Demetrius Read Online Free Page B

hinted that I should quit.” A shudder wracked her body. “I can’t stay locked in that house with him. He’s not right.”
    “Where do you work?” The demon-possessed father should be his first concern, but it hadn’t occurred to him that the council and their families would have to find an alternate way to support themselves. Most of them came from old money.
    “Eldercare Nursing Home, here in Freemont.”
    “What do you do?” Again, off topic, but he couldn’t help it.
    “I’m an aid. I do whatever needs to be done. I help the residents eat, clean themselves, go to the bathroom, change their bedding. Whatever.”
    “Perhaps that’s why your father wants you to quit.” A councilmember and prime male’s only child wiping butts? It was unheard of.
    She sat as straight as possible, the epitome of prim and proper. “He’s been very supportive. Not only is it obvious I enjoy it, but it’s the only reason we have food to eat, our only hope to heat our house this winter.”
    “Surely you can’t be broke already.” It’d only been a year. Callista and her father shouldn’t be in dire straits so soon.
    “I’m sure you’ve heard the gossip that my mother spent our fortune before she left.” She sounded miserable, ashamed.
    Yes, he’d heard rumblings, but it’d been years. Edgar should’ve grown a nice pot since then.
    “Why didn’t you come to me right away?”
    Her expression turned droll. “Why did I wait to go the male who destroyed my father and would probably annihilate him just to solve the demon problem?” Her shoulders dropped. “I’ve looked into everything else. I don’t even know if saving Father is an option anymore.” Her eyes welled with tears. Demetrius wanted to brush them away, hated seeing them in her eyes. “It’s like there’s less of him present every day that goes by.” Then she startled him with a little hiccup.
    “I need to meet this Malachim.”
    She considered him; he saw the intelligence churning in her eyes. “I expected to have to convince you there’s a problem. That my father didn’t just go crazy. You’re not shocked by me walking in here making claims that I’m living with a demon?”
    Demetrius wished he was. “Should I be?”
    “ I was certainly taken off guard by what I’d seen. If only disbelieving was an option. But not you. Why?”
    “Like I said, there were happenings the former council gladly turned a blind eye toward. Your claims only strengthen our suspicion.”
    “Of what?”
    If he wasn’t going to tell the Synod, he certainly wasn’t going to sit and discuss it with the first beautiful female who walked into his office. “You seem to be taking the shock well.”
    She shifted. “I’ve had time to get used to the idea these past several days. And my research has turned up some very interesting conversations that we all should be having.”
    “Tell me about your research.”
    “You can look it all up yourself,” she said looking down her nose at him. “You’re the one in charge now.”
    “Says the one who needs my help.” The line of her mouth indicated he hit a nerve. Well, so had she. “Like I said, I need to meet your father. Why don’t you bring me home and introduce me.”
    “And tell him what? That I’m hanging out with the guy who cost us everything?” She shook her head. “That would’ve been disastrous two weeks ago. I don’t want to test his reaction now.”
    “Edgar and I aren’t acquaintances. Introduce me by another name—say we’re friends.” He wanted to growl at the thought. Friends?
    “Except that I don’t bring males home.”
    “Haven’t you ever brought a date home to meet him?”
    “No.”
    There was something she wasn’t saying. He inhaled deep. He’d been trying to ignore her scent and convince himself that wildflowers in bloom wasn’t his new favorite smell. Letting the unique scent that was Callista Augustus flow through him, he drank her in and instantly regretted it. Hardening