Read Shadow Demons for Free Online Page B

your time has come,” she said. “It’s nothing personal, you understand. This is purely business.”
    Fear spread across my skin like an army of marching ants. How many times could a girl like me really avoid certain death? I felt like a cat on its ninth life.
    The woman in the blue mask reached into the large black bag she carried. The glint of silver twisted my stomach. A ritual dagger. This crazy witch was going to kill me.
    “You better kill me first, witch,” Jackson said. “Because if you hurt her in any way, I’ll turn the rest of your pitiful life into the worst nightmare imaginable.”
    “And how exactly do you plan to do that?” The woman shook her head. “Prank calls to my house late at night? Scary.”
    “Actually, I was thinking of something more like this.”
    A blinding light flashed, and I closed my eyes to shield them from the blaze. Freezing cold wind blew across the bare skin of my hands and face. The crackling of ice sounded all around me, and I opened my eyes to find the woods around us completely transformed. The purple flames were frozen solid and the ground was covered in a layer of white frost. I watched with wide eyes as the purple ropes around my wrists iced over. I looked at Jackson in awe. He had definitely been holding out on me.
    As the frost spread, the matted creatures became frozen solid like ice sculptures. The witch stood there staring, still clutching the ritual dagger in her hand. She shook her head back and forth, faster and faster. Every muscle in her body tensed and twitched.
    “You,” she said, her voice high and shrill like a banshee. “You will pay for this.”
    She lunged toward Jackson, dagger first. I threw my body forward, breaking free of the ice chains that held my wrists. The ropes fell away and shattered on the ground. I kicked hard against the frozen arrows, desperate to reach Jackson before the witch.
    The scene played out before me in a blur. Moonlight glinted off the silver of the dagger as she ran. Her footsteps crunched hard against the snowy floor of the forest. I screamed out as she reached him, plunging the dagger straight into his heart.

A New Purpose
     
    In that one moment, I felt the earth fall from beneath my feet and swallow me in its darkness. Every piece of my soul screamed out in pain. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized just how deeply and completely I cared for Jackson.
    As the dagger reached his chest, his body disappeared into a swirling mist of dark smoke. The dagger hung in the air and the witch fell backward, whimpering and laughing at the same time. The crazy screeches of a girl gone mad. I collapsed, unable to hold myself up. He couldn’t be dead. I didn’t think I could face this alone. I felt empty.
    The dark mist fell away, dissolving into the ground. The silver ritual dagger landed with a clank against the icy shards of broken arrows and flames. All I wanted was to feel the cold metal against my hand. I wanted to stab it into the heart of the witch. I willed my legs to work, my eyes focused on that glint of silver. I stood on shaky legs. A newborn fawn. A new purpose. Revenge in my heart.
    I moved like a zombie. Eyes blank and staring. Body stiff and cold. And just as I reached for the dagger, my hand closed over warm flesh. I jerked my head up. Had the witch beat me to it?
    But instead of a masked witch, I stared into the purest green eyes.
    Jackson? But how? Tears sprang to my eyes, and I sucked in a ragged breath that burned my lungs. His gaze was confident. Loving. Apologetic. He pulled his hand from mine, stood, then threw the dagger in a perfect line straight into the stomach of the witch.
    She let out a single, high-pitched scream, her hands closing over the cold weapon as if she could pull it from her body. She stumbled back against a tree, then sank to the ground, blood pouring from the wound and coating her black dress with a sticky slickness. Her body jerked twice, then went still.
    I looked up at Jackson. Was he