The Demon Within (24 page)

The woman had gone through hell and come out stronger when few humans even survive something as traumatic as possession. Anger had churned in him at the secret, the jibes she’d thrown at him for being a demon and the distance she maintained because of it. But the anger burned away by the time they finished climbing the stairs. He watched her disappear inside her room, forcing himself not to follow and allowing her time to come to grips with what they’d learned.

“Hello, Ruman.”

Shock widened his eyes, and Ruman’s head snapped up. “Melech? What are you doing here?”

Then he made the connection. “You’re Parthina’s angel.” The joy of see a fellow angel dimmed. Caly’s request to view the angel still had fury riding him hard.

“You always were a smart one.” Melech straightened from his relaxed pose, stepping away from the wall. “Still getting into trouble I see.” He nodded to Caly’s room and smirked.

A low growl rumbled from his chest and it was all Ruman could do not to snarl. She was his, and he didn’t like the extra attention Melech directed at her.

“Hey,” Melech held up his hands. “I have my hands full with the one I guard. I have no interest in yours.”

Ruman snorted, and his fists slowly uncurled. When the proprietary emotions cleared his mind, he saw the strain around his friend’s eyes, a certain tightness around his mouth. “You’re not the guardian type.”

Melech looked all the more disgruntled at the comment. “She found a spell book and accidentally summoned me. It’s a long story.”

“Accidentally summoned?” Ruman raised a brow at the almost unheard of action of capturing an angel.

“What concerns me the most is the increase in demon attacks around my charge and the lack of any type of angelic assistance. Have you had any contact with any of the others in the last few days?”

He considered Melech’s question carefully then shook his head. “My sentence allows only limited contact at best. I’ve had no contact with anyone since my awakening.”

“Nor have I.” Melech paused. “You’re the only other angel I’ve seen.”

The slight hitch caught Ruman’s attention. He glanced quickly at the connecting door, uneasy at Caly’s silence, but he couldn’t give up this opportunity to gain information if it meant it could help him save her life. “You hesitated.”

“Lailah’s here on her yearly…sabbatical.”

Ruman grunted. Lailah was an angel. Most of the time, anyway. Once a year, she was sent to earth to live life as a human in punishment for some un-angelic character flaws. “I don’t think she counts.”

“Then we are the only angels left to keep our women alive.” The ominous words echoed in the room.

One question lingered at the back of Ruman’s mind, a tenuous leap at best. “Have you had any complications with your powers?” It was obvious Melech didn’t want to answer in the way he avoided his gaze, so Ruman spoke first. “Since I met Caly, my powers have…altered.”

Melech rubbed his forehead as he paced. “Same here.” The big angel looked more drawn than when he first appeared. “I’ve not been called home.”

Ruman crossed his arms. “And I wouldn’t have been.” What he didn’t say was that even if he could leave, he’d refuse. He belonged by Caly’s side.

Melech massaged the bridge of his nose. “Could the women block us? Unintentionally or not?”

“Because of the demon, you mean?” He shook his head. “I don’t believe so. I’m part demon, and I can still communicate with those who are willing to demean themselves to talk to one such as me.”

“Good point.” Melech threw up his hands, clearly disgusted. “Then I am not sure where that leaves us.”

“Have you…” Ruman cleared his throat, uncomfortable on how to broach the subject. “Have you had any adverse side effects from being around your charge?”

After the first initial blank stare, understanding darkened the big man’s eyes. “I’ve not touched her.”

Ruman straightened to his full height, bracing himself for an attack. Accusing an angel of impropriety was a serious charge with deadly consequences. “I never said you had.”

A heavy sigh escaped Melech, and his shoulders slumped. “I assumed I was the only one affected.”

“Could we have been sent to protect them?”

“I doubt we were sent to kill them. Anytime I am gone too long, someone tries to kill Parthina.”

Ruman’s brows lowered ominously. A sick feeling moved through him. “Caly, also.”

“Because of the summoning, I’m more visible to humans than I’d like. I thought I was to stay only as long as Parthina took to compete the task assigned her. Now, I’m not so sure.” He looked out the window then turned back, nodding solemnly. “Watch your back. Something’s happening, and I believe our women are the key.”

“Stay safe, brother.”

With a half-smile, Melech dissipated into nothingness. Conscious of the passage of time, Ruman took a deep breath and knocked on Caly’s door, uncertain of what type of reception he’d receive. She seemed so cold when she entered her room, not even bothering to acknowledge him.

Not having her within sight, not being able to touch her, left him anxious to be near her again. As each second passed without receiving an answer, worry turned into fear. He expanded his senses.

And found the room empty.

“Saints and sinners.” Anger overrode all other emotions as he kicked open the connecting door. Heavy wood splintered. The latch ripped the striker off the doorjamb, and the oak door thudded open. Without stepping inside, he knew everything of hers was gone. The room felt empty without her.

He concentrated on her essence, determined to give her a piece of his mind for scaring him, and found nothing. Anger quickly faded as worry set in. If he didn’t catch her soon, he’d lose her. He released a breath then tried again. An image came to him immediately.

“Son of a—” A growl escaped, and he gathered the energy around him. He didn’t actually feel his flesh dissolve, it was more like falling into space, a disjointed feeling of being here one moment and…gone the next.

The dark, gray world of the
Between
was the same place as Earth, but on a different plane. Buildings, the grass, even the sun were shades of gray, created as a place between the living and the dead, and inhabited by the creatures banished from the world such as ghosts and demons to name a few.

