Page 35 of Stalked By Pestilence

And since when did demons send texts? Why didn’t the asshole just show up and threaten me in person like everyone else? More importantly, why send others in their place?

Zelus had said he was hellbent on not letting them take me to Hell, but he never really said why outside of some silly claim he thought he had over me. A claim that was odd when we’d only meta week ago. Unless he’d stalked me for longer. But the look in his eyes suggested he’d do whatever it took to stop them.

That hadn’t felt like a lie.

I might not know his motives, but I didn’t have a lot of choices when it came to a fight against whoever sent this text. And the moment we had yesterday, something shifted. As much as I didn’t want him to, he’d gotten under my skin. He unearthed a part of me I’d buried long ago.

I was starting to like the asshole.

But my well-honed lawyer senses were screaming that there was way more to this than what Zelus had told me. Worse, he knew it and chose not to tell me.

I cut a look up at the door.

Zelus hadn’t said anything more than he was tidying up yesterday, but something told me that demons had found my apartment. He hadn’t wanted to leave me alone after that, no matter how many times I reminded him his apartment was only a floor above mine and the walls were paper thin. He’d hear me if I was attacked. Hell, the whole building would. But the asshole was impossible and barely agreed to leave for longer than an hour or two.

My lips thinned, determined to test a theory. Leaving the text alone so I could do a little digging into the number later, I grabbed my purse and opened the front door. Before stepping out, he appeared. I’d been prepared for it, so I didn’t stagger back in shock. It still affected my pulse a bit every time he did something supernatural, but I managed to level a glare on him.

“You know more than you’re telling me,” I said without preamble.

He tilted his head, playing the fool. “Don’t know whatyou’re on about, love.”

Maybe he was working with the Horseman, like a minion sent to keep an eye on me, though I still couldn’t figure out what that had to do with demons and the end of the world. You know, assuming that version of Horsemen was who they implied and the stories about the apocalypse were true.

I’d Google what I could later.

If I didn’t have this stupid meeting to go to, I’d ream the asshole for more. It was weird to go about my life as usual when I was apparently caught up in some supernatural war. Enough to be the target of Hell.

But instead of battering him with questions like I wanted to, I locked my apartment door and headed for the stairs. He fell in step with me and dropped an arm around my shoulders, but I was quick to slap and shrug it off.

“You’re angry,” he grumbled.

My voice was dripping with sarcasm. “Oh? What gave it away?”

“Plenty,” he snarked.

I quickened my steps and left him trailing after me. With a swing of the door, I stomped out and headed for my car. But before I could, my wrist was snatched up by the asshole.

“I told you it was complicated.”

I rounded on him after yanking my wrist out of his hand. “Don’t act like I’m stupid, Z. We both know I’m not. There’s something bigger at play here, and it’s the whole reason you and I crossed paths. No amount of sex will make me forget it.”

His lips tilted upwards. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Viper. My brain’s a bit foggy these days.”

There it was, the misdirection. The distraction. His go-to move to get me off the topic.

Pivoting, I resumed my angry trek toward my car and called out to him. “Then you can forget today. Fuck off and find someone else to save. I’ll take my chances with the demons.”

Flipping him the middle finger, because the fuck off I’d shouted at him didn’t feel like enough emphasis, I got into my car and didn’t wait for him to reply. I left him on the sidewalk.

It’d be stupid of me to think that’d stop a supernatural monster from following. I might not know what powers he had, but I’d seen him appear out of nothing plenty of times to suspect he could move unseen. So that was how I’d treat him until that tongue loosened.

Like he was fucking invisible.

It only took me ten minutes to get to the firm. It was tucked into the largest buildings in the city. While this was no New York or Chicago, it was busy enough to make finding a parking spot a chore.

I left my garage pass with them when I tendered my resignation, along with my employee card. I’d have to get signed in at the front and led back like anyone else.

I wasn’t surprised to find Zelus leaned up against the building when I finally got to the entrance, but I didn’t pay the gaudy monster boy a single glance. I strolled right past him into the building.