Chapter 9
Soft. My little spitfire is incredibly soft.
I tighten my grip on her and bury my face in—a pillow.
My eyes fly open and I jerk back. Instead of holding Mari like I was in my dreams, I’m clutching a fluffy oversized pillow.
I can just make out Mari’s sleeping face across the wall she’s built between us.
I’d be offended, except I can’t blame her.
We’ve been thrown together. Add in my status as a demon and I’m not winning any points with her.
She sighs, turning onto her side to face me. Her long dark lashes flutter across her cheeks, and her plum-colored hair curls around her neck. My fingers twitch, and I fight the urge to brush the strands back. Or twist them around my fist and kiss the shit out of her.
Strangers, Dimitri. You’re strangers.
I’m surprised she didn’t banish me back to Hell.
I doubt I would have been able to leave, though.
Every time I pop back here, I ping-pong between feeling like shit and feeling better than I ever have in my existence.
I’m loath to attribute the latter to her presence.
I’m already dancing a fine line. It’s more likely that as my bones settle in the dimension, I’m good.
Then the curse finds me and attacks my magic once more.
It leaves me wobbly, and before long I pass out.
I wish I wouldn’t have gone comatose in her bed. She probably cussed me out. I wonder if she tried to move me. She’s tall enough, but with all my hours running the gauntlet, I’ve got more than a few pounds of muscle on me.
When I can’t take it anymore, I slip my arm from under the pillows.
Lightly, I brush her forehead with my thumb.
She mumbles in her sleep, and I freeze, then pull my hand away, tucking it back under my head.
I clutch the pillow against my chest with my other arm.
When her fingers latch onto my wrist, I hold my breath. She’s got a good grip.
Mari mumbles again and tugs my hand closer until my fist is curled under her chin. She clings to me like a lifeline, and I wonder what she’s dreaming. Part of me wishes I could see into her head. It would help me figure out what she’s hiding.
She doesn’t want lessons on demons. She may be curious, but this is something else.
I haven’t been well enough to do any research and part of me doesn’t want to.
Finding information about humans is easy, witches are a little harder.
Still, I’d be invading her privacy. When I looked up Clara, I found only the most basic of things.
Mari’s situation would require me to dig deep.
I don’t know how long I lie there, watching her while she clutches my wrist. By the time her lids flutter again, the arm under my head is numb and my stomach grumbles.
She blinks at me and, for once, I have nothing to say.
My thoughts are quiet instead of running a million miles a minute.
It’s as if her touch calms me in a way I’ve never experienced in the centuries I’ve been around.
I keep expecting her mind to catch up to her actions and for her to shove me away.
“Hi,” she breathes, then yawns, ducking her face under the edge of the comforter.
“Morning.”
“Is it morning? I’ve been waking up at two. And four. And five, for weeks.”
“In the afternoon?”
She gives me a look, her lips twitching. “In the morning, demon. This is the first full night’s sleep I’ve had in a week.”
“Since you got sick?” My heart clenches, but I don’t know why. I’m not the reason she got ill. I didn’t even know she was sick. And I got her soup.
“Yeah. Right after you showed up, actually. Migraine mostly.” She rolls her eyes when I press my lips into a thin line. “You’re not the reason. I’ve been getting them since…for quite a few months.”
There it is. That shadow in her eyes every time she’s about to reveal her secret. She had it when I mentioned ancient texts. And when I offered to teach her about demons. She needs something, yet she won’t ask for it. I wonder if that’s just the way she is.
“I’m just surprised it’s been a week since I showed up.”
Her brows pull low. “What do you mean?”
I sigh, fighting a smile. “That will cost you. One possibility for a cure for my curse.”
She scowls and her nose scrunches up. “Fine. Have you really been so sick you didn’t realize a whole week had passed?”
“I thought it was less. Time works differently in Hell. Or maybe it’s different here. I don’t entirely know. An hour here could be two minutes or two years down there. Or vice versa. Antidote, please.”
“Did you get bit by a supernatural creature recently…or a bunny?”
I frown as I sift through my memories. “I got bit a lot when I was younger. Omen called me reckless. Recently, I don’t think so.”
She closes her eyes and squeezes my arm. I don’t think she realizes she’s been holding onto me the entire time. She ducks her head and yawns, using the back of my hand as a shield. My lips twitch, and it takes everything in me not to wiggle my fingers.
“Suppose it’s not that, then. What else do I get for tracking this down?”
“You certainly have a one-track mind, huh?”
She shrugs, though the movement is awkward. “I don’t like not knowing things. Obviously.” She flops onto her back and narrows her gaze as she stares at the ceiling. My chest tightens when she drops my hand. I tuck it under the pillow, trying not to draw attention to it.
She huffs. “You’re not going to eat me, right?”
My mouth waters and I smirk. “Not unless you ask nicely.”
She makes a noise in the back of her throat.
It only makes me wonder what types of sounds she’d make if she were underneath me.
If she’d let me, I’d pay her in orgasms. As soon as I get this curse under control, I might just try to convince her.
If her blushing is any indication, she’d be down.
Right now, I doubt she’d take me up on the offer.
She’s still too wary of me. Then again, she did crawl into bed with me. Maybe she’s closer than I think.
“So Percy was right,” she mutters.
