Page 16 of Demon Touched (The Demon Syndicate #2)

Nova

H er jaw practically dropped to the floor when his eyes blazed in the dim light of the setting sun and her father stared at his mismatched gaze for a long time.

Nova couldn’t believe he’d told them.

Then her dad looked at Nova, studying her eyes just as intently. “Nova, can I talk to you? Just in the other room, not far.” He gave Dex a look like he knew – he knew something that was impossible to put into words.

She followed him into the kitchen and started the kettle, wondering how her mother would handle being alone with Dex. Nova tilted her head and listened for a second, knowing her father was doing the same.

Another sign.

Her dad trusted Dex alone with her mom.

“How do you heal exactly?” her mother asked, her voice soft and shy. “What kind of magic do you use? How does it work?”

Nova smiled slightly when he started explaining it to her.

“This is the one you called me about?” her dad asked, leaning against the sink.

“Mhm.” Nova yanked open one of the drawers to see the knives her dad kept in there and then felt under the counter for the various explosive charms. Everything was still right where it should be.

He watched her check all the locations where they stashed weapons and then Nova sat at the kitchen table, satisfied that nothing had changed. She pulled out the knife she kept strapped underneath it and spun it between her fingers to help ease some of her anxiety.

This was going to be a weird conversation.

“I can see why you called me about him,” her dad said. “I’ve never…”

Nova looked him in the eyes for the first time since finding out they’d lied. Her dad looked confused more than anything, but also like he finally had an answer to a question.

“His eyes are just like yours,” her dad finally said, studying her purple and then blue like it was the first time he’d ever seen them. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

For a hardened hunter, her mother’s witchy ways had definitely rubbed off on him.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Nova said, shrugging one shoulder. “I do think it’s interesting that my demon magic might be one of the few things that could kill him though.”

Her dad held out a hand and she tossed him the knife. He caught it without really looking. Then he studied the salted blade and tested the edge to see if it needed to be sharpened. “What I think is even more interesting is that you have demon magic, and so does he. Does he know how to use it?”

“Yes.” Nova’s stomach did a little flip and she tapped her fingers on the table. “Why?”

“The timing is too perfect,” he admitted. “But your mother says the Fates do that sometimes. It’s how we met after all.”

The kettle screamed and the sound made her jump.

Her dad took it off the stove and started getting all the things ready for tea. He’d been trained by her mother and was now a pro at it.

“You never told me how you met,” she murmured.

Nova watched her hunter father who had killed more people than she could ever count make a perfect cup of tea to soothe raw nerves.

She had been absolutely fucking sure he wouldn’t get along with Dex, and with how volatile and protective Dex could be, she’d half expected some kind of brawl.

And here was her dad, making enough tea for all four of them.

Something about Dex had made her father decide.

Decide what though…she didn’t know.

Sometimes her life didn’t feel real, and she was starting to feel the schism again.

How was this her life? Was any of this…real?

“I was hunting,” he told her. “With your grandfather and my brother. An entire vamp nest had gotten out of hand. We took care of it, but one of them tore into me.” He lifted his shirt and tapped the largest scar on his abdomen.

Nova had always wondered about that.

“One of the people the vampires had captured was a witch who also happened to be a pretty decent healer. She stitched me up before the wound killed me and that was that. I married her a few months later.”

Her stomach flipped again. “You just knew?”

“I did.” He set the cup in front of her and then put the others around the table. “It was a feeling I still don’t know how to describe. Your mother is better at pretty words than I am.”

“What does this have to do with him?” she asked, dropping her voice so it would be harder for Dex to hear her.

“That man would die for you,” he said, studying her mismatched eyes again with a look she’d never seen before. “I don’t think he even knows why – something I relate to. It was like that with your mother.”

“Dad,” she warned, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

“Look, I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable,” he said, waving a hand to dismiss whatever she was going to say.

“Even if he’s just your friend, that person…

he’s your reflection in every way. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life, and I’ve seen a lot.

