Daimon by Jennifer Armentrout Page B

Boy motioned toward John. “Get the money out of her pocket.”
    His partner’s eyes darted between his friend and me. I hoped he refused, because he was so going to regret it if he didn’t. That wad of cash was all that I had. In it was my ticket for the next bus. No one was getting that.
    “Which pocket?” the one holding me asked. When I didn’t answer, he shook me, and that was it.
    My bitch switch was flipped and, well, my sense of self-preservation went right out the window. Everything— everything that’d happened boiled up inside me and burst. Did these wannabe gangstas actually think I was afraid of them? After everything I’d seen? My universe went red. I was going to stomp the ever-loving crap out of them.
    I laughed in Beanie Boy’s face.
    Bewildered by my response, he lowered the knife a fraction of an inch.
    “Are you freaking serious?” I wrenched my arm free and grabbed the knife from his fingers. “You’re going to rob me?” I pointed the knife at him, half tempted to prick him with it. “ Me ?”
    “Whoa, now.” John backed up.
    “Exactly,” I waved the knife around. “If you want your bal—”
    A shiver went down my spine, icy and foreboding. An innate sense kicked in and every fiber of my being screamed out a warning. It was the same thing I’d felt before I’d spotted the daimon from the balcony.
    Panic punched a hole in my chest.
    No. They can’t be here. They can’t.
    But I knew they were. The daimons had found me. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was why they had. I was just a freaking half-blood.

    I wasn’t even a snack pack to them. Worse yet, I was like Chinese food to them—they were going to be craving aether again in a few hours.
    Their time would be better spent hunting down pures. Not me. Not a half-blood.
    Clearly distracted, Beanie Boy took advantage. He shot forward, grabbing and twisting my arm until I dropped the knife in his waiting hand. “You stupid bitch,” he hissed in my face.
    I pushed him with my free hand as I scanned the area. “You have to go! You need to go now!”
    Beanie Boy pushed back and I stumbled to the side. “I’m done messing with you. Give us the money or else!”
    I gained my balance, realizing these two were too stupid to live.
    So was I for hanging around and trying to convince them. “You don’t understand. You have to go now. They’re here!”
    “What’s she talking about?” John turned around and scanned the darkness. “Who’s coming? Red, I think we should—”
    “Shut up,” Red said. Light from the moon broke free from the heavy clouds, glinting off the blade he jabbed at his friend. “She’s just trying to freak us out.”
    Part of me wanted to bolt and let them deal with what I knew was coming, but I couldn’t. They were mortals—obscenely stupid mortals who’d pulled a knife on me—but there was no way they deserved the kind of death coming their way. Robbery attempt or not, I couldn’t let this happen. “The things that are coming are going to kill you. I’m not try—”
    “Shut up!” yelled Red, swinging on me. Once again the knife was at my throat. “Just shut up!”
    I looked at John, the saner of the two. “Please. You’ve got to listen to me! You need to go and you need to make your friend go. Now.”
    “Don’t even think it, John,” warned Red. “Now get over here and get this money!”
    Desperate to get them out of here, I dug in my pocket and pulled out the wad of cash. Without thinking, I shoved it at Red’s chest. “Here—

    take it! Just take it and go while you still can! Go!”
    Red looked down, his mouth dropping open. “What the—”
    A cold, arrogant laugh froze the blood in my veins. Red whirled around, squinting into the darkness. It was almost like the daimon materialized out of the shadows, because the spot had been empty a second ago. He stood a few feet from the building, his head cocked to the side and his horrific face twisted into a gruesome smile. To the