Page 20 of Demon Queen
I stared at that tail before I turned around, glaring at him. “I can, though. I’m not that obsessed with you. I just thought we were in a relationship back then. Happily, I’m not that delusional these days. I’m still paying you back, but I won’t worry you with the details. I’ll just send you a check in the mail.” I had to get out of there before I had a complete mental breakdown. He’d set me up to steal from him? What kind of monster did that? Demons, apparently. Inconceivable.
He shook his head, eyes burning steadily. “I’ll never cash a check from you. Money is meaningless without the emotion attached to it. Demons feed on emotions, you know.”
“Yes, like an ink. Straldi explained it perfectly.” Was Maurice really a demon? Maybe Straldi was messing with me. Everyone was messing with me. I wanted to strangle them all.
He smiled slightly, but it was strained. “The pastry chef, yes. That’s an excellent example of the situation we find ourselves in. Please sit down, Sandra. You aren’t going to enjoy this conversation, but at least you can be comfortable.”
I stared at him. He’d never called me Sandra before. It sounded so real, so serious. “I don’t want to oppress you with my presence.” I sniffed, channeling my duchess.
His eyes burned brighter. “Last night, you came to my club during the full moon with a dark wolf and a vampire queen. Do you see these spikes coming out of my head?”
I looked up, and yes, the spikes were just as obvious now as they’d been last night. “They are rather hard to miss. Tom said they were king spikes. Congratulations on your promotion.” Yes, let’s be civilized instead of strangling him. Or biting him. Really, really hard.
“Tom, the slayer?” His brows furrowed.
“Gloria’s husband. Does he slay demons? That’s so nice to know! I can hire him the next time a demon I’m with works really hard to break my heart in the worst kinds of ways instead of telling me that he wants to break up!” I was yelling. Apparently civilized was too much for me. “What’s wrong with you? How could you do that to me? What did I ever do to you? Maybe I was too clingy, but I wasn’t that desperate!” Except maybe I had been. If I hadn’t been pregnant, I probably would have pretended that I hadn’t seen him in the club with all the other women. But if he’d told me that he was tired of me, I would have dealt with it. I wasn’t a psychopath! Although at that moment, I felt like I might be a psychopath. I wanted to hurt him. Badly. I wanted to break off one of his spikes and stab him with it. Or use his tail to strangle him.
He rumbled, “If Tom tried to kill me, I’m afraid I might accidentally hurt him.”
“Accidentally? I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” I jabbed his chest. “No one accidentally rips the spine out of another person.”
He smiled slightly. “Perhaps you’re right. I mean that I’d accidentally forget that he was married to a friend of yours and impale him intentionally for daring to touch you.”
I stared at him. He gave me a slight smile that didn’t show his fangs. Something about that smile was absolutely terrifying. “Daring to touch me?” Was I supposed to know what that meant? It sounded possessive, but you don’t work that hard to get rid of someone you want to keep. I don’t care how monstrous you are.
He gave me a slight nod, eyes glowing, lips pursing. “Yes. I chased you away years ago when you were so young and filled with human plans, because I started to become this, and you became prey to the worst predators. I killed three demons who became obsessed with you. You are like demon candy.” The way he smiled at me in my unflattering jeans and t-shirt made my skin prickle. “Candy is a very apt name for you.” His smile faded. “You came back to my world and publicly revealed our connection. Now you are mine.”
I stared at him while my brain whirled. Mine? What was that supposed to mean? Also, he chased me away with all kinds of psychological torture! He knew that he’d ruin my plans, and so he had to intentionally ruin all of me?
I wasn’t sure I knew how to breathe anymore. I didn’t understand anything. “You are so messed up. You sound insane.” That’s right. I wasn’t the crazy one here. He was. Exactly.
His low rumble sent a ripple of terror and excitement through me. No. I hated him. So much. I didn’t want to poke the scary demon and see if he bit. I’d bite him first.
“Yes, my exquisite cherry blossom. I am borderline insane in regards to you. Last night, I saw you and everything else became secondary. No, much further than that. Seeing you in danger between a dark wolf and the vampire queen triggered my king spikes where everyone could see them. And you. Everyone saw you with me. It didn’t help that you fainted, so I was carrying you around like a teddy bear. I couldn’t put you down, because someone might eat you. Or rip out your spine. Or steal you away and keep you in a cage as a pet. I admit that I went temporarily insane last night. Now everyone who hates me will want to kill you. More importantly, demons find you irresistible, like the pastry chef.” He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and then reached in and pulled out two paper rings, one with the flyer’s Japanese print on it, one with a silver gleam of a gum wrapper.
I stared at him, at those rings. He’d said that he threw them away. “You don’t still have those.”
His eyes flickered with flames in perfect time with the fireplace. “I did promise to be yours forever.”
His words broke my brain. That’s the only explanation for what happened next.
I launched myself at him and started stabbing him ferociously with my toothpick, over and over in his chest while I bite him in the neck, not a love bite, a hate bite. I wanted blood and death. His first then the rest of the world. I would break him or die trying.
seven
. . .
He was purring.He was also struggling if stroking my hair and stretching his chin up so I’d have better access to his throat was struggling. Struggling to help me rip out his throat. I needed all the help I could get because my teeth weren’t sharp, poisoned daggers. He was a demon.
I was on top of a demon, his wings arced over me while I buried my face in his neck.
He tasted so good, felt so good with his hands on my back, stroking me like I was the kitten purring. I wasn’t! I was killing him! With my teeth, which were apparently not very good assassination tools.
I jerked my head back, ripping the skin. Was that blood on my tongue? It couldn’t be. Blood didn’t taste like maple syrup. And now I wanted a whole stack of perfectly crisp golden waffles. My heart was beating so fast, like I’d been plugged into a live wire, all of me trembling and alive. His eyes were hooded, satisfaction written all over his face, like he couldn’t have choreographed that better himself.
“Get away from me!” I shrieked.
He gave me a slow smile as he stretched out his arms above his head, which was on the couch cushion. “How could I possibly escape? You have me captive.”
