Page 51 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

ROMAN

M r. Blue charged at me on some seriously hasty feet.

Whoa!

I ran to meet him on my own quick tootsies, launching myself into the air, firing off a beam of Synth. The red magical energy crackled from my fingertips, hitting him hard in the chest. His big armor sparked, sizzled under the strike, and he went down on his back. Dropped like a fucking stone.

Bingo!

He yelled something, his friends clicking in response.

What a merry band of dickheads.

I landed on him, driving my dagger into his neck, pushing it all the way in until the blade burst from the other side. Not enough to kill a demon, tragically, but God would it hurt the wanker.

Black blood bubbled from his lips, gushing from the wounds in his neck.

“I’m not screaming yet,” I whispered, yanking my weapon free.

The others backed off as a group.

I got to my feet, flinging demon blood off my blade. “What’s the matter?”

Mr. Blue thrashed beneath me.

“Five big guys like you scared of little old me?” My rage flared as cold fire.

I made two quick stabs, taking out Mr. Blue’s eyes.

Pop. Pop.

He gurgled, his ruined voice box releasing a pathetic mew.

I smiled, dropping back down to straddle him as the beetle fuckers watched on in horror.

“I thought you wanted to hear me scream?” I questioned. “Strange. Still not screaming.”

I stabbed Mr. Blue in the heart, then slit his throat open. Talk about overkill, letting the darkness take me over. Fuck it. I was pissed off and needed an outlet. And at least Mr. Blue got to return to the demon realm and heal. One day, he’d end up back on his feet to be a knob all over again.

This show was for the others. To frighten them into fleeing. But with the demon bleeding out beneath me, my bloodlust increased. Fighting these others might just help work out the knots in my soul.

I wanted them to come at me.

Once upright again, I beckoned with my free hand. “Come get me, boys.”

The previously dutiful me would spare one of them a trip to the demon realm, keep him to grill for information for Her Majesty’s benefit. But my duty was as broken as the demon under my feet, along with any sense of reason.

I wanted blood.

I wanted home.

I wanted Xavier to untangle the other knots and help me think of nothing else but him and his kisses. Because I faltered with each passing second, everything too much for my head. Everything?—

The red beetle fucker tried it. He dodged my Synth, pincers snapping away. I let him get close, dodging his snaps. Let him get hard thinking he might snip my head off, then land a blow to the guts.

My blade clanged on his armor. Not tough enough for Synth, but durable against metal.

Oops. Too cocky.

He kicked me in the balls, sending me back to the floor.

“Ha! Take that!”

My eyes watered, nothing like pain between the legs to make me cry for mercy. God, the ache! The damn ache!

This is what happened when you let a craving for violence take over. Yeah, my job might be all about killing, but there were rules to being an assassin. Keep things cool, detached, treat it like a job. Leave emotions outside. The moment you let them in, you got this agony in the nuts.

Fuck it.

The demon positioned his pincers at my neck. With one squeeze, I’d be headless.

“Not so scary after all,” Mr. Red said.

I fired a beam of Synth between his legs for payback. His wails hurt my ears but made my lips stretch wide with glee.

A nice antidote to the pain.

“Not so triumphant,” I returned, wincing yet determined not to die in this shithole corridor.

The other demons came at me as one. I launched a series of Synth beams as I bounded into the fray. Two dodged the magic attack, Mr. Green diving into a roll, taking a swing with his pincer. I ducked, backflipping out of his range, hands screaming with pain from the Synth.

“Arsehole!” the beetle bastard yelled, clicking like the crazy bug he was.

“Feeling is?—”

I broke apart into a million pieces, sucked away from reality. Thrown back through time once again, returning to that place with strange blue stars and yellow blossom trees.

I wobbled, falling onto my arse. The agony in my balls returned to remind me of just how dirty a crotch kick could be.

“Roman!”

Xavier ran over to me, crouching by my side—Xavier from the present time. Through watery, narrowed eyes I looked up at his icy blue peepers nestled in that pale, pearlescent face, his cheekbones deadly sharp, a strand of his usually swept back platinum blond hair falling over his face.

“Are you hurt? What’s going on?” He took me by the shoulders.

I sucked in air, clutching my groin. “Attacked by demons. Don’t know why this shit keeps happening.”

