Page 21 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

I left the tea brewing as I fetched my hand massager.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I shook my head, finishing the drinks, taking a seat. “Wasn’t expecting to be using much magic this morning.”

“My fault.” He dipped his chin.

“Are you looking for pity?”

He lifted his head, glowering at me. “No.”

“Because there isn’t any here.”

“I wasn’t…” He stopped, shaking his head as he took the seat opposite me. “What are we going to do tonight?”

“You tell me.”

“I have no idea.”

“What a great start.”

He picked up his tea. “There is either violence or diplomacy.”

“I’m not sure the latter will work, unless you’re planning on handing yourself over.”

Every time he blinked, his lashes seemed to flutter like butterfly wings.

I tried not to look.

“I have a theory on what the hunters might be after,” he said.

I removed my hands from the massager, picking up my cup. “Go on.”

“I didn’t want to say this before because I did intend on leaving London until…”

I filled his pause. “Until you decided to stalk me?”

A brief scowl.

“What?” I shrugged. “You did it.”

“Do you want this information, or would you rather bask in smarminess?”

Bask! Ha! “Can’t I do both?”

He sipped his tea.

“Sorry. Carry on. I’m being a prick.” Though you’re a bigger one.

“Are you sure you don’t want to snipe some more?”

“Nope. I’m done.” It was then I noticed he’d put the roses in a vase. For a moment, I didn’t know whether to be pissed at him going through my cupboards to find the vase or touched by it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, drawing my attention back to him.

“Nothing. Carry on.”

He glanced at the flowers, then back to me without bringing them up. “I’m old, Roman. Very old. Two thousand years old to be exact.”

Why did he have to wait until I drank my tea to drop his bombshell? I choked, spluttered, even snorted up a dose of chamomile.

“Roman?” He got to his feet.

I held up a hand, riding the wave to stabilize.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No.” I got myself some paper towels, cleaning myself and the table.

“Sorry for the shock.”

Why are you trying not to smirk? “I’ll refrain from drinking until you’re done.”

“Thank goodness there wasn’t popcorn in your mouth.”

I snickered. “Yeah. Talk about a real choking hazard.”

“I loathe popcorn.”

Two thousand years old? Seriously? With skin like that?

Decorum restored, I let him go on.

“I am a demon of The Word.” He sipped some tea for lubrication.

“The Word is an ancient demonic power gifted to two demons—myself and another. No other demon can speak or understand it, even begin to formulate its sound and structure. Nor can they inherit The Word.” Xavier drank more tea, hints of fear slithering into his features.

“Have you heard about the frozen lake of lost demon monarchs?”

“Yeah, I have.” A lot of demonic details were leaked into public consciousness after the walls came down. Mainly thanks to Phillipe. He wanted to be transparent about the workings of the demon realm in order to help his peaceful cause.

Demon politics were complicated, even worse than ours.

Whenever a demon king or queen reached the end of their reign, by choice or not, they went to a frozen lake to be removed from power.

Forever sleeping, forever lost in undying stasis.

Apparently, it was the only way to deal with such things over there.

And it was the only time demons could properly rebel against a monarch without suffering the physical consequences.

“My part of The Word breaks the ice on the lake outside of the rituals for sealing away monarchs,” Xavier said. “The other part of the power restores it.”

“Wait… What? Rituals?”

“Removing a monarch requires a concentration of demonic energy, a ritual to bind them, to seal them. The lake’s ice opens enough for the king or queen to be dropped inside. My power completely destroys the ice, waking them all up.”

Great. “Oh. You’re the extreme option.”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think these hunters want me to open the lake.”

I sat up straighter. “But how? Why? They’re human, aren’t they?”

“There must be a demon working with them.”

A cold finger poked at my guts. “You mentioned another with The Word. Can they put the ice back together again?”

I saw him flinch, his jaw tighten. “If they were still around.”

“Not what I wanted to hear.”

“I don’t like saying it.”

“If those former monarchs are freed…”

“Chaos will reign.”

Oh, God. This really sucked. “Why do you even have that kind of power?”

“A contingency power providing alternative options. If we wanted a sleeping monarch back, we could break the ice, send the current monarch into the waters, then restore the ice. The Word bypasses all allegiance to the monarch.”

“No broken teeth?”

A hint of a chuckle. “No broken teeth.”

I scratched my stubble. “If you use this power, then the sleepers have an opportunity to escape, right?”

“Which is why I have only used my power once, when there were only a handful of monarchs in the lake.”

This hurt my temples. “What happened?”

“We thought we all wanted our former back, that we’d sent her to the lake too early.

The new king, one of three sons, was rather terrible in his position.

However, her restoration was a mistake. She returned with vengeance in her heart.

To her, we were traitors. And so, I opened the lake again, leaving the throne to go to her next son. He was a good king.”

“And you never wanted to swap anyone around again?”

He shook his head. “By that point, there were too many sleeping kings and queens in the lake.”

“Right. Dangerous times a billion.”

“Precisely.”

Man, this was wild. “What happened to the other demon with The Word?”

