Chapter Twelve
Emily
It’d been two days since I left Zelus’s apartment. He’d come by a few times, but I turned him away. I needed to think, to figure out what I wanted to do about all of this. It wasn’t every day a girl had to question her mortality, at least not with all of Hell at her heels.
It was a lot to digest—demons, snake beasts who fucked like demons, and now a mark that sealed my unfortunate fate to a long stay in Hell.
Everything leads back to demons, sad.
I’d come to terms with the fact that either this was a very elaborate delusion I didn’t have any hope of conquering, or I was the main heroine in one of Asha’s smutty paranormal-whatevers. Neither option appealed to me, but a girl did what she had to.
The lawyer in me wanted to do extensive research into what this all meant, but how did one learn about the supernatural when one didn’t know it existed until three days ago?
I barely knew what to have for breakfast or what hobby to take up in light of New Emily ventures, so how was I supposed to decipher a supernatural problem of epic proportions with almost no information? Where was a feisty, career-driven supernatural detective when you needed one?
Zelus had come out of nowhere, and I wasn’t convinced our meeting was a total coincidence—or that his offer to help was done purely out of good will, for that matter.
The dude didn’t strike me as a philanthropist. He certainly didn’t fuck like one.
But he was the only one I could glean a smidgen of understanding about what I was up against.
Problem was, I was insanely attracted to that crazy motherfucker, and I couldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Which, with my noodle arms, I’d fail to even lift the asshole.
But I couldn’t ignore him forever or the future I now faced. He was my only shot at dealing with whatever made this my problem, so it was time to face the music.
New Emily’s goal in life was to not go to Hell.
With renewed purpose, I yanked open the door to my apartment, bent on finding Zelus, and the asshole practically materialized out of thin air before I could take a step out the door.
A shriek got caught in my throat, and I nearly fell back. His arm was around me before I did. The usual smile wasn’t anywhere to be found. It was the grimmest I’d ever seen him.
He walked me backward, entering my apartment with his arm still tightly wrapped around me and his steely eyes pinned to mine. “Where are you going, love?”
“I—”
“The demons will be out there if you leave,” he went on, talking over me.
“And I know I’m the last person you want to see right now, so be as snarly as you want with me.
I’m plenty capable of handling your venom.
But I won’t let you stroll right into the arms of a demon even if you get a little bitey while I whisk you away from danger. ”
Annoyed, I slammed my hands on his chest. “I was going to find you, you ass.”
That stopped him. His head canted to the side in confusion. “Find me?”
“Yes, you big fucking oaf. Find. You. I’m not exactly in any position to fight a demon and stay out of Hell, am I?” Fixing my skirt and loose blouse, I leveled a scowl at him. “I think my best option is the devil I know in this case.”
His mouth twitched, the ring piercing on the left of his lip catching a glint of light, and he folded his arms across his annoyingly perfect man-chest. “Glad you’ve come to your senses.”
“You’re the only one who thinks so,” I clapped back angrily, tossing my purse on the nearby table. “I don’t know what the fuck I did to put myself on Hell’s radar, but it’s no use ignoring the reality of it.”
I pretended not to notice how proud he looked when I said as much. Making himself at home, Zelus closed the door behind him and plopped his large and unwelcome ass down on my couch like he’d been invited in. “I’m looking into it.”
My brows knitted together, and I couldn’t help wandering over to him. After a brief debate with myself, I sat down, curiosity piqued. “Looking into it?”
Zelus draped his arm around the back of the leather sofa that had seen a lot of time, snacks, and sex, teasing a few fingers through my hair. “We supernatural beasties have our ways of finding out these things, but it’s likely to take a week or two before I hear anything substantial.”
My shoulders slumped in dismay. “So, what do I do until then? I can’t become a hermit.”
It’d been nearly three weeks since Asha went off on an adventure. She could be back at any moment, and I didn’t have any clue how to explain a new demon infestation or the big lug who promised to help with it.
The sly smirk I’d started to associate with the redheaded singer—snake monster?—was already in place when I lifted my eyes. “Never said you had to, love. What’s life without a little danger, anyway? I’m scarier than anything that you’ll encounter in the dark.”
Flashes of his clawed hands definitely gave validity to his claim. That demon shadow thing hadn’t stood a chance against him. I didn’t have a great gauge on the power structure in this new supernatural existence, but I was sure he was strong enough to pose a problem.
