Ruined Read online

  I bent closer. Now we were getting to the good stuff. “What did he say?”

  “He told of a great, bloody war that raged over centuries, slowly tearing hell apart. Lucifer grew tired of his children misbehaving, and like God, cast them out. It is said that they were banished here, forced to live as mortals, stripped of their heritage and forced to sustain themselves on their rage.”

  “What about a specific demon. The Son of Cain?”

  The priest’s brow furrowed for a moment. “I don’t know of a demon by that name. Do you mean Cain and Abel?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure? Is there some kind of myth connecting them to a demon?”

  “Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. He grew jealous of his younger brother, Abel, and in a fit of rage, murdered him. The act brought true violence into the world. He was the first murder. There are rumors that Cain’s bloodline was marked by God as punishment for soiling his creation. Some being cursed to carry an unspeakable evil throughout the ages.”

  “So then the descendants of Cain are demons?”

  The priest smiled. “I think it’s a metaphor for the anger and jealousy in all humans rather than a literal meaning.”

  Or, it could be the tall, dark guy I’d loved since childhood was an actual, honest-to-God demon, just like he said…

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jax

  I watched Sam leave the church. Judging by the stiff set of her shoulders and the grim expression that weighed her mouth down at the corners, she didn’t get the answers she wanted.

  I followed as she made her way down Topper Avenue, staying far enough behind so I wouldn’t be spotted. Coffee. A magazine. She even stopped to look in several of the storefronts. Things I knew she had no interest in. Barbet’s Baby Emporium. Fisher’s Pet Shop. She was stalling.

  Sam stopped in front of Hellman’s Fine Jewelry. It was now or fucking never. I stepped from the shadows and came up behind her, and peered into the window. “Way too high-maintenance for you.” She was looking at a pair of white diamond earrings with a weird little squiggle thing on the bottom. “Plus, they’re so bland. Diamonds? You’re more of an emerald kind of girl.”

  “Stalking is a crime, you know.” She turned from the window and started walking again. There was a chill in her voice that stung. I understood, but it still hurt.

  Screw it. At least she was talking to me. That had to be a good sign. No rushing off screaming at the top of her lungs. “Depends. Demons stalk. It’s generally what we do.”

  Sam didn’t stop, but her entire body tensed. Okay. Might be a good idea to ease up on the jokes.

  “I know you’re probably—”

  That time she froze. After pulling me off the street and into a side alley, she poked me hard in the chest. “You know? Somehow I doubt you know anything going on inside my head.”

  I folded my arms and leaned back against the brick building. “Then tell me.”

  She backed off, then collapsed against the brick wall beside me. “I—I’m not even sure what to say. I have so many questions. Questions that I don’t think I even want answers to.”

  “Then don’t ask.” I shrugged, trying to keep it casual.

  “What?”

  “Don’t ask the questions. Think the worst of me and leave it at that—because I promise you, most of the horrible things going through your mind right now are true. But you have to trust me so we can beat this thing. Demons don’t stop, Sammy. We need to find out why this is happening and end it, or it’s going to end you.”

  Her eyes went wide. “And how do we do that?”

  “I don’t have it with me, but I am a card-carrying member of the evil-infested. Like I said, the cops are out of the question. They wouldn’t have the first clue how to deal with this. I do.” The lie tasted bitter. I had no clue what to do, but it worked. A thin line of pink rose through the gray and twirled around her shoulders. Hope.

  Part of me was elated at the possibility that she’d be able to see past my darkness, while another part was terrified of what that could mean for her. What I was would only drag her down. “It’s okay you hate me for leaving…for what I am…but you have to know deep down inside that if I’d known you were in danger, I would never have left you.”

  “How do I know I can trust you not to feed me to your demon buddies?”

  “Demons don’t have buddies. Plus, I know who really stole Officer Davies’s patrol car in ninth grade.” I leaned closer. Close enough to smell the raspberry scent of her shampoo. After all these years, she still used the same brand. It brought a rush of memories, both good and bad, that left me reeling. “I never told. I think that makes me trustworthy.”

