Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
DEUS
I smirk as I tug the illusion forward.
“Finally showing your true colors, are we?” I ask. I whip him to the side, jerk the knife back, and slam it into his torso.
The look of shock before he disappears is well worth being stabbed in the side.
He reappears a few feet from me, looking absolutely enraged. “How’d you know?” he demands.
“Well… I kind of feel like Ellison wouldn’t have stabbed me during a kiss, but who am I to judge? Maybe he likes a bit of blood with his sexy time.”
“You knew before I stabbed you,” he snarls.
I grin at the man as I start toward him. Honestly, I don’t have a damn idea how to stop a man who isn’t exactly human… one who can disappear and manifest with ease. He is… what exactly? A piece of Ellison? I haven’t gotten that part figured out. But what I do like is that I have him flustered.
“Get away from him!” Ellison yells.
The illusion looks smug and I try not to give away my irritation over Ellison’s arrival. The reason I brought him out here was in the hope that I wouldn’t get anyone else involved, especially Ellison.
The illusion appears in front of Ellison and grabs him by the throat. Ellison tries to fight against him, but it’s apparent that nothing he does can stop the illusion.
“Come here, Asmodeus, let me slit your fucking throat or I’ll slit his,” the monster of a man says.
Ellison immediately shakes his head. “Asmodeus, don’t listen to him. If he kills me, he’ll be gone too. He won’t hurt me.”
“Won’t I?” he asks as he jerks his arm back, and he might have hurt Ellison if Pocket Lint hadn’t chosen that very moment to chomp down on his heel.
I’m not quite sure the illusion feels pain, but it’s the distraction I need to drive my fist into his face and tug Ellison to me. A group of illusions forms around us, and I grow uneasy, unsure if I can trust anything that’s happening.
The illusion gives me a cruel smile as he holds both hands up. “I have all the fucking time in the world to destroy you piece by fucking piece.”
He appears inches from me, and I narrowly avoid him cutting my cheek open with the knife he’d taken from me. “I can’t wait to enjoy it,” he whispers in my ear before disappearing.
Ellison and I stand there for a minute while I wait for the man to return, but he doesn’t appear to be planning on doing so.
“He… he should be gone. He can’t remain separated from me for long,” he whispers.
“Oh, that’s fun. Husband, I really feel like maybe you should have mentioned that there’s a serial killer living inside of you.”
Ellison is quiet, not acknowledging the joke I’d tossed out to lighten the mood, and I question if there will be no repair for this.
That’s when I see he’s shaking as he reaches out to me. “You were stabbed.”
“Trust me, I didn’t let him stab me too hard. More of a light prick. I just wanted to verify my hypothesis, and damn, were the demons with me tonight. I was right.”
“You… you put yourself in danger on purpose?” Ellison asks in disbelief.
I hesitate as I realize that I’m walking a very fine line here. Ellison’s eyes are boring into me while I debate what answer I want to give him.
“It’s hard for me to involve others,” I finally say.
“Not only was I trained to handle everything myself, but just like last night… once others became involved, I… I nearly killed August. So I thought… if I took him far away from others, I could… I could figure out how he worked and I could stop him. I know you will disagree with me, but I happen to feel that you are over here doing the same thing.”
It’s like Ellison’s legs go out as he slides down my body and hits on his knees.
“I’m a horrible person. I couldn’t bring myself to tell any of you.
I knew if I told you, I’d be putting you all in danger, and it’d be best for me to leave all of you…
I felt like you guys would pull away from me if you knew.
Who the hell wouldn’t pull away from a man whose power is trying to kill others? ” Ellison asks.
“I… I’m confused. Have you met me? I feel like you have and still… you felt like I would leave you?”
“Any reasonable man would.”
“Good thing I’m not, then,” I say as I kneel down to be at eye level with him.
He picks at my shirt where the blood has dotted through, but it’s really not that bad.
“I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve anyone in my life.
I’m a greedy man who never knew what it felt like to be cared about until I met this group.
To have someone care if I got hurt, to have someone happy to see me, to have someone notice if I was still alive.
Last night, as you guys looked for me… as I convinced myself that I didn’t deserve any of you…
I discovered how greedy I am. But… doesn’t that make me more human? ”
Ellison frowns. “Look at how hurt you’ve already gotten because of me.”
“You got way more hurt because of me!”
“He could have killed you.”
“Demons don’t feel pain.”
“You’re not a demon!”
