Demon of Desire

She looked down as her feet trudged deep into the pool of blood. Her mind went back to how the room had been before this had happened. The deep red carpet was once white and the stench of old blood masked the fresh air let into the room each morning. The atmosphere of joy was now overlaid with the fouls stench of death and evil.

Her hand fell to her belly as the overpowering need to hurl came over her. Pressing her temples with her finger, she tried to focus her mind on what was happening now and push her dizziness aside. She had to get through this. She had to remain strong, just as the rest of her family was trying to do, but it was close to impossible.

She came to a halt when her feet bumped into something. Dreading it, she slowly looked down at her obstacle. His facial expression was still that of horror. Even in death he looked in pain. He looked in pain and afraid. He was no match for Kellan, he should have known that. Snoop’s smile was gone.

But if he did why didn’t he run? Why did he stay and fight?

Why?

Because that was the kind of guy he was.

Swallowing hard she reached down and closed his eyes, saying a prayer as she did so. Sloan looked back at what was left of her family. Devastation was etched in each of their faces. She looked at the man she loved and, as much as she cursed herself for doing it, she had to.

“Thank you, God.” She didn’t mean to be selfish, but her uncle’s death couldn’t have come at a better time. Jake had been with her, away from the massacre and the bloodshed.

“What now?” Axel asked.

Although it felt like she wasn’t present, she could hear their conversation at the back of her mind.

“Now we fight.” Archer’s voice rang in the air, as bold and strong as ever.

“No.” Sloan balled her fingers into fists beside her. “Now, I kill him.”

“Do you see this?” Jake marched up to her and grabbed her arm. “Do you see this? Look at him. I want you to look at Snoop lying dead in a pool of his own blood.”

“I see it,” Sloan whispered as a tear fell down her cheek.

“You see it?” Jake’s hold on her arm tightened painfully but she didn’t flinch.

“I see it!” Her voice was firm and precise.

“We all have to work together. Let go of her arm—you are cutting off her blood supply,” Axel commanded.

“Work together?” Jake laughed. “She has to get close to him. She has to kill him because she is the only one who can.”

He marched closer to Axel, dragging Sloan along with him. His grip had tightened and she was in pain, but she didn’t complain. Her pain could not be compared to the fear he felt on her behalf.

“Calm down,” BB interjected.

“Calm down?” Jake asked once more, a sarcastic hiss escaping his throat.

“Jake, you need to relax.” Archer’s voice was softer. He was trying to reason with him. “We need to clean this up.”

“It doesn’t matter what we do at this point. He knows what he wants and he won’t stop killing until he gets it.” His angry gaze turned to that of pain and compassion as he looked at Sloan who stood quietly beside him. “I won’t let him have it.” A tear traveled down his dark skin and his grip on her arm eased.

“This is my decision to make.” She gently pulled her arm free and the blood rushed painfully back into her veins. “I’m going to do this. I have made my decision.”

“You cannot make such a decision without thinking about me.”

“I am doing exactly that. I won’t let anyone else die. I won’t allow it.” Sloan ran out of the room to the front yard to where her bike was.

“Where are you going?” BB came after her and immediately mounted her bike. “I’m coming with you.”

“Suit yourself.” Sloan roared her bike and kicked it into full gear as she sped off, BB following close behind.

Sloan stopped just as she got to the exit of the estate. She made a full circle back to the house.

“What are you doing?” BB watched her curiously as Sloan dismounted her bike and started pacing back and forth.

“I’m the one he wants, right?” Slowly, Sloan’s mind was hatching a plan, but the end result was unknown.

“Yes, and?” BB saw the determined expression on her face and she clearly knew something was going on her head. “You better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Unless you read minds you cannot possibly know what I’m thinking.”

Sloan marched back into the house and she found the three still in the positions she had left them in a few minutes ago.

“Babe…you’re back. I thought you were going to see your parents.” Jake wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him.

“I was and I still am. I just need to know one thing.” She gazed at Archer, letting him know that he was the source of the information she was looking for.

“What exactly would you like to know, little cousin?” Archer took a step forward.

“This must be interesting,” Axel said.

“Maybe we should move away from all of this.” BB pointed at the bodies still on the ground.

They all moved to the foyer and Jake and Sloan took a seat on the bottom stair. The rest of them stood around them, with the front door wide open to filter the stench consuming the house.

“What exactly do you want to know?” Archer asked.

“What I don’t already, like what Kellan looks like.”

“Oh!” Axel chewed on her bottom lip as she took a step away from Archer.

“Oh what?” Jake looked concerned

“What my sister was trying to say is that you have already met him.” He paused to let the first shock sink in.

“Obviously. The bastard almost killed me.” Sloan snorted.

“You are thinking back ten or so years. Think back one year.” Archer reached for the laminated photo in the back of his pocket.

“It must be my principal. That guy has always looked odd to me,” she joked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” BB put in.

