Page 65 of Demons of Eden

“It was Paimon who did this,” I insist. I’m selfishly glad that he didn’t stay. If he had been here to help Eli, he would probably be dead right now too. The thought breaks the dam holding back my tears, and I start sobbing.

“I should have stayed,” Torrin says again, voice empty.

“No!” I sob, losing what little control I was keeping over my emotions. “I can’t lose you, any of you. I just can’t. You have tobe okay; all of you have to be okay…” I’m full-on ugly crying as Torrin lifts me into his arms.

“Let's get her out of here before that evil bastard returns,” Daion murmurs.

“This was my fault, not yours. I’m sorry, Torrin,” Rio grunts, still staying oddly close.

“It’s Paimon’s fault. No one is responsible for his evil but him,” Ash says, echoing my earlier sentiment as he places one hand on Torrin’s shoulder and the other on Rio’s. Daion follows suit, grabbing Rio’s free shoulder so that Ash can teleport us away.

And then we’re gone, leaving the empty store to the dead inside of it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Despite everyone’s obvious relief at rescuing me, the mood back at the Fletcher’s place is absolutely fucking dire. Understandably so, given what happened tonight. I let my head fall back into my hands as I sigh, utterly exhausted.

Poor fucking Eli.

I can’t help but feel awful. Torrin thinks it’s his fault for allowing his gentle demon friend to help them, and Rio thinks it’s on him that Paimon was able to take me, but I know the truth.

I burdened them all with my problems. I dragged them so deeply into my mess that theystillfeel they have to take care of me, despite already fulfilling the request I came to them with. It was me who got out of the car and put the distance between Rio and me, giving Paimon the perfect opportunity to strike. I ran away because I didn’t want to listen to what he had to tell me. I didn’t want to be told how I needed to put distance between myself and his brothers, and I also couldn't accept the possibility I’d hurt them.

Selfishly, I just wanted everything to continue on as it has been. The feelings and familiarity continually growing, ever since that first day when Daion protected me and Torrin offeredup baked goods, like he was trying to appease a particularly mercurial god or something.

“You know, typically I’d be offended at this level of demonic warding built into a place, but seeing as you’re graciously making me an exception before you activate it,” Ash says sarcastically, his voice jolting me out of my pity party.

Demon warding?

I lift my head, watching Ash follow Daion and Rio into the room where Torrin and I have been sitting in total silence for the last hour. Honestly, I’d all but forgotten he was in here with me, but a quick glance confirms he’s still lying across the larger couch while staring up at the ceiling. I wonder if they’ll be satisfied to leave me alone in a room once the demon warding has been activated, but I doubt it.

I wasn’t even able to shower by myself when we first got back. Ash followed me right into the bathroom, though his hands massaging shampoo into my scalp had me refraining from making too many objections. It was oddly nice, letting someone take care of me like that. He even had the good sense not to comment on the tears which had been lost to the shower’s spray, simply pressing gentle kisses to my forehead.

“Just make with the bleeding,” Rio snaps at Ash while Daion pulls down one of the large canvases from the wall, revealing a complex-looking sigil painted behind it. I really hope it’s not blood. I think I’ve had enough blood-painted magic for one day.

“It doesn’t look like that much warding,” I comment off-handedly, earning a mock look of betrayal from Ash.

“This is just the activation point. It’s in every room. Behind paintings and bookshelves, even on the inside of the walls in some places,” Daion explains.

“See!” Ash huffs, but he still takes the small, likely ceremonial dagger being offered to him from Rio and steps up to the activation marking.

I guess not dealing with blood-related magic was too much to hope for then…

Ash slices the blade lightly across his index finger, allowing a few drops of blood to swell from the cut. I watch somewhat curiously as he presses it into the centre of an upside-down triangle Daion gestures to, situated just to the left of the centre. The entire sigil glows briefly once he pulls away, accepting his imprint and ensuring that when it’s activated, he won’t be violently tossed out of the building. Or burnt to a crisp, depending on exactly what they’ve set the warding up to do. Demon blocking isn’t exactly one of my skills.

If you need a potion or charm for anything from nausea to a boost in luck, I’m your witch. Demons, however, are definitely way beyond my paygrade. Now I wish someone would have warned me when I was picking which disciplines to learn as a teenager that I should have thrown demonology in there too. Though I’m sure I never would have believed how painfully relevant it would become to my existence.

“We should add Eden too. She might not be an actual demon?—”

“But it’s close enough?” I say with a sigh, finishing Rio’s sentence for him as I pull myself to my feet, already having guessed as much. Someone needs to put out a better guidebook on this having babies with demons thing. One with a big fucking warning, in bold red writing, that says,‘Warning. Demonic pregnancy may turn you into a partial fucking demon if you’re lucky and kill you if you’re not.’

Standing is just a little more challenging to do while I’m adjusting to the sudden change in the size of my bump. I thought my body was changing quickly before.Hah.What I wouldn’t give to still have until May for this baby to arrive, but now thanks to Lord fucking Piehole, I get even less time to prepare.

“Eden hasn’t already added herself?” Ash asks curiously, eyes darting between the wall and me, as if something isn’t adding up.

“There wasn’t a need to,” Daion answers quickly. “We haven’t activated the warding till now, as we were expecting threats from witches. We didn’t realise Paimon was stalking her, and we didn’t know of any reason to worry about other demons knowing about her situation apart from you.”

“So who’s this?” Ash questions, gesturing at a small smudged line in another upside-down triangle similar to the one he’s added with his own blood.

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