More than me, at least.
“So, first you’re a singer—”
“Still could be if it tickles your fancy.”
I glowered at him. “Then a stalker.”
“Well meant.”
Sighing, I went on, “And now you’re my bodyguard?”
“Brings a tear to my eye how far our relationship has come in less than a week, love.” The smug asshole leaned back and cast his amused glance my way, the shirt and pants he wore doing nothing to hide his impressive physique.
“Why are you doing all of this?” I asked.
Was it mere interest that made him follow me that night? The senses I’d honed over the years suggested otherwise. It wasn’t mere attraction that made him seek me out. Something bigger was at play here, and I needed to find out what it was before trusting myself with the monster in front of me.
His smile was gone in a blink. “Can’t I help someone who clearly needs it?” He leaned in close. “I don’t think you know quite how delicious you are, love. Sweeter than any treat I’ve ever had in my mouth, that’s for bloody sure.”
Another non-answer. I was starting to recognize a pattern with him. When he wanted to redirect, he’d pose a rhetorical question, lean into flirtation, and then find a path to lead me away from my original point of interest.
I pressed this time. My life was on the line if I didn’t. The last thing I wanted was to flee one monster for another and still get gobbled up. “We both know that’s not enough. You don’t strike me as someone who’s struggled to find a good time, and that’s all our night was.”
His lips twitched, another tell.
“Unless it wasn’t…” I tracked the lines deepening on his face and the subtle tensing of his muscles, hiding secrets. “You sought me out for more than that, didn’t you? I deserve to know why.”
I went for the kill, putting my own history on the table, one I rarely talked about but made me who I was. One maybe even a snake monster could understand.
“Men who I was stupid enough to trust have hurt me in the past—humans who took what I didn’t want to give.
Men who ruined my safety and made it impossible for me to feel comfortable ever trusting another one again.
You’re capable of doing far more damage than any human has done to me, and I don’t… I need to know I can trust you.”
All the humor had left him over the course of my speech. His reptilian slits were barely there as his expression darkened, and I worried for a second he’d attack me.
“Which humans hurt you?” his deep baritone asked emphatically, dangerously low and demanding. Practically a growl for how it rumbled out of his chest.
I hadn’t expected the question, so my breath hitched. “What?”
The way he slinked in close was all animal. The more he leaned into the monster, the more he reminded me of a snake. “Who hurt you, Viper? Give me their fucking names.”
“That’s not the point,” I huffed.
His hand cradled my face. The man who’d smiled only a few minutes ago was nowhere in sight. “It is to me. The most important point. I want their bloody names.”
“Z—”
“Their names, love, or I won’t answer your question,” he commanded in the same voice as the one he’d used on the demon.
I’d never seen so much intensity directed at anyone who’d hurt me, outside of maybe Asha, Dom, and his wife, Alexa. But even they couldn’t come close to how lethal every word sounded out of Zelus’s mouth. Like he’d tear them from limb to limb without batting an eye.
And with what I’d seen, I didn’t doubt he’d make good on it if I surrendered the names of the men who ruined my childhood.
Because one of them was my own father.
I wasn’t sure I wanted his heart torn from his chest. Punished, yes, but dead…probably not. His friend, I’d think about. Though, I’d seen his financial ruin and personal life shredded. That was revenge enough in some ways.
Suddenly worried for a whole new reason, I grabbed his wrist and hardened my stare. “They don’t matter. What matters is what you want with me and if I can trust you.”
The storm that had overtaken his face calmed some. “You can trust me, love. I only want to find whoever has marked you for Hell and make sure they can’t have you.”
“Because?”
His eyes dropped to my mouth. “Because…” As if he hadn’t meant to utter them, the last two words came out as the softest whisper, “You’re mine.”
Heat rose into my face. It was absolutely insane how hot I got at the thought of that one word. Mine. Usually it made me feral when anyone declared any dominion over me, and maybe I’d gone fully crazy after everything, but it was exactly what I craved hearing.
“And you’re mine?” I asked, our mouths close enough that I felt his hot breath on my lips.
I didn’t want to admit how much I craved his kiss. I wanted to feel his tongue piercing move around my mouth. I wanted to nibble the ring circling his lower lip. I wanted to map out his mouth and hear those feral groans of need.