“He’s a different kind of demon, an incubus. He feeds on women and those he marks he considers his. The women are drawn to him, through no fault of their own. They can’t help it.”

Sloan looked at him a little worried, “And you--”

“No.” He answered her thought. “I was marked by a succubus, his wife. And yes, she considers me hers, but I’d kill her the second she comes close to me.”

“Are you sure? Aren’t you kind of attached to her?”

“I haven’t spent time with her so that bond didn’t have time to mature into anything solid. I’m grateful the case is the same with you,” he said with relief, as he glanced at the picture one more time.

“What is that?” Sloan pointed at the photo, “You cannot be that obsessed with the guy. You keep a picture of him in your back pocket.”

“I need you to relax and keep in mind that this guy doesn’t age at all.” Archer gave her the picture, his eyes not leaving her face.

Sloan lifted the picture up to the sunlight pouring in through the front door. Her expression turned from that of confusion to amusement. She was staring at the likeness of Levy, but his hair was different. Instead of the short cut, his blonde hair fell around his face, curving over his jaw.

“What kind of a joke is this?” She laughed. “Did BB put you up to this?”

“No.” Archer’s tone was firm and to the point. There was no hint of humor in it, and that worried Sloan. She got to her feet and moved closer to the door.

“No, it can’t be.” She pushed the photo back into Archer’s hand, as she shook her head raggedly. “Uh-uh. No, it can’t be.”

Jake stood up and went to her. “It is true. That is why Archer had me watch you all this time. Edwin told us that Kellan had been coming to your school to see you. We had to protect you.”

“No.” She shoved Jake away as her fingers combed violently through her shot bob. She couldn’t breathe. The whole house seemed to be caving in on her, trapping her in a truth she couldn’t accept. “No,” she shouted once more before grabbing the picture back and running out to her bike. Sloan rode off, but this time no one followed her.

Tears welled up in her eyes, clouding her vision. Her hand held on to the handle bar and the picture, her eyes leaving the road for a few seconds and looking at the picture. She was dazed and not even the roaring engine could cut into her thoughts.

She skidded to a halt in front of the cemetery gates. Dropping her bike on the ground, she ran into the graveyard, paying no mind to the people in her path.

Sloan stopped atop of her parents’ graves. “This cannot be possible. He couldn’t be the one who—”

The emotion rising in her throat choked her off. Unable to bear it any longer, Sloan fell to her knees, her hands over her head. “No. I…can…not accept this,” she managed to gag out.

She put the picture down on the grass and stared at it a bit more. Then she looked up at her parents’ headstones. Today, more clearly than ever, she saw their names jump out of the marble stone, as if calling out to her.

“What now?” She was waiting for an answer she knew she would never hear out loud, but she was sure she would get one. Sloan thought back to her dream…she had to make a decision, she had to make a choice.

She reached down and fisted the picture in her hands. “I know what to do.”

* * * *

“We just need to wait now.” Kellan stood at his balcony railing, overlooking the streets of New York City. This was his city. He had laid claim to it the same way he claimed Sloan.

“Archer is definitely going to tell her now. She is going to burst in here and try to kill you.” Ali lay on a deck chair, dressed only in her bathing suit, soaking in the sun.

“Don’t you get enough of a tan from hell?” Kellan turned to face her.

“I can’t wear a bikini down there. Anyway, you should get ready. She is going to burst in here loaded with silver and holy water.” Ali smiled at the thought.

“I don’t think they will tell her. Archer is a smart leader. He will want her to lead them here just in case she goes against them.”

“Why would you think that?”

“She loves me. If she finds out her so-called family is trying to kill me she will come and warn me.” Kellan was confident.

“If she finds out you killed her parents she will serve your head up on a silver platter.” She chuckled.

“I’m very confident. Just wait and see.” He leaned back on the hand railings. “First she will call me and tell me what happened. Then I will tell her to come here so that I can comfort her. And that will be the last the world sees of Christy Sloan.”

“Kidnapping. I never figured you for the type.” Ali peeked up at him from under her sunglasses, an amused smile on her face.

* * * *

Archer, Axel, BB, and Jake were cleaning up the mess Kellan had left behind. They started a bonfire in the backyard where Ike, Spike, and Snoop’s bodies burned and slowly turned into ashes. In a different fire, they torched everything that was soiled with their blood.

“We are leaving this place, right?” BB looked spooked as she stared at the old house that was once home, but which had turned into a massacre ground.

“We have to. We’ll get an apartment closer to the city,” Archer said.

“I can’t believe we are leaving New Jersey. It was so peaceful here,” Axel said.

Archer, BB, and Jake gave her looks that seriously questioned her sanity.

“What part of peaceful is this?” Jake pointed to the fires, then lifted a bloody rag to her face.

“That is not what I meant. So when do you think Sloan will be back?” Axel deflected the conversation from herself.

