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I snarl and turn my back on the woman. Bowing, I shove my tusks into the man’s gut and toss him out of the house. The woman screams his name, her attention stolen from Raven. Swinging her fist, Raven punches the woman in her breast, winding the wail from her mouth. I stare in utter astonishment as my beautiful heathen snatches the kitchen knife and jabs it into the woman’s stomach. Blood splashes over her hand, and Raven does it again and again, screaming at the woman as she takes her life.
Raven kneels beside the woman, shaking and glowering, chains of darkness lacing around the light of her soul. “I didn’t want to do this!” she yells, slamming the knife into the woman once more. “You shouldn’t have threatened me. You shouldn’t have put my eternity at risk. I’m done putting others before me.” Tipping her head back, she peers up at the night sky. “Do you hear me? I’m done!”
Her words crack at my burning armor, allowing me to escape the grip Hell has on me. She’s not only talking to the dead woman but also the Higher Power. Her threat blooms a need inside me that makes me want to run to her, to lift her in my arms and hold her, to kiss her trembling mouth and let the blood soaking her clothes bleed onto mine, shredded and tattered from unleashing my beast without protecting my human façade from annihilation.
I give in to my innate need and stride closer, peering down at her. Even though I tower over her, she doesn’t cower. She’s not a frail broken soul.
She is the most enchanting, sexiest woman I’ve ever had grace me with her presence.
“She shouldn’t have tried to hurt me,” she says, meeting my gaze.
“No, she shouldn’t have.” I kneel beside her in a pool of the woman’s blood and lift the woman’s hand. Twisting the large diamond ring free, I pinch it between my fingers. The woman’s soul remains fractured, in shock from her sudden death, and I run my fingers over the hell-bound essence and guide it into the diamond, setting it aglow.
Raven reaches out her hand and caresses her bloody fingers to the ring in silence.
“Which means this is for you. With her soul comes power. Power you deserve.” I slide the ring on Raven’s finger. It’s a perfect fit as if this moment was always intended to be a part of our destiny.
Throwing her arms around my neck, Raven collides into me, kissing me in a way I never imagined could be so perfect. The sweet taste of her lips, the weight of her body pressing against mine, and the desperation and desire she arouses inside me sends me over an edge I will never return from.
I don’t want to.
“Take me home,” she murmurs against my mouth. “I want to savor our power for a while. And you.”
Our power.
My body buzzes at her words.
“This won’t be it. We will get more,” I say, lifting her up.
She meets my gaze. “I don’t think we can ever get enough.”
She’s right. I embody gluttony after all.
Chapter 15
Death at the Door
ELIAS
THE DIGITAL CLOCK on the oven changes to three, and I hunch over my empty plate, wishing that someone would come home soon. Home. It’s fucking weird to think that I’m now sharing a huge-ass mansion with evil bastards who have made it their sole purpose to free me of my demonic contract. I should be happy. It’s what I’ve wanted. But then again, I can’t help wondering at what cost. No one has told me in any extensive detail why it’s important apart from that I was a fuckup to bargain away my soul to begin with.
Don’t get me started on the fallen angel and soulmate bullshit. Because damn. I must’ve really loved Raven to have given her part of my former angelic essence. I only wish I could remember more. I never even believed in reincarnation. It’s a lot to think about, but being alone for hours to watch the night drag on to early morning has been plenty enough. I can’t sleep comfortably without pain meds, because my chest rattles and aches, and every time I cough, I feel as if my lungs will fall out. I hate how much better I feel from Dante’s bite, because now all I can do is think about him sinking his teeth into me. It’s strange as fuck. I don’t even like the asshole. But the relief? It’s better than the painkillers. I feel alive instead of drugged.
Finally getting my ass to move, I pop my dirty plate into the dishwasher and swig water straight from the tap because I couldn’t find any glasses. It’s obvious these demonic hell raisers don’t eat mortal food by the lack of basically anything useful. Poor Raven has probably been surviving on cheese sandwiches, which has to change. I prefer some damn meat depending on how I feel. All I know is that I don’t want to keel over with my last meal being something substandard in my mind.
Strolling to the grand staircase, I slowly climb up instead of taking the outrageous elevator. Call me paranoid, but I don’t know what kind of evil bullshit Kase and Dante—and now the new guy Micah, who looked ready to toss me into a wall—attract to their bastardly lair. I will not get trapped in an elevator if some man-eating ghost or some shit invades the place with the beasts away. No damn thank you.
I rest for a moment on the landing overlooking the badass living room. I’ve never watched TV on a screen that takes up the width of an entire wall with surround sound positioned in a way that startled me when I flicked it on the show Raven sucked me into. The woman sure loves her TV, and it speaks to the part of me that just wants to spend the rest of my days curled up with a beautiful woman until the gates of Hell drag me in. At least it’s something. It’s strange how Raven’s presence calls me to her, especially knowing what I do now. I wish my mind would open up and let me know more. I want to feel the things that should come with the knowledge, but it’s just not there, and I’m not so sure it ever will be again. I see the way she looks at Kase and Dante and the way they look at her. I’d be stupid to ever consider I could somehow change things.
What am I even thinking? I’m dying. My wishful thinking will only leave me sorely disappointed.
I stroll the long hallway in the direction of my modest room. Kase and Dante have giant suites that are almost like apartments within this mansion. My room, on the other hand, is just a basic room. I have a bathroom that connects to another room, a wall closet with a sliding door, a window with a view of a pool I’ll never get to enjoy, and a fucking twin bed barely big enough to fit me. It’s like the demons wanted to ensure I will always be alone.
Except I’m not.
I see the monstrous form lying on my bed before my brain registers what the fuck is going on. Reaching for my belt, I come up empty-handed. Weaponless. Fuck. I left my dagger on the kitchen counter.
“My wicked little hunter. Were you ever planning to tell me you had moved?” Vincent Valeka, my very own personal demon, rests on the burgundy flannel comforter with his hands behind his head.
