Page 30 of A Cursed Heart

Ryan

How was it Monday already? With everything over the weekend, I barely felt ready for a working week.

Freya, though, needed to get out of the apartment or she was going to be climbing the walls with boredom.

Mal wasn’t all that keen on taking her, saying, “I worry something will happen before I can return.”

Was he being overprotective, or sensible? I couldn’t tell.

We had to be careful with his magic use to ensure he had enough power to vanish Freya out of there if needed.

I wasn’t under any illusions about the situation we found ourselves in.

Scythe would come for us if he figured out I was behind the raids on his company and Mal was struggling to balance the greater protections on the apartment, finding them to be more draining than he thought.

I wanted him to dial them back again, but his protective instinct wouldn’t let him. Usually he wouldn’t fight me if I suggested something, this time he did, so I left it. He knew what he could handle. All the sex we were having was helping with his energy levels at least.

“Sources state that Sloane Salvatore, better known to some in the city as Scythe, is under investigation for a number of crimes and allegedly responsible for the tainted fentanyl that killed twenty people. Rumors are that the FBI has an insider feeding them information from Salvatore Holdings offices. When asked, no one there was available for comment. They have reported a cyberattack, wiping much of their data.”

I switched off the TV before they could give the rest of the report. All the news stations had been yelling the same thing all day. When I woke up, there were dozens of messages from Lydia and Conrad about it. All my socials were flooded with speculation.

“We’re just heading out,” Mal said, coming up behind me. “Will you link with me? I worry…”

“Of course.” Anything to make him feel better about leaving me in the apartment. “I’m going to clock in and do a few hours’ work.”

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.”

“Bye, Daddy!” Freya ran at me for a hug and kiss, then returned to Mal’s side. She took his hand like she had always been doing it.

As soon as they left, I logged onto my computer to check what needed done first. There were the usual messages from co- workers and my boss. The targets for the week were pretty easy. All in all, a straightforward week if I didn’t have all the shit from Salvatore hanging over me.

Mal looked a little breathless when he returned.

“Did you run the entire way?”

He frowned. “I was concerned.”

“Babe, the FBI is all over his ass. He’s not roaming around in broad daylight.” His humph noise made me grin. “What have you got planned today?”

“I—”

My phone rang, interrupting what he was going to say. “What did you do?” a familiar voice barked.

“Anders?”

“Be careful. Salvatore has fled.” Then the line went dead.

My eyes met Mal’s, seeing the same panic reflected there. “Should I get Freya from school?”

I tried to be rational. Having Freya at home underfoot would only stress her out. She was safer at school than anywhere else. Besides, I reminded myself it was only morning. There were too many people going about who could spot him.

“No, she’s better off there. I’ll call Con and ask for some people to watch the apartment.”

Mal only nodded, looking displeased. He went to the kitchen instead of trying to convince me to take Freya out of school. While I got he was stressed out, he had to see things from my side. The school had great security.

The call to Con was not helpful.

“Hey,” I said, leaning against the breakfast bar. Mal was going to hate this. “Con said they can’t spare anyone to watch the apartment since there’s been no direct threat.”

“What about Anders?”

“I couldn’t tell them because it opens a whole new can of worms.” He cocked his head. “It’s an idiom. Don’t worry about it. Would you rather I came with you at pickup time?”

“No. I will vanish there and back. It will be quicker.”

“Are you sure? What about your magic?”

“I have pulled back some of my protections. There should be enough.”

‘Should’ didn’t feel good enough.

Pickup took only minutes instead of nearly half an hour.

Freya returned from school excited with a love of vanishing with Mal.

Her hyper behavior was cute for all of five minutes.

I was too stressed to appreciate how happy she was.

I tried not to snap at her. Probably why I let her convince me, and also Mal in turn, to vanish around the apartment.

Convincing her to let Mal rest was a battle none of us won.

We compromised, and she got to experience it a couple of times before bedtime.

Only when we got her off to sleep did I realize how my anxiety was affecting all of us. “Sorry,” I murmured into Mal’s hair, holding him close to me while he did the dishes. “I’ve been in a pissy mood all afternoon.”

He turned a little to face me, with a smile playing about his lips. “I understand. Anxiety is a new emotion for me. We have so much to lose. It scares me. Salvatore is such an unknown.”

