Chapter 6 Demons #2
When my gaze traveled over the rest of his body, everything appeared human until I looked at his face. His beautiful amber eyes had turned pitch black, empty voids without a sclera.
But the most startling of all protruded from his disheveled hair: a pair of thick horns, black as midnight, sweeping back in a wave. They resembled antelope horns, only shorter and thicker.
He studied me in silence. With his brows locked in a scowl, he looked cruel—like the demon he claimed to be.
“This isn’t our full form, but it’s enough to get the point across,” Zeke said from behind me, drawing Cyn’s gaze.
I noticed his ears then—no longer rounded, they now extended a couple of inches into points.
I kept my voice to a murmur, afraid that if I startled him, he’d attack. Was he in control? Was he even the same man? “What does your full form look like?”
“It depends on which of us you ask,” Zeke said. “For Cyn, not too different. He can’t show you his wings in such a small room.” He paused and tilted his head, considering. “Unless you want a bigger mess than the glass in the kitchen.”
“Wings?” I blinked and looked over my shoulder at Cyn in surprise. “Like angel wings?”
Zeke chuckled. “Nah, not us. The type of wings depends on the type of infernal. Shyrlivi have wings like bats.”
Ash moved to the sofa. “Some have bones—which aren’t very useful. It all depends.”
“This is insane.” I turned to face the others. “You’re playing a trick on me. That’s why you wanted me to close my eyes.”
Ezra rolled his eyes and leaned against the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen.
“No,” Cyn said, his voice deeper than before, but still seductive and smoother than Ezra’s or Ash’s. “I’m real.” He extended his hand, inviting me to touch him. “It’s not paint. I wouldn’t have the time for that anyway.”
I swallowed and ran a finger over his forearm, inspecting my clean fingertip when I pulled away. “This is wild.” I looked up at the horns on his head. “Those are real?”
“That’s what I said. It’s all real. I’m real.”
I slumped to the floor and stared up at Cyn looming over me.
Ash rose from his seat. “Are you okay?”
No, I’m not okay. Why couldn’t I say the words out loud?
Cyn’s dark brows pulled together, black eyes narrowing. With his scowl deepening, and his eyes like abyssal depths, I couldn’t read him.
He doesn’t look like them.
Zeke’s voice came from my side as he crouched next to me. “Doesn’t look like who?”
“I… nothing. I didn’t mean to say that.”
I wasn’t about to tell these men—who might be figments of my imagination—what I’d seen the night my parents died and often since. The cops would lock me away so fast it’d make my head spin if I even tried to call them now.
I still couldn’t take my eyes off Cyn.
The truth? He didn’t look horrific. A little scary, sure.
But if I overlooked his lack of humanity, I couldn’t deny the stirring attraction low in my belly.
Something about him drew me in, and I didn’t understand it.
The cedarwood, with a hint of jasmine growing stronger in the air, did nothing to help.
My chest burned hot beneath my pendant, confusing me more.
“Blackbird?”
“Enough of this,” Ezra said, voice cold, not giving Ash the chance to say more. His commanding voice drew my gaze from Cyn. “We don’t have time for the human to devolve into hysterics. We need to get home.”
His dismissive words—when he was the one who appeared in my home—gave me the strength I needed to push aside the unease Cyn stirred in me. Rising, I glared at him. “I’m not hysterical. I just needed a minute.”
The muscles of his square jaw tensed as if he were grinding his teeth. I braced myself for a rebuttal, but when I met his intense eyes, he only stared.
Breaking the tense connection, I looked at Cyn as Zeke rose from his crouch. “I can’t believe this is happening.” I searched the midnight depths of his eyes. “That this is real.”
“You touched him,” Zeke said, voice low and cautious. “You know he’s real.”
I needed to know for sure.
Curiosity won out over apprehension, and I stepped into Cyn’s personal space. He stiffened as I ran my fingertips over one horn. His eyes slid closed, head bowing with a stuttered breath, giving me better access.
When nothing bad happened, I wrapped my hand around the horn, marveling at the texture. He couldn’t fake the strange heat radiating from it, could he? I slid my other hand over the opposite horn.
Horned animals weren’t uncommon, but something seemed different and otherworldly about these. Something compelled me to touch beyond curiosity and a simple need to verify the truth.
Cyn groaned, and his clawed hands lifted to settle on my hips, surprising me.
“Careful, Little Blackbird, the horns are an erogenous zone.”
“What?” My eyes rounded in surprise at Ash’s low words. “Like it turns him on?” I released Cyn’s horns and tried to step away, but his hands slid up to my waist, slipping beneath my shirt. He tightened his hold, and his claws scraped my skin, drawing a soft whimper.
“Fuck. Take her,” he said, voice guttural, fangs flashing. He shoved me at Zeke.
Losing my footing, I crashed into Zeke’s arms, and he gave me a blinding smile. “Falling for me?”
“No! What is wrong with y’all?” I pushed out of his hold and lifted the side of my shirt to inspect my skin. Beads of blood dotted the surface.
Cyn licked his lips, and I edged back toward Zeke as if he might offer protection. Whatever spell I’d fallen under shattered with Cyn’s rough grip. “He won’t hurt me, will he?”
Zeke smirked. “Not unless you want him to, no.”
I whipped my head around to stare at him. “What? No!”
“Some people are into that,” he said, shrugging.
While I’d never admit it out loud, the idea of rough pleasure and pain intrigued me. Not necessarily from him or a stranger. I hadn’t trusted anyone enough to take it beyond a fleeting thought.
“Cut it out, Zeke. I have no interest in a human.”
When I turned to face Cyn again, he appeared the same as before his transformation.
Finger-combing his hair, he gave me a “Well?” look and asked, “Believe me now?”
Grandma had been right all along.
Demons were real.
And now four of them stood in my living room, watching me with varying degrees of frustration, anger, curiosity, and amusement.