Page 42 of Stalked By Pestilence
“What the fuck? You guys know each other?” My head was doing overtime to piece everything together. “But…”
I couldn’t figure out if they knew his human version or the other version. I needed to be careful with how I addressed this messy situation. The only thing I could immediately ascertain was that they’d met before, and that whatever that meeting was, it wasn’t a good one.
Zelus put a hand on my arm and drew me closer to him, but Asha’s eyes went to it immediately. Stalking over, she grabbedmy arm and tore me out of his hold. And then for some reason, she lifted it and stared directly at the spot he’d wrapped his hand around.
Her eyes searched for something, but I couldn’t begin to guess what that was. All I knew was that the sneer she leveled on him was the same one she gave any guy she wanted to put six feet in the ground. She saw him as a threat. It sparked a fear inside me I’d only just abated.
“She’s yours then?” Thanatos asked.
Zelus’s eyes flicked down to me, his jaw straining. “She is.”
In the time it took me to form a question, Thanatos was between us and forcing Zelus back out the door. I panicked and ran to stop it from happening.
“What’s going on?” I demanded from both of them, standing between the two scowling macho bros.
Asha had come to stand next to Thanatos, and something about the two seemed off. Or maybe different was the right word.
I could’ve sworn the shadows in the room were moving in ways that were outright odd. Shifting when there wasn’t light or reason. And was that a fucking bird knocking its beak on our kitchen window? Was Asha telling the truth when she claimed a bird was stalking her?
My eyes caught on a few weird shadows, and I heard the cawing asshole at our window. My eyebrows lifted practically into my hairline in question, but Zelus wrapped an arm around my waist and brought me into his body. His eyes never left Thanatos.
“It’s not what you think, Dead,” was all he said, as if that’d explain everything.
My brows drew together. Dead?
Thanatos’s expression was unreadable. “Now, why don’t I believe you…”
“Ems, he’s not who you think he is,” Asha murmured, glaring at him and reaching for me again. “You have to trust me.”
“He’s like me,” Zelus whispered into my ear, his arm around me tightening. “They both are.”
My eyes widened, and both of them went still as they stared at me. They’d heard it, too. “But…that can’t be true. I’d know if Asha was a demon or snake monster or whatever and trying to stop the world from ending, okay? I’m her bestie, Z. She’d never keep that from me,” I rambled, but my pulse spiked with panic.
Had she hidden her true self from me this entire time?
Asha’s expression twisted with rage, and she started to move, but Thanatos grabbed her hand. Something passed between them with a mere glance before she nodded.
She crossed her arms and stared at me. “So, you know about demons and the apocalypse?” was all she asked, and my world crashed down around me.
“How doyouknow about them?” I demanded.
Her smile was despondent. “Because I was also attacked by demons not very long ago.”
My mouth opened, but nothing left it for several seconds. “You were? Is a demon hunting you and trying to take you back to Hell, too?”
Thanatos stared at my throat, and I realized quickly he saw whatever Zelus had. “You’ve been marked.”
Asha didn’t seem to understand and peered up at him. “Marked?”
Zelus growled, as if he’d been waiting for them to notice. “Yes, she has. And I intend to destroy the sly sod who did it.”
Thanatos seemed surprised to hear it. “You do? For what reason, Pest?”
“Pest?” I asked with a curious glance up at Zelus.
Asha cut him off before he could answer me. “He’s Pestilence, Ems. He’s one of the Four Horseman like Thanatos.”
My brain was probably melting. It was extra mushy, and I was having a lot of trouble forming thoughts, let alone responses. Asha could see it, too, because she didn’t wait to explain.