Chapter Seventeen
Emily
“You expecting someone else? Rude,” came her bratty greeting.
My eyes went wide as my best friend in a gorgeous skin-tight dress that made her curves an hourglass dream floated into the apartment, followed closely by her devilishly handsome beau.
The dude was bigger than Zelus with dark hair and pale blue eyes that promised he’d burn the world to the ground to keep my girl happy. And he cooked. Not just cooked. The gorgeous jerk was a master chef who put together five-star meals befitting the mouths of kings and queens.
Maybe I could swindle Thanatos into cooking for me so Zelus thought I was a chef goddess before the world ended.
Asha’s red hair was luminous and curling around her shoulders in a silky wash of color as she tipped her head to one side, taking in the sight of me.
I needed to find out what brand of shampoo she switched to. It was doing wonders for her hair. The woman came back looking like a whole new person after wherever Thanatos stole her away to.
I didn’t think, just ran and tackled my friend with a hug.
I’d missed her so damn much that my eyes got a little misty as I put all my power into the embrace.
It was my full intention to hug the air right out of her body and quite possibly smother her before bringing her back to life with questions of a filthy nature.
Her sweet, musical laughter was in my ear as she hugged me back, her familiar scent a happy reunion for my nose. I might’ve pressed my face into her hair to experience the heaven a little longer.
It was so good to have her back. I didn’t want to face an uncertain future without my bestie by my side, even if I couldn’t tell her that was what was happening. But if I stopped it from happening, I’d save her too, and that in and of itself was worth every bit of effort.
After I pulled away, I gave her a low whistle of appreciation.
“Holy shit, lady. You look a-ma-za-zing. Shit. You even smell good. What’s that called?
Oh, but wait.” I dragged out my phone, having stuck it in my bra.
One of many benefits of having bigger boobs.
“Did you text to say you’d be coming home? ”
Her smile was soft, but also weird. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“No shit. I’m definitely surprised.” I eyed the ginormous beast of a man behind her, waggling my eyebrows. “This chick has that satisfied glow about her. That your doing, big guy?”
I didn’t miss the way Asha blushed, and how Thanatos, the happy bastard, was a smug creature when I stared at him. What a lucky fucking girl.
Asha stared at my spatula—or weapon if Zelus showed up. Her eyebrow rose because my best friend knew me better than anyone else. She’d know something was up, and I couldn’t even tell her everything I wanted to.
As superstitious as she was, she’d never believe demons were real, or that I was in the middle of stopping the end of the world. She’d think I’d lost my fucking marbles after years of using kinky sex and alcohol as therapy.
And I was fiercely protective of her. I didn’t want her hurt or to make her worry needlessly, so I might need to consider another place for a while. Maybe Z’s. Claim it was to give the lovebirds their space so they could get their bang on in peace.
I didn’t want any demons to come after her. Thanatos might be a beast of a man with the look of someone who got called boss and asked where to bury the bodies, but even someone like him couldn’t fight supernatural monsters.
“Wait. Who do you have coming over? You never cook,” Asha asked me.
Damn, she was good.
I laughed and drove my elbow into her side, uncomfortable in ways I couldn’t express. “I cook. I cook…stuff. What, I can’t cook?”
But before she could answer, the dude I hoped would stay upstairs knocked on the door. I couldn’t explain how I knew it was him, just that I did.
My best friend and her boyfriend couldn’t have shown up on a worse day. Well, that wasn’t true. They could’ve shown up when I was having sex in the kitchen or on the couch. That would’ve been extra awkward with his beast side on display.
I darted over to the front door, forming a believable explanation in my head for why he was here, and more specifically, who he was to me. I didn’t date, but Asha might believe loneliness got the better of me with her gone.
I’d get introductions out of the way and hopefully survive Asha’s taunting. I had it coming after the hell I’d given her over Thanatos. I wouldn’t like it, but she was owed a tease Emily over her not-boyfriend sesh. Except, when I opened the door, someone said his name before I could.
“Zelus.”
I jerked my head around and stared at Thanatos, who was glowering at Zelus. Asha had also stiffened at the sight of him. Both of them recognized him.
My eyes returned to Zelus, who’d donned a slick suit for our first official date and was a goddamn treat for the eyes. His greeting smile had already fallen. The way he stared at Thanatos was the same way he glared at the phone earlier, like he was an enemy.
“What the fuck? You guys know each other?” My head was doing overtime to piece everything together. “But…”
I couldn’t figure out if they knew his human version or the other version. I needed to be careful with how I addressed this messy situation. The only thing I could immediately ascertain was that they’d met before, and that whatever that meeting was, it wasn’t a good one.
Zelus put a hand on my arm and drew me closer to him, but Asha’s eyes went to it immediately. Stalking over, she grabbed my arm and tore me out of his hold. And then for some reason, she lifted it and stared directly at the spot he’d wrapped his hand around.