The sudden shift in his face, the ripples of sadness in his eyes, the defeated sagging of his shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He stood up, his hands returning to his pockets. The sigh drifting out of him spoke of a painful past.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” I responded.

He didn’t look at me. “Ismael.”

“Ismael?”

“My ex-lover. My everything.” He closed his eyes, going as still as stone.

What did I say? What did I do? We weren’t exactly bosom buddies, nowhere close to any kind of hugging-it-out stage of this strange relationship.

He walked to the window, both hands resting on the edge of the sink. “He is gone. I’m sorry, I can’t say anymore.”

“You don’t have to. Really.”

Xavier turned around, his eyes on the wall. I wanted to hug him. He just looked so broken.

“That was all so many years ago,” he said.

The demon glanced at me, then sat back down. “Let’s move on.”

“Okay. Would you like more tea?”

“No, thank you.”

I waited half a minute before cutting through the silence. “It’s not a good idea to walk into a trap. We can’t have you dragged off to the lake and The Word tortured out of you.”

The demon nodded, tracing his finger around the rim of his cup. “I must know who is behind this. Right now.”

“Now?”

“I did want to run, to forget the past and live a quiet existence. Clearly, I am not allowed to do that.” Another deep sigh. “I quite enjoyed my head being buried in the sand. It could have stayed there if it weren’t for these wankers.”

I nodded, getting up to put the kettle on.

“I’m sorry to get you involved,” he whispered.

I rested my hip against the counter. “Don’t worry about it. I’m the one who didn’t drive away.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” he replied.

Our gazes melded together, locked in a hypnotic trap.

Me too…

I broke free, turning my back on him. “There’s a spell I can use. It’ll hurt like hell, probably knock me out, but I can give it a try.”

“What spell?”

I faced him again, feeling stronger resistance to his icy stare. “A truth spell.”

“Why would it hurt?” he questioned.

“It’s a really powerful spell with a heavy kickback. You’ll have to back me up, maybe catch me before I fly into a wall or something.”

“I will.”

Not a smart move to even suggest the spell, but these were desperate times. “At least we can get to the bottom of the video thing.”

“And still put ourselves in jeopardy.”

“True. But what choice do we have?”

“Violence,” he answered dangerously.

The kettle clicked, reaching boil in line with his declaration.

“Reveal the truth, destroy them all.”

“I’m good with that.”

“I’ll gather some intelligence.” He was on his feet again.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m heading over to Anerley now, to investigate.”

“What? No. It’s not safe.”

“It’s never safe, Roman.”

I took a step forward, unreasonable panic crawling through me. “What if you’re caught?”

“I won’t enter the building, don’t worry.” With finger and thumb, he made a small sign. “I’ll stay unseen.”

“Right. Spider. What about the Lemon Drop?”

“I’ll keep to a safe distance.”

He seemed set on his decision. “Can I ask you something before you go?”

“Yes.”

“Can you shift into those other forms anytime you want?”

“I can. The small spider, the large one, or part-spider as you saw when I?—”

“Stuck me to the wall.”

“Yes. I much prefer this form, though.”

Me too. “What about your apparent magical resistance?”

He scratched his neck. “My webs can nullify magic when attached to a magic user, which in turn provide me with some magical resistance.”

“Like a vampire?”

“Yes. If Lemon Drop is near, my resistance breaks.”

“If I hit you with a spell now, you’d be unaffected?”

“Yes,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Be afraid? Impressed? Maybe even jealous? “One more question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Those jewels in your wrists and spine. What are they?”

“My eyes.”

My stomach rolled. “Your what?”

“Eyes. They are only active when I’m fully shifted into a large or small spider.”

I nodded, trying not to be freaked out. The more I thought about his spidery side, the more my anxiety spiked.

He was dangerous. He might come bearing flowers and apologies, but I never let myself forget who he was. A demon. An ancient demon with a game-changing power on his lips.

“Make sure you keep your mouth shut at all times,” I said.

He found that amusing. “Words I haven’t heard often in my life.”

My balls responded with a happy tingle. “You still here?”

His eyes fell on my crotch. “I thought you wanted me to stay.” He still exuded sadness, despite his attempt at… What was he attempting? Flirting?

“Scuttle off, spider,” I said.

He moved closer, taking me by surprise. I pushed myself against the counter, ready for a fight.

A hand on my shoulder, sparks igniting under his touch. “I really am sorry, Roman.”

I swallowed, nodding. “Don’t do it again.”

His heat. His incredible heat and scent and body and?—

“I won’t. I promise.”

Fuck me right here!

He backed off. “I’ll be as quick as I can. If you’ll let me back in, of course.”

“You can come…” I cleared my throat, “…come back. You’re on probation, but I’ll allow it.”

I expected him to smirk, but deadly seriousness took over his entire aura. “See you soon.”

He left, the door closing behind him before I got the chance to think about walking him out.

I took deep breaths, requiring a sit down after being in his presence again. The demon did things to me, both irritating and delicious. As much as I should free myself from this stupid entanglement, I quite liked being caught in his web.

Maybe that would be to my detriment.

Maybe not.

But how many other witches could say a demon brought them roses?