Page 91 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

I rubbed his bare back. “We’ll have it again. Lazy Sundays with too many snacks, watching Hugh Jackman and Angelina Jolie movies.”

“Sounds like heaven.”

A harsh truth hit me. If things did get fixed using the jar of time, would he be a rat again? Doomed with the appropriate lifespan? Gone in a year or so?

Oh, man. That seriously made my heart fracture.

“Hopefully we’ll be doing those things as human besties,” I said.

“Maybe,” he answered.

“Because as cute as you are with whiskers, I’d like to keep you like this.”

“A beautiful specimen,” Butterfly whispered, looming over us.

He’d made googly eyes at Darcy before.

Our hug broke, my bestie frowning at the demon. “Uh-huh.”

Butterfly tilted his head, his hair a rippling purple curtain despite the lack of breeze in here. He smiled, raking his gaze across my naked friend.

I covered his body with mine, glowering up at the prick. “No.”

He didn’t answer, taking a step back when Xavier returned with three white robes.

“When I first lost Ismael, I used to come here to think.” He handed Butterfly one of the two large robes.

“The idea of this place is to reconnect with your heart. To heal, to meditate and embrace the future after a great loss. You strip off all your clothes, put on a robe, then reflect in silence.” He gave Darcy the smaller robe.

Whoa. Talk about soft—like silky wool but much, much smoother. “Did it work for you?” I helped Darcy into the robe.

My bestie sighed with relief, turning into happy jelly. “Instant warmth.”

“Absolutely is,” Butterfly agreed, tying the belt on his.

Darcy ignored him, blowing a lock of hair out of his eyes.

Xavier slipped into his robe, covering the perfect, muscled planes of his body.

“Sometimes,” he answered my question, not elaborating further.

Talking about this was good, helping me silence any wishes.

Xavier raked a hand through his hair, glancing over to the wardrobe. I noticed a patch of tiles close to it were bluer than the rest of the room.

“We go through there,” he said, pointing at the patch in question.

He seemed distant, as if he was…afraid of me. The way he looked at me changed the air in the room, bringing a painful tightness to my chest.

Oh, God. I couldn’t have him thinking of me as some sort of monster.

Aren’t you?

Gingerly, I approached him. “Xavier…”

He stiffened, his jaw tense.

“How are you holding up?” I tried.

“Still counting, Shadow,” Margarite interjected. “Soon I will do whatever you like again.” She sounded more robotic each time she opened her mouth. “I look forward to serving you.”

I gaped at her, unsure of what to say. She really was dead, this woman before me a million miles away from the real her.

“Let’s keep moving,” Xavier said. So cold, so weary.

I can’t find you to lose you…

I shook off the wobble of pain. This wasn’t the time for any of this.

Please don’t hate me…

Why would he hate me, though? I was overthinking this.

Shut it down. Be the one they call The Shadow.

But that version of me was kind of dead. Another Roman wanted his turn in the spotlight now. To taste pleasure and romance and be something completely new, facing the world with the silky demon before me.

Later…

Xavier gestured for Darcy to climb on his back.

My friend didn’t need convincing with the offer of more warmth.

I bottled my feelings, following Xavier across the room. Butterfly hurried behind me, Margarite keeping pace with me. A real fever dream, my favorite and least favorite people all in one place at the same time.

Life really could be twisted sometimes.

Xavier touched the blue patch of tiles. They slid away, revealing a grubby white metal door. Eight buttons sat at its center, each one numbered. Xavier pressed them quickly, out of sequence. Seconds later, the white door dropped away, a blue door replacing it with a fresh set of buttons.

Erm, okay.

Xavier punched in a different sequence. Machinery whirred to life, humming behind the door.

“What just happened here?” I asked.

“Some of us know the right buttons to press,” Xavier answered, not looking back.

Yeah. He really did know what buttons to press, especially mine.

I hated that he didn’t look back.

“Level 88 next,” Xavier added.

“I look forward to studying and thinking in safety,” Butterfly said. “If it is as safe as you say.”

Xavier didn’t answer him.

Why did this sound too easy? The unease in my belly intensified, sprouting barbs to remind me that when things seemed too easy, they usually were.

A heavy boom from behind us confirmed it.

Ugh.

I spun, watching the white door of the previous elevator rattle. The tiles around it cracked and bulged.

“What was that?” Darcy squeaked.

A second boom made the door shake harder.

Xavier growled at the blue door. “Hurry up!”

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Tiles split or popped off the wall around the elevator, shattering on the ground. A series of cracks spidering across the walls spread quickly, tremors reaching the soles of my feet.

Oh, shit. This wasn’t good, my nerves in a blender.

A guttural roar sounded from behind the white door. Something was breaking its way through the elevator shaft.

Where the hell was our exit out of here?

Butterfly moved forward, slowly approaching the booms. “I sense… I sense darkness.”

I swallowed, my mouth rapidly losing its moisture. “What do you mean?”

“A demon of darkness. A demon who swallows light.” He cocked his head, taking a few steps forward. “Changed by the change… The hammer… The hammer will… The hammer will make you lost. Once…”

“Once?”

He didn’t answer.

Oh. Shit.

I prepared to flee, flipping every switch to battle mode.

“Where are you?” Xavier barked. He still had his back to me, facing the blue door. “Come on!”

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

We had no weapons, only our fists.

“I am terribly sorry, Shadow,” Margarite said. “The clock is ticking but not fast enough for me to help you.” She tutted. “But all strength to you. Win for me to live. Win for me to aid you tomorrow.”

What lovely, unhelpful words. “It’s okay. We should be out of here soon.”

You could make a wish…

Xavier appeared beside me, giving that idea a slap. “The elevator isn’t here yet.” He took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”

The booming increased, the thing coming through close to arriving now.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said, squeezing his hand back, looking up at him. “Let’s hope hard for that ding. Presuming it gives off a ding.”

He smiled and it almost took my legs out from under me.

You’re not scared to touch me.

You don’t hate me for having this thing inside me.

Again, why the fuck would he? I seriously needed to drop this thinking, especially with a scary sounding arsehole hammering the hell out of the wall.

After one final squeeze of his hand, the white door crashed open, spinning away from the wall and clattering across the ground. Rocky debris followed it, big chucks shattering the tiles. We all jumped back, Margarite repeating her spiel from the sidelines.

“Christ!” Darcy yelled. “I think I’m about to pee myself.” He slid off Xavier’s back, shuffling closer to the blue door.

The ground shook under heavy footsteps. Every muscle in my body tensed, my survival instincts kicking in with a flood of adrenaline.

A figure ducked through the new hole, a tall humanoid wrapped in shadows. All bulging muscles, its head hidden by a hood of thicker shadow. It stomped closer, brandishing a huge hammer, the weapon like something Thor would swing around.

I remembered to breathe, Darcy not the only one close to pissing his pants.

The demon stopped, white eyes flaring as it drank us in. “Scum!” Its voice thundered around the room, pounding my eardrums. “Look at what you’ve done!”

I covered my ears, the guy’s volume way too loud.

“I’m scrawny. Reduced by the golden dust. I can’t feed on the shadows as I should. Everything about me is diminished.” He snorted like a boar. “But I can break every single bone in this room. And I’ll start with the sparkly one.”

He charged at me like a hundred rhinos at once.