Page 3 of Demon Touched (The Demon Syndicate #2)

Dex

“ W hat happened?” Dex gritted out, shifting gears as he drove through the streets of Seattle like a maniac. “Someone please explain.”

“They wouldn’t leave me alone,” A.J. said, her voice still shaking. The stench of her fear wasn’t helping him relax either. “I left, but they followed me.”

“Did they find out you’re working for Grim Corp?”

A.J. shook her head, glancing back at the boys in the back of the van. “No. That’s not what they wanted from me.”

Dex yanked on the emergency brake and made a sharp turn, letting the van drift into a parking spot. “Someone else drive.”

He was going to kill them all. Every single person in that fucking bar was going to die and then he’d burn it to the ground.

“Where are you going?” George yelled as he got out of the car.

“I’m going to get rid of them before they track her back here.” Dex slammed the door closed and squared up with the bear shifter. “Are you gonna tell on me?”

They studied each other for a long time before the bear finally shook his head. “A.J. knew what she was getting into. We all did. This was something we anticipated and we got lucky. She came back safe and sound.”

Yeah, thanks to Nova.

“I’m not letting them live,” Dex snarled, trying to get a handle on his rage before he completely lost control.

“If you do something without a real plan…we can’t take that back,” George warned. “Just…think about that for a second. But whatever you decide to do, I’ll support it.”

As much as it annoyed him to admit it, George was right. “Fine, I won’t rip out their hearts, but I’m not going to let that hunter run around unchecked either.”

“I don’t know, sounds like a win-win to me,” George said as he got into the driver’s seat. “If he takes them out, we don’t have to.”

Dex narrowed his eyes in irritation. “Take A.J. somewhere safe and watch her until I give the all clear.”

“Will do, boss.” The bear didn’t bother telling him to be careful.

Dex wrapped an illusion around himself and then launched into the sky, making a beeline for the bar.

They were all going to pay for what they’d tried to do.

He slammed into the roof across from the bar and studied the alley where Nova’s shadows had been was no longer an inky black, but a more natural darkness.

The stench of blood was everywhere.

Jumping down, he adjusted his wings until they were folded tight against his back. No one could see him or hear him thanks to his illusion, but if they ran into him, they’d feel him.

Holy fuck.

Blood was everywhere. Giant pools of it spread across the alley like some kind of gruesome lake. He could almost feel the violent rage Nova had used to kill these four and the fifth…he was still alive, but barely.

There was shattered bone sticking out from the tops of his thighs and Dex realized she’d used him as a landing pad.

Nova was hunting and this…this was what that looked like.

He grinned as he admired the brutality of it.

“I see you.” The whispered words wrapped around him, and Dex reacted on instinct.

Nova dodged his strike and cocked her head at him as she stepped back. “I told her not to bring anyone back here.” The deep grit in her voice was why A.J. thought she was a he then.

Dex smiled.

She could see through his illusion too.

“Why are you still here?” he asked.

Nova loosened the shadows around her eyes and the purple one glowed in the dark. “A hunter sets traps, Dex. Now leave, before they think it’s your fault.”

He walked toward her, wondering if she’d retreat, but Nova held her ground and lifted her chin. Fuck she was hot, even dressed as androgynously as she was.

Everyone thought she was a man and it was fucking brilliant.

Picking her up, Dex wrapped the illusion around her too before launching into the sky. He landed on the roof of the bar and set her down with a grin. “I didn’t realize you were hunting them.”

“I wasn’t planning to engage, but they were going to rape her.” Fury rippled through her eyes and he felt that well of demon power deep inside her pulsate ever so slightly. “I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

“Even though she’s technically under my protection?”

Nova rolled her eyes and set a hand on the edge of the roof, jumping up onto the ledge. She crouched down with her arms loose over her knees. Her entire body was perfectly balanced and she watched the bodies without even blinking.

There was no doubt in his mind she’d sit here all night if she had to.

Her patience was impressive.

“You would have to be stupid to make a claim,” Nova muttered. Her voice wasn’t as deep as before, but it was still gritty enough he wouldn’t recognize her normal voice if he didn’t already know who she was.

Unless this was her normal voice.

“They tried to hurt one of mine,” Dex told her. His demon demanded retribution. “This is not something I’m willing to overlook.”

“I can explain away these deaths because she was in danger,” Nova told him.

She never once shifted, she just sat there as if that was the most comfortable position in the world.

“A battle between two organizations is harder to avoid reporting. The chances of a fight like that getting exposed to humans is high and now these assholes have no reason to retaliate on you.”

Dex felt the blood drain from his face. That had to be why the bear was still left alive. She’d told him she was the one responsible for this.

Nova must have sensed his sudden panic because she whipped her head around and glared at him over her shoulder. “If you try to kill the bear, I’ll walk right into that bar and let them all see me gut each and every person with a lotus tattoo.”

He had no doubt she would.

The truth of that pacified his demon enough to regain some control.

Nova was a hunter. She wouldn’t have laid a trap like this unless she was sure she could deal with the consequences. She’d also done him a favor. The guys who tried to hurt A.J. were dead and the bear shifter was nothing more than a tool.

As soon as that one served his purpose, Dex knew he’d be just as dead as all the others.

But why would she expose herself just to keep the heat off his back?

Dex pulled himself up on the ledge and crouched like she did, his wings hanging down his back to help him balance. He wrapped the illusion around the both of them and settled in to wait.

The fact that she wasn’t asking him to leave was making him stupid and he studied the corpses as he wondered what else she planned to show him.

