Demons In My Head: Exposing the Exiled (Demons of Port Black #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter one

Ashland

Long brown hair. Tall black boots. Deep blue eyes. Bunny ears.

Memory flashes kept firing in my brain like fucking bullets as I accessed the safe in my room. I needed to get the enchanted stones from Besmet that I’d been holding onto for years. For exactly this moment.

Bunny blades. The glint of steel sailing through the air.

My hands actually shook as I grabbed hold of the wooden box that was hand-carved with sigils and spelled with wards.

I set the box down and placed both of my palms against the wall.

I was more upset with Palmer than I wanted to admit.

Somehow, she’d gotten fully underneath my skin without me even realizing it, and that pissed me off.

I hated looking like a fool. I wanted nothing more than to track her down and force answers from her deceitful mouth.

What was the end goal? Had we really just been a mark for her?

Furiously, I whisper-cussed myself out. Sometimes that’s something I needed. A good old-fashioned tongue-lashing. “Fucking snap out of it, you little bitch. You’ve got one godsdamn thing to do today, and that’s to get the fuck back home. Lock. It. Down.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply through my nose.

Compartmentalization. Now, I wasn’t saying that it’s the healthiest of coping mechanisms, but sometimes there’s just too much shit.

I remembered learning this technique when I was in my early years, and the piece of shit who raised me thought some therapy might be a good idea.

“Visualize each stressor and then visualize a large box. Mentally place everything in the box and close the lid. You’re not going to worry about anything until you take that thing back out of the box.”

That’s what she said, and by gods, it fucking worked. Granted, my therapist really didn’t appreciate it when I’d had enough of her chitty chat gab sessions and I decided quite literally to pick her up and put her in a box, but I digress.

Forty-eight minutes of therapy did wonders for me. Forty-nine? That was over the fucking line.

“Last time you’re going to interrupt my mission, love.

” I pictured Palmer, wild and sassy. I pretended she was about to reply to my words, and I picked the entire mind-sized tiny witch up by the back of her shirt with my thumb and forefinger and dropped her kicking and screaming into a large black box.

I ignored the glittery pink writing that said ‘Bad Bunny Rabbit Box,’ even though that was difficult for me.

My brain was so clever sometimes. The lid slammed shut, and a second later, my eyes opened.

Fucking finally. I could think.

“Ready, Ash?” Felix asked, his voice coming from the doorway.

Determined now, I picked up the box and closed the safe. Grinning, I held up the case that held our tickets home.

“Fuck yeah, Lixy. Let’s do this shit.” I clapped him on the shoulder, and the two of us walked down the hallway to the living room, where the others were waiting.

“Do we have everything we need?” Rhodes questioned, looking at each of us. Excitement was radiating off of him in a way I hadn’t seen in… well, I couldn’t remember the last time.

I nodded. “The stones are in here. All five of us have to be touching the case while we say the spell for it to open.” I placed the box down on the coffee table and put my fingertips on the edge.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Talon said calmly as he made contact with the box. Too calmly.

Misha lifted a dark brow as he pressed his middle finger down in the dead center of the wooden lid. I wasn’t the only one who noticed Talon’s demeanor.

“You good, Tal?” Felix asked, stepping next to his blood brother and making a physical connection with the box at the same time as Rhodes.

Talon sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Quietly.

“He’s big sad,” Misha grumbled.

“We’re all upset about her, Talon. Trust me.” Felix put his arm around Tal’s shoulder. “But right now, we have to focus. We’re going home. Fucking home, brother.”

Talon’s face was possibly the most serious and stern I’d seen since…

nope, that memory was definitely deep in its own box in my mind.

His jaw ticked, and the poor ginger bastard’s cheeks were bright red and getting redder by the second.

Was he going to—oh hell. I clocked the moment his eyes went glassy and he quit blinking. I reacted.

My hand snapped out, and I slapped him right across the face. Everyone jumped. Myself included.

“Ashland!” Rhodes barked.

Talon shook his head and then straightened his spine before looking me dead in the eyes.

They weren’t glassy anymore. “Thanks, fucker. I needed that shit.” He grabbed his chest dramatically and released a deep breath.

