Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kara
Sure enough, as if I were Cinderella and the clock had struck twelve, the bracelet warmed against my wrist.
Luke summoned me.
Sighing, I slipped away from my family and faded back into the Devil’s room.
“Luke!” I called, glancing around the grand chamber. “I’m back. Did you miss me?”
I barely had to turn to find him sprawled lazily in the massive chair beside the fireplace, a book in his hand.
The fire crackled softly, casting long shadows across the floor.
The two hellhounds curled at his feet, ears twitching.
One lifted its head at the sound of my voice; the other groaned and flopped over like I’d interrupted its dream.
Luke didn’t acknowledge me. His eyes were glued to the page he flipped, too casual.
I placed my hands on my hips and smirked. I’d almost believed his indifference if his tail hadn’t betrayed him—slapping against the floor once in a sharp, excited thump.
“Mm-hm,” I hummed. “Trying to act aloof?”
I took a slow step forward.
The hounds rose, growling, hackles lifting.
“Oh, don’t be dramatic. Do you two even know how many head rubs I’m capable of?”
One hound tilted its head. The other looked to Luke like it was asking permission.
I waited.
Then…red eyes flicked up from the book.
I couldn’t resist saying, “I think you missed me.”
“I don’t think you understand that you’re a captive.”
A captive who got more and more freedom. I didn’t dare remind him.
“As a captive… what if I said I rather like your ‘punishments’?”
His tail curled. “I find it nauseating how willing you are to make yourself uncomfortable at every turn. And for what? No matter how much you pretend, I won’t let you free. I wonder… Did you tell your family what you’ve let me do to you since you’ve been here?”
I sauntered closer, refusing to let the barbs he flung stick. “You say all of that like you don’t ache to touch me.”
I believed Luke intentionally made himself cruel. If he truly were despicable, he would have harmed me long ago. He could have done terrible things to me in the name of getting back at my father.
His tail stiffened. “Yes, I ache for something I can’t even feel, which is why you should know your trickery is pointless.”
Trickery?
He was still going on about that. Maybe the fact that he thought my desire was an act should be a reprieve.
For now, only I knew it existed for real.
And that lustful yearning had me wanting to crawl into his lap.
He was so big, imposing, and looked so incredibly comfy.
I wanted to pop that comfort like it was a balloon.
Wanted him to crave me to the point of madness and watch that massive body shake.
Cry for the opportunity to touch, taste me.
I freaking wanted him to yearn for me more than…
The human world.
But he was a devil. The Devil. Honestly, even that couldn’t deter me from staking a claim to what was mine, the same way he tried to do with the human world.
“Oh, so sad.” I strode toward him. “The Devil wants what he can’t have.”
His eyes were like fire pressing against me.
The hellhounds scattered out of my path, but not before I gave one a head rub.
Like he knew what I wanted, his arm lifted instinctively.
I sighed deeply as I sank into his heated flesh.
I curled against his chest, settling like I belonged there—which, apparently, I did now.
I studied the book in his hand. When I heard screams, my eyes narrowed, and I gripped the edge of the book. “What is this?”
Luke tried to pull the object away, but I pried the pages open, and a horror scene appeared before my eyes.
Literally, two female humans drifted above the pages like foggy shadows.
They were clutching each other tightly. It was hard to tell, but they appeared to be in a small space… hiding? I heard a growl.
My heart sank as I repeated the question.
Luke’s jaw ticked. “You know exactly what this is.”
The page shifted slightly in the firelight, casting long shadows across the two girls huddled in fear. One whimpered. The other rocked her gently. And just beyond the blurry edges of the image—eyes gleamed.
“So, they’re real?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Luke didn’t look at the page. He looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
His silence was all the answer I needed.
As a Reaper, I only had to look into myself to see the horror spilling out into the human world. I had to block that part of brain out lately because my Reaper senses would be nonstop if I didn’t. There were too many occurrences. We couldn’t save them, and yet…
“And you’re just watching?”
His expression shifted—only a fraction. But I saw it. A crack in the mask. Pain. Regret. Or maybe it was an illusion my mind wished to see.
“What do you think I do down here?” came Luke’s dull response. “These things had to happen.”
And just like that, as much as I yearned for my mate, I was reminded of who and what he was.
“Is that happening right now?” I asked, turning in his lap to face him.
