

  “That’s enough,” a gruff voice said from somewhere beyond. All I could see was the diseased eyes of a sick man staring down at me. “I said, that’s enough.”

  Alkeimon’s grip loosened slightly. Who was this man that he could order a prince around?

  I realized in that moment that the Prince had not been working alone. He was being controlled. This deception and treason ran far deeper than I had anticipated. Panic twisted my building power into something else, something that took a life of its own, something that ran on instinct.

  I exploded. Every molecule inside me separated, taking anything nearby with me into the ether. But while I somehow knew I wasn’t living anymore, I felt a sense of peace, a sense I didn’t have to be that soldier anymore. I could go a separate way.

  I awoke in my bed at the Bed and Breakfast, the sheets smoking under my touch. The smell of smoldering cotton mixed with sweat in my olfactory. My latent power had activated and was reaching for the surface. Thankfully I hadn’t set the house on fire.

  I sat up in the darkness, heart pounding loud, and swung my legs off the side. Images were still raw in my mind. I hated myself for all that murder, and I hated the Queen for making me do it, but most of all, I hated that part of me enjoyed it—the violence.

  At least this time I hadn’t hurt anyone.

  Alone.

  No Roo to harm, to hug, or to keep me calm.

  She was the Queen.

  I didn’t run from that idea as much as I should have. Perhaps because she was the part of her I loved, not the part that unleashed me on the world. No, this was the woman who, after I’d almost killed her, pressed against my spine and tightened her embrace. She told me it would be okay.

  I forced myself to relax and took a deep breath.

  I would make it okay.

  Thanks for reading my little side-book in The Game of Gods series: The Devil Inside.

  If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review. Your honest thoughts help others make purchasing decisions, not to mention give the author a warm and fuzzy.

  The Game of Gods series continues with a novel told from the point of view of Roo in Playing God.

  Don’t forget! Subscribe to my VIP reader mailing list at lanapecherczyk.com for all the best inside goss, first pick at books, and extras. Or never miss an Amazon release by following my Amazon author page by clicking here.

  About the Author

  Lana is a freckle-faced writer from Perth, Western Australia. She’s also a marketer, graphic designer and mum to two balls of energy in the guise of little boys. She’s a fan of 'pro-caffeinating' and writes in many genres, including romance, comedy and speculative fiction. Basically if it’s funny, has a love story and a kick-ass heroine, you know she’ll write it because she loves reading it.

  When she’s not writing the next great romantic novel, or wrangling the rug rats, or rescuing GI Joe from the jaws of her Kelpie, she fights evil by moonlight, wins love by daylight and never runs from a real fight.

  Visit her website lanapecherczyk.com or follow her on social media here:

  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my sister, Heidi for being the first fan of these crazy heroes and riding my coat tails and reading early works of this book. Thanks to my editor, Ann Harth for her amazing work. To my husband, Matt, for bringing me food while I write. Without him, I’d forget to feed myself. Thank you to my ART group for catching those pesky typos before the rest of the world see them. (I’m sure there’s a few more because there always is! For some reason, I can look at something a million times and still miss the typo.) To all my writer friends who keep me focused, thank you. And to the readers who love the story, you’re the best!