Northern England, 1390

The dead girl rose within the pentagram, her tail swishing absently like a cat’s. She ran a hand through the top of her purple hair, smoothing it around her curled horns. The young soldier she’d addressed dragged the toe of his boot in the ring of salt surrounding her, breaking the line before the priest rushed forward to haul him backwards.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” the priest shrieked, his white collar splattered with the duke’s blood.

“Didn’t you hear that thing?” the guard stammered. “It’ll kill us if we don’t—”

The horned woman turned to him. “I’ll kill you either way if I please,” she said coldly. The priest held up his hands, crossing his fingers in front of him to mimic the crucifix now buried in the duke’s neck.

“A-away, she-demon!” the priest cried. “I banish you, in Jesus’ name!” She only looked at him skeptically, eyeing his fingers crossed before him. Her empty black eyes reflected the flickering candles at her feet. When she stepped out of the pentagram, the broken salt ring no longer binding her, the priest stepped back, his hands shaking but still forming its cross.

The stone was cold under her bare feet, and the blood seeping from the duke’s body was still warm as she stepped through its puddle. She waved a gray hand, and the priest screamed as the bones in his hands shattered and twisted apart. The blood splattered onto the white silk of her nightgown as she padded past him toward the heavy wooden doors to the study.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d inhabited a body. Every century or so, she watched as some king or nobleman drew a pentagram on the floor and tried to summon the power to give them eternal life. Only Duke Bainbridge had managed to do it in all that time. Of course, Clare had power to spare and a body that would live forever to show it, but neither a crucifix nor a man could harm or control her like their holy books claimed.

Clare stifled a smirk as she shoved the study doors open. Humans had come a long way, but they still had much to learn about demons.