Page 31 of Demon Sworn
Raz packed us all up into this new ride and drove like a…well, not a bat out of Hell but a demon out of one to the downtown area so we can, “Figure this fucking shit out.”
He and the guys—minus Kastros—have all gone inside, unwilling to leave Adam and I behind but also not ready to let us face a demon who might be into psychological torture. Bringing us and leaving us in the car, within screaming distance, was their compromise.
“Oh no! Another tsunami!” Adam says as he knocks over his soda for the fourth time trying to attack my character, but I don’t have the heart to scold him because I just got him back.
I just sigh and wipe up the mess.
I keep trying to slide in questions here or there, but nothing’s working. I wish someone other than Kastros was in the back of this epic limo waiting with us, someone else who could ask Adam what happened to him. But all the other guys were too riled up to stay behind. And Adam has a soft spot for Kas anyway.
I try to ignore my own soft spot for the big vengeance demon. Instead, I sit back when Adam grabs my guy and starts having his own character beat mine up.
“Take that, you dang doofus! And that! You’ll never steal ice cream sandwiches again!”
Apparently, Adam’s characters are having a massive battle over ice cream. Because when you’re four, that’s a reason to burn down the world.
Gah, that kid makes me smile. But instead of turning my eyes to Kas where he sits and sharing my smile with him, I glance out the tinted windows to look at the multipurpose business office where we’ve parked. It’s a fancy upscale place with a stone façade, and I can see a woman exiting who has the same sort of uber-professional style my mom does. Did.
I try not to focus ondid, but that sight needles me, and simple pokes turn into cuts that blaze with pain and fury, and all of a sudden, I’m reaching for the door handle unconsciously, and I’ve pulled it open a second later.
Kastros’s hand closes around my arm to stop me from climbing out, but I quell him with a look. Before our trip to Heaven, I’d never have been able to do that. But now, things between us are fraught with tension and this ache that burns. His hand retreats under my glare. “I’ll be right back. I want to know.” I feel this need, this drive in me, that I’ve never felt before. I’ve always been this shy girl. This nerd. This background figure.
But the demons’ love, my parents’ death, Adam’s disappearance… Who can go through all that shit and come out unchanged?
I’m not saying I’m Wonder Woman. No way I’d pull off heeled boots. Today, I’m wearing jeans and a plain white tee with a blue bra and blue flats because that’s what Zolroth laid out for me. Hardly superhero material. But at the moment, I’m more damned pissed and determined than I’ve ever been. Enough to slam the car door despite the stares it gets me from strangers on the sidewalk. Enough to stomp into the building and right past the secretary, who fumbles with her phone when she sees me stride inside. Enough to smash open the conference room door where I can see a bunch of shadows through the modern, frosted glass wall.
“All right, asshole!” I yell.
And fuck! These are not my guys.
Yup. I’ve burst into the wrong room. Goddammit. I’ve got two options—meek apology or annoyed glare, as if it’s their fault they’re in this room I’ve stormed into. I go with the glare, just because, before turning the corner and hearing a laugh I’d recognize anywhere.
Akor’s.
A cruel smile plays on my lips as I run forward, ignoring the gentle reprimands of the secretary who’s started following me.
“Miss! Miss! I’m calling security!” Her weak threat fades to nothing as I jog down the hallway, hoping like hell that my guys have found the bastard. I hope they’re making him pay. For my parents, yeah. But even more because he touched Adam.
My heart is engulfed in an inferno of fury as I shove open a second door with a tinted glass window to find an office that, this time, is crammed with my guys and one old man behind a desk, a tall, burly guy with a square face in a tweed jacket and button-up shirt. Bright yellow horns twist up out of his forehead like spear points. His eyes are a deep black.
He doesn’t look afraid of my demons. In fact, he looks cheerful. The guys’ conclusion that only an insane demon would toy with them this way registers, and I finally wonder—as every single one of my demons glares at me in fury—if I might have been better off waiting in the car.
“I can’t believe it! You all have made my day!” The man cackles and holds his gut as his amusement rings out, clear as a bell.
He’s laughing? About what he’s done!?
Fucker!
Insane or not, I don’t give a damn. My family isn’t a joke. I look around for a weapon as he points at me with a thick finger. “Who’s this? Latest devotee, Van?” He gives me a once-over and whistles.
All of my guys bristle. Akor even lets out a wolfish growl.
The other demon’s eyes widen, and he licks his lips, baiting them. “Now, I’d definitely have come after you with more force than I had if I knew I’d get this kind of reaction out of you.”
More force? This asshole is talking about more force than murder!
I grab something, I don’t even know what, off the bookshelf near the door, some kind of crystal award or paperweight or something. I chuck it at his head, ignoring the fact that I’ve got the athletic skill and aim of a toddler.
For some lucky reason, my throw is good and the crystal ball smacks him hard on his right horn, knocking a tiny chip out of it.