I don’t know what it means, I’m just a dumb hunter after all.

But it means something . So, be careful. ”

Nova considered and tapped her fingers on the cup. “Do you like him?”

“He pisses me off, but in the same way you do.” Her dad chucked the underside of her chin with the knife and then handed it to her hilt first. “Too smart and too strong for your own good.”

She took the knife from him and smiled. That was a pretty big compliment coming from him.

“What I want you to be careful of though, isn’t him,” her dad warned.

“You’ve hidden what you are your entire life and now you know the truth behind your magic.

The universe brought you to him for whatever reason – someone who has probably hidden what he was for his entire life.

An angel and a demon? There are terrifying things out there that will want that kind of power. Now, put you two together?”

Nova knew exactly what he was getting at. “Why have one, when you could have both?”

He nodded and considered her. “Is it too late?”

Does anyone know?

Her grip on her cup tightened, but she couldn’t lie to him, even after everything. Nova shook her head, not trusting herself to speak without her voice breaking.

“Don’t lie to me, Novalie.”

Looking up, she stared into the blue eyes that still haunted her dreams – the same eyes her sister had. “What do you mean?”

“Could you leave him?”

Nova didn’t know how to respond to that. Could she physically leave? Sure. Could she survive it? That was an entirely different question.

“If you thought it would save her life, could you leave Mom?” she whispered, pressing her hand over the top of the mug so the steam would burn.

“No.” There was absolutely no hesitation in his response. “I would rather die, and she would kill me if I tried.”

Her parents had always been like that – completely and utterly devoted to each other. Both of them simply couldn’t live without the other.

It was just a fact.

Nova had always wondered if that was why her father had ended up with a healer – someone who could keep him alive.

She nodded in understanding then.

“So, it’s like that.” Her dad slapped her shoulder hard enough to sting, helping her focus just as much as the pain on her hand.

Pain was real. All these feelings though? They made no fucking sense.

“Why?” she whispered. “I don’t get it. We just met.”

“Sometimes, that’s just how things work.” Her dad shrugged. “Trying to make sense of it will make you crazy. Trust me.”

“I need to get some air,” she told him as she stood, the mug still in her hand.

“We’ll start dinner soon.” He studied her from head to toe like he knew what was going through her head, and maybe he did. “We’ll keep him occupied.”

“Thanks.” Nova took the tea with her, walking through the farmhouse without really seeing it.

She went straight for the back and the wraparound porch creaked just like her father had intended. When her boots hit snow, she stopped and stared up at the stars she’d missed so much.

There was nothing quite like it.

Nova turned the cup of tea upside down and let the boiling water wash over her hand.

Her parents had lied to her for almost twenty years, but for good reason. Now that reason was trying to get out, and the only person who might be able to help her was the half angel half demon, kind-of boyfriend she was falling in love with.

This relationship could cost her everything, including her life.

And his.

Taking the cup with her uninjured hand, she studied the burns and blisters on her palm. It hurt like hell, but it was real.

Feelings though—those had always felt fake.

Her entire life she’d felt nothing at all for anyone outside of her family and she’d thought it would always be that way. Nova had genuinely thought she was aromantic since she still liked sex.

Then Dex came along and suddenly she was questioning everything.

For what?

This was only going to make her life harder. Nova didn’t understand it and she didn’t know why she was willing to deal with it all just because she had feelings for some guy.

How did this benefit her?

She ripped the blisters off her hand without even flinching.

Cold, clean Montana air filled her lungs and she felt more centered, but knowing he was inside the house with her parents, that her dad thought Dex was some kind of soul mate – whether they were platonic soul mates or romantic ones – it was too much.

And they’d lied to her.

She was bound like a demon in her own prison of flesh and it made her want to scream .

If she’d stolen demon magic…did that make her part demon, or was she just a thief like Krista?

Could she heal her own hand if she had access to that magic?

Nova dropped her arm and tucked her hand into her jacket, looking up at the stars again.

Did she even want access to that magic?