Page 23 of Stalked By Pestilence
“So, what is it that you want with me, then?” I pressed, my fingers stopping on his bottom lip and eyes searing into his with my question. “Are you here to hurt me, too?”
His hand had been brushing my neck, but as if my words had burned him the second they left my throat, it was gone. “Why would I bother saving you if I wanted to hurt you?”
That wasn’t an answer. I studied his face carefully, trapped in an embrace and hating how much I didn’t hate it. “I don’t know how demons work. Maybe it’s a territorial thing.”
His laughter was so loud it nearly sent me clamoring back, but his arm was a steel bar behind me. I couldn’t go anywhere if I wanted to. I’d seen what he could do to some obscure shadow creature he called a demon. I didn’t stand a chance against a supernatural beast. Maybe Asha, but definitely not me.
“Guess that’s on me, love. I snarled and fought like a beast, so I can’t expect to be treated as anything but that.” His hand was back, but this time on my face, his thumb swiping across my bottom lip. “It’s complicated.”
Another non-answer. It meant I wasn’t likely to coax the truth out of him this time. He was guarded for some reason, and if I pushed too hard, it could make those walls he’d built ironclad. I had to play this carefully.
I bit my lower lip and pulled away from his touch, gaining what little distance I could inside his arms. “Then at least tell me if I can expect more of what happened today to happen in the future.”
His expression froze over, and I closed my eyes in resignation. I didn’t need an answer. As much as this guy was a supernatural being capable of feats my mind still barely comprehended, his responses showed on his face like any human.
“That’s what I was worried about.” I sighed and pressed my forehead against his chest, thoughts spiraling. “If you were to leave, would that solve my problem?”
I didn’t mean to sound so desperate when I asked, but I couldn’t help it. Control was slipping through my fingers like sand. I needed to get a grasp on it before I lost it completely. Being out of control was a nightmare that rivaled the beast who attacked me today.
Zelus’s hold on me was stone. “No, Emily. They’re not here for me.” I peered up at him, just catching the tail end of a sneer. “They’re here for you, and I plan to find out why.”
Chapter Eleven
Zelus
I’d done a bloody fucking sweep and cleared out all the demons in the area, so how was it one slipped through? Who was this twat aftermyhuman? By the sheer number in the area, it wasn’t an average higher demon. The ones he’d sent were far more powerful than the typical grunt—and getting stronger by the minute.
No one made a nuisance of themselves where I was concerned, unless they thought they could take on a Horseman. Very few demons could. But this one hadn’t backed off in the slightest after my warning and claim on the human. He’d doubled his efforts.
I’d been picking off demons left and right, in daylight even. Not a common occurrence for demons. It was much harder for themto keep a hold on mortal forms in the daylight. They preferred to hunt at night for a whole host of reasons, but least of all that it was when their power was strongest.
Nearly twenty blasted demons were snuffed out with my unchallenged power as a Horseman, and still, one had gotten their nasty hand on myCounter Soul.
The fire and ice that flooded my veins the moment I caught sight of Emily on her knees, her blood coating the asphalt, with a demon’s hand around her throat hadn’t faded.
If anything, seeing the woman who’d carried herself with nothing but sarcastic confidence wither into fear and panic had roused a fury I hadn’t felt in all my years as this plane’s unchallenged Bringer of Illness.
My eyes tracked each finger mark around her throat that no mortal could see, the vicious red branding her. A mark that made it easier for the demon to drag her to Hell for whichever bastard was bent on having her. Had I been even a minute later, she’d be gone—her soul torn from her mortal body and brought to the demon seeking her out.
I never intended for Emily to see my other form. The fear creeping into those beautiful two-colored eyes wasn’t the kind I fed on. The mere thought of her being afraid of me was a punch to the gut. It rendered me absolutely mad. But fighting demons that had only gotten more powerful with each encounter forced me to take my original form.
Even after all that, she’d been marked.
The demons sent to find her would have an easier time of it now that she had. There wasn’t anywhere I could take her they wouldn’t find. She was marked for Hell. Then again, running awaywasn’t my style either. I was in for a fight for however long it took to ripen her soul and deliver it for the apocalypse.
What we initially thought was only a month to find the souls had become a rather unclear deadline. Maybe for as long as it took to deliver one. Still, time was hardly on my side with a powerful demon bent on having what was mine.
I’d need to act fast.
After asking her questions, the adrenaline crash after the attack finally hit her. She slipped away to a quiet sleep, her head gently cradled in the crook of my arm, little hands clinging to me like she worried I’d slip away and leave her. Nothing and no one could ever make me. Her breathing had evened out after nearly half an hour, and seeing her take to me after everything put an ache deep inside my chest.
It was an emotion I couldn’t name. A surge of protectiveness rushed over me. I pushed it down and brushed away the silky blonde hair that had fallen into her face. Then I stared at the ceiling and considered my next move.
I’d need to find out who was in the market for her soul and where the demons they sent were crossing over. It had to be close for so many to be hanging around.
But the thought of leaving Emily’s side struck my chest with painful heat. Not even under the eye of my most trusted underlings did it feel safe to leave her. I needed to be the one by her side, or I risked losing her.
For the apocalypse and no other reason, I reminded myself.