Seduced by Crimson by Jade Lee

silence. "You have ancient scrolls. Texts. That book…" She gestured to his satchel where he'd put his Book of Chants.
    He nodded. It was rare for the ancient druids to write anything down, but some texts had survived, and he carried one of the rarest. He also carried the amulet.
    He stumbled as a light went on in his brain. He hadn't been touching the amulet when he… when he'd worked with Xiao Fei. He had felt its presence like a brand from the moment he'd ripped it from Jason's hand, but maybe he needed to hold it to close the gate. Maybe he needed to—
    "Hurry up!" Xiao Fei hissed from ahead. She'd rounded a corner and frozen on the fifth-floor landing, obviously listening hard. There was a lot of noise on this level—people milling about, anxious cries, and police and ambulance sirens coming through the walls, muffled but identifiable.
    She hurried on, moving even faster. "Demons will search for those with ancient knowledge. They will kill those people first."
    "Like the monks who raised you?"
    She didn't answer, but he knew it was true. He could read it in the tension between her shoulder blades.
    "So, you think they have specific targets," he said. "That I'll be one right away?" He fought hard not to shudder. She obviously thought it was true, and of the two of them, she was the one with real experience.
    Then she shot him a look that chilled his blood. It was cold and angry and filled with an empty despair.
    "You do not have a tattoo running up your arm," she said.
    Then he understood what she was saying. He knew the truth and damned himself for being self-involved. The demons knew about
her
. They could feel her. Hell, he could feel her, and he was merely an adept. She was the one in the legend, the female warrior whose blood could heal the Earth. And just to make sure everyone knew who she was, the monks had tattooed the truth all over her body.
    "Geez, why the hell would they do that to you? Could they be more obvious—"
    She cut him off with a quick slash of her hand. "The demons can feel my difference, and we Phoenix Tears are obvious even without the ink." She paused on the last landing before the main lobby. Pulling up the cuff of her blouse, she grabbed hold of his hand. Extending his finger, she allowed Patrick to rub the inside of her wrist.
    He felt her pulse leap beneath his touch, but more he noticed the steady bumps of scar tissue. In the light, he could see that each scar was circled by a tattooed line—a "tear." But she was right; anyone who understood the pattern's meaning would know what she was.
    She shrugged and released his hand. "Everyone knows who I am anyway. Might as well make my scars pretty. At least, that's what the monks thought."
    Though she had released his hand, he did not release her. He traced the lines on her wrist until he was stopped by her blouse. "So they know who you are. They know your blood will close the gate."
    She shook her head. "One person cannot do it. I am not enough." She straightened. "It is more important that I live and…" She swallowed.
    "And?"
    "And have lots of babies. I am the last living Phoenix Tear. If I die, there is no hope to ever close the gate."
    The theme from
Jaws
echoed loudly in the stairwell. Xiao Fei jumped. Patrick cursed and scrambled for his cell phone to cut off the finger, then cursed again when he read the caller ID. One glance at Xiao Fei and he knew she was about to bolt. He grabbed her arm and held her close. "Stay here. Let me get a situation report."
    She frowned and looked up at him, her entire body going abruptly still. "A situation report? That sounds very military," she said in a low voice.
    He shook his head. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm not B-Ops or anything. I just associate with people who like to pretend."
    She sighed and leaned against the wall. "American toy soldiers."
    "Worse," he admitted. "This guy's a balding academic who plays paintball and reads military suspense."
    She shook her head. "No wonder you think sex