Page 8 of Demon's Savior
I take a couple of deep breaths, and relive my terrible life with Avery Hansen. "About three weeks ago, my ex-boyfriend of two years tried to kill me, and he's threatening Dani as well." I sigh, placing my head down in my hands in embarrassment and fear.
"Do you mean actually kill or he just laid his hands on you?" Razor inquires, leaning back in the sofa. "Because it seems if it was attempted murder, the cops would've taken care of it by now."
"Are you fucking joking?” Dani asks, irate over the situation. “No, he did more than lay his hands on her. Show them, Kira... show them how he laid his hands on you! She was in a coma, for fuck sake!"
I glance over at Demon. He leans back in the couch and nods his head, encouraging me to continue and show my injuries from the attack.
I rise from the couch, embarrassed as to what I'm about to show these two strange men.
Still visible three weeks later on my chocolate-colored skin, I close my eyes and lift my shirt high enough to where they can view the purple and greenish bruises located on my body. Opening my eyes, I turn to Demon and he nods, giving me the okay to lower my shirt, telling me he's seen enough of the bruises that litter my body.
"Any other evidence?" He poses the question with a blank expression on his face, looking between Dani and me. But his anger isn’t completely masked. I can see the slight tick in his jaw and the flare of his nostrils.
"What more do you need, Austin? Do you see her body? These bruises are three weeks old,” Dani screams as she points towards me. I assume this is her attempt to shield me from further embarrassment.
"Dani, watch your fucking language! Unless you want Kira to show her body in front of more than one hundred men, I need some other type of fucking proof of what this prick did!" He places his arms across his chest. "I didn't say I don't believe her. She has the fucking bruises to prove it, but I have certain obligations I must meet. I don't want to subject Kira to men who will be staring at her topless body. Do you?"
Thank god he’s looking out for me. I don't think I would be able to stand in front of anyone else and show what Avery did to me.
I look over at Danielle and nod my head. "Dani, it's fine to show them the photos of the crime scene and my injuries. I trust you, and you trust him."
"Are you sure, sis?"
"We need help, Dani. I'm afraid this might be my last chance. If he finds me, I'm dead. When you show them, I’ll step outside until you guys are finished. After that, I’ll tell you whatever else you want to know about Avery."
When Dani returns from the back of the house with the photos, I leave the room. Since the incident, I have not been able to look at what Avery did to me except for the bruises that remain on my body. With my memory returning, I remember what happened that night, and now he's become a lasting fixture in my life. He haunts my days and nights.
I'm brought out of my thoughts a few minutes later by the sound of glass breaking and a door slamming.
I rush back in the house where Razor and Dani are picking up the pieces of a glass mirror that once hung above the fireplace from the dark hardwood floor.
"What happened? Where's Demon?"
"He got a little upset looking at the photos of you. He went in the back to cool off." Dani points toward the rear doorway.
"I'm going to go talk to him. I don't want him upset about something that's got nothing to do with him." I head outside, not waiting on a response from either one of them.
I walk into the backyard, and Demon is sitting at a picnic table with his head in his hands. I sit beside him and place my hand on his knee, causing him to inhale sharply but never look up at me.
"Demon." I take in a breath of my own and release it. "Can I call you Austin? Demon seems like you came from hell or something," I say seriously, but also in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Yeah babe, I don't mind." He chuckles while looking at the placement of my hand but not removing it.
"Do you need the story from the beginning?"
He lays his hand on top of mine, comforting me. The warmth that spreads through my body at his simple gesture is indescribable. “Yeah, I'd like to hear it.”
Never lifting his head, he waits patiently for me to start.
I take in another deep breath and let it out, retelling the story of my life with Avery.
"I was a sophomore at Duke University when I was approached in the library by my ex-boyfriend, Avery Hansen. He asked me some stupid question, trying to break the ice, I guess, causing me to laugh. Without even asking me, he sat down, and we began talking. Nothing unusual. After that initial interaction in the library, he would just show up out of nowhere. Even at places Danielle and I would go. I didn't think anything of it and shrugged it off as coincidence. But Dani…Dani said something was off about him. Something about him being the typical white boy serial killer type." Chuckling, I shake my head at the memory of that conversation.I wish I would have listened. "She has a way with words."
"Yeah, you could have said what you meant. Dani has way too much mouth." Demon's deep laughter brings a smile to my face.
"Anyway, after a few months of randomly bumping into him, which looking back it may not have been so random, he asked me on a date, and I agreed to the dismay of your sister. I told her she was overreacting and that everything would be okay. It was just one date."
"Did anyone else catch a bad vibe from him?"
