Demons: A Hunter's Novel, Book 1 Read Online Free

into his life. I had only
seen him with this expression a few times – and seeing it worried me now, more
than ever.
    He
looked conflicted. He slid gracefully to the floor, pulling his legs under him
to sit Indian style. Watching him sit, I had flashes of the times he would lay
on me after we were done having sex. I reveled in feeling the weight of his
body on me. What I wouldn’t do to feel that again.
    When
we were together he always made a point of making me feel equal and accepted. I
felt equal but I knew he would not accept me, not anymore. I also knew,
however, that Az was extending a branch to me. I just hoped it didn’t snap. I
didn’t trust myself much these days.
    “You
remember when we used to stake out places and you’d insist on local food?” He
said, putting air quotes around the word local.
    To
Az, local meant the same city. To me, it meant whatever was on the street you
were walking down.
     “It
was some of the worst food I’ve ever experienced. But some of the most
memorable times.”
    I
could tell from the distance in his voice he was reliving the many times we had
eaten the horrible food on the street, in cars, wherever we were, but always
together. They were some of the best times of my life. And I was loathe to
remember them.
    “I
would imagine several bouts of food poisoning, even for a Demon, would be
memorable.”
    I
could never stand serious very well. I wanted to lighten the mood he was moving
toward. I laughed in spite of my overwhelming fear. I always told Az it was the
“best food I’ve ever eaten” even if I was too sick to leave the bathroom later
on. He laughed too.
    The
second I heard his laugh my walls crumbled and my numbness was replaced with a spreading
warmth and a slash of pain. There was something about him that spoke to my
deepest darkest places and it was blatantly apparent how much I had missed
that.
    I
reached out, forgetting the distance between us and touched the edge of his
jaw. The second my skin came into contact with his, he flinched away from me as
though I had stuck a hot poker to him, not my hand. Maybe I was his emotional
cancer.
    He
moved his face back into my hand a moment later. And it felt like coming home. He
looked into my eyes searching for something he probably wouldn’t find. I
couldn’t stop the next words that flew from my lips and didn’t know if they
would help heal anything or if I’d be opening up old wounds for him. My wounds
had never closed.
    “I’m
sorry Az. I’m – I’m sorry.”
    It’s
all I could get out because I was choking on my tears. My love had been broken
and I had buried all of those feelings, but now they were rushing back like a
wave on Normandy Beach, beating and drowning me. I had a feeling I was about to
lose a lot more than just my heart.
    If
supes were following me for some unknown reason, something big was about to
happen. Talk about opening flood gates. I cried harder. Everything was just too
much. My emotional state was like a gas fire – burning out of control. Azrael,
Az, I didn’t want him to be hurt by whatever was going on with me. I wanted him
to be safe. At least as safe as a Higher Demon could be. I stood abruptly, Az
right along with me.
    “Laney,
you can’t protect me. I’ve made my bed, I will happily lay in it.”
    I
wondered if he was a mind reader now. I didn’t miss the heat in his eyes or the
double meaning in his words. My body heated as if he had just touched my core. But
I could only imagine the horror that would rain down if his boss found out
about us or anything he had done for me.
    “Az,
this isn’t just about you.” I tried to play it off. But it had always been
about him, always would be.
    “Right.
The Hunters. Don’t you want to know what’s going on?!”
    I
did. Of course I did.
    “I’ll
give you my number and I’ll etch your sign. Don’t send your goons again.”
    His
sign was a symbol I could put up on my walls that would breakdown the barrier
and protecting symbols