Page 39 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

R ym was in my living room with two other demons that I hadn’t seen before. He introduced them as Jaylen and Vern.

Vern the demon. This shit cracked me up and I wondered if that was his real name or one he’d made up to make him feel like he would fit in better with normal people. It was safe to say that I did not ask.

Jaylen was missing his right eye. It looked like it had been clawed out and there were long, thin scars around the eye socket that ran up his forehead and into his hair, leaving streaks of white through his black hair. He was dressed in all black. Black turtleneck, back slacks, and black combat boots. All that black matched his hair and his eye.

His one eye that remained was as black as his hair and made him look like he was devoid of any emotion. It kind of creeped me out. It was made worse by the fact that he hadn’t taken his eye off of me from the moment I walked into the living room.

I shivered, feeling uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

Vern had thick, dark framed glasses that he kept pushing up his nose with his pointer finger because they kept sliding down. He had messy, dark brown hair that hung down past his shoulders. He wore a t-shirt proclaiming him to be some kind of nerd and there were holes at both knees of his jeans. They didn’t look like they’d been bought that way either but instead looked like he’d been wearing them for years and were now falling apart.

He looked like a messy nerd and the two of them didn’t look like they belonged together. I wondered what they both did for Johnathon.

It was Vern who had the baby. and I wasn’t about to try and take it from him for a couple of reasons. He looked quite comfortable with it and I didn’t want to hold a baby. Ever. Too fragile and droppable. I was a responsible adult but not that responsible.

The three of them were all sitting on my couch together (four, if you counted the baby). Fox was standing just inside the room with his back to the wall and his arms crossed over his chest. He was in a place where he could easily see all of the occupants of the room.

I sat down in one of the arm chairs and Rally sat down on the arm of it instead of just going and sitting in his own chair. I almost rolled my eyes at him. I didn’t know why they were here but I didn’t need to know why to know they weren’t here to harm me. Jonathan wouldn’t like that and there was no doubt in my mind that they answered to that particular demon.

Ginger had followed us into the room and placed a tray on the coffee table. It had to have belonged to my grandmother because it certainly wasn’t something I had bought for myself or ever used before. It had cups of coffee on it and little dishes with sugar and cream in them. I hadn’t bought the dishes either.

Ginger took the baby from Vern, grinned at me like a damn maniac, and then said she had to run back home because Hunter was supposed to be coming over soon for a visit.

Great. Just what I needed, adding Hunter to the mix. No way was he going to learn I was entertaining demons in my house and not barge his nosy ass on over here. The chances of that happening were zilch.

“So,” I said conversationally as Jaylen and Vern picked up their coffee cups. Rym remained stiff and stoic, making no attempt to reach for his cup. “What brings you three here to my home on this fine morning? Last time there was a demon here someone lost their life.”

Rally grunted irritably and I knew there was more he wanted me to say but I refused to be his mouthpiece. If there was something he wanted to say to the demons then he was more than welcome to say it. And if he had wanted to be the one to start the conversation out then he probably should have done so, it’s not like he hadn’t been given the chance to do so. He just hadn’t taken the opportunity that had been before him. I didn’t want to hear him complaining about it now.

As one, Jaylen and Vern turned to Rym, as if they expected him to answer all the questions for them. Apparently, they didn't mind having a mouthpiece and Rym had either been elected beforehand or they’d just decided without discussing it with themselves to give him the job.

Rym sat up straight as he met my eyes and locked in on me. I found the demons to be a bit unnerving because when they focused on me it was as if I were the only thing in the room that they saw and I didn’t want to be the sole focus of all that intensity.

“We are here for a specific reason, not simply to be nosy and insert ourselves into your life. Your father didn’t think you would appreciate a visit from him so soon after just seeing him last night. Which I was in complete agreement with him on. So, he sent me to deliver his message in person because he thought you’d be more receptive to that.”

I nodded slowly. Johnathon had been correct in thinking I didn’t want to hear from him. But I didn’t really want to hear from any of them and I thought I had gotten everything off of my chest the night before. There was nothing else for us to discuss. And I had no issue with Rym being our go between person if that meant I didn’t actually have to see my father again any time soon.

Never would be really nice.

I wasn’t naive enough to think I was going to get away with never having to see him again. I knew after the things he’d said to me last night that he wanted to insert himself into my life in a forceful, permanent way, and it was going to take a lot for me to get rid of him again.

I could play nice for now if it meant I didn’t actually have to see the man.

“And, let me guess, you volunteered yourself for the job once again.” I hadn’t forgotten our conversation last night that he hadn’t wanted to finish.

“You’re lucky I talked to him on your behalf, Ruby Jane. Johnathon thinks that since Rally has decided you need to have guards that he should be able to have his people guard you as well. I didn’t think you would take to that very well, so I talked him out of it. Otherwise, I’d be moving in here with you this morning instead of just dropping by to have a friendly little chat with you.”

Just a friendly little chat with one of my father’s closest demons. Nothing too serious here to see.

I didn’t want to hear anything that Johnathon had sent him here to tell me because chances were high that I wasn’t going to like it. Still, better to just get it over with so I could move on from it.

I had better things to do today. Things I was looking forward to just as much as I was dreading them.

“Go on then,” I said. “Let’s hear it.”

