Page 81 of Capturing Sin

He watched me, face an unreadable mask.

I notched my chin, refusing to bow under the strained silence.

The bastard could judge me all he wanted for my past sins, but I’d done what little I could for the elderly demon forgiving enough to speak with a hunter.

Sin’s lip hooked into a familiar sneer. “Even your mercy is violent, typical hunter.”

I stifled a flinch. His words struck a little too close to the truth, and I crossed my arms like it could ward off any further blows. “Your real question?”

“Back in your lab, you said you’d never met a demon like me… Are you certain? Think hard, huntress. The male I’m searching for looks similar to me. Only a touch shorter, with yellow eyes instead of white.”

My entire body locked up.

Sunshine eyes that ripped apart my life. A kind smile. Gentle hands tending mortal wounds.

Sin was looking for the demon who’d saved me.

The one I’d got killed in return.

Only a lifetime of mortaring the cracks in my façade with blood and pain stopped me from giving myself away.

I mirrored his sneer, shoving down the panic screaming at me to strike first. “All you parasites look the same to me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Such dramatics, poison. I’m guessing that’s still a no then.”

Curiosity burrowed into my mind.

Who was he? The demon who’d stolen me from the reaper and changed my life completely. They looked so similar, they had to be related. Had I killed his father? His brother? His son?

Anything I asked would only raise suspicion.

And if he discovered what I’d done, he’d finally kill me.

Whatever ridiculous kernel of hope planted in my heart withered. A foolish part of me had felt something beginning to grow between us. It was twisted and toxic, but there nonetheless.

An addiction to how he made me feel.

A dumb hope for something different. Something more. Something real.

I feigned disinterest with a shrug. “Can I go to bed now, demon? Or do you want to stay up and talk about our feelings?” I taunted, channelling every ounce of the insufferable hunter I was trained to be.

He flashed fang in warning but tipped his horns towards the staircase. “Come on then, poison.”

The demon somehow slipped his bulk past me on the carpeted stairs, using his tail to tug me along behind him.

My attention was riveted to the lowest spike on his back as he prowled up the stairs. The bony point weaved slightly as he moved, jutting several inches long from the charcoal skin hugging the base. I concentrated on the lethal tip, refusing the mocking call of the family photos along the wall as we passed. Their joyous smiles loomed sharp in my periphery, like they hid something sinister just beneath the surface.

Sin led me into the luxe bedroom I’d slept in the night before.

My thoughts churned, flipping from blaring intensity to static hollowness.

It was more important than ever for me to escape. The demon had more than enough reason to want me dead already. If he found out what had happened, he’d snap my neck in a blink.

I’d seen the casual brutality he was capable of.

He swivelled to face me, eyes glowing like starlight. My breath caught at the sight of him, brighter than the slash of moonlight through the windows. A vicious god made of starlight and shadow.

Why did my potential murderer have to be so damn alluring?

---