“I’m sure she will be back soon. She just needs some time to think,” BB said.

“I still don’t understand why she reacted that way. She hasn’t seen this guy for close to a year.” Jake tossed a couple more soiled rags into the fire. “I think she is taking this all in the wrong way.”

“You don’t get it,” BB whispered and turned to go back into the house.

Confused, the others ran after her, obviously wanting to know what exactly they didn’t get.

“BB, what are you talking about?” Archer grabbed her arm and spun her around. “What did you mean by that?”

“You don’t get it,” she said again.

“Get what?” Jake asked.

“She has been seeing him. All these months, Sloan has been having a romantic relationship with him,” BB said, her eyes fixed on Jake.

“No, it can’t be, because she is having a romantic relationship with me.” Jake was in denial.

“She has been having an affair and, what’s worse, I think she is in love with him.” It came out as a whisper, but the expression on his face told her that he had heard everything.

“What are you saying?” Jake’s look of betrayal turned to one of horror. He staggered back into a wall behind him as his hand grabbed onto his forehead.

“All these nights she has been sneaking out, the trips to the cemetery?” Axel was trying to make sense of it.

“She goes to the cemetery, but later on she goes to see him.” The looks on their faces made BB feel like she hadn’t done the right thing.

Jake sank to the ground, his head slotted in between his knees and his arms in a tight brace around them. He was mumbling or chanting something they could not comprehend.

Archer, Axel, and BB stood over him, seemingly at sea as to what to do next. They didn’t dare touch him or talk to him. They waited for him to react first.

“I love her.”

The words at first came out like a silent whisper, but then he roared them out.

“I love her.”

He jumped to his feet and turned to punch the wall behind him, sending the picture adorning the wall crashing into the ground.

“I don’t believe it.” His second of rage seemed to have eased some of the anger out of him. “I don’t believe it. She wouldn’t do such a thing to me. We love each other.”

“It’s true. She told me herself.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Jake lunged at her.

Holding both her arms down in a vice he shook her, her rainbow curls bouncing frantically around her head. BB was getting dizzy and the searing pain in her arms was getting worse.

“Why would you say such a thing? She’s your friend.”

Archer stepped forward to defend her but she waved him away. She understood how he felt. BB felt betrayed when she found out Sloan was sneaking around and planning to leave. But she couldn’t imagine the pain that Jake was feeling at that moment.

“It’s because I am her friend and I love her too, we all do. But I know that you love her in a different way and I cannot begin to understand how you feel,” BB cried. She was unable to stop herself from mirroring the pain he was feeling.

“Of course you cannot begin to understand.” He let her go and she stumbled back, but Archer caught her. Jake’s arms fell limply at his sides. “How could she? She is my life, my world. She is everything to me. I won’t believe it until I hear it from her.”

“You need to relax.” Axel cupped his face in both her hands. “We need to focus on the bigger picture.”

“She is right.” Archer put his hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Sloan isn’t really in love with him. Once he dies, whatever feeling she has for him will die too.”

Jake shook their hands off him and walked away, his blood-hot eyes glued to the tip of his black and white skull sneakers. He looked lost and like an abandoned puppy.

“Are you okay?” Archer turned his focus back to BB who was rubbing her arms where Jake’s hands had been.

“I’m doing better than he is.”

“Snoop is doing better than he is,” Axel added.

The sound of Sloan’s bike coming up the driveway brought them all back to the foyer. They watched as she dismounted the bike and strode toward them.

“Where is Jake? Is he all right?” Archer asked.

Jake’s scratchy voice came up from behind them. “Jake is right here and he is perfect.”

Sloan walked up to the house and stopped at the front door. She returned the curious gazes that were on her. “May I come in?”

They hadn’t noticed that they were blocking the entryway until she pointed it out. They each took a step back, giving her a path into the house.

“Hi, babe.” Sloan went up to Jake but, instead of getting a kiss, she got something else.

* * * *

Jake grabbed her by the throat and smashed her into the wall behind her. He wasn’t exactly choking her, but his hold was enough to restrain her until he got the answers he needed so clearly needed.

Archer lurched forward, his arm on Jake’s shoulder, as Axel and BB leaned on the wall that Sloan was pinned up against.

Sloan froze in shock as his angry gaze pulled her in. She couldn’t even blink. The rage in his eyes was too profound and hypnotizing. Her hand flew up and grabbed Jake’s hand, but she didn’t try to free herself. She was terrified.

“Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Sloan’s fear could only allow her to whisper. “Babe, what are you doing?”

Jake didn’t speak. All he did was glare at her as if burning smoldering little oval holes into her skull as his hand nailed her to the wall.

“I’m the one in a chokehold, so I am very sure the rest of you can talk.” She could barely move her head, but her eyes darted round the four people in the room.