Xavier released one shoulder and smoothed my hair, his touch an instant soothing balm.

Stroke, stroke, stroke. A pleasant tingle between my legs.

His scent, capable of serious seduction, enveloped me.

A bouquet of cinnamon and violets making my head spin, forcing my eyes to linger on his glossy, bee-stung lips.

Craving his kiss, his everything to make it all better.

Ready to yield to him on the cold grass.

Take me…

Please just take me…

I shook the dreaminess off, this situation not the right time for seeing the good kind of stars.

This little spin of lust did make me feel a smidge better, though.

Just a smidge.

The other Xavier and Ismael slowly walked over.

My Xavier cupped my face with his left hand. “This is such a mess.” His voice sent delicious shivers racing up and down my spine.

“Tell me about it.”

He kissed my forehead, completely taking me by surprise. I thought he might be all over his ex, or in some puddle of emotional turmoil. Rightly so. But here he was, planting those lips to my skin, making sure I was okay.

“Who is this?” he asked. No. The other him did.

I broke apart again, taking Xavier with me to the corridor beneath the palace.

Shit on a stick!

The remaining beetle demons were still there, the two hit by my Synth back on their feet, their chests smoking.

“There he is!” Mr. Green bellowed, then choked on his words. “Who the?—”

Xavier part-shifted into his form with spinnerets where his knuckles should be, eyes white fires. Being a spider-shifting demon and all, he fired off silk at Mr. Green, the impact pinning the wanker to the wall. A second splatter of silk covered his face, choking off his words.

Not one to stand by and let my sexy lover have all the fun, I rushed Mr. Orange, kicking him in the face, avoiding his retaliating uppercut and stabbing into his soft neck.

He went down as Xavier tore off Mr. Green’s head, tossing it behind him, taking out the others before I got a chance to. Removed their heads as if the move was second nature.

What a shame. I had a gory plan in store for Mr. Purple.

And, man, was I turned on.

By the devilish radiance in his eyes, Xavier was too.

Take me…

Just take me…

He rushed me, making my breath hitch. Our lips collided with teeth-rattling ferocity, flesh on fire, our hands grabbing and hungry.

A bruising kiss, both painful and needed, stole my breath under the wetness.

I moaned into him, tumbling into lust as more of his scent consumed me.

If I let myself completely fall, I’d let him fuck me amongst the carnage.

Throw myself at the wall and spread my cheeks for him.

Demand he plowed me until I begged for the mercy I didn’t want him to give.

Man, I had it bad.

His hard dick pressed into me, brushing my jeans. I suddenly remembered he’d been naked this whole time.

Get inside me…

But I broke away from him, fingers on my sore, buzzing lips. “Shit. We can’t do this.”

He licked me off his lips. “Sorry. I just needed to taste you.”

Come back and taste some more. “You okay?”

The demon bodies began to fade away.

Xavier’s eyes were blue again, the spinnerets gone. “Not really. I…” His shoulders sagged. “I don’t know how to feel.”

Tentatively, I moved closer to him. “I’m so sorry. I would’ve never taken you back in time on purpose. I didn’t know I had the ability to do it.”

He smiled, which shocked me. “Of course.”

I stuffed my sore hands into my pockets. “What now?”

The spider demon straightened. “First, we get out of here. And we stay close together. I don’t want to be separated again.”

“Okay.” I swallowed a scratchy lump in my throat. “That sounds like a?—”

Back to the past, my stomach rolling. Xavier gripped my hand tight, keeping upright.

“I can’t take much more of this!” I cried before returning to the present.

I bent and threw up, my legs giving out.

Xavier held me. “We have to find?—”

Past.

“Fuck!” I screamed, my vision spinning, blurring. Pain in my head, my guts, everywhere. I puked again and again, desperate for some peace from?—

Present.

Vomit sprayed the spider demon, my forehead on his check, my knees bent. “I can’t… I can’t…”

I puked again, breaking down into frantic sobs as tsunamis of nausea crashed into me. Tears and snot ran freely, my fear a horrible keening. I grabbed at him, clawing at his clothes.

“I can’t take anymore!” I managed to roar, sliding down his chest.

He came down with me. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“I can’t…”

He picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I spewed down his spine. This position was better to not choke on my own sick, I suppose.

We returned to the past again and I passed out, my body so done with this shit.