Demon Q Read online

  She wasn’t ready to let Marcus take control of his own body. Then she’d be stuck with her thoughts. And her regrets.

  Taking a note from Quution’s book, she got out Marcus’s laptop. For no good reason, she searched the history and read over a couple of applications, skimming Brooklyn’s address. Huh, she only lived a couple of miles from here. Xan hit delete on them all and then emptied the trash. Quution would’ve done so himself, but he probably hadn’t planned on leaving so suddenly. If Marcus had mad computer skills, he could retrieve them, but Xan had done what she could.

  Hours of reading through emails and listening to voicemails was finally enough to get her to shower and change clothes.

  She was even restless.

  Her stomach growled. Too bad there was nothing good in the kitchen. Marcus groused a little at the prospect of diving into the ice cream. And after the sour stomach of the other night, Xan couldn’t look at the gallon.

  She dug through the cabinets and fridge. No appealing food stood out to her, but she let muscle memory take over until a peanut butter protein shake sat in a glass on the counter.

  “Fuck, Marcus. How do you stand yourself?” She pinched her nose to drink it, but as the artificially sweet flavor caressed her tongue, she let go of her nostrils.

  Not bad.

  She sat back down at the computer but couldn’t bust out more than an hour of work. Marcus needed somebody to brighten his boring life. Of course, his last girlfriend had gotten him possessed by a demon, so she couldn’t fault his self-imposed isolation. But he shouldn’t let his past taint all his future relationships.

  Xan froze, her fingers poised over the keyboard. She was reading too much into a simple thought.

  The restless energy didn’t dissipate. Marcus was an active guy and he’d just lain around for days without being sick.

  Fine. She’d go for a run.

  Digging through his drawers, she found a spare set of sunglasses. His main pair was in his car, which was still at the gym. Maybe she could run there and grab it. She grabbed his keys and ran out.

  The jog to the gym cleared the residual fog from her mind. Marcus was coming around and he’d put up more of a fight for his body soon, but she wasn’t ready to relinquish it. She could let him take over, but then she’d give up sunshine, cable TV, and king-sized beds. The only other option was to return to the realm where her deceitful sister was trying to take over.

  Nah, she’d hold on as long as she could.

  The drive back was uneventful, and when she arrived, she wasn’t ready to go back into that apartment. So she took off again.

  Inhaling large lungfuls of fresh air, she relaxed into the run. There was no way she could do this in the underworld. Flowering trees on the boulevards released the most delightful fragrances.

  Xan sneezed. Then sneezed again.

  Was Marcus allergic? Was that why he lived in the gym? Or was she too used to brimstone lacing every scent that she reacted to them as foreign?

  Another sneeze and she veered out of the residential areas into a multicomplex community. She passed a street sign and stopped, lurching forward from the sudden lack of momentum.

  “For fuck’s sake, Marcus.”

  Brooklyn lived two blocks away.

  Xan put her hands on her hips and stretched her chest out. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been pushing the pace until she was out of rhythm and sucking oxygen.

  Wandering in small circles, she waited until she’d caught her breath. A block ahead, two people walked shoulder to shoulder.

  Lurched was more like it.

  She spun to head back, but turned again. They were headed for Brooklyn’s apartment building in their faded, grungy clothing. Granted, this wasn’t the most affluent part of town, but this couple didn’t seem like they had a roof over their heads. Their clothing didn’t get that sun-bleached without being outside for several days or weeks.

  Xan spun around again. The couple could have an apartment and still spend a lot of time outside.

  Her feet wouldn’t move. She turned back and followed them, keeping her footsteps light.

  Marcus’s long strides caught up with them in no time.

  The woman of the couple turned back to shoot him a glare and a sneer.

  Xan cocked her head. It wasn’t a normal sneer. It was what she did when she wanted to flash her fangs. Frizzy brown hair hung over the eyes. Xan couldn’t tell what color they were other than dark.

  How dark? There was a huge difference between rich brown irises and full-on ink-black eyeballs. Xan’s shades hid her own telltale eyes.

