“Would you have gone with him?”
“What?” I ask.
“If I hadn’t teleported in,” he says, his voice softening, “would you be with him right now instead of with me?”
His eyes reiterate the question, his brow furrowed, and I shake my head.
“No. Not unless he—”
Chaz’s mouth presses hard to mine, all his doubt from a second ago gone. I hook my arms around his neck as he picks me up and turns the doorknob, using my back to push it open.
“Good,” he says against my lips. “Saves me from tying you up again to keep you.”
He smiles, and I laugh for the first time since Nyla died. Then I kiss him again, knowing it’s true.
Even if he were to tell me to leave, I couldn’t. I won’t. I’ve been in love with Chazaqiel since long before I met him. I’ll be in love with him long after he gets back his light. In this life, and into the next.
The week after the funeral sets a new pace around the apartment. Cass rarely stops by when he takes his turn with my charges. If he does, he brings Hannah and is less than his usual chatty self. We haven’t talked about Nyx or the blade, and I know why. My brother told me where he stands on this matter. He views Nyx as a liability, and that certainly won’t change now that I fell for the one woman who could easily sign my death sentence.
Rosdan has shown up every morning like clockwork, taking advantage of his charges’ mother working from home in an effort to “get to know her children.” Get to know in a sense that she can still call up Ros at any moment, so he’ll swoop in and save her from them. He tinkers with the weapon here or ducks across the hall and then tries to swing by in the evenings when all his charges are tucked safely away in the McMansion.
Meanwhile, my living room has enough dusty-ass books stacked around that it looks like a monastery library. Since I have limited options on what to do, I spend most of the day sifting through them, trying to find anything remotely helpful. Any mention of a dagger crafted of divine steel or weapon imprisoning the light of God.
Of course, my reading would go a lot faster if I were surrounded by nuns and not Nyx.
“Stop fucking watching me,” I tell her without looking up from my page.
“But I like looking at you.” She shifts on the couch above me, and her bare foot nudges my shoulder.
I dodge my head out of the way when her toes climb my neck. Fucking seducing me with her damn feet. Slamming the book closed, I whirl around and climb on top of her. She laughs as I cover her body with mine and nip at her jaw.
“You fucking better.” I graze my lips over hers and tug at her bottom one with my teeth until she whimpers. Then I kiss her once more and slide off her all the way to the opposite end of the couch before I lose all will to research.
I switch to a different book with a crumbling tan cover, and she leans over to pick up my other one from the floor. She lies back again and flips it open, placing the bottom of it on her chest.
“Fluent in Latin?” I ask, biting back a smile.
She pretends to ignore me, turning the page. “Fluent in jackass?”
I chuckle and lower my eyes to my own work.
Within a few excruciating pages, she disappears into the bedroom. She mentions yoga or some shit, but I wave her off, already buried in mind-numbing passages.
After a while, she reemerges in some crisscross-strapped bra and leggings that hug every curve. Hannah did me no favors when she and Cass gathered clothes from Nyx’s apartment.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”
“What?” she asks, throwing her hair up into a messy knot on the top of her head.
I groan and restack the books, tossing the scrolls on top. “You’re a fucking distraction.”
Not even tempting myself by going near her, I head to the bedroom with a plan to lock myself in until I get through this shit. Before I even shut the door, someone blows it out of the water by knocking.
“I ordered food,” Nyx calls.
Fuck. She’s prancing around like a goddamn wet dream, and now, she’s bringing food into the equation. I sigh, setting the pile on the dresser, and go back to the living room.
As I round the corner from the hallway, my first thought is that I’m going to murder the delivery guy if he looks at her tits. But that’s quickly overshadowed before I even see where his eyes land—because the delivery dude is wearing a shitty uniform with dress loafers and a designer watch.
It happens fast.
Nyx holds out the cash, and her hand extends over the threshold.
“No!” I shout, but it’s too late.
The demon’s eyes flash red, and I teleport just as he latches on to her wrist. I reappear where Nyx was standing, missing them by a fraction of a second.
I no more than think about the amulet, and it activates in my pocket. Chasing down the Upper who just abducted my chick must rank pretty high on Samy’s list of worthy causes. My darkness scatters, but the light hones in on the demon’s. I switch to shadows and flash into the hallway right as they materialize.
“Chaz!” Nyx whimpers.
The demon arm across her throat shifts, and the arrogant asshole it belongs to grins behind her. “Chazaqiel,” Braxis says. “Long time.”
“Not long enough.”
“Feel like coming the easy way?” he asks. “Or do I need to give you more motivation?” His grip on her tightens, but he won’t waste his only leverage so soon.
“You know I like to play hard to get.” I notice the ripple at the end of the hall by the elevator and blink to his other side, placing myself between him and his exit strategy. “Looks like you still have a bad habit of leaving your portals open.”
His eyes cut behind me, and I wrap the chain of the amulet around my hand, crystal in my fist while I wait for him to move. But then another portal opens behind him. And another fucking Upper steps out and nails Braxis in the back with a fireball. Zagan—even douchier.
Braxis lurches forward, his arm slipping from around Nyx.
I teleport to her. She grabs on to me just in time for the amulet to light up, and I blast Zagan with divinity as soon as he pops up next to us.
Then Lowers start slinking out of his portal, and I glance back to the same by the elevator. They brought the sewer rats.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
In a matter of seconds, the corridor fills with demons, flames start flying between Braxis and Zagan, and I teleport to the apartment door. I shove Nyx through it and spin to face the hell breaking loose on the second floor.
She yanks on my arm from behind. “What are you doing?” she shrieks.
With Kai and Avery so close, I can’t just chill behind a barrier and let it all play out. The Uppers seem more concerned with duking it out over who gets to kill me and claim Abaddon’s title than actually killing me, so I only have to worry about the dozen Lowers stalking in my direction.
“Sorry, gorgeous,” I say over my shoulder. “We have a rat infestation I need to handle.”
I jerk the door closed before she can argue, tightening my grip on the amulet. With the douche twins bouncing around on one side, I swing right. I pick the Lower closest to the elevator, appearing beside him. He lights up nice and pretty, and I hurl him through the portal he came out of. Since he doesn’t poke his head right back out, I move up the hall. Each flash of light drives the other Lowers away, and they almost make it easy.