  A flush rose in her cheeks and she backed away. “Fine. Then how do we deal with this?”

  “First we need to find out the identity of the demon. One of them, at least. On the inside it’s a monster, but on the outside, it looks, walks, and talks human. More than likely, it’s got a job and a home. Relationships. We need to track it down. We can’t stop it if we don’t know where to find them or why they’re even after you.”

  “You said you’d been to its apartment, right? There must be something in there. Something with a name on it.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I looked. It’s full of furniture, new clothes, and corpses. Everything else is empty. It’s like the place is for show or something. I don’t believe it actually lives there.”

  “Doesn’t matter. There still has to be a name on the rental agreement.”

  Sam seemed to have calmed a little during the ride to the demon’s apartment complex. Her colors showed more confusion than fear, and she wasn’t avoiding my gaze anymore. Even talked a little.

  She folded her arms, glaring at the door. “So how are we going to do this? The sign on the door says they’re not back until two. We just stand here and wait?”

  We were outside the rental office. Inside, the demon stirred, remembering the last time I’d been there. “They’re not going to just tell us the name of the person renting that apartment. I suggest a little breaking and entering. We have less than an hour before they get back.”

  She broke into a grin. “I like where this conversation is heading. May I?”

  I stepped aside and gestured to the door. “Go for it.”

  Sam knelt in front of the lock and pulled a small, silver pick from her pocket. It took her twelve seconds. Maybe fifteen. She had the door open and was standing in front of me wearing the same grin I saw most nights in my dreams. Mischievous and sexy as all hell. “Shall we?”

  I scanned the hallway, listening carefully. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I slipped into the office, fighting back the spike of desire as I brushed against Sam on the way in. The demon felt it, too. It flashed images of the kiss outside the club, urging me to do it again. When I didn’t act, the demon rumbled, angry, and a twinge at the base of my neck trailed up toward my temple, then bloomed into pins and needles and spread throughout my body. Next came the flash.

  Sam stood in front of me, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. There was fear in her eyes, but also fire. Fire that, despite the rage building inside me, spread throughout my entire body like a match set to dry leaves. I tried to shut out the scene, to force myself back to the here and now, but the demon was determined. Almost happy. I could feel the thing’s pleasure and knew it salivated at the building mix of lust and anger.

  Sam took a step back as I stalked forward. A starving lion cornering prey. That’s what this was. Primal and dark and on the verge of sending me over the edge. Four steps from where I stood to the tree, I watched as vision-me in the demon’s scenario lunged for Sam.

  I gripped two fistfuls of her shirt, and with a single flick of his wrists, tore the material down the center exposing a wash of cream-colored skin with just the smallest hint of a flush. The remnants of the shirt fell to the ground, and something roared inside. A feeling that tugged against the very thing that kept the demon in check. It bowed and twisted, and
in the sickest parts of my soul, I wanted this to be real. To be something more than the monster’s sick way of communicating.

  I shoved her hard into the tree and she gasped on impact. There might have even been the hint of a protest, but the words were stolen as I claimed her mouth with savage force.

  It was nothing more than a flash.

  The same kind of illusion the demon had tormented me with my entire life, but it felt different somehow. Maybe because it was playing out a scenario that I wanted more than anything else. A twisted fantasy that the darkest parts of me wanted to be real. The one thing I wanted.

  Sam.

  The sensation was electric. I was, in reality, nowhere near her, yet I could feel her lips on mine. Her small body beneath me. The tremble of her chest as I crushed her to the tree and the sharpness of the bark as it bit into our flesh. My body reacted, a tightening in my belly drifting lower and fanning into an all-consuming fire.