I sighed. “Yeah. It’s getting to me. Look, why don’t we try to put it out of our heads? We can go to bed and watch something mindless for a bit.”

Mal nodded. “Yes. I would like that.”

After a day of stress, the vibe was off between us. I wanted to reconnect, just not through sex. It wasn’t all our relationship was about.

We cleaned up in the bathroom and found a stupid action movie to watch on my tablet.

Halfway through, I felt my eyelids grow heavy.

Mal was already asleep, his head on my shoulder, his hair neatly French braided to keep it out of his face.

His ears were pointed, like some of his demon form had slipped through his hold.

I wondered if his eyes were green again.

It was my last conscious thought.

A sound woke me. When I turned, it was to Mal standing fully dressed at the side of the bed. “He’s trying to get through my magic!”

“What?”

“Scythe is here, outside the apartment. Get dressed!”

I launched myself from the bed. Throwing on the nearest clothes I could find, I asked, “How close?”

“Minutes.” He looked torn. “Ryan—”

“Get Freya out of here now!” I demanded. “I’ll—should I call the police?”

“What about your friend?”

My phone was on the nightstand. Conrad answered after a few rings. “Hello?”

“Con, it’s Ryan. Salvatore is outside my apartment trying to get in.”

“Fuck! Gimme a sec to find out what happened. You were supposed to have a unit on you. Word got out it was you this afternoon. Did no one call?”

“What? No! I need you to get someone here.” I hung up to give him the chance to call for help. “You heard that, right?”

Mal nodded. “I fear that Salvatore paid off the local police.”

“Yeah. Con will get help, but I need you to get Freya out of here now.”

“Ry—”

“Now, Mal, please… She can’t see this.”

He hugged me, pressing a desperate kiss to my lips. “Stay hidden.” He rushed from the room, leaving me to decide where to hide.

I was in the kitchen, frantically searching for something to protect myself with when Conrad called. “Ry, there’s a team on route. Could be twenty minutes. Are you armed?”

“Not really. I’ve got a knife.” It gleamed under the low lights in the kitchen. We had security lights for Freya all over. It never got fully dark, which was a massive problem when you wanted to hide from someone coming to hurt you.

“Right. Hide out as best you can until help comes. Is Mal there with you?”

“Yeah,” I lied. Mal would be back before help could get to me.

“Hold tight.” He ended the call.

My heart was hammering in my chest. What was taking Mal so long? It could only have been a minute.

“Ah, there you are.” A hand fisted in my hair, wrenching me out of my hiding place behind the kitchen island. I struck out with the knife only to have my hand frozen in place.

The blow came from nowhere. My head rang with it. Hit after hit came until I wanted to pass out to avoid the pain.

Scythe—this was the darker form of Salvatore in front of me—pulled me onto my knees.

“Where is my ruby? I know it’s here.”

“Fuck you!” I spat.

He punched me in the face with a sickening crack. I coughed, spewing blood while the darkness tried to suck me into it.

It felt like a lifetime, but it could only have been a few minutes, all filled with agony as Scythe used a mix of magic and his fists to beat the information out of me.

“Here,” Mal said, forcing calm and appearing behind Scythe. “It’s in the sink pipes.”

Scythe backed away, heading for Freya’s bathroom where Mal had pointed. My demon came to my side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Can you get us out of here?”

A pained expression crossed his features. “He’s blocked me. I’m stuck here.”

I tried to sit up properly. “Fuck!”

“Let me heal you.”

“No, save your magic. I’m fine.”

“Ryan—”

“Oh, how touching! You are so cute together.” Scythe returned to the kitchen, the heart ruby in his hand. “So this is it, huh? How does it work? How do I get a pet demon for myself? I’m not really looking for a boyfriend, but a hole is a hole.” His laugh was dangerous, unhinged.

Neither of us answered him. He knew? How?

Scythe laughed once more. “Did you really think I didn’t know the legends?

I speak all the old languages, so of course I heard the humors.

” He made a barking noise at Mal, who froze in place, completely immobile.

He sauntered towards me, the gem glowing faintly from the light of the moon through the kitchen window.

His hand pulled my hair, extending my neck, his threat implicit. With his magic, he could cut my throat. “Answer me!”

“Blood,” Mal answered. I noticed his hands twitching. Could Scythe see it too?