“Don’t you think enough people have died here today?” BB asked, her voice trembling.

Besides the tremor in her voice, Sloan was able to detect something else…guilt. She turned her head carefully to face BB, and when BB looked away she knew she was right.

“You told them?” Sloan asked, outraged.

“I...I had to. They needed to understand.” The quiver in her voice was still very much present.

“Understand what exactly?”

“Why don’t you tell me, sweetheart?” Jake said in a low-pitched voice. If not for his fingers curled around Sloan’s neck, one could think he was very relaxed.

Sloan winced as he slurred the last word, making it sound like an insult instead of a word of affection. “Tell you what, my love? It seems like BB has told you everything.”

“I just wanted them to understand,” BB said once more.

“Understand what exactly? That I have been sleeping with the devil? Thanks a lot. I think they understand me perfectly now,” she spat out.

“Is it true that you are in love with him? That you are sleeping with him?” With each accusation he inched closer and closer to her face, tightening the grip around her neck. “That you have been sneaking around behind my back? Is it true that when I think that you are lying next to me you are in that…that thing’s bed?”

“Let me explain.” Sloan felt something that she hadn’t in a long time. She felt the sensation of tears traveling down her cheeks.

“Don’t cry. You don’t get to cry. I’m the one who was betrayed,” Jake snarled.

Nodding her head furiously, she blinked back the tears that were yet to fall. “Okay, but please let’s talk about it.”

“Sure.” Jake released her and she crumpled to the ground. “Why not?”

Sloan covered her mouth with her hands as she choked back the sobs which poured out of her throat. “I’m sorry.”

“We are past the apologizing stage. Now we are at the explaining stage. I don’t even think there is anything more to it. I think BB summarized it all for me.” He chuckled, but it was one of pain and frustration.

“I know what BB told you, but she can’t possibly know what I feel.” Sloan pushed herself back to her feet with BB and Axel’s help.

“Please enlighten us.” Jake sat down at the bottom step, his hands neatly folded over his knee.

“I don’t love him…no actually I think I do—”

“Thank you for the revelation.” Jake snorted.

Archer, Axel and BB stood at the sidelines, watching in silence.

“It’s not love exactly, but I feel attached to him. It’s like he is a magnet…he keeps on pulling me in and, as much as I try, I can’t get rid of him.” Sloan was sobbing uncontrollably. “I have tried—God knows I have tried—but I just can’t.”

“That is great. You know what I can’t do?” he asked. “I can’t let your lover go on living. Now we both have something that we can’t do.”

“Jake.” Archer decided it was time to step into the conversation. Cautiously, he came to Sloan’s defense. “It’s something she cannot control. She is bound to him. I already explained that to you.”

“But you also said that the connection only gets stronger when you let it. I don’t see you pining after Ali,” he shot back.

“What does Ali have to do with this?” Sloan asked, confused.

“Ali never came around me that much. She disappeared, and that is the only reason why I’m not pining after her,” Archer said. “Sloan knew Kellan long before she met you. He tricked her and she couldn’t help it.”

“I don’t understand what you guys are talking about. But the one thing I know for sure is that I love you,” Sloan said as she took a step closer to him.

“Do not come near me right now.” Jake held his hands up against her.

Sloan took a step back. “All right. I will give you all the time you need. After we figure out a way of killing Le…Kellan we can revisit this topic.”

“What do we do now, Archer?” Jake ignored Sloan. He looked past her and to Archer, who was standing inches away from her.

“We need for him to think that Sloan doesn’t know anything yet. Then she can kill him.” Archer’s plan was short and precise.

“Then I’d better call him.” Sloan took out her phone, but before she dialed she waited for Jake’s nod of approval.

“What usually happens after the phone calls?” Jake asked.

Sloan wasn’t sure if she should answer the question but she did anyway. “I go meet him at his place.”

“Oh?” Jake bit on his lower lip and nodded his head ever so slightly.

“I have to go now.” Sloan stood there, waiting for him to react. But he said nothing, so she continued to stand there waiting. When Jake got up and walked up the stairs, she turned and left.

Sloan didn’t immediately get on her bike. She went to the back of the house and sank to the grass. She needed to be alone to think, to take in what just happened and also to cry. She was in dire need of a good cry and the only shoulder she could rely on had turned his back on her. Sloan was confused and in pain, and the one thing that she really needed was to take in a deep breath.

And so she did.

* * * *

Sloan took in a couple of deep breaths as the elevator went up, floor by floor. The penthouse…she shook herself as she waited for the elevator doors to open. She knew that Levy would be waiting for her on the other side, so she needed to keep her composure.

“My love.” Kellan stood with his arms wide open, waiting for her. She was paying attention to each and every move she made, so that he wouldn’t think there was a change in her attitude toward him.

“Sweetheart.” Sloan walked into his arms as she usually did. “How are you?”