“Let’s get one thing real clear here. None of Maredo’s people are moving in with my mate. Not now, not ever,” Rally growled out in a low rumble that had me looking over my shoulder at him. His eyes were glowing with the color of his wolf’s eyes as he sneered across the room at Rym.

I placed my hand on top of his thigh in an attempt to sooth his prickly temper. He exhaled heavily, forcing his body to relax, and placed his hand over top of mine.

“That’s not going to happen, so you don’t even have to worry about it,” I assured him. “I’m not ever going to let one of his minions in that close to me. He left me after my mother was killed, he doesn’t get to come back now and insert himself into my life. But I’m going to listen to what Rym has to say and hear what it is that Johnathon wants from me now. I don’t want to be blindsided by anything else when it comes to that man. So, I’m going to play along like a good girl. For now.”

I squeezed Rally’s hand and turned back around to face off with the demons once again. And I did it with a fake, pleasant smile on my face that Thomas would have been proud of me for using.

Thinking about Thomas, especially with these demons being here right now and knowing it had been a demon that killed him, was a reality check about the situation I had currently found myself in. And it made me very angry.

I was the one in control of my life and I wanted it to stay that way. I already had Rally thinking he could tell me what to do. I absolutely did not need Johnathon Maredo thinking he could do it too, because he absolutely could not. And I would have thought he’d have figured that out last night.

When I turned back around to face the demons I noticed immediately that there was a change in them. Vern had lost his friendly face and had grown serious. Something I said hadn’t made him happy. Jaylen had moved all of that intensity in his stare to Rally and, if possible, it had grown even more intense. But now it also looked positively psychotic. He looked slightly enraged and Rally was at the center of all of that.

Not to be a bad girlfriend, or whatever, but Rally was totally on his own with this one.

Rym was the only one who’s demeanor hadn’t changed at all. Then again, he’d met me before and had already experienced my mouth running and the shit that came out of it. He hadn’t shied away from it then and I didn’t expect him to do it now.

I didn’t know if it was me that Rym liked or if it was just the fact that Johnathon was my dad that he liked. And I didn’t really care because it’s not like we were friends or even were going to be friends.

I was a firm believer in believing that you couldn’t trust a demon. I didn’t care what anyone else had to say about them.

I didn’t give a shit how friendly Rym was towards me, I’d never trust him.

This was my first time meeting the other two. Vern had started off friendly looking enough but it hadn’t taken very long for that particular veneer to wear off. Jaylen hadn’t even attempted to fake being friendly, which I could appreciate and also respect him for.

“Next week there is a meeting that’s also a dinner happening that your father would like for you to attend as his guest.”

I cocked my head to the side, studying Rym and not understanding why Johnathon would want me at some meeting with him where there would be other people. Especially if they were people of any importance because he wouldn’t want them to see the loathing I had for him. And I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hide it from anyone. I wasn’t that good of an actor.

“Why?” I asked bluntly, not wanting to drag this out any more. I was already over and done with the whole thing.

“You do know that most people would kill for an opportunity to sit down and have dinner with Maredo and other important people in the community that you’re now a part of.” Vern said in an attempt to scold me.

Vern hadn’t met me before so he didn’t know what kind of bomb he was about to set off if he wasn’t careful and kept talking to me like that.

“Most people are stupid and have no idea what he’s capable of.” I told him in a surprisingly calm and controlled voice. I had a better handle on my temper than I would have thought. It had a lot to do with the man sitting beside me with his hand on my thigh. I wasn’t facing this alone here, I had Rally at my back. And that felt fucking amazing and it wasn’t something I was used to. “Unfortunately, I do and I’m not interested. I don’t want anything to do with the man. And, for the majority of my life, he wanted the same from me in return. I’d really like to go back to that.”

Please, and thank you very much.

My life wasn’t that simple though. Not where my family had ever been concerned and I’d never once gotten what I’d wanted or asked for from them.

Rym sighed dramatically like he was tired of me and stood up. Jaylen and Vern stood up after him, like good little baby birds following their mother.

“I’m just the messenger, Ruby Jane. And I’ve delivered the message, but I feel I can’t leave until I give you some advice. Go to this meeting of your own free will, because if you don’t you’ll still end up attending it anyway. You have no idea the lengths Johnathon will go to in order to get what he wants.”

“I would have thought you were smart enough to have learned a thing or two when that dead demon you were searching for was found,” Jaylen said in a sensual voice that did things to me that I would never admit out loud. “It would be a great disappointment to find out that you aren’t everything that people are saying you are.”

“And what exactly is it that people are saying about me?”

He shook his head and walked out of the room without answering me. Vern glared and Rally and then scurried after him.

Okay, so maybe he didn’t scurry and I was being a bit dramatic but I didn’t particularly care for him. He hadn’t made a good first impression here with me. Too bad for him you only got that chance once and if it were up to me he wouldn’t ever be around me again to be able to give me a second impression.

“You won’t like the measures he resorts to in order to get what he wants,” Rym warned me.

And then the asshole just left.

“What kind of measures do you think he meant?” I asked curiously.

“Probably the kidnapping you kind,” Rally murmured quietly. “If we’re lucky.”

Huh.

That didn’t sound enjoyable to me at all. And if we’re lucky? That didn’t sound good either.

“Fuck,” Fox grumbled, speaking for the first time.

It was definitely a thought worthy of the F word, that’s for sure.