Page 85 of Demon's Desire

“I love you too.” She tried to wipe her eyes. “I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend…”

“You were the best friend I could have asked for.” I dropped her hand and turned around to face Tiernan. “Alright. Let’s go.”

19

Tiernan grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me toward the back door. I could hear Kelly sobbing behind me. I closed my eyes as Tiernan opened the door. We rushed down the stairs and into the back alley, where he suddenly wrapped one arm around my back and slipped the other underneath my knees. Large black wings spread from his back and we suddenly raised into the air.

I gasped and tensed in his arms. I had the urge to hold on to him just to make sure I didn’t fall, but I refused, not wanting to touch him. Instead, I just shut my eyes again and tried to pretend that I was not flying in a demon’s arms.

“Suldeargan never took you flying?” Tiernan laughed as he flew higher. “Too bad. It’s nauseating the first few times.”

“I’ll be fine,” I muttered, wringing my hands to distract myself. I knew if I opened my eyes then I would be sick. I needed to keep them closed for now. “Where are we going?”

“You don’t need to know that,” he responded simply.

Right. I had no reason to assume that the demon would be cooperative. Still, I wanted to get any information out of him that I could.

“You said you have a partner?” I asked. Tiernan didn’t answer. I looked over at him and opened my eyes a bit. I felt nauseous, so I closed them again. “Did your partner set the fire at the bar? Or did you?”

Tiernan laughed in response. “So you aren’t always very clever.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I huffed.

“You’ve met my partner. You even saw him at the bar that night. But he didn’t set the fire.”

My eyes flew open, and I suddenly stared at him. “Jackson?” Tiernan just smirked. That was all the answer I needed. “Why is a demon hunter helping you? He’s supposed to kill you! That’s his fucking job!”

“Demon hunters are far from righteous,” he scoffed. “They aren’t white knights who come to save the day. Most of them don’t lift a finger unless they’re getting paid. But they don’t give a fuck who pays them.”

“Wait…” I closed my eyes and shook my head again. “You… You hired Jackson… to kill Suldeargan?”

He didn’t respond. I was tempted to open my eyes again, but my nausea was getting worse. Instead, I was just about to repeat my question, hoping to annoy him into answering, but before I could, pain suddenly spread through my chest. I gasped and clenched my fists, waiting for it to pass. It didn’t. Actually, as Tiernan flew, it got worse. Then I realized why.

I was too far from Soul.

He would be feeling the pain, too. If he hadn’t already, he would definitely rush back to the apartment now. Kelly was probably still a mess. He’d want to know what happened. I prayed that she would do what I asked and just tell him it was too late and that he needed to run. And I prayed that he would just accept that…

I’d never considered myself the kind of person who would sacrifice my life for someone. I mean, maybe in wild fantasies or dramatic moments, you’d say that you would die for someone. But none of us expected that moment to come. Not really. And here I was, killing myself for someone I barely knew, someone who wasn’t even human.

If Soul were here, he would tell me I was being an idiot. And he would be right. This was stupid. But I didn’t see another option. The world had tilted… I had already accepted that things would never go back to the way they were before. And… I didn’t want them to. This was the only way forward. I was embracing this new world, just like Soul had taught me. And I would do it until I died.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked again, slowly opening my eyes. I looked down and saw the city of Chicago far beneath us. My stomach churned at the sensation. But I would never be able to fly again. If this was the last thing I saw before I died, I wanted to be able to see it, no matter how sick it made me. “Why Soul?”

Tiernan didn’t answer at first. I assumed he was just going to ignore the question again, but then he spoke. “Did Suldeargan tell you why he’s here?”

“In Chicago?” I looked over at him. “Yeah. He said his home was attacked by demon hunters. People blamed his parents, so they were executed. They told him he could die or he could leave, so he left.”

Tiernan nodded. “Covey was weak. That was the plan. My family hired the hunters to destroy them, and they did. Then we moved in and took over what was left.”

“You?” I frowned. “You had his family killed?”

“But regime changes don’t go so smoothly for demons.” Tiernan rolled his eyes, and I noticed that gravity shifted as we started to descend. I looked down again. I had no idea where we were. “What’s left of Covey… regrets their decision to execute the King and Queen. They want Suldeargan back.”

Now I understood. They needed to kill Soul so they could maintain their power. While Soul lived, he could always come back and take his place.

“And if Soul promised that he would never return?” I asked. I figured I knew the answer, but I had to ask. “If he swore that Covey was yours and he would never try to claim it?”

“Am I supposed to take his word?” Tiernan scoffed. “You can’t trust a demon. We always lie. If he knew Covey wanted him back, he would tell me what I wanted to hear, then go home and take his place as King. He’d lie to me, just like he lied when he promised to protect you, just like I lied when I promised that I would leave Kelly alone.”