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One of the demons got behind him and went for his back, and in that moment I didn’t care that Nathaniel was supposed to be the one protecting me, that I was human and had used the stake clutched in my fist all of once in my life. I couldn’t watch him get hurt for me without trying to help.
I sprang forward before I could overthink what I was doing and plunged the stake into the demon’s back.
Or tried to.
My stabbing game wasn’t exactly strong. The stake slid along the demon’s back, tearing through fabric and skin. Dark red blood dripped from the cut, but the demon was still very much alive.
He turned from Nathaniel and fixed black eyes on me.
Crap. Attacking him might have been a really bad idea.
I took a step back and the demon followed. Clutching the stake tighter, I swung at him again. This time I didn’t even get close. He blocked the attack, sending the stake clattering across the pavement and probably bruising my forearm in the process. A small cry of pain escaped my lips, and then the demon’s hand closed around my neck, cutting off my air.
Panic exploded in my gut. I couldn’t breathe. I clawed wildly at the fingers around my throat, but they didn’t budge. It was like trying to move stone.
And then the demon collapsed, leaving me choking on the red smoke that was left behind as one of Nathaniel’s flaming knives hit the ground at my feet.
“Don’t touch that,” he shouted to me as he spun back toward his own attackers with his remaining knife. It took him no more than two minutes to dispatch the last of the demons.
He was all deadly grace and beautiful violence.
When the last demon had turned to vapor, he came to my side. “What the hell happened?” he growled.
“I…” God, it hurt to talk.
His expression darkened, and he pulled my hands away from my neck. “Fuck. I wish I could bring him back just so I could kill him again. Slowly this time.” He ran his fingertips over the bruises, his touch incredibly soft. It was a startling contrast to his words.
His eyes and hands skimmed over the rest of my body, stopping on my arm where another bruise was already forming. “I told you to let me take care of them.”
“There were too many,” I whispered hoarsely.
“I had it handled.”
“I couldn’t just do nothing.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what you were supposed to do,” he snarled, leaning down so he was right in my face. “I don’t care if there are fifty demons, if I tell you to let me take care of them, then you stay out of it.”
I shoved against his chest, which didn’t even move him half an inch. “I have a mind of my own. You can’t order me around.”
“Maybe not, but I am stronger than you. Don’t tempt me to take you away from here and hide you in some house in the mountains with rooms that lock from the outside.”
I gaped at him. “Did you just threaten to make me your prisoner?”
“If that’s what it takes to keep you breathing. Don’t mistake me for a nice person, baby girl. Your safety is more important to me than your feelings.”
Nathaniel didn’t speak to me for the rest of the day. In the morning, I called my family and told them I wasn’t feeling well and that I wouldn’t make it to church. Even with makeup, I couldn’t hide the bruises on my neck completely, and I didn’t want my family to see them. I also didn’t want to give Nathaniel another reason to be pissed at me. His silent anger hurt almost as much as the marks the demon had left on my body. We hadn’t talked much over the week, but something changed when he faced down the demons for me. Maybe I was just a job to him, but he’d still risked his life for me.
By Sunday night, I couldn’t take his coldness anymore. Kylie was out with Andy, the guy from last weekend, leaving me and Nathaniel alone in the apartment.
He was sitting on the couch, drawing in a sketchbook.
I sat in the armchair and stared at the dark television. “Was the demon who talked to us yesterday a lord of Hell?”
He didn’t answer me.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you.”
Still nothing.
