Page 65 of SIN Bone Deep

“If she were mine, she would not be bleeding,” Ender replied with disapproval heavy in his voice.

“And whose fault is that?” Mal was furious. “You had me summoned away from her.”

“What is this?” The shade of Warren had risen and looked at us in confusion. “What is wrong with me?”

“You’re dead,” I told him with relish. “And going straight to Hell. Isn’t he?” I asked Malachar.

“Yes,” it was Ender who answered. “That is this one’s intended destination.”

“Get on with you then,” Mal said through his teeth. “Piss off. I’m here now,” he held me tighter. “I will look after what is mine. Do your job, Death. She made her choice. Me, not you.”

Ender’s glowing eyes met mine. Within the visage of a grim reaper, they were the gentle eyes that I knew and loved. “There is always time for her to change her mind,” he said softly. “She is only immortal for as long as she feeds.”

“Looks like she’s well and truly fed,” Mal sneered smugly. “Don’t you agree?”

“For now.” Ender turned his attention to Warren. “Come with me,” it was not said kindly or gently as it had been to the little girl but was a command, and his fingers clawed into the shade. Warren shrieked as he was dragged towards the grim reaper.

“It is your time,” Ender growled and disappeared into the darkness.

“But not yours,” Mal said to me and pressed his face into my hair. “Fuck me, Nyx, you’re a mess. Don’t worry, we can fix you right up.” He turned and strode back towards the house. “What were you thinking, coming here alone?” He scolded. “I would have come with you, and we could have had some fun with the guy before killing him.”

“I’m sorry,” I closed my eyes and leaned my sore face against his chest. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Obviously.”

The dog barked, and I opened my eyes, stretching out my hand towards it. “The dog, Mal.”

He didn’t pause, taking me past the dog and down the side of the house, to the road where his car was parked. “What about the dog, Nyx?” He asked as he set me gently into the back seat. “You just lie here while I clean this place up. Can’t leave evidence of a hungry succubus just lying around in the scrub, can we?”

“The dog, Mal,” I repeated, pushing myself up onto my elbows with a moan of pain. “Save the dog.”

“Shit,” he grumbled as he turned away.

I collapsed back onto the leather seat, exhausted, and stared up at the star-filled sky until my eyelids grew too heavy to hold up. I did not know how long I slept but I was jerked out of sleep when Mal put the dog in the back with me and it happily licked my face.

“Try not to eat her,” he said as he started the car.

“You saved him,” I sat up slowly, painfully.

“You asked me to,” he reminded me as he pulled away from the curb. The house behind us flickered with flame and I heard a low boom, followed by shattering glass. He had set the house on fire to hide that I had killed Warren. “Let’s hope that no one sees us leave,” he added as he roared off down the street. “That could be interesting to explain away.”

“Thank you, Mal,” I smiled through swollen lips, my hands smoothing the coarse fur of the dog. He was nothing but skin and bones, but his treatment hadn’t affected his sweet nature, and he was so joyful to be in a car, his tail wagging uncontrollably. “For saving him.”

“Your wish is my command,” he replied lightly. “Now, let’s get you home and cleaned up.”

I drifted off with the dog doing his best effort at removing the blood that coated me, and only woke when Mal picked me up out of the back of the Porsche and carried me up to the porch. The door opened at his approach, and I heard Fennel exclaim and call over her shoulder for Callista.

“What have you done!” Callista exclaimed as she came hurrying into the hall. I let my head rest on Mal’s shoulder and kept my eyes shut, too exhausted to defend Mal – not that he needed defending from my aunts. He was, after all, a demon.

“Saved her. You’re welcome,” Mal replied snidely. “She got herself into a spot of bother, nothing that a bath and a little magic won’t cure.”

“I’ll go run the bath,” Fennel said.

“What is that!” Callista exclaimed and I opened my eyes a slither to see the dog bouncing around the hall, excitement wriggling his entire body from nose to tail.

“Nyx’s dog,” Mal followed Fennel towards the stairs. “She insisted on having it.”

“It’s starving the poor thing!”

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