The Unlikeable Demon Hunter Collection: Books 1-3 (Nava Katz Box Set)

by Deborah Wilde

  Ari and I turned