  A niggle in the back of her mind bugged her until she paid attention to it. There was something familiar about this couple.

  The woman murmured something to the man before they crossed the street to Brooklyn’s apartment. He nodded and faced them. She continued on.

  Xan’s sickly feeling didn’t make her think the woman was going to visit a friend.

  The man’s unruly hair wasn’t enough to cover his eyes and from the way he was grinning, he’d meant for her to see the darkness in his eyes. Behind him, the woman tugged on the heavy glass entry door. It didn’t budge. And the woman obviously didn’t have keys. What were the odds at least one demon was up to something in the same building as Brooklyn, Quution’s host?

  Xan studied the man. Recognition tingled through her mind. The middle-aged guy in front of her was demon possessed and not afraid to try to scare her with it. His clothing had been quality at one time. Khakis and a polo shirt that had faded to a greenish camo look.

  “Are you following us, bro?” The cultured voice didn’t fit the statement.

  Marcus was jittering inside her. The answer was on the tip of her—

  Aha! This was the couple who’d been missing for months. Pinnacles of society. He’d run a car wash that hosted fund-raisers for youth groups and she was a former addict who ran a respected halfway house downtown. The announcement streamed constantly over the TV. One had played earlier today before she’d shut the TV off.

  Xan’s heart twisted. They’d just lost a kid. That was how the demons had gotten to them.

  Why? When there were so many other hosts who played around with the occult, why this couple?

  Xan knew the answer without being told. Because they could. Because their grief made the possession more fun.

  She slowly removed her shades, letting her eyes answer the demon’s question.

  He hissed, revealing yellowed teeth that had probably done time in braces. A nice, normal couple ruined by half-breed demons.

  Her kind sucked.

  “My turn for a question,” she said. The exterior door of the apartment building rattled and the woman shrieked. There wasn’t time to waste. “Why are you here, and who do you work for?”

  Xan’s attention peeled off the male. The woman backed up and took a run at the door. Did the crazy demon think it could break through reinforced glass with a human body?

  A thud shook the door and the woman flopped backward. She rolled to her side and popped up. And backed up again.

  That demon was going to kill the human.

  “No!” Xan lunged forward, but the man in front of her sidestepped into her path. She shoved him off and ran across the street.

  In one of the windows, curtains were pulled back and Brooklyn’s pert face peeked out. Her brows were drawn when she took in the scene at the door, but when her gaze landed on Marcus, her eyes flew wide.

  The man charged and jumped on Xan’s back. She grunted and stumbled, dropping her shoulder to flip the guy off. He hit the ground with an oomph.

  The door rattled again as the woman banged off it. Her body made a sickening thud against the ground, but the woman rolled to her hands and knees to get up again.

  “You’re not going to break it like that, you idiot.” Xan didn’t know what else to say to get her to stop. The human’s body couldn’t take much more.

  He glanced up at Brooklyn’s window. She had a phone to her
ear.

  Damn it. She was probably calling the cops. Living in a place like this, she probably didn’t take a wait-and-see approach.

  The woman was on her feet, swaying, and now the man was as well.

  “The cops are coming.” Xan couldn’t hear sirens yet. “You two need to leave, and if I hear of you coming back, I’ll hunt you down.”

  Xan couldn’t get a good sense of who the two demons were.

  The woman smiled, blood trickling down her face to stain her chin. “Spaeth wants the host killed.”

  Spaeth had spies. How had she forgotten? Quution switched hosts so frequently, she hadn’t worried, and she’d assumed Spaeth either didn’t know or didn’t care who her host was. But these two minions had probably found Brooklyn by spying on Marcus’s place the last few days. They hadn’t gotten close enough for Quution to sense them. So it made sense that they hadn’t recognized Marcus if they’d only seen him from a distance and not usually in a hoodie.

