Page 45 of Stalked By Pestilence
His stare darted to mine.
“Zelus doesn’t care what I do to him as long as you are taken care of. He asked me for my help, and he hasn’t formally requested my assistance in any capacity until now. Not like this. Whatever demon is after you, it’s one even he fears.”
Asha seemed confused by the statement, but I wasn’t.
“I get the feeling it’s a very small list that makes you guys worried?”
His smile was annoyingly gorgeous. “You’d guess right.”
And he’d asked Thanatos for help instead of demanding he have me back? Those weren’t the actions of someone who planned to kill me. At least, it didn’t add up if that was the case.
My gut was telling me that there was more to this, so I asked, “This demon is seriously bad news, isn’t he?”
Thanatos nodded and brushed his hair back. “Based on Zelus’s accounting of the last week, yes. It’s likely to be one of Lucifer’s seven brothers with the number of demons he’s sent and how often they’ve crossed over without issue.”
“Lucifer’s brothers? So, like, fallen angels?” I asked.
Without seeing it happen, he suddenly had Asha on his lap, and it oddly made me miss Zelus, though I’d still have to kill the asshole for trying to murder my bestie. “Something like that.”
Asha held my hands tighter but turned her face toward her beau. “Why would someone like that want her?”
Thanatos shook his head. “It’s hard to say, but it appears Zelus is determined to find out. He asked Limos to assist as well, and those two don’t get along. I’m surprised Limos agreed.”
My mouth fell open in shock. “The dude with white hair and red eyes who I’m pretty sure models as a past time? That guy?”
His amusement reached his eyes. “Humans call him Famine.”
Holy fuck. I’d now met three of the four Horsemen and lived to tell the tale. Though, for how much longer, I couldn’t really say.
Asha’s eyes went from me to him. “Did he really ask you for help? After everything he’s done?”
Thanatos stared at her. “He did, and I admit, I’ve never seen Zelus this frantic to get me to listen.” He seemed surprised by his own observations. “He apologized.”
My friend’s mouth pursed. “To you?”
“And to you,” he added. “He said if we only watch over Emily and keep her safe until time’s run out or the demon is dealt with, he’d do whatever it took for however long it took to make amends.”
“Time’s run out? As in run out the clock on the apocalypse?” Asha asked in disbelief. “That’s what, in two or three months?”
Thanatos expression was grim. “None of us truly know. We’d thought a month at first, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Great,” she huffed angrily. “So indefinitely unless everyone agrees no apocalypse.”
His smile was affectionate, and I had to be glad it was him who found her. Even if, you know, he was Death and had planned to end the world before meeting her.
“I’m guessing Z doesn’t apologize often?” I asked the question bugging me most when the quiet stretched between them. I half-expected them to start making out and banging on the couch with how much sexual tension lingered in their stares.
Thanatos hummed his agreement. “I have never heard him apologize to anyone. That bastard believes he’s always right.”
Yeesh. Even I’d apologized to a few people over the years. Mostly Asha. Not sure how I felt about a guy who didn’t know how to say sorry, but I guess it added more credit to the moment if someone like him had.
He was clearly willing to do whatever it took to protect me from this demon. Enough to admit his mistakes and ask for help. Itwouldn’t save him from my wrath for nearly killing Asha, but it piqued my interest.
My friend touched his face. “And how do you feel about all that, Mr. Killer?”
Mr. Killer? That was an odd nickname even for Asha.
Then it suddenly clicked. Asha had said Thanatos saved her the first time they met. The night the men were torn apart and found in that side street, was that him? I suddenly had a new appreciation for Thanatos if he’d destroyed the men that they’d since linked to several sexual assaults in the area. I just hoped it wasn’t my bestie who was their last victim.