“Mine, yours, or his?” Scythe’s fist clenches, tearing a cry and what felt like half my scalp out of me.

“Yours.” Mal’s eyes barely left me. Something about the magical hold on him had unraveled his human appearance. His tail, horns, ears, and eyes were all back to how he was when I met him.

I was tossed to the floor, barely catching myself in time to save my face. My nose hurt like a motherfucker.

It was impossible to tell if Scythe missed it, but his magic was weakening. Mal had inched closer to me. He looked like he was barely keeping it together.

“Why isn’t it working?” He was dripping blood from his palm onto the ruby. “It’s him, isn’t it? He’s still your master until he’s dead.” He pulled a gun and aimed it right at my head.

“What? No! Please!” I begged.

Scythe shrugged. “You were never getting out of this alive, Mr. Mallory. You’ve ruined my life. Now it’s time to end yours.”

The gun went off with a deafening bang. The pain I expected didn’t come. One moment I was on my knees, the next I was on my back, Mal covering me.

“Mal?” I grabbed him. My hand came away sticky with dark red blood. “Mal?”

“Ry—” He passed out. Just passed out. He couldn’t be dead. He was just badly hurt.

“Fucking useless demon.” Scythe stood, gun at his side. “Get up!” he barked at me. “This isn’t over. Once he belongs to me, I can fix him.”

No, Mal couldn’t belong to him. There had to be a way out of this.

Mal’s tail whipped out, striking Scythe on the arm. He fell, clipping his head against the island. The gun clattered to the floor.

On top of me, I felt Mal go lax. Completely passed out this time.

“He’s fine,” I whispered to myself, secretly knowing everything was far from fine.

It took me a moment to get out from under Mal, his dead weight and my injuries making everything harder. I didn’t know how long Scythe would be out. It could be minutes or just seconds.

I needed to get the gun. My fingers just closed on it when I saw Scythe twitch. He was coming around.

All I had was a second to make that choice.

I shot him in the head.

He couldn’t hurt us anymore. Maybe it made me a bad person, but I was relieved he was gone.

Shuffling over to him, I turned Mal onto his back. “Please wake up!” I pressed my head to his chest next to the hole still sluggishly pumping blood. I tried to stop the bleeding. It just wouldn’t stop.

“Please!” I cried, tears running down my face. “Wake up, Mal, please! You’ve got to heal yourself.”

“Magic is gone,” he whispered, his mouth barely moving. “Spell stole my magic.”

“No!” I needed to get him more magic somehow. I had to do something, or I was going to lose him. “Hold on, please, Mal. Stay with me.”

“Ry—” Mal’s breath shuddered in his lungs. Fuck, I was losing him.

“Shit!” I punched the floor in my grief. I felt so useless.

The gem fell to the floor beside me. The heart ruby. Mal’s prison for centuries. A magical gem.

I grabbed it and laid it over the wound instinctively. “Please,” I prayed. “Work, c’mon, heal him!”

Slowly, I noticed the gem’s color leeching away, going from ruby red and black to gray.

Then Mal’s tail began to disintegrate. Before my eyes, both the demon that I loved and the gem I hated changed until all of his demon side was gone and the gem was no longer a ruby.

It looked like a lump of silver-gray crystal.

Then the bond went slack and disappeared completely.

Was that it? Was Mal dead? My tears ran freely. I couldn’t even see from them, they clouded my eyes.

Mal took a gasping breath just as the crystal splintered into shards, no longer resembling a heart. “Ryan?”

“Oh fuck! Oh shit! Mal!”

His hand reached for me. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” I gave a watery chuckle. “Fucking hell! I think you died for a minute. Jesus!”

“FBI!” A team of people swarmed my kitchen. “Weapons on the floor!”

“We’re unarmed!” I held Mal still. “We’re hurt.”

“There’s a body over here. It’s our target. We’re going to need medical for these two.”

“It’s over,” I whispered to Mal.

He squeezed my hand and managed the sweetest smile. “Yeah. You freed me, Ryan. I… Thank you. I love you. I always will.”

“You saved me first, Mal. I just had to return the favor.” Leaning down, I brushed some hair that had come loose from his braid off his face and kissed him.

There had been a minute there that I thought I’d never get to do that again.

That I’d never get to tell him how I felt about him. “I love you, too.”