I don’t think she meant to say it out loud. Regardless, an ugly emotion curls in my gut. The gears are still turning in her mind while I grit my teeth. Asking who the fuck Percy is won’t win her over. It could be a client. A sibling or a friend.
Or a lover.
If they are lovers, then why the fuck am I in bed with her instead of them?
Unless they have an arrangement. Maybe it’s common for witches to have more than one partner.
It’s not like I have any room to judge. I haven’t exactly been celibate over the centuries.
There’s absolutely no reason for me to be jealous of a faceless person who has the pleasure of hearing her passion.
I just don’t know if I could share her. Not that it matters since she definitely isn’t going to sleep with me.
I clear my throat. “About what, exactly?”
“Oh, my best friend said demons know their way around—” She tenses, pressing her lips together.
“More secrets, huh?” I roll off the bed and to my feet, instantly regretting it. I end up back on the bed as my head swims and my stomach rolls. Pain lances up my neck and to the base of my brain. I swear I can feel the organ swelling as my magic short-circuits.
Mari’s voice drones in the background as if one of us is under water. My hearing clears when her soft hand lands on my shoulder. I’m teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, yet her touch grounds me to reality.
“Are you okay? Do you need more water?”
I shake my head. She shuffles around and slides off the bed.
My fingers twitch when she stops in front of me.
Gripping her waist, her thighs, her ass, would ground me even more.
Except for Percy, the best friend. Who she may or may not be fucking.
And the fact I might keel over and take her out with me.
Instead, I dig my nails into my legs and hope the feeling goes away.
“This is really bad. Okay, no big deal. I’m just going to…Stay here, okay?”
I protest as she rushes out of the room, purple hair streaming behind her.
I swear I catch a glimpse of black underwear peeking from underneath the hem of her oversized shirt.
Groaning, I fall back onto the mattress as my cock gets impossibly hard.
Even while cursed, I want her. With every new revelation, I fall under her spell a little more. It’s too soon. Too fast. Too reckless.
Nothing good would come from my pursuing her in this state. She clearly has other things she’s dealing with. If she trusts me enough to open up, I’ll keep my pants on. No more flirting. No more off-hand comments. And no more sleeping in her bed.
Grunting, I push my body upright. My joints creak and my claws shoot from my fingertips.
I hold up my hands, keeping them far away from her bedsheets.
The last thing I need is to wreck her things.
Standing without using my hands should be easy.
In my current state, though, it takes me much longer than I’m willing to admit.
Mari paces back into the room, a phone pressed to her ear.
“No Percy, I just need any books you have on curses. Not for me. For…a friend.” She pauses as she gazes at me with concern.
“Yeah, yeah, didn’t know I had friends. Joke’s getting old, hon.
Do you have some or not? Because all I have is the basic spellbook Lark had stuffed in the closet.
There’s other things in there she jotted in the margins, but it’s not exactly what I need. ”
When she focuses on me, I shake my head. I don’t want her to bring anyone else into this, much less Percy. If some rando waltzes in here with a gleam in their eye and a potion in hand, I’ll fritz out. Already my magic sparks in my veins, throwing electrical shocks places it definitely shouldn’t.
My skin pulls tight against my muscles, and I will the feeling away.
It doesn’t work. If my flesh cracks and I transform in the middle of her bedroom, she’ll definitely run away screaming.
Perhaps she’ll stab me. A blade won’t kill unless it was blessed by Providence and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t do that anymore. It will hurt like hell, though.
“Of course I’m not harboring demons in my basement,” Mari says with an unconvincing laugh. “Why ever would you think that?”
I raise a single eyebrow, and she gives me a look.
I’m pretty sure it means shut up, but I didn’t say anything.
She wanders closer, and I swallow hard while trying to act nonchalant—like I didn’t just almost break her bed from falling on it.
Her nearness does wonders for my symptoms, though.
Maybe a witch cursed me and my only reprieve is another witch’s presence.
Now that would definitely be Karma’s doing. She’s petty like that.
“Do you have the books or not?” She licks her lips, drawing my gaze to her mouth. “No, don’t come over here.” Pause. “Because I’m naked.”
Laughter peals from the other end, and I realize Percy is a woman.
Doesn’t mean much since Mari could be sleeping with a woman just as much as with a man.
I’m more inclined to think she has a preference for other witches rather than humans.
The knot in my chest doesn’t loosen, and I struggle to keep my nonchalant demeanor.
From the look on her face, she isn’t buying it.
She steps closer as she listens to whatever Percy is saying. By the time she stops, she’s practically standing between my legs. I’m not going to be able to keep the promises I made to myself if she keeps doing these things.
“Okay, so if a demon were to, I don’t know, burst into flames or something? What do I do?” She purses her lips as she waits for a reply.
I glance at her legs, then squeeze my eyes shut.
She’s temptation come to life. At least for me.
Controlling my breathing is no longer an option.
Hopefully she’s too engrossed in figuring out my curse to notice.
When I open them again, it’s just in time to see her reaching for me.
She tucks her knuckle under my chin and tips my head up.
Our gazes collide, hers full of concern and mine, I’m sure, full of desire. I attempt to wipe my face of emotion.
“I have to go,” she whispers, and her thumb swipes at the screen without taking her eyes off me. She drops the phone, and it tumbles across the carpet.
My jaw tics and I make a conscious effort to relax. “Get any answers?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “I believe I have.”