“I don’t see any tattoos,” he muttered under his breath.

Nova pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Dex took it without thinking and then nearly dropped it when he saw what it was. “What the fuck , Nova.”

“It’s an enchanted ink tattoo,” she told him. “You can’t see it unless you have one, but I can see through illusions and enchantments.” She tapped her left cheek with a knife that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.

One minute her hands were empty and the next she had a weapon.

Dex had never seen a hunter like her before in his fucking life. “Is everyone in your family as hardcore as you are?”

Her eyes squinted over the mask, and he could have sworn she was smiling. “They trained me, so I guess.” She took the slice of skin from him and slid it back into her pocket. “Can you see the tattoo?”

“Once I knew there was an illusion,” he admitted, feeling like an idiot for not looking for something like that.

“Stitching enchanted ink into skin is a rare skill.” Nova scratched at her chest, and he wondered how much that tattoo had hurt. “I can use this piece of skin to link up all the other tattoos like it, as well as sourcing the ink back to the tattoo artist.”

Dex grinned.

He was falling for her all over again and hard .

The back door of the bar opened and someone came out with the trash. They froze when they saw the bodies and then rushed back inside without screaming, knowing it would only cause problems if the human police got wind of this.

Nova was completely still beside him and Dex spread his wings wide as more came out to inspect the alley. She jumped when some of his feathers brushed against her and Nova glared at him.

Dex shrugged, not bothering to hide his smile.

Someone rolled the bear over. “Hey, Freddy’s still alive.”

They cursed when he saw all the damage and Dex had to admit, it was pretty fucking gross. They yanked on the legs, resetting the bones, and Dex studied each person for the tattoo.

“They still have their hearts,” someone else said.

“Then who the fuck did this?”

Dex gritted his teeth. He hadn’t realized they were paying attention to something like that.

The bear shifter groaned and Dex perked up.

“Hey, hey Freddy, how you doing big guy?”

His attention shifted when he sensed her moving. Nova pulled back her sleeve and adjusted her watch. She aimed with her wrist and when one of the guys bent down, she took the shot. It was silent, but he could see something glitter under the moonlight on the guy’s jacket.

“Freddy, who did this?”

“A—a hunter,” the bear shifter stuttered, his voice weak and full of pain. “I didn’t see his face.”

“What did he want?”

Dex studied Nova out of the corner of his eye. This side of her was insane, but he couldn’t deny how much he loved it either.

“He—he said, he said…” the bear trailed off and Dex could almost feel Nova’s satisfaction as the scent of his terror filled the alley. “He said he was the monster who hunted monsters.”

The monstrous skeleton mask with massive teeth covering the lower half of her face made sense now.

“Do you think he’s working for Grim Corp?”

“Nah man, no way. This is way too messy for them.”

Nova turned her head slightly and winked at him. Dex actually felt his fucking heart flutter and he rolled his eyes to hide the shock.

“This has to be the council or a vigilante.”

Nova was up and running before Dex could react. She ran along the edge of the roof like she wasn’t three stories up and the way she jumped from one roof to another made his heart drop, but he was starting to get used to it.

He stood, wings wide, and stared down at the trash below him.

Nova had done everything she could to protect him from the council, but there was a war brewing. People were going to get hurt.

Agmos had ignored it for too long and the Black Lotus wasn’t sticking to their territory anymore. They were hunting in the grey areas without checking who they were going after and Grim Corp could no longer ignore the problem.

He launched into the sky and angled toward Nova.

Surprisingly, he could still see her which meant she wanted him to. His wings beat the air once and Dex tore through the sky like a bullet toward her.

Diving down, he aimed for her, and she dropped between buildings before he could pounce. Dex landed on the deserted street, and she came out of the shadows with that swagger. Even with his illusion she knew where he was and something about that appealed to him.

Nova stopped and crossed her arms over her chest as she studied him. She looked like a completely different person with all that gear on and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was who she really was, or if it was the witch he’d fallen for.

“Dex…are you an angel, or a demon?”

He frowned. “I’m both.”

“Exactly.” Nova shrugged and took a step toward him. “I’m both hunter and witch, so there’s no point asking me which version is real.”

Dex spread his wings as she came even closer, ready to drag her into the sky if he had to.

“It’s just safer to keep them separate,” she murmured as she trailed her fingers over one of his wings. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

He shuddered and whipped them closed with a glare. “To some degree.”

“There’s always some overlap,” she conceded. “I like walking the streets in a different face, knowing the people I care about are safe.”

Dex studied her mismatched gaze and knew he agreed. He just didn’t have the luxury to make that choice.

This was the only life he knew.

Nova took his hand and placed it over her heart. “I’ve never lied to you and I’ve never pretended to be someone I’m not.”

Her heart beat steadily and Dex knew she was telling the truth. This witch was also one of the most skilled hunters he’d ever come across and he wanted to make her his in more ways than one.

“Have you thought about my offer?” he asked.

She released his hand and the purple fire in her eye dimmed. “I haven’t.”

Dex watched as she headed for the darkest part of the street, gathering shadows around her. She stopped just before she completely disappeared and glanced back at him.

“Stay out of this,” she warned. “I put a tracker on him, so please don’t interfere unless it’s within your own borders. I’ll reach out in a few days.”

Then the shadows swallowed her whole and Dex knew he wouldn’t be able to find her again, not tonight. Not until she wanted to be found.

But at least she wasn’t avoiding him anymore.

Nova might be the only person in the world who could survive loving him, and he had no intention of fucking that up.