  A soft noise escaped her lips, driving the demon—driving me—straight into madness. Fingers knotted through her long hair, pulling and tugging to bring her closer. When that didn’t quench the fire, I gripped her shoulders, yanking her from the tree, and forcing her hard to the floor. She laughed, throwing her head back and baring her neck to me. A tearing sound filled the clearing, and a barrage of warmth exploded beneath my fingers as the material between us was no longer a hindrance.

  It broke me.

  A roar tore from my throat and the flash ended, leaving me breathless and burning like a supernova.

  “Jax?”

  There she was. Still standing a few feet in front of me, just inside the office door. I tried to stop myself, but I was under her spell. As in the flash, it took four long steps to get from where I stood to her. I backed her against the wall, stopping just short of crushing my lips against hers.

  “Jax?” she asked again, but this time the tone was different. Breathless and hopeful.

  Excited.

  It was enough to snap me back to reality. “We need to move quickly.” I shook my head to clear the muck and stepped away from her. Control. “Um, the filing cabinet,” I said, pointing to the large set of drawers on the other side of the office. “Start there. The apartment number is 882.”

  She went right to work, while I kept to the far end of the room, doing my best to keep Azirak under control. It probably wouldn’t be helpful if I jumped her right here in the office, but I got the impression that the demon wanted it.

  As badly as I did.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sam

  Keeping quiet siphoned every bit of self-restraint I had. Questions. There were so many. I wanted to know the details behind Jax’s demonic side despite the possible answers, because crazy or not, I still wanted him same as always. But first we had to deal with the threat to my life. After that was handled, there’d be time to ask questions. Time to crumble and mourn the death of my parents again. And if he was still determined to run, I’d get him to change his mind.

  Several subtle glances told me he was on the other side of the office, riffling through a pile of papers on the manager’s desk. Every once in a while he’d pick his head up and catch me watching him. Each time, chills raced down my spine, and my heart went into overdrive. How the hell was it that a single glimpse could do that? It was like he devoured me with every glance.

  “Got it,” Jax exclaimed. He snatched a paper from the filing cabinet on his side of the room and waved it back and forth. “The file says the apartment is rented to Bob Dowdy. There’s another address in this file for him, too. We can check it out.”

  “Bob Dowdy,” I said, rolling the name around in my mouth. I closed the filing cabinet and climbed to my feet. “The demon’s name is Bob?”

  His right eyebrow rose slightly above the left and he set the folder back into the drawer where he’d gotten it. “Were you hoping for a Lucifer? Maybe a Damien?”

  “Smart-ass.” I rolled my eyes. “Does the name sound familiar?”

  “Why would it?”

  I shrugged. “I dunno. Don’t you guys, like, all know each other or something?”

  “There’s no club, Sammy. We don’t meet once a year at a convention for the demonic.” He stuffed the paper into his back pocket and hitched his thumb toward the door. “Let’s go see what we can dig up on this thing.”

  I nodded and reached for the handle, giving it a quick turn. Nothing happened. “Um… It’s stuck.”

  “Stuck?” He moved to nudge me aside, but stopped when I turned at the same moment, putting our faces inches from each other.

  “Go ahead. Do your thing,” I said.

  “My thing?”

  We didn’t have all day, but the way he said it woke the butterflies in my belly. The manager would be back soon, but reality be damned, I wanted him to kiss me again. “Yes. Your thing. Your demon thing. I want you to open the door.”

  Actually, I wanted him to throw me over his shoulder and head for the desk on the other side of the room, but since that was less likely than a two-headed panda wearing a top hat and singing show tunes, I’d settle for getting the hell out of here.

  He stepped closer. “Using my demon thing. Is that right?”

  I swallowed and tapped the door, forcing myself to breathe. “We don’t have all day, Jax. Get to it.”

  Jax took a deep breath and let his eyes flutter closed for a second. When he opened them, there was a wicked smile on his lips. With one hand braced against the door, he leaned in and whispered, “I could open the door, but you’d much rather I kiss you, right?”

  I nodded. It was all I could manage.

  “Even though I’m a demon?”