He scratched the bottom of one of his horns. “It’s not your responsibility to save anyone anymore. Humans are entering a new world. They’ll adapt. They always do.”
“How can you see those women or any living creature for that matter in fear and think that’s okay?” I muttered.
Luke’s claws dug into the flesh at my hip, almost possessively. “I think I finally have what’s mine, and I would have ripped open more worlds to get it.”
“Is being the king of a destroyed world that important to you?”
“You don’t know what I’d set in motion for what I want.”
I shook my head, stood, and tapped into my Reaper senses.
The network, connection to every human’s fate, slammed into me at once.
The onslaught of terrifying emotions was almost too much.
Cries, screams, waters roaring, winds howling, people dying.
I tapped into chaos when I reopened the link.
As much as I wanted to help them all, I couldn’t.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked, then I felt his tail brush my pants leg.
I focused on the two I saw out of the book. When I found them, I faded into a quaint town in the human world. Luke hadn’t even realized my intentions. At least I got out of Hell before he blocked my abilities again.
I listened outside the two-story home until I heard the teenager with her mother.
“The ones on the news. Those heroes. They will come, won’t they?”
At the young girl’s words, I jumped onto the balcony. I could smell the stench of the wolf demon in the home before I neared the sliding glass door.
“That wasn’t real, sweetheart.” the mom said. “People don’t have that type of power.”
A large bang came from downstairs.
The girl whimpered. “Yes, they are. They saved people in Paris and Kansas. Cameras have caught them all over the world, and they always show up when monsters appear!”
She had to be talking about my family. The ache from her words was like a giant ball stuck in my throat.
I slid open the door. The breeze rustled the white curtains over the glass.
I stepped into the room at the same time as the demon, but it didn’t see me.
The ugly mutt started salivating as it eyed the closet door.
I materialized my scythe, letting the weapon morph into a small sword.
The bracelet heated my skin, warning me to return to Hell, but I ignored it.
As the girl’s voice pitched with panic, her mother quickly murmured, “Okay, okay. You’re right. A dog-like creature is in our home. Maybe people with power exist. Let’s pray. They might come if we do.”
The wolf demon charged quickly, yanking the door open. The women screamed, the beast lunged, but I was quicker. I plunged my blade into the back of the demon’s head, then I faded downstairs and killed the last two ransacking the kitchen.
I stared at the dark blood dripping from my weapon, and my shoulders slumped forward. “I’m sorry. We’re not the heroes.”
I saved them that time, but I couldn’t the next. The weight of Dad’s job felt so heavy suddenly. We were always doomed.
If we survived, if anyone did, we still had a life to save after the end. That was what mattered.
Every time I lost hope; I filled myself right back up with words of courage.
“Wait!” the teenage girl screamed.
“Jessica!” the mom hollered.
“It was one of them. I know it.”
The bracelet began shaking. I faded back to Hell before they found me downstairs. An angry horned devil lunged at me as soon as I returned.
Luke grabbed me by my biceps and pressed me against his bare chest. I smelled burned marshmallows and hated how his scent and touch felt right even when wrong. “What were you thinking?” he asked.
I lifted my chin defiantly. “You expected me to do nothing after I saw they were about to die?”
“You’re a Reaper. You know exactly what’s happening. I know you guys haven’t been attempting to save anyone.”
“And you think that choice is easy?” The fury inside me intensified, as did the hurt of what the Reapers couldn’t do.
“We had to block our senses because the death and destruction were so overwhelming. We are one family. It’s not possible to save so many!
” I grabbed my forehead. “Hades, why did I tell you? That will probably please you. So yes, I know what’s happening, but I don’t let myself see it. If I see it, I react.”
Luke narrowed his eyes, then sighed. “I’ll burn the book.”
“Burn it?” I snarled. “Why do you even have it?”
“Are you questioning me right now?”
“Are you as terrible as you wish me to believe?” I asked, swallowing nervously. “Or are you just someone forced to handle rotten souls?”
He suddenly seemed more imposing when he said, “You know who I am, Kitten.”
I pointed at the chair he was sitting in before I left. “Go sit down.”
His red eyes blazed. “You’re ordering me now?”
I shoved him, and a deep satisfaction filled me when he staggered backward several steps. “How would you prefer your punishment?”