“Something,” she mumbled absently, fiddling with the hem of her shirt without looking away.
“I’m serious.” I crossed the room and knelt in front of her chair. It was impossible to miss the way she tensed, shrinking away as though I might try to take a bite out of her. I adjusted, rocking back a few inches to give her some room. “You’re worrying me.”
That got her attention. She rose from the seat and moved closer to the door. “I’m worrying you? Really?”
I stood. This was better. A fight I knew how to deal with. “You know what—”
She held a hand up. Some of the fear in the room dissipated and I fought a grin as the gray quickly turned to all crimson. How many girls—hell, people—would hold their shit together after what had just happened? Sam was strong, but it wasn’t until that moment that I realized how strong. She called herself a coward, so ashamed of her darkest fears, but obviously she didn’t see things clearly.
“I’m going to ask questions. You’re going to answer. We clear?”
I nodded. The truth. It was something I feared and revered. On one hand, it might make her stay away. That’s what I wanted. To shield her from the thing that lived inside of me. On the other hand, even though it was selfish and irresponsible, I wanted to find some way to keep her in my life. That alone proved what a bastard I was. If I cared about her at all, I’d never look back.
“That man that attacked us—his eyes were—” She took in a shaky breath as a spike of fear rose from her shoulders. Not a clouded smoky gray, but a dark ash color. Terror. “Was he human?”
Again, she caught me off guard me. Here Sam was pulling the short straw of crazy—and doing it with a straight face. “No.”
If the answer surprised her, it didn’t show. In fact, she seemed oddly vindicated. “If he wasn’t human, what was he?”
“A demon,” I said without hesitation. There was no point in sugar coating things. Sam was a big girl and she was in over her head. It was only fair to let her know how far. The quicker she accepted it, the easier it would be to get to the bottom of this shit.
“A demon,” she repeated, starting to pace. The set of her shoulders turned rigid and worry creased her forehead. “You’re saying that man—”
“It wasn’t a man, Sammy. It wasn’t a he. It was a demon.”
She stopped pacing and whirled on me. “This is insane…”
Might as well let her have all of it. “It’s all connected. I think the attack at your apartment, and all the others, were related to what happened on the Huntington campus. You’re under attack, but I don’t believe it’s just one person.”
She froze, her expression a mix of bewilderment and fear. “You just— A demon— No. Just, no. You can’t possibly know that for sure!”
“I do—”
“You’re insane.”
Time for blow number two. I reached into the pocket of my coat and pulled out the bracelet I’d taken from the demon’s apartment. Setting it down on the table, I took a step away. “You lost that the night you were attacked, didn’t you?”
Six deep breaths. I watched the rise and fall of her chest, and the flutter of her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose. The ashen cloud swirled frantically above her head. She crossed the room and stopped a few feet from the table, eyes glued to the delicate red-and-black leather jewelry on its surface. Picking up the bracelet, Sam held it as though at any moment it might come alive and take a chunk out of her. “I—where did you find this?”
“I think it was the apartment of the one who attacked you on campus. Or, at least, it was staying there. I picked up more than one scent.”
Sam was pale. She backed away from the table and sank onto the bed. “How did you find that?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is, we’ve got a big problem. The one who attacked you wants you dead, Sammy. I don’t know who, and I can’t figure out why, but I know what we’re up against, and it’s not pretty.”
“What we’re up against? You mean the men who tried to throw me off the cliff? Is it the mob or something?”
I knew Sam’s breaking point, and it was obvious she was closing in on it, but I needed to tell her the truth. “They were demons. Same as the thing that broke into your apartment. The attack at Huntington, the cliff, and I’m willing to bet my right hand, all the others, too.”
“Demons,” she repeated. “You’re telling me demons are after me. Trying to kill me. That right?”
“I know this is hard to accept, but—”
“No. No. This is easy. All makes tons of sense. Demons. Demons want me dead.” She rolled her eyes and ran both hands through her hair, pausing for a moment to tug at the roots. A nervous habit. With a determined nod, she stood. “Let’s go.”
“Go? Go where?”
Her eyes were wide. “The police. These bastards tried to kill me. The cops need to know about that. You said you know where one of them lives. They can pick him up.”
“Sammy, you’re forgetting an important fact.”
She just stared at me.
“The man that attacked you wasn’t a man. It was a demon. Going to the cops won’t do anything. Something tells me the government hasn’t started issuing demon-hunting tools to the local police.”
“Forgetting for a second that I’m actually going to ask this out loud, why would a demon—I’m sorry, demons, plural—attack me?”
“I really don’t know. Most feed on pain and violence, but there’s plenty of that to go around. There’s no reason to hunt any one particular human to get it.” I hesitated. “Honestly, I’m really not sure what we’re up against. When I was at the apartment I found three other bodies.”
She paled by the minute. “Bodies—”
“They’d been there a while.”
“As in, dead? Corpses?”
“Yes.” I frowned.
“So, I have an entire demon army after me?”
Motherfucker…
The demon in the bathroom of the dive bar said something about being a soldier. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
She squared her shoulders and said, “And you? You seem to know a hell of a lot about this shit. That thing called you Son of Cain. And your eyes…” Some of her color returned. “Next you’ll tell me you’re some kind of chosen, once-in-a-generation demon slayer? Is that right?”
I waggled my eyebrows. Inappropriate timing? Yep. But I wanted to lighten the mood. Besides, she brought it out in me. “Would you think it was sexy if I said yes?”
“Yeah. You’re a regular Buffy—or would it be Angel?”
“Angel was a pussy. I’d be more of a Spike. He was a true badass.” I sighed and nudged her back. “The truth is…” God. Did I really want to go through with this? Lay all my cards on the table and hope it didn’t scare the shit out of her? Once I went through that door there was no turning back.
“Jax?”
I squeezed my eyes closed and silently counted to ten, before opening them and turning to face her. I needed to see her reaction. “I’m one, too. A demon—partially, anyway.” Azirak stirred, fighting for control. “I’m cursed. I’ve got this thing living inside me. Azirak. This—”
Sam fell back against the wall and slid to the floor. The expression on her face nearly broke me in two. Fear and pain, mingling with the almost bitter taste of betrayal, filled the small room.
“This isn’t happening.” She let her head fall between her knees and covered the top of it with her arms. “I’m asleep. Having another nightmare.”