ChaPter 2 - Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr

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landed in front of her in a leap that should’ve been impossible.
She swerved too suddenly, twisting her ankle and falling in
the process.
“Stop.”
The voice cut through the haze of pain and confusion.
The only person who could fix things was there. “Daddy?”
Adam stepped in front of her. The daimon’s claws scored
his side, but that was all that the daimon had time to do. In
mere moments, her father had spoken a spell that left the
doglike daimon immobilized on the ground. It looked at her
from eyes too like her own, but didn’t move. Its chest rose and
fell in silent breaths.
The second daimon wasn’t so lucky. When it had started
changing, Adam spoke another spell—this one fatal. It dropped
to the ground dead in a form that was neither man nor animal,
but a sick mix of the two.
Her father drooped.
“Daddy!”
“I’m fine.” He pulled her to her feet. “Everything’s fine.”
“It’s not!” She tugged him away from the blood on the
ground with her malformed hands.
“I’m here now.” Adam put an arm around her, steadying
her. “Everything is fine.”
“It’s not.” She held her hands out. “Look at me!”
“Shhhh,” he murmured.
“Hush, Mallory.” He grabbed her face, and she noticed
that there was blood on his hands too. They weren’t changing,