Read Alysia in Wonderland for Free Online Page A

stood up, the pain in her side worsened and though she was curious to see how much damage had been done, she was too afraid to look down at her side. She limped over to the final demon, who had rubbed his knees raw crawling after them, and drove the sword into his spine, all the way down to the guard. As she made to remove it, something happened, and it felt as if Euphoria had become a hot, electric wire.
    Her body went rigid with fiery pain, and try as she did to release the sword, her muscles stopped listening and all she could do was feel the fire explode inside her veins. The armor tightened and the scales smoothed out, replaced by cracks that looked as if they were blue veins on a shiny black surface. Her robes were singed, and the armor crawled, spreading from her shoulder into her neck, cupping her breasts like an iron bra.
    Alysia’s robe was set on fire and when the pain resided, she was left topless, except for the metal bra attached to the pauldron, which ran all the way to the ring. Her robe had somehow become a skirt, longer on one side than the other, and Euphoria glowed like never before, sated by the abundance of demon blood. Alysia looked like a female gladiator, and she sheathed the sword and walked over to the girl.
    There was an explosion in the distance, and she spun to see the building that she had come from embroiled in flames. She lifted the child, whose arms found her neck again, and walked to the gate that was built into the fence and pushed it open to leave the premises.

Chapter Five
    Alysia took the girl outside the school gates to a side street that revealed the poor neighborhood around them. She felt naked knowing that the armor could retract at any time, and she still couldn’t come up with a plan for finding clothes. On a whim, she gave her old powers a try. Jumping as hard as she could, she probed her senses to take flight on the stolen energy of Euphoria. She jumped extremely high and crossed the street, but she didn’t fly and she didn’t feel Euphoria giving her energy.
    She ran along the outside wall of an apartment complex until she reached what looked to be the entrance. Numerous cars drove by, honking and laughing, but she ignored them all and slipped inside, using her speed to reduce the attention.
    Sticking to the grassy perimeter of the slummy apartments, her mind ran to the girl, whose parents had to be worried sick by now. How am I going to get her home without being thrown into jail? she wondered.
    She saw a dark building on the corner with no cars outside and assumed that it was an unoccupied area of the apartments. She slid between the parked cars and up the stairs, then tried the lock, which felt bolted. Laying the girl down on the floor, she brought up the sword, then cut through the lock as if it were as soft as overripe fruit.
    Alysia collected the fallen handle and the girl, then slipped inside before using a chair to wedge the front door shut. She left the lights off for fear of someone seeing it from below and coming up to investigate. Plus she didn’t know how many other demons were walking around in disguise. The house was furnished and looked lived in, so she hurried to the bed and lay the young girl down.
    She whispered, “Someone will come and get you, little one, and you will get home to your parents.” She hated to leave her, but it was too dangerous for a child, and her chances would be better without the company of a demon hunter. From the way the apartment was set up she knew that a woman lived there, and she went through her closet to borrow a set of clothes.
    By the time an hour had passed, Alysia was back on the streets, walking as if she had a destination and wasn’t as lost as she actually was. She was dressed in dark pants, boots, and a jacket with a white tank-top beneath it all. Strapped below her jacket with three belts pulled taut was her sword, hidden but close at hand.
    Unlike her own time when she had her own powers, Alysia couldn’t sense