“Great, I’m perfect now that you are here.” He held her up against his body as they walked toward the balcony.

“You love this view.” Sloan leaned against the hand railings and Kellan stood behind her, wrapping her arms around her.

“Did you give much thought of what I told you?”

Sloan forced her body not to cringe when he pulled her closer to him. She turned to face him and, as she would naturally do, she combed her fingers adoringly through his hair.

“You still want me to go away with you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Kellan waited for her to accuse him of murder.

“I’m bad luck. In a span of two days four people who are very close to me died. A few weeks ago my friend also died. I am a death magnet, and clearly bad luck for everyone around me.” Sloan put her best acting cap on and played on his sympathy for her.

“How did they all die?”

“How else? Demons.” She gave him a quick kiss on the side of his neck and rested her palms against his chest. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I don’t want to get you killed or any of your family members hurt.”

“It’s just going to be the two of us.” He gave her a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. “We are going to get away from all this craziness.”

“I need some fresh air. I need to get away from death and demon attacks.” She pushed away and walked past him to the other side of the balcony. “I need a new start. I can’t handle any more loss. I just can’t.”

“All right then. I will call the jet and we will be on our way to Cozumel in three hours,” he announced.

“You would do that for me?” She turned to face him.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know. I have to think about the rest of my family. I can’t just escape like that without them knowing what I’m thinking. I can’t abandon them. But thank you for thinking of me.” Sloan wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I understand.”

“You promised to take me to the beach, remember? We could still do that and be back by this evening.”

“Of course. I just want to make you happy.” Kellan kissed her once more.

“Calabasas, here we come.” Sloan tried to seem as enthusiastic as she could.

Quickly, as Kellan made the phone call to his company pilots, Sloan sent BB a text telling her where she was going.

* * * *

“Going to Calabasas. Don’t worry. I’ll be back this evening.” BB read out loud.

“Going where?” Jake yelled. “This guy just killed half of our family and she is taking a luxury trip with the demon? This is too rich.” He chuckled sarcastically.

“Jake, she is only trying to get closer to him,” Axel pointed out.

“How much closer? Here I thought having sex was as close as you could get. But please enlighten me, how much closer you can get to a guy?” Jake drove his fist into the wall.

“Calm down, Jake,” Archer yelled. “What time did she say she was coming back?”

“This evening. He has been nagging her to take this trip with him and she said she would. Changing her mind would have set him off that she knows about him. It is much safer for her to pretend that everything is just as it was,” BB pointed out.

“Let me guess…she is going to roll around in the sand with that guy then come back home to me. Na-ah, that’s not happening.” Jake stomped up the stairs and to his room.

He came back a few minutes later with a duffel bag clutched in his hand.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Archer blocked his path to the front door.

“I’m leaving.” He tried to walk around him but couldn’t. “Get out of my way.”

“No. Kellan came here and killed three of our men. He went to my uncle’s house and killed him. He is trying to prove a point, and if he knows that Sloan loves you he will kill you.” Archer pointed out.

“Sloan isn’t in love with me,” Jake hissed.

“She is, and in order for her to do this with a clear head you need to be alive to help her.”

Jake dropped the bag and bit down, clenching his jaw. “Fine, but once he is dead I am gone.”

“The two of you will work this out.”

“No, we won’t. Anyway I’m all packed. When are we heading to the new place?” He went into the other room to help pack up the armory.

“We will leave as soon as Sloan gets back,” Archer said, and Jake’s response was a snicker.

* * * *

Kellan and Sloan had spent the better part of the day at the beach. Sloan tried her best to make it seem like she was having a good time with him, but when the time came to go home she was more than anxious to get out of there.

“What’s the rush?”

“We have to move tonight. My cousin thinks it would be much safer if we left New Jersey and moved to the city,” she explained.

“Maybe you could move into my building.”

“That is a bit too rich for us.” Sloan folded the towels and packed them into the picnic basket they had carried.

“What if I pay for it?” Kellan’s sly smile lit up his face once more.

Sloan stared at him and admired his smile and the glint in his eyes. They were to die for, and if she had to she would. She knew that this war would not end well. There would be another loss and she was ready to sacrifice herself to protect the others.

“I would readily accept your offer, but I don’t think my cousin will accept it. He is too proud.”

“I’m sure he is.”

Sloan found that they had all packed and loaded the van. Archer was wrapping a huge chain around the handles of the front door. When Jake saw her he moved away from her, his face showing no indication of forgiveness.

“What happened?” Axel asked as she followed Sloan’s gaze to Jake.

“Nothing much.” She turned her attention to the three people who were now standing in front of her. “We just talked and whatever. So where are we going?”

“We are going to your old apartment,” Archer said.

“Where? Uncle Edwin’s?” Sloan was confused as to why Archer would pick that as their next home.

“No, your apartment—where you lived with your parents.”