“I expect each and every one of you to promise me you’ll literally slap the tears out of my eyeballs if you see me about to pull some shit like that again.

” He bent over the table and took a few more deep breaths, running his hands through his hair before standing upright with a look of total disbelief on his face.

“Well, come on then. Let’s get this show on the road. It’s time to go home.”

I’d do anything for these idiots. Slapping them was no problem.

Rhodes rolled his eyes, but then he smiled.

Like, a full-on, wide-mouth smile. I grimaced.

Didn’t look right. I had Talon over here crying, and now Rhodes was grinning like he wasn’t the most cynical asshole in the universe.

I knew what I had to do, and apparently, Misha knew what I was thinking because his hand tightened around my wrist before I could slap that unnatural smile right off Rhodes’ face.

“It’s time,” he said and glanced at the box. “Home.”

“Fine, fine. Everyone have a point of contact?” I asked, making sure with my own eyes that we were good to go. “I’ll start the chant, and we have to repeat it five times. Ready?”

Our voices filled the room, each of us speaking ancient demonic words that were older than time itself.

A faint blue light surrounded the box as energy pulsated around us, and the light grew brighter with each chant.

At the end of it, the lock clicked and we withdrew our fingers, allowing the lid to pop open with a soft snick.

“It worked,” Rhodes breathed, his eyes wide as the stones within were revealed.

The stones themselves were blacker than night with bright red striations running through them, almost as though they had their own network of veins. I reached for one and said, “Everyone, take one. It’s time for phase two. Let’s get this portal opened, boys.”

“They’re heavier than I thought,” Felix commented upon choosing his. “Must be all the magic they’re holding.”

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Misha questioned, examining his own stone.

Rhodes nodded. “Balor is positive. Did he say anything else, Ash?”

“Just that he’d find us once we’re through, and he had a lot to tell us about what’s been going on in Besmet. Let’s move over here, and then we can open the portal against that wall there.” I nodded toward the long wall in the living room, and we all but ran there, eager to get this done.

I had so many feelings about returning. We’d planned for this for so long, and now the moment was finally here.

My heart felt as though it would beat out of my chest with excitement, and yet, my stomach felt like it was full of lead.

For as many good memories that I had of home, there was a fairly equal amount of awful ones.

There would be people there I didn’t want to see, but that was part of the cost.

“Are we ready? I’m itching to fuck some shit up!” Talon bounced on the balls of his feet, tossing his stone up and down.

“Same as the box then, boys. Five times, and then the portal will open and we’re home free,” I said, grinning. “Let’s remind them who we are.”

Once again, our voices combined, and a purplish blue circle appeared on the wall.

The stone in my palm grew hotter with every word spoken until the portal glowed so bright it was hard to look straight at it.

The final word came out of our mouths, and the stones in our palms quite literally combusted, leaving nothing but rubble and ash.

“See you on the other side!” Talon shouted as he dove through the portal like a swan.

Felix jumped through next, then Misha. Rhodes turned to me and nodded once, clapping me on the back before walking through. This was it. I took a deep breath and jumped.

Stepping through the portal always sent my stomach for a spin. No matter how many times some of us had done it, some had never gotten used to the sensation. I was one of those lucky bastards.

"Fucking hell," I cursed, clutching my stomach and retching.

A hand slapped me hard on the back as I wiped my mouth and shakily steadied myself. "Ashy boy, I can't say I'm surprised, though I was holding out hope that this might be the first time you didn't puke all over your shoes after a portal jump."

"Talon, slap my back like that one more time and I’ll make sure the next time I throw up is all over your shoes.”

Talon held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. I was just trying to help."

I turned to find the others staring out over the landscape from atop the mountain we'd landed on. We hadn't been ”home” in a very, very long time.

"Even the air smells different," Felix said softly, his dark eyes scanning the landscape curiously.

From our vantage point, there wasn't much that appeared to have changed aside from parts of the landscape below that were decaying. Trees were barren, and whole fields were reduced to nothing more than dry vegetation that would incinerate if so much as a spark landed anywhere near.

"This used to be so green! Where are the animals?" Tal looked to each of us as though we held the answers he was seeking.