Page 83 of Demon's Desire

He turned to me and pursed his lips. “It’s not… something I can see. But I can sense it. I can smell it.”

“Smell… what?” I asked hesitantly.

“Humans don’t have a sensitivity to it, but… it’s like a burning or a sparking smell. Like wires short circuiting, or like lightning, if you could get close enough to smell it. It’s that mixed with the scent of blood.”

I swallowed hard. I knew what the answer was, but I needed to ask, anyway. “What leaves behind that scent, Soul?”

He glanced away, like he was ashamed of the answer. “Demons.”

I nodded before moving back inside my room and sitting down on the bed again. A numb feeling spread throughout my body. I almost didn’t notice when Soul sat down on the mattress beside me.

“What do we do now?” I whispered. “There’s a demon after me. Or after you. There’s definitely a demon hunter after you. And they’ve both been inside the apartment! What if you get hurt? What if Kelly gets hurt?”

“No one is getting hurt,” he said firmly as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his bare chest. At first, I closed my eyes and instinctively listened for the sound of a heartbeat, hoping that would provide some comfort. But there was none. He didn’t have a heartbeat. “I promise. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or to Kelly, or myself, for that matter. Right now, you go back to sleep. I’ll watch over you and make sure nothing happens. In the morning, when you wake up, I’ll search the area, see if I can find any clues to where they’ve gone. Tomorrow, I’ll make sure that all of this ends. I promise.”

I nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. It was hard not to believe him. Something about his words made it feel like everything would be okay. Still, there was a bit of stubborn fear that I couldn’t shake.

I got back into bed and wrapped the covers around myself. Soul sat beside me, and I reached over to take his hand. I really wasn’t sure I could fall back asleep, not after that. I was terrified. For myself, for Kelly, for Soul. It would be hard to come out of this without anyone getting hurt…

It was over an hour of just laying there in silence and stress before I finally managed to fall back asleep sometime after three AM. Still, at least I passed out, eventually. There was a chance I’d need a good night’s sleep if there were any problems tomorrow, like I suspected there would be.

I slept until nine AM that morning. When I woke up, I felt Soul rubbing my arm.

“Good morning, Mia.” He leaned down and kissed my head. “How do you feel?”

“Um… not great,” I admitted. I was anxious. I was scared. I was angry. There wasn’t much positivity to report at the moment. Still, I rolled over to look at him. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” He nodded, stroking my hair. “I’m glad you got some sleep.”

“So what is your plan today, exactly?” I finally sat up and rubbed my eyes.

“I’m just going to head outside and check the neighborhood quickly,” he explained. “I’ll be right here, so if whoever bothered you last night comes back, I’ll be able to smell them before they get into the apartment.”

“Alright… You’ll be right here?” I asked. “In the neighborhood?”

“I won’t be more than two buildings away, I promise,” he assured me. “I’m going to go now. The sooner I find something, the sooner I can make sure you’re safe.”

He started to get up. I got up with him. “You’ll be able to smell him?”

“Absolutely.” He nodded. “His scent is all over the apartment. He must have gotten pretty cozy before he woke you up. He only got in without me noticing because I was asleep, but that won’t happen again. He won’t be able to enter this apartment. I swear. Now, you just relax. I’ve already made you some coffee.”

“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him quickly. “I trust you.”

“Good.” He winked, reaching up to stroke my cheek. “You should.”

I gave him a weak smile and nodded. “Alright. Go.”

He pulled away and turned, leaving through the front door. And I do mean through the door. He didn’t open it. I mean, I knew he could do it, but it was still so strange to see.

I changed into some real clothes before leaving my room, just in case. I opted for thick jeans and a band t-shirt under a white cable-knit sweater. I went ahead and put my shoes on, too. I didn’t usually wear shoes in the apartment, but my paranoia was getting the better of me at the moment. I was sure we’d be okay, but if Soul happened to rush back to the apartment and tell me we had to run, I wanted to be ready.

I put my hair up in a clip and headed for the kitchen. I went to grab a coffee cup and noticed that the sink was empty. Kelly must have overslept. If she got up early enough, she’d drink a cup of coffee before work and leave the mug in the sink.

Suddenly I paused. Soul said that he had made coffee. Even if Kelly ran late, she always made a pot first so she could take some to go. Although I suppose it wasn’t that strange. Maybe Soul made it for her, since he was awake, anyway.

I sighed and tried to shake off the bad feeling that I had. It was like a cloud was hanging over me. I told myself it would just be like this today, but in that moment, I just felt miserable, like the shoe would drop any second.

After putting some sugar in my coffee, I pulled out my phone and went to dial Kelly’s number. She’d be at work, so I’d have to leave a voicemail, but I just needed her to call me as soon as she went on her break. Talking through this with her would at least bring me some peace about everything.