Page 50 of SIN Bone Deep

“Our underwear drawer,’ he corrected flicking the underwear at me. “I am your familiar now, Nyx. You invoked me and I accepted. We are bonded for all of eternity, a relationship far more permanent and intimate than marriage. You are mine, and I am yours,” he selected a bra. “Aren’t you lucky?”

I held the clothing that he had been casting my way on my lap and stared at him, unsure what to make of our new relationship and his presence in my bedroom and wardrobe. There was a nervous energy behind his flippancy, and I was the cause, I realized. He was as nervous as a bride on her wedding day. He had wanted me to invoke him, and it meant a lot to him that I had, whereas I had only done it as there had only been two choices before me – invoke him or die.

“Thank you,” I told him. He paused in inspecting where my jewellery hung on a hook on the wall by my desk and slid his eyes my way. “For saving my life. I appreciate it. I will do my best to be a good witch to you, Mal. The books don’t say a lot about the demon familiar and witch relationship and how they work, but I know the demon is family.”

“For some,” he selected from the hook, holding the chains on his finger. “For some, it is more, for some less. It depends on the demon and the witch.” He held out his hand so that I could reach out to take the chains from him. “These will go with your charmed memento mori nicely. I left that on,” he added. “As it was yours and not his.”

“We did not negotiate the terms,” I realized, trailing behind in the conversation. In the Grimoires it had been recommended that the witch cast the invocation from within a spell circle in order to negotiate the terms from a position of safety and power, but I had not had that luxury, bleeding out upon the road as I had been.

“What other terms would you have negotiated with me?” He wondered, and there was a subtle tightening of his mouth and a shadow in his eyes. It was a baited question. He liked that we had not negotiated and that he had answered a need, as it changed the dynamic of our relationship.

“I don’t know,” I admitted carefully. I did not want to make him angry. It would be a bad start to whatever it was between us. “I just… don’t know what you want out of this, Mal.”

“I want you,” he replied, his eyes intense as they searched my face. “And I have you,” he concluded as he turned away. “Go and shower, Nyx. I don’t want to be late.”

I nodded and slid from the bed. Every muscle complained and groaned as I padded across the floor to the door. I paused with my hand on the doorknob. Mal had saved me, and he had not needed to do that. I owed him my gratitude. “We’ll make this work, Mal,” I told him. “Thank you.”

The bathroom was empty, although the mirrors were still fogged from Nova’s shower, and the water took time to reheat. Whilst I waited, I stripped bare and examined myself in the mirror. Although my body felt every injury that I had suffered, and my nerves still screamed from the memory of the touch of flame, there was not a single mark on my skin.

I crept closer to the mirror and examined my face. My face was the same, but also different. My skin smoother and more luminous, my eyes brighter and wider, my teeth whiter, my lips fuller, my eyelashes thicker and longer… Even my hair seemed lusher. The scar on the back of my hand where I had slipped with a knife whilst preparing spell ingredients was no longer there, nor was the one on my knee from falling off my bike. All old scars and blemishes had vanished, in fact.

It made sense that Mal had used his magic to heal me – I had been injured to the point of dying, after all. It would be in character for him to take it too far and polish me up to his idea of the perfect Elenyx.

I wasn’t angry, I told myself, although it was a liberty taken and Mal and I definitely had a lot to discuss about the new arrangement as he couldn’t just make changes to me to suit his liking like this… Even though, I admitted, they were good changes. Damn the man. Demon… Man.

And what of Ender? Would I never see him again? Had he abandoned me, disgusted with my choice to invoke Mal and live? Did I even want to see him again? He had to have known, one way or another, that I was going to die soon, and he had not warned me. So many of the things he had spoken of, in hindsight, revealed that he had known. How could it have been love between us if he was prepared to let me die? What sort of lover stood by whilst the person they loved bled out on the road?

I stood beneath the tepid shower water and wept until it returned to cold.

There was also another question that needed answering, I told myself as I dressed and did my make-up in the mirror, and that was just who had been driving the car that had run me off the road. Who was the man that I had only seen as a black silhouette against the sky, who had looked down at me bleeding and broken, and gotten back into his car and driven off, leaving me to die slowly alone – as far as he had known.

I had a theory about that. One that bore the name of Warren.

I dragged in a deep breath as I resolved that the man who had tried to murder me would not get away with it. You did not mess with a witch, after all, without repercussion.

Mal was leaning against the doorframe when I opened the bathroom door and raised his eyebrows. “You took forever. Next time I’m coming in,” he warned me. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Mal…” I started and then saw Nova, wide-eyed, in the doorway of her room. “Oh. Shit.”

“Hi,” Mal inclined his head to her, his grin widening. “I’m Nyx’s demon familiar, Mal. You’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

“Oh my god,” Nova’s jaw dropped. “You did it.”

“Long story,” I felt the blush heat my cheeks. “A really long story.”

“And we don’t have time as we’re meeting people,” Mal glanced at the expensive watch on his wrist. “And need to pop by the shop on our way. Excuse us.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him, down the stairs to the front hall, where Fennel froze in surprise, her hand going to her cheek instinctively as she had not yet applied her morning makeup.

“Hi,” Mal waved cheerfully as he tugged me past her. “We’ll be back this evening. Maybe.”

“Mal…” I pulled back against his hold as we stepped outside. “We need to talk.”

“Absolutely,” he released me and crossed to where his car was parked, opening the door. “But as we drive, Nyx,” he coaxed from where he stood, gesturing to the seat.

I sighed and crossed to slide into the car. “I don’t even remember making this date,” I told him resentfully.

“Well, perhaps I made it on your behalf,” he replied as he closed the door and circled the car. “Regardless, we have a date, and we’re bringing the picnic,” he said as he started the engine.

I slid him a frown. “Why?”

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