“I am in the bedsheets. Although… I cheated on you. I kissed that man to fool him… although he… I don’t know if he’s a part of you or what. Can I kiss you now to wash away the trauma of touching his lips?”
“It’s okay, I’ll just awkwardly stand here and like… kick a stone around,” Nolan says as he does just that.
Ellison quickly stands up. “I apologize. Let’s get back. I… feel like I have… to… explain some things.”
“He’s thinking about running away,” Nolan comments.
I glare at Ellison. “After all of that sappy shit I just did, you’re still going to run away?”
“It was just a fleeting thought.”
“He’s now thinking about how annoying it is that I can read minds,” Nolan says.
“Thank you for coming to help,” Ellison tells him. “I promise I don’t find you annoying.”
Nolan shrugs. “You’re welcome. I didn’t actually do much.”
Ellison shakes his head. “But you made me realize that what I was doing wasn’t helping. That I was putting the people I care about in danger because of my own inability to face what’s happening. Let’s have a talk.”
“Deus is now hoping it’s going to be a short talk because he has the attention span of his ferret. Speaking of which, Deus, one of the illusions took the ferret back to headquarters,” Nolan says.
“If you make the meeting sound violent, I’ll pay more attention,” I assure Ellison.
I trail after Ellison a moment before one of his illusions flops onto my back.
“Since the cat’s out of the bag, I feel like you should share. It’s unfair you get him all to yourself when we want a bite,” the illusion says as it kisses my cheek.
Ellison glowers at the illusion. “Get off him.”
“He likes it,” the illusion insists while my brain slowly catches up.
“You… are… the asshat who threw me down the hill!”
“It was an accident! I didn’t know you’d be so fast!” the illusion says.
I try to understand this but kind of feel like Ellison could give me a helping hand. “Ellison.”
Ellison is silent as he walks.
“He’s thinking, ‘If I don’t speak, I might not have to explain what’s happening,’” Nolan helpfully supplies.
The illusion hanging on my back reaches down and takes my hand, interlocking our fingers.
“I’m more fun than him,” he whispers in my ear. “I’ll let you do anything you want. I really enjoyed sticking my finger in your—”
All illusions disappear as Ellison hurries off, leaving me alone with Nolan.
“He was going to say ‘asshole,’ wasn’t he?” I ask Nolan.
“I wish you wouldn’t have asked me that.”
“Want me to think it instead?”
“I’d prefer neither.”
“He’s cute when he pouts and speedwalks away, isn’t he?” I ask. “Watch this. Ellison, it hurts to walk fast enough to keep up with you.”
Ellison immediately slows down and hurries back to me. “Are you okay?”
I beam at the handsome man. “Your beautiful face healed me in an instant.”
His face sours and he walks off without me again.
“You just… really aren’t very wise, are you?” Nolan asks.
“It’s debatable,” I admit. “But did you see that sexy scowl he gave me? Worth it.”
Nolan is quiet for a bit while we trail after Ellison before he says, “On the outside, you portray a man who is carefree and has no worries, but on the inside, it’s obvious you’re still hurting.
Showing the people you care about the pain you feel will help them understand and it’ll help you heal…
stop, I can already hear your mind going on about how you can’t show weakness.
What’s family for if you can’t show all sides of yourself? ”
Family? I killed my family.
“Family does not have to be blood related,” Nolan continues, addressing my unspoken words. “You have family here. My brother might act like he only cares about his books, but I know he would call you family any day. And I’m sure there are others here who care about you if they’d like to pipe up.”
Ellison looks back at me. I can’t tell whether he can hear Nolan or he’s wanting to wait for me. He seems caught up in some kind of turmoil.
“You both really need to talk to each other instead of this shit going on in your minds,” Nolan advises as we reach the door to headquarters and step in.
“You told us to trust no Ellisons, so tell us something embarrassing about you so we know it’s really you,” Landon says, holding Pocket Lint.
“I need a medical team.”
“Well, that’s no fun. Who got hurt?” Landon asks before noticing the blood on me. “You okay?”
“Perfectly fine. Not even a scratch.”
The look on Ellison’s face tells me that he is displeased I’m brushing it off so easily. The medical team must have been on standby because they’re on us in an instant. They try cramming me onto a stretcher as I fight them off before going invisible.
“I will just invisibly bleed.”
Valerie whacks me with a wad of paperwork. “Turn visible again and at least follow the medical team.”
“Fine, fine,” I say. “Medical team, I have received trauma to the back of my skull. I’m unsure how that happened. I feel like the assailant is still in the room with me.”
“Now!” she barks.