Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love Page A

laughed, a deep, sinister cackle. He was enjoying himself.
    She doubted he’d play with her for long or that he’d let her get past him again.
    The Birrn dropped his head down and growled, pawing the ground with the focus of a bull after a trespasser in his pasture.
    She threw up a force field of energy to stop him when he barreled forward.
    Didn’t work.
    He struck so hard that he knocked the force field
and
her backward, up in the air onto the loading dock, slamming her into one of the wide loading doors. The corrugated metal folded in around her and slid across the concrete floor—with her on top—plowing through shipping boxes.
    Now that just hurt. She wouldn’t be able to move tomorrow. But she better move tonight or she wouldn’t have to worry about anything ever again. And her favorite doctor would be weighing
her
organs on Monday.
    When she came to a stop, her back and legs screamed in pain. She sat up, shoving boxes off her, and rubbed her head.
    No alarm sounded. Good, her powers were holding and still interfering. The last thing she needed was the police. If they came, it’d only make her job that much harder.
    She really wanted to kill this demon, but that wouldn’t help her one bit with VIPER. All she had to do was contain him, then call Sen, who wouldteleport the demon to headquarters, where they could extract answers. She didn’t know how Sen interrogated, but Tzader and Quinn said the word was Sen could get answers out of hell.
    All she had to do was hand him the Birrn. To do that, she’d have to blind the thing.
    The demon roared and pounded the last few steps across the parking lot, then jumped up to the loading dock. Now up to full size, his head just cleared the fifteen-foot-high opening left by the wrecked loading door.
    The inked designs continued down one half of his body, but now she could see the shapes better. The scrolled lines were a Celtic weave …
    What the …?
    Birrns were Nigerian in origin. There shouldn’t be anything Celtic on him.
    On the other hand, there were millions of demons from all over the world. Sometimes things weren’t listed, and as she’d learned the hard way, many research websites sucked.
    Not wanting to think about that, she had to stop him from getting too close so she could set up for her attack. Birrn demons were dangerous, but stupid.
    Best of all, they hated to be mocked.
    “You don’t even know why you were sent here, do you? Poor little bait demon.” She laughed sarcastically, slowly moving up to sit, then sliding forwarduntil she was on her knees. He’d think she was acting submissive.
    Must have worked.
    He stopped to answer, probably because he couldn’t walk and think at the same time. “Do, too.”
    “Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “If you knew, you’d say. But you don’t. Forget I even asked. I didn’t mean to insult your lack of intelligence.”
    “I do too know.” The demon sounded as though he was going to pout, which would be funny if not for the jagged teeth and claws curving out of thick fingers.
    “Awww, don’t feel bad, little demon.” She softened her voice to one she’d use with a three-year-old. “Nobody expects a Birrn to know why they do anything. You’re only a gofer demon for someone else.” She smiled good-naturedly, keeping his attention on her face and not the subtle movement of her hand to her dagger.
    Blind a Birrn and he was at your mercy.
    His horns dropped low over his eyes when he frowned. “I
do
know. Looking for the Alterant.”
    Those words jolted her. Who was after her?
    More to the point,
why
were they after her?
    “Who sent you?”
    When he shook his head, she raced through what had happened and how she’d ended up here. “Did you …
know
that I’d find the other Cresyl?”
    Smiling seemed to be his yes, so she took his smirk as an affirmative. “Did you put a spell on the Cresyls?”
    “No.”
    “Your master did.”
    He puffed up with pride and nodded.
    Feeding his ego was working,