Her eyes searched for something, but I couldn’t begin to guess what that was. All I knew was that the sneer she leveled on him was the same one she gave any guy she wanted to put six feet in the ground. She saw him as a threat. It sparked a fear inside me I’d only just abated.
“She’s yours then?” Thanatos asked.
Zelus’s eyes flicked down to me, his jaw straining. “She is.”
In the time it took me to form a question, Thanatos was between us and forcing Zelus back out the door. I panicked and ran to stop it from happening.
“What’s going on?” I demanded from both of them, standing between the two scowling macho bros.
Asha had come to stand next to Thanatos, and something about the two seemed off. Or maybe different was the right word.
I could’ve sworn the shadows in the room were moving in ways that were outright odd. Shifting when there wasn’t light or reason. And was that a fucking bird knocking its beak on our kitchen window? Was Asha telling the truth when she claimed a bird was stalking her?
My eyes caught on a few weird shadows, and I heard the cawing asshole at our window. My eyebrows lifted practically into my hairline in question, but Zelus wrapped an arm around my waist and brought me into his body. His eyes never left Thanatos.
“It’s not what you think, Dead,” was all he said, as if that’d explain everything.
My brows drew together. Dead?
Thanatos’s expression was unreadable. “Now, why don’t I believe you…”
“Ems, he’s not who you think he is,” Asha murmured, glaring at him and reaching for me again. “You have to trust me.”
“He’s like me,” Zelus whispered into my ear, his arm around me tightening. “They both are.”
My eyes widened, and both of them went still as they stared at me.
They’d heard it, too. “But…that can’t be true.
I’d know if Asha was a demon or snake monster or whatever and trying to stop the world from ending, okay?
I’m her bestie, Z. She’d never keep that from me,” I rambled, but my pulse spiked with panic.
Had she hidden her true self from me this entire time?
Asha’s expression twisted with rage, and she started to move, but Thanatos grabbed her hand. Something passed between them with a mere glance before she nodded.
She crossed her arms and stared at me. “So, you know about demons and the apocalypse?” was all she asked, and my world crashed down around me.
“How do you know about them?” I demanded.
Her smile was despondent. “Because I was also attacked by demons not very long ago.”
My mouth opened, but nothing left it for several seconds. “You were? Is a demon hunting you and trying to take you back to Hell, too?”
Thanatos stared at my throat, and I realized quickly he saw whatever Zelus had. “You’ve been marked.”
Asha didn’t seem to understand and peered up at him. “Marked?”
Zelus growled, as if he’d been waiting for them to notice. “Yes, she has. And I intend to destroy the sly sod who did it.”
Thanatos seemed surprised to hear it. “You do? For what reason, Pest?”
“Pest?” I asked with a curious glance up at Zelus.
Asha cut him off before he could answer me. “He’s Pestilence, Ems. He’s one of the Four Horseman like Thanatos.”
My brain was probably melting. It was extra mushy, and I was having a lot of trouble forming thoughts, let alone responses. Asha could see it, too, because she didn’t wait to explain.
Her eyes were a scathing reprimand when they flicked up to the snake monster behind me. “They’re here to start the apocalypse. That’s what he’s doing with you. You’re his Counter Soul, and in order to start it, he needs to kill you and take your soul.”
Zelus had a tight hold on me, as if he was afraid of the things she was saying. Every muscle against my back was rock-hard and frozen.
I didn’t really register much until she muttered, “And he tried to kill me while he was at it.”
I sucked in a breath. He tried to kill my best fucking friend?! That snapped me out of my surprised stupor.
“Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me,” I growled and pushed on his steel-band arms locked around my waist, the reality of what he was and what he’d kept from me drowning me in so much emotion I couldn’t catch my breath.
He tried to hold onto me, but Thanatos was suddenly there. Black shadows reached out toward Zelus from every corner of the room and wrapped around him. A hiss escaped his mouth, but then they were gone.
Stumbling, I nearly went right into the wall, but Asha had an arm wrapped around me before I could. “Oh, Ems, I’m so sorry. I didn’t…there’s so much I need to tell you. I never wanted to talk about it like this.”
“Just tell me one thing,” I said, trying to breathe, but it was impossible. Panic had set in. “Was that why you left? Were you hiding from demons or…did he take your soul? Is it already the end of the world?”
“No!” she shouted before coughing. “No, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Thanatos did everything he could to protect me. But I have a lot to tell you, and I’d rather not do it by the front door.”
My throat hurt. “He protected you when it was his job to murder you?”
Her smile was so full of love. “I’ll tell you everything, I promise.”
I tried to ignore how much my chest hurt as we wandered inside—how it felt as if my heart had been torn right out of my chest. Asha had the Horseman fall in love with her and do everything he could to protect her, but I…
I trusted Zelus. I’d believed him when he said he was there to keep me safe. But his protection had ulterior motives. He didn’t want a demon to get me because it was him who needed to do it.
Of course the first guy I let in would want to kill me to end the world.