  The man leered up at the window. Brooklyn slinked back, letting the curtains fall shut. With strength Xan hadn’t expected out of the human couple, the man grabbed the woman and threw her into the plate glass door. He crashed after her, using her body weight and his unnatural strength to finally smash through. Glass splintered, parts of the door shattering, the rest cracking into ragged edges.

  The couple landed in a tangle on the other side. The poor human woman’s legs had been slashed and impaled by shards of glass. The guy pushed off her and took off up the stairs.

  Xan crouched and jumped through the opening, sharp edges tearing at her clothing. She paused to check for signs of life in the woman. Unconscious and barely breathing, she bled through her clothing onto the floor. Xan pried an eyelid up. No blackness. Regardless of whether she survived and the demon left her alone, her life was ruined.

  Sprinting up the stairs, Xan chased down the human man. He was beating on Brooklyn’s door, using the same method as his partner, only this door wasn’t as solid as the exterior one.

  Bursts of screams inside from a terrified Brooklyn spurred Xan down the hall. She charged to tackle the man, but he ducked out of her way. Xan tripped trying to stop herself and tumbled to the floor, but she jumped up again to face the human. Spinning, the guy aimed a solid kick where the deadbolt would be.

  The door splintered open, swinging slow and ominous, and the man stepped inside. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

  Brooklyn didn’t respond. Xan hoped she was tucked into a corner and hidden from sight. Running into the apartment, her heart sank. There were no corners to hide in. The space was too small, too open. A laptop was open on the tiny table by the kitchenette. A futon that was currently functioning as the couch took up most of the living room.

  The only other room was the bathroom. That had to be where Brooklyn was hiding. Xan tensed to lunge at the human stalking toward the closed door.

  He closed his hand around the knob. “Come out, come out, wherever you are, worthless human.”

  Xan was about to take him down when he turned the knob and pushed the door open. Why hadn’t Brooklyn locked it?

  Sirens blared in the distance. Xan was partly relieved, for Brooklyn’s sake, but, well, she’d just fucked over Marcus by putting him in the middle of a crime scene.

  Xan was readying herself to jump on the man before he laid a finger on Brooklyn when the yellow-daisy-covered shower curtain flew open. A heavy frying pan swung out and clanged against the man’s skull. He dropped. Xan wouldn’t be surprised if the demon inside had vacated the body before impact.

  Brooklyn’s hands shook as she gripped the handle and stepped out of the bathtub. Tears streaked her cheeks and a beat of relief passed through her before she met Xan’s gaze.

  A gasp echoed off the walls of the compact room and she tightened her grip.

  Her eyes—Marcus’s eyes were black and Brooklyn was experienced enough to know what that meant.

  Xan held up her hands, pointing her fingers at herself. “His name is Marcus and he’s a good guy. A really good guy, and he was tricked into hosting me. I’m leaving him now.”

  And with that, she released her hold on him and went back to the underworld.

  What would happen to Marcus? Would he get the blame? Would his reputation be destroyed so badly he lost the business he’d worked so hard to build? Brooklyn would be fine. The human couple’s life was irrevocably altered at best.

  Brimstone surrounding her, Xan opened her eyes in the same spot she’d left in, the same place she’d fought her sister.

  She had to find Quution. Because he was right. The human realm was better off without them.

  Chapter 22

  Quution tucked the box containing his items under his arm and scurried down the corridor. The personal wards to his chamber had held, but several demons had tried to break in while he was gone. His home was no longer safe, not for him and not for the materials he needed to carry out his mission. Earlier, he’d stopped at his library and found the same thing, except with singe marks all around the entrance.

  As he fled his place, feeling like a coward, he ran through what he still needed in his head.

  A piece of Spaeth and Xan. Spaeth was never in one place long enough to grab a part of him, like blood or hair, and he had no scales or horns that molted. And Xan. Quution sighed. He’d spent all that time with Xan and not once had he thought to collect a part of her. She had no hair to pluck a strand of. He’d scored her with his fangs during passion but hadn’t been cognizant enough, or willing enough, to say, “Just a moment while I store this drop in a vial.”