“Oh.” It was the only thing that came to mind as her brain tried to process it all.

“It is the only place we have. Edwin’s place is still under police custody or something like that, so we can’t go there.”

“But you thought it was a good idea to go to the place where my parents were slaughtered. I see your reasoning,” Sloan said sardonically.

“Don’t forget your lover is the one who killed them,” Jake pointed out before boarding the van.

“This is going to be one awesome night. I am going to be sleeping in the house where my parents died and my boyfriend hates me. This is just awesome. My life couldn’t get any better than it is now.”

Archer insisted that Sloan joined them in the van while Axel and BB rode their bikes to the house. Jake wasn’t comfortable with the arrangement so he opted to join the girls and ride to the house.

“He hates me. I never thought I would see the day. In one day—no, actually in a couple of hours—his love for me turned to loathing.” Sloan laughed bitterly at the irony of the situation.

“You know what they say, there is a thin line between love and hate,” Archer put in.

“Thank you, I really needed to hear that.” Sloan looked through the side mirrors, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jake, just to make sure he was still coming.

“He loves you and nothing can change that. Right now he feels betrayed and his ego just took a huge beating,” he said.

“How so?” Her eyes didn’t leave Jake’s reflection.

“You had an affair with something that isn’t human. You snuck out at night to be with the prince of darkness…the guy isn’t even alive. In fact he isn’t even a guy.”

“Thank you, captain obvious. It’s just that—” Sloan went silent when they came up on her old street. Memories of her riding her bike on the busy street flooded her mind. This was once her home and now it was the place her parents died.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m great.” She swallowed. “I don’t know why you brought me here. I can’t do this.” Her hand fisted over the leather seat as a wave of panic hit her hard.

“Don’t worry, we are here to help you out.”

Archer stopped the car outside the apartment building entrance. Sloan sat in the van, staring at the front door and the building that still stood firm, very much unlike her. She watched as they unloaded the van and took the suitcases into the building. Archer and Jake made two trips and not once did Jake look at her.

“Are you coming?” Archer asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“It’s okay, just take your time.” Archer smiled at her then left.

“Jake, would you walk in with me?” Sloan asked, expecting him to say no but hoping that he would say yes.

“Why?” He asked.

It wasn’t the response that she had expected, but it at least it paved the way for them to talk.

“Because I trust you and I love you.” She spoke sincerely and from her heart, but Jake’s brush off let her know that he didn’t believe it.

“Whatever. Let’s go.” He waited for her to get out of the car.

Sloan looked at him, hoping to find a slight indication of a future from that point. They had already hit rock bottom. They couldn’t get any lower than that.

He followed behind her as she walked into the building. They stood in the elevator and he waited for her to press the floor number. As much as he detested the situation, he wanted to help her.

“Take your time,” he said after they had stood there for a couple of seconds.

Sloan found the courage she needed from his words. She pressed the floor number and the elevator doors closed. She didn’t know what she expected to feel, but the pressure building inside her chest wasn’t it.

“Are you ready?” Jake asked once the doors opened.

Sloan stepped out and looked down the hallway. At the end of it was her parents’ apartment. “It’s like a band aid, right?”

“Right.”

Sloan walked confidently down the hallway, but when she came face to face with the front door she froze. Jake slipped his hand into hers and opened the door. It took her several seconds before she decided to step in. Her eyes looked around, taking in everything at the same time.

It was different from the last time she saw it. It was cleaner—no demons, no dead bodies, no blood. Sloan started to walk to her room, but when Jake didn’t follow she stopped.

“I think you can take it from here.” He let go of her hand and took a step back.

Sloan smiled feebly at him and headed for her room. She pushed the door open and immediately memories of the time she had spent there slammed into her mind. She’d been happy here. As she went back into the living room, she walked past the closet her mother had put her in that fatal night.

The night replayed in her mind, and step by step she did everything that had happened. She stepped into it and peered through the gaps. She sat in the same position she was in when Kellan went about killing her family. Then she stepped out and remembered throwing herself at the man harming her family, but until now she hadn’t been able to make out his face.

She walked to the center of the room where she’d been tossed. Her hand moved to the scars on her back. She could still remember the pain that she felt that night.

Then nothing.

She snapped out of the trance she was in and realized that everyone was staring at her. She could feel all their eyes on her but she only returned Jake’s gaze. She wanted him to hold her but she knew he wouldn’t.

Jake slipped away to one of the other rooms and Sloan followed behind.

“How long are you going to hate me?”

“For as long as it takes. For as long as this throbbing pain consumes me. For as long as it takes me to forget that I was sharing the woman I loved with a demon,” Jake muttered as he pulled off his shirt.

“I’m sorry, and if I could I would change it. But I can’t.”

“This isn’t like a band aid, Sloan. The pain doesn’t go away immediately. It takes time and I don’t know if, even after I do forgive you, I will be able to forget.” He tossed his T-shirt in a corner. “What I’m trying to say is that we can’t be together anymore.”

