Dark Awakening Read Free Page A

mental compulsion behind it that Kimi could feel, but it had no effect on her. The second push was far less subtle.
    "I think you're out of luck," she said with a smirk.
    To her great amazement, her near serenity remained even when Augustin started toward her. As he tried to grasp her left arm, she slammed his face with the heel of her right hand. She missed his nose, damn it, but she got his eye. Her action left him momentarily stunned, and she kicked out, catching him solidly in the knee with her foot. He remained standing and she kicked again, only this time he dodged the blow.
    "I could prevent you from moving your arms and legs," Augustin said, "but I won't. I like it when a female fights." He smiled, his eyes so cold that Kimi shuddered.
    He tried to snare her again, but she whirled—a big mistake. Her hair fell into her face, partially obscuring her view, and she fought the long tresses, trying to get them out of her way. Augustin took advantage of her difficulty and seized her wrist.
    Kimi turned her arm, and with help from her opposite hand, yanked herself free of his grip. She backed away, using the time to shove her hair out of the way so she could see.
    Another lunge by the demon and Kimi found herself fighting in much closer proximity to her attacker then she'd expected. She hit him in the kidney with an elbow, then rammed him on the opposite side with the other one. Her knee connected firmly with his groin and he slapped her. Hard. That froze Kimi. No one had ever hit her before.
    Augustin caught her and spun her around, pinning her against his body. All she could manage was some weak backward kicks that caused no damage. He put his mouth against her skin and bit her exposed shoulder.
    The pain woke her up. She knew he believed that he'd won. She struggled, twisting and writhing, trying to break his hold. And as she fought, she felt him grow hard against her. He began chanting in a language she didn't understand.
    No! This wasn't happening. It wasn't.
    Kimi felt someone playing with magic and she shook her head, moving her hair enough to see Brittany. The woman's eyes were half closed and she was working some kind of spell. Augustin finally noticed, too, and raised his head. "Her power is mine! You will not touch it."
    Brittany ignored him and the demon took one arm from around Kimi and threw a fireball at the woman. The creative director hit the floor, her body convulsing. Before it went still, Kimi took advantage of her assailant's lack of attention to fight free.
    She should be afraid, but she wasn't—there was no fear left anywhere inside her. Instead, Kimi was furious, more furious than she'd ever been in her life. First some damn demon thought he was going to rape her and take her powers; then a majo had tried to steal her magic. Enough.
    When Augustin started toward her, she held her arm out, palm facing him, and directed the rage building inside her at him. What came out of her hand looked like a bolt of electricity. It affected the demon the same way. This time, he was the one who was knocked to the floor. He didn't get up.
    Kimi saw he wasn't dead, only injured; she caught the movement of his chest and was relieved. It would make things easier if she'd killed him, she knew, but she wasn't quite sure how she'd feel about taking a life. Sidestepping him, she scurried to Brittany, but the other woman's life force was gone.
    The demon stirred, so Kimi ran. She went to her cubicle first; she had to have her purse to get her keys to drive her car. As she yanked the bag out of her desk drawer, she realized she needed help. She didn't know what she'd done to Augustin or how exactly she'd done it, which meant she couldn't count on repeating the act when needed. She had to have someone who could help her fight a Dark One.
    Mika! Mika was a demon. Gasping for breath, Kimi clawed through her purse, trying to find her comm and the number for the hotel—the number she was only supposed to use in an emergency.
    She