Page 23 of Demons and Debts
‘Sorry, Roomie. Can’t trust you not to run and I don’t have time to babysit you. Vic wants you here so he can try to ensure your safety.’
He goes back to packing a bag with bandages and other medical things. ‘Welcome to the lion’s den, Princess,’ he mutters.
‘Please.’ I pull at my arm. ‘I don’t like it.’
He turns with a sigh and brandishes the key, stepping forward and taking the cuff in his hands. His fingers brush against mine and I feel an awareness that’s similar to when the one at the bar touched me and the other grabbed me in the hall. Theo doesn’t seem to feel whatever it is though.
‘I don’t give a shit if you don’t like it.’ He drops my wrist and chuckles.
My heart sinks. I can’t keep my panic at bay forever. ‘Then sedate me.’
That gives him pause. ‘You’d actually rather I drug you here in a house of hungry incubi than have one wrist tied to the bed?’
‘I don’t like it,’ I say again.
For a second, I think that maybe he’s going to help, but then he levels me with a stare and his lips turn up into a nasty-looking grin. He raises his hands in mock apology as he backs away. ‘Like I said, I don’t give a shit, Princess, and no one here is going to give a flying fuck about you or your comfort, so you better get used to it.’
He turns around and leaves, locking the door behind him.
I’m rapidly beginning to dislike their nicknames for me I think as I look around the room.
I’m alone.
I pull hard at the cuff, and it hurts, but I don’t care. An irrational part of me is afraid they’ll never come back and set me free. I know that’s dumb – I’m literally in Theo’s bedroom, I’m pretty sure – but logic is fading away, leaving whatever’s left. I mean I probably won’t gnaw off my own hand like a fox caught in a trap, but the more upset I get, the less pain I’ll feel until later.
I try to claw back my calm with varying levels of success, tears sliding down my cheeks. I’m stuck here in more ways than one. I should have just moved on. Trying to get help has made everything so much worse.
* * *
Korban
‘Why the fuckis she still here?’ I growl, pushing myself off the wall where I’ve been waiting in the corridor, trying to keep bad memories at bay and hating that another human is in the house. One’s too many and now there are four!
Vic gives me a look. ‘What do you care?’
Vic doesn’t stop walking so I follow him. ‘I don’t. We just have shit to focus on. We don’t need another human female in the house. The ones we have contracted are bad enough.’
At the top of the wide, sweeping staircase, Vic stops and turns to face me. ‘Don’t give me that. You avail yourself of the on-call girls often enough.’
‘Only so I don’t starve,’ I hiss.
Vic shrugs. ‘What’s one more? You won’t even notice her.’
‘I won’t be responsible for anything that happens to her here,’ I mutter and Vic’s penetrating eyes land on mine.
‘Whoever killed Drey is linked to her. She’s staying here until we get justice; ‘til we make them regret fucking with us.’
‘You didn’t even like Drey,’ I scoff. ‘Fucking affirmative action. He was only here to make up the numbers and keep the supe authorities off our backs.’
‘My personal feelings don’t matter. He was basically one of the Iron I’s. An attack on one of us is an attack on us all. You know that. Besides, we lost a human, we gain one. Consider hermaking up the numbers.’
Vic starts descending the stairs.
‘Alex!’
My use of his real name makes him turn back with a sigh.
‘What? I got shit to do.’