Sloan had already figured that part out, and she had prepared herself for how much it would hurt when it all finally came to an end. But she didn’t expect to feel the hurt quite this much.

Tears bubbled out of her already tired, red eyes. She was trying not to cry, but her quivering bottom lip was selling her out. She thought about it, about crying for pity. She knew Jake wouldn’t pass up the chance to comfort her. But the waterworks were shut off even before they began.

“Don’t you dare cry.” It was more of a command than a request. Jake lifted a finger up at her. “You don’t get that right.”

Jake went up to her and gave her a quick kiss and a lingering hug. He was saying good bye. Then quickly he got into bed and left her standing alone.

Sloan couldn’t sleep that night, so she got dressed and armed herself. She was going to Kellan’s alone. But before she left, she scribbled down a letter to Jake and put it under her pillow. On top of the pillow she left a note to BB telling them where she was.

Sloan peeked into the room where Jake slept. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she planted a kiss on his temple and left. This day was going to have one of two outcomes, but she hoped that either way she and Jake would be together.

* * * *

Sloan stood at Kellan’s side, away from Ali. She was going to try and pretend long enough so that she could leave. Killing one powerful demon was one thing, but she didn’t think she could take on two by herself.

“Wouldn’t you like to take a nap?” Ali asked.

“I stopped taking naps when I was two years old. I thought you were done with this trash, Levy? Why is she here?” Sloan held on to Kellan’s arm as she would normally do.

“Why did you come here suited up to kill?” Ali pointed out to the swords on her bag and the guns strapped to her thighs and holstered to her waist.

“I’m going hunting. If I’d known you would be here I would have brought a gallon of water with me.”

Kellan laughed. “That’s just a myth. Water doesn’t really melt witches.”

“There is no harm in trying.” Sloan reached for the glass of water Kellan had offered her and tossed it at Ali, but missed.

Annoyed, Ali took a step toward her but Kellan stepped in the way. “Relax, girls, there is no need to fight.”

“Especially since I’m going to win,” Ali sneered.

“Don’t bet on it.” Sloan knew that it was probably true. Ali could snap her in half, but she was going to stand her ground. Backing out would only make them suspicious of her.

The elevator bell rang, announcing the arrival of a visitor. Sloan’s heart skipped when it rang—she was definitely going to be outnumbered now.

Ali and Kellan didn’t say a word as they all turned toward the elevator door to see who their mystery guest was. Sloan’s jaw dropped when Jake walked out with guns firmly in both hands.

“Mind if I join the party?” He had a crooked smile on his face as his gaze shifted from Sloan to the big man behind her.

“What are you doing here?” Sloan croaked out.

“The same thing you are.”

“What is that exactly?” Ali re-entered the conversation.

Sloan was lost for words but now they were an even match, two against two. She didn’t move from where she stood with Kellan. Instead she just gazed at Jake, waiting for him to make a move.

“We finally meet.” Kellan’s voice filled the air.

“I’m glad you were looking forward to your death.”

“I could smell you on her, so when your scent came in through my window with the morning breeze I knew you were close. But I’m not very sure of the death part.” His hand held on to Sloan’s shoulder.

Sloan was confused. The situation was unfolding too fast. When Kellan said he knew about Jake, she was sure he knew why she had gone to see him that morning. Her plan was ruined and now she would have to improvise.

“You came for her, I suspect.” Kellan chuckled as his hold on her grew tighter. “Well, you can’t have her.”

“Why is that?” Jake flexed his arms and he prepared to shoot.

“My love, please…” He was talking to Ali, who handed him a letter opener from the table. Kellan took it and jabbed it in Sloan’s arm and left it there.

Boiling from the pit of her belly and itching from her lungs, Sloan let out a scream. Her wound throbbed as she circled her fingers over the metal and slowly pulled it out.

“I wouldn’t really harm you.” Kellan pulled off her sheath and leather jacket and showed Jake her wound.

Jake stood there, clearly itching to shoot him but curious to see the point he was driving at. His gaze was fixed on her wound, and his expression of curiosity turned to that of shock and utter disbelief.

Sloan’s wound was healing on its own and the pain disappeared almost immediately. The once raw, red wound was disappearing, and her chocolate skin went back to what it was before the injury…silky and smooth with not even a tiny mark.

“What the hell was that?”

“Self-healing.” Kellan spun Sloan roughly around and raised her top. He exposed her scar then neatly put his fingers over them, one after the other. “You see this? This is my mark, which means she is my girl.” He tossed her to the chair and focused on Jake.

Sloan didn’t bother getting up. She was trying to connect the dots. The bridge between Kellan killing her parents and her self-healing was missing. Hearing Kellan admit that he had scarred her sank in slowly, and as her mind tried to absorb all that had happened in the past second she didn’t realize what was happening behind her.