The only thing of color easily seen between the barriers of the two worlds was the bright outline of his charge, as if she had a foot in both worlds. She lit up like a beacon for anyone hungry for power. This was why they had targeted her, why they sent her to the temple. Thankfully, not many could pass from one realm into the next.

Fear shot through him. He knew she was different. Now he believed she was much more than that. No way could she be allowed to meet Azazel.

He should’ve known the stubborn chit would’ve tried something. What initially drew him to her was her independence. She didn’t rely on him to grant her every wish like his other charges. Now that quality annoyed the crap out of him. He
wanted
her to lean on him or at the very least, not run.

He reappeared just inside the library doors. The hours posted showed that they would close in a few minutes. Midnight was less than an hour away. Not a good time for Caly to be out alone.

No one else appeared to be on the third floor but Caly. He spotted her seated with her back toward him, her head bent as she labored over a book. It didn’t take a genius to know that she thought to find Dudael without him.

His fingers curled tight at the thought of her trying to confront Azazel by herself. On his home turf, the unpredictable bastard could get away with anything. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his skin went clammy at the thought.

On silent feet, he crossed the distance between them, fists clenched against the urge to shake some sense into her. Seconds away from grasping her, she launched out of her seat and rolled across the table, leaping to her feet on the other side.

They stared, each in a similar pose hunched slightly over the table, waiting for the other to move first. Then he saw around her wrist the leather strip he used to tie back his hair. Momentary satisfaction filled him.

Until he looked up. The cold frost in her eyes spiked his anger, and he let it take over.

A flick of his wrist sent the table scraping across the floor. In less time than she could blink, he had her by the shoulders, her back against the wall, his muscles shaking as he tried to rein himself in.

“You left me.”

The bafflement in his voice clutched at Caly’s heart, but she remained mute, too shocked that he’d come for her.

“Have you any idea the danger you put yourself in by leaving me?”

He shook her hard before she could answer, shaking loose her own anger. How dare he come after her, drag this out and make it all the more painful. A snarl curled her lips. “I’m not a dog to keep on a leash.”

“No, a dog would know his master and obey.” The dead look in her eyes when he first arrived wavered as her anger ignited.

“What did you think you were going to do when you found Dudael? Storm the gates and demand entrance?” His heart pounded at the thought. Azazel would’ve allowed her entrance, but he doubted she would’ve ever been able to leave.

“That’s none of your concern.” She lifted her chin, and he resisted the urge to growl at her obstinacy.

“Bullshit.”

“Tut, tut. I thought angels weren’t supposed to swear.” A taunting smile crossed her face. Part of him relaxed as the cold woman melted into the hot-tempered Caly he knew, sealing the tiny fissures that had appeared in his soul when he thought he’d lost her.

Ruman leaned closer until their eyes were level, her body pressed up against his. He let the part of himself he kept hidden emerge in his smile. “Then it’s unfortunate that I’m currently a demon.”

When her mouth opened to refute him, he claimed her lips with his own, unable to resist tasting her again. Lust exploded through him.

She hit him once, then her body softened and she kissed him back with a wickedness that short circuited his brain. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and for the first time, he understood what Heaven truly felt like.

Her hand fisted into his hair, the grip just short of painful. He resisted her tug, didn’t want to stop. When she turned her head away, he followed blindly. Now that he had her at his mercy, he intended to take his fill.

But as determined as he was to have her, Ruman felt her withdrawal, putting distance between them, and he almost growled.

When she shoved at his shoulder, his hands automatically dropped to her ass to support her, his fingers digging into her flesh to keep her locked into place. With her face flushed with arousal, Ruman’s whole body demanded more. Determined to get another taste, he bent his head.

“Shhh, listen.”

Her hand covered his mouth, and he teased the soft underside of her fingers with his teeth, only half-listening. She shook in ways that did dangerous things to his body.

It was then that he heard them. Wrath like something he had never known gathered in him at those who dared to interrupt them.

Carefully, silently, he released Caly from his hold, sucking in a sharp breath as her luscious form slid down his front. When she stepped away, he immediately missed the warmth of her curves.

Before he could stop her, Caly slipped into the stacks and disappeared. Ruman tried to follow but Caly had seemingly vanished. He sensed her stalking the demons. Terror stopped his heart, and he couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t lose her.

Determination increased his stride, and he focused his senses on locating her. He shifted forms, fell through space and reappeared behind her in time to watch her attack. She moved in a quick, graceful way he couldn’t help but admire.

With a quick jab, she sliced the demon’s arm down to bone. Her boot shot out and knocked the legs out from the creature. Even before it landed on its back, she plunged the blade deep within its chest.

Ruman crossed his arms and smiled.

“Behind you.” Her warning came too late.

As he twisted and crouched, pain seared his arm.

“Stay down.” Caly issued the order in a calm, no nonsense voice that warned him not to disobey. The warrior in charge.

The demon attempted to run. Metal whistled in the air inches above his head. The heavy blade thudded hard into the wood as the demon twisted to disappear into the stacks. Caly made to give chase but hesitated at his side. “Are you okay?”

Ruman lunged forward, jerked the knife out of the wood then tossed it at a third demon climbing over the stacks above her. Caly turned in time to see the demon disintegrate and received a mouth full of dust.

“Yes.” He had no doubt that without him there to distract her, she would’ve killed all three without breaking into a sweat. He straightened and winced, his eyes going over her body for signs of injury. It was his job to protect her, and he let himself be distracted until it was almost too late. He’d been so preoccupied watching her that he could’ve been killed, leaving her vulnerable while he recuperated.

He couldn’t afford to leave her unguarded. Not when danger increased every day and she had no sense of self-preservation.