  His voice was like melted chocolate. Rich and soothing. It didn’t matter to me in that moment that he was a demon. It wouldn’t matter, I realized, in any moment, because he was Jax. And he was what I’d always wanted.

  “I would wreck you, Sammy. Make you scream for hours and hours until your voice is gone and you don’t remember your own name. Is that what you want?”

  My mouth was dry. Legs mushy. Heart on overload. Again, all I could do was nod.

  He pulled away, smile gone. At first he looked confused. Brows furrowed and lips pursed. Then he just looked indifferent. A rush of cold replaced the spot he’d been and I shivered. “Tell me,” he said, voice icy and low. “How does it feel to want?”

  The chill turned into a glacial freeze. My heart, seconds ago banging like a woodpecker gone postal, was now dead. Words. They were just meaningless words meant to push me away. Still, it hurt. “Fuck you,” I said, backing away.

  He laughed, but there was something off about it. It was forced. “No—” Jax turned away from her to stare at the door. “Do you smell that?”

  “Smell what?” I snapped. “The odor of asshole? As a matter of fact, I—”

  He clamped his hand across my mouth and leaned closer to the door. The urge to bite his hand came—and went. Pissing off a demon, no matter how big a dick he was, probably wasn’t the path to a long life.

  “Gasoline,” he said, voice hushed. “I smell gasoline.”

  I pried his hand away from my face. “You’re crazy.” But no sooner did I get the words out than the smell filled my nose, followed by a rush of clear liquid from under the door. It crept across the tile floor, filling the spaces between and rolling over the grout like a mini tidal wave.

  Jax reached for the handle again, but halted midway. Without a word, he pivoted, hand shooting out in a blur, and knocked me back as a rush of flame spilled in from under the door.

  “Shit.” I gasped, backing toward the window. Fumbling with the lock, I threw it open and looked down. We were on the fourth floor. The office was in the back of the building and faced nothing more than an empty lot. There was no help in sight.

  With the help of the gasoline, the fire spread quickly, catching the numerous stacks of papers strewn around the room. The temperature rose as thick gray smoke billowed into the air. A series of body-racking coughs d
oubled me over and I gasped for air.

  “Do you still have an issue with heights?” Jax asked, taking my arm and dragging me closer to the window.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “If I say yes, will that change anything?”

  “Nope,” he said, maneuvering a leg over the sill.

  “Then fair warning,” I said, letting him tug me closer. “I may puke on you.”

  “Noted.”

  I stepped out onto the thin ledge as Jax inched closer to the fire escape ladder a few feet away. I made the mistake of peeking down. It was quick—nothing more than a flicker—but it was enough. Vertigo hit with a vengeance. The fire wouldn’t get me. The fall from the ledge wouldn’t, either. But that sudden stop at the bottom? Yeah. That’d do it right.

  Jax wrapped his right hand around the far side of the ladder and stepped onto the rung. He climbed down a few bars, and with his left hand, waved me over. “Okay. Come here.” He patted the second rung from the top and said, “Step right on this one. Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”

  I did as told, and rung by rung, we descended the ladder until there was blissfully solid earth beneath my feet. I would have dropped and kissed the ground, too, if it weren’t for the fire engine and four police cars that came rocketing into the lot.

  The Harlow Police Station was, unfortunately, a place I knew well. Jax and I had our fair share of trouble as kids. No formal charges had ever been filed, but any time anything went wrong in town they looked to Jax first. Granted sometimes he was the culprit, but nine times out of ten, it was just simple minds and the overinflated rumor mill of a small town.

  I got into nearly as much trouble, but that, too, was Jax’s fault if you asked, well, anyone. Everyone blamed him for dragging me along as though I had no mind of my own. Then, after he’d left town, they explained my delinquent behavior as acting out as a result of the horrible tragedy I’d suffered at such an early age, and of course, added in that Jax must have messed with my head. That had always pissed me off. The truth was, I’d been a juvenile delinquent all on my own.