  He’d failed, and now the realm might suffer for it.

  There was one place he knew no one would look for him. Maybe one person, but Quution doubted she cared enough at the moment to trek there and destroy his items.

  Scrolls were tucked into his pockets and stacks of books were balanced under his other arm. He didn’t need free hands to wield his energy, but an attack could derail everything he’d worked and studied for. The way Spaeth and Xera had turned the Circle against him and Xan, he couldn’t safely show his face anywhere.

  Melody was securely ensconced in the other realm, but Stryke had heard rumors Spaeth’s servants were working on spells to summon her back. The same with Xan. Yank the two females to a specified location and execute them.

  Quution had to work fast to keep that from happening. He was fairly sure he could resist a summons, and aside from striving to keep Xan and Melody alive and protected, if they were somehow foisted from the Circle, he’d have to regather items for the realm wards from whoever replaced them.

  The stench of rotting flesh reached him before he saw the three demons. They had appeared behind him. One must be a tracker, the same demon who’d found his chamber and the library. And they’d managed to sneak up on him. The demons were becoming less afraid of him and his power and learning to work around it.

  Quution didn’t bother turning around, but he did stop. “Let me ask you one question before we get started.” He sensed half-breeds. “Are you working for yourself, or for a full-blooded demon?” Now he faced them.

  “Why does it matter?” one male asked, his words garbled like he had a mouth full of pebbles.

  “Because your master is not interested in bettering your life, but I am.”

  “You lie. You’re seeking to permanently bond us to our masters.” The demon—who could almost pass in the human realm with a bath and a shave—spat a sizzling glob on the ground. “Then you don’t have to waste your energy controlling us.”

  So that was the ruse Spaeth was going for. Xera might not be as strong as Xan, but she was good. Her power was limited to one use at a time, but all she’d done was plant a seed and allowed current fears and suspicions to flourish. The universal fear in all half-breeds was their greatest weakness as a people. They were weaker and would forever lose what power they had. The fear that kept on giving. And Xera had given them all a common enemy and fostered hope that with Quution’s death, the
ir chances for permanent slavery diminished.

  He was so screwed.

  “I don’t waste my energy controlling you.” It was useless to argue, but running wouldn’t help. It’d only lure them to the safe haven he had in mind.

  “You don’t need to. You have all the other full-bloods to help you.”

  Caught by his own lie.

  The three advanced together. Quution clung to his items and made one last attempt at reason, knowing deep down it’d fail. “Your mind is being messed with. Your weaknesses tampered with. Spaeth has a purple demon working for him.”

  The third smiled, revealing a row of sharpened teeth. A set of gills and he’d look like a piranha. “You’re the one with a purple girlfriend. You’re using her against us. You’ve enslaved one of the Circle.”

  The others hissed. As if that wasn’t the very thing Spaeth had done. It was a sacrilegious act, to treat one of their leaders as nothing but a half-breed pawn for personal use. Their very worst fear realized.

  Quution send out a wire of energy to trip them up. It worked, but it didn’t stop them.

  The demon with the razor teeth disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  Sweet brimstone, a smoke demon. This was bad.

  Quution put his back to the wall and cast a dome of pure energy around him. His source was his own power and that of the demons. A ball of smoke bounced off and the demon cried out as he materialized and hit the floor on his bare ass.

  The other two attacked the force field, trying to pound through it by sheer force. Their efforts were diminished thanks to being robbed of their own energy by Quution.

  But the smoke demon vanished again and a pit formed in Quution’s stomach. His bubble wasn’t perfect. It had too many openings for one who could turn into smoke. He set the books and the box at his feet, ready to defend himself with claws, horns, and fangs. He wasn’t as worried for himself as he was about the items on the floor. If even one of them were destroyed, his entire plan crumbled.

  “Oh, boys.” Xan’s sexy voice carried down the hall.

  Quution and the two demons battering his energy stopped and stared at her. She slinked down the hallway, her hips kicking out with each step.