“She isn’t a cow—you just can’t brand her and claim her. I don’t know how you demons work, but humans don’t do that.” Jake stood his ground and didn’t move.

“There is nothing you can do for her now. She belongs to me now. She’s pregnant, and as soon as you die life will be much easier,” Kellan bragged with a smug smile on his face.

Even in the midst of all the darkness Sloan heard that word. Simultaneously she and Jake shouted, “What?”

“You guys are more in sync than I realized.” Ali chuckled from where she sat.

Sloan jumped up from her seat and wedged herself between Kellan and Jake. “What are you talking about?”

“How did you think you were able to heal that fast?” Kellan traced her jawline with his finger before using his thumb to lift her chin. “I have been trying to get you to come to our side and cement the evil in the child inside you. But you have been very difficult.”

“It’s a good thing we have lust on our side.” Ali laughed.

Jake’s arms fell limply to his side. He looked defeated, distraught. His eyes fell on Sloan’s face and stayed there for a while.

She looked down at her belly, her hand slowly rising to cover it. “So what are you saying? I’m evil?” Her voice shook with pain and anger. She looked up at Kellan, angry tears burning her eyes.

“Not yet. Right now you can’t be considered evil just because you are pregnant with my child.” Kellan gloated as he pulled the two words out. “For a special person like you, it’s much more difficult. You have to give yourself completely.”

The hand over her belly fisted. “You are going to be waiting a long time, Kellan, and don’t bank on being called Daddy any time soon.”

Kellan’s smile dropped. “What do you mean?”

“No evil thing is coming out of me. That is what I mean.” She spoke through gritted teeth. She drew out her knives and pressed their tips against her belly.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Kellan’s anger rose.

“I think you know me better than that.” She laughed. “I always keep my promises.”

Kellan went for her but Ali stopped him and then turned to Sloan. “Murder is a deadly sin and abortions do count under that, but it isn’t enough. I have a deal to make with you.” A scroll materialized in Ali’s hand and a feathered pen in the other. “Sign your soul over to me and Jake lives.”

“So you kill them and she takes their souls. You have an awesome marriage,” Sloan spat out through clenched teeth. She moved back, closer to Jake.

“I think so too.” She strutted toward them. “I’m going to need blood and signatures from both of you to seal the deal.”

“Could we at least read the fine print?” Jake spat out.

“Sure.” When Ali took another step toward them, Jake raised his gun and buried a bullet into her shoulder. She let out a hiss. “Kellan!”

“That is my fine print. Take another step and I’ll put another one in you.” Jake held the gun to her head.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t think it would sting like that.” Kellan chuckled.

“Would you like to give it a try?” Jake raised the other gun to Kellan’s chest.

“Be careful with that,” Kellan said as he pushed Sloan out of the way.

Squeezing the trigger back, Jake shot at Kellan and the backlash was the least of his problem. The sound of the shot rang in Sloan’s ears then a different kind of sound seared through, but this one was coming from within Jake.

Kellan had his hand buried in his chest, and his fingers curled around his heart. The guns dropped from Jake’s hands as his body went limp, like a rag doll.

Sloan stood still as everything went by her in super-speed. She didn’t see when Kellan had lurched at Jake, but she could see that the two were now joined.

The scent of Jake’s blood filled the air. She could hear the rasping sound coming from his chest and the thud of his blood hitting the tiled floor. His blood was slowly forming a puddle at his feet and the life in his body escaped him.

Without thinking, Sloan held onto Kellan’s hand, holding it in place, believing that if he took it out Jake’s life would leave with it.

“Stay with me.” Her arm circled his waist, holding him up against her.

Jake simply smiled at her. He tried to speak but ended up coughing out blood. Sloan held on to him even tighter. Tears streamed down her cheeks and little gasps escaped her throat.

“I love you, you know that right?” she said to him as she tried to muster up a smile. “You’ll be fine. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

“I for...give you. I love you.” With all his strength he lifted his hand to her cheek.

“I’ll do it.” That was the only confirmation she needed. She was going to sell her soul to the devil in exchange for his life. It was the least she could do.

“Do what?” Kellan asked.

She could feel Kellan’s hot breath on her neck and his growl told her he wasn’t too happy about her sacrifice, especially because it was for Jake.

“Now we are getting somewhere. His blood is on the floor, so you just need to give me some ink and sign this thing.” Ali came closer with the contract in hand. “If we knew it was this easy we could have avoided all this bloody mess.”

“No.” Jake wheezed out.

Sloan turned her attention to him. “You are going to be fine, you’ll see. Right, Kellan?”

Kellan was taken aback when she used his demonic name again instead of his human name. What pinched him most was when he realized that he wasn’t her Levy anymore. He was the demon, Kellan, that she hated so much. “I give you my word.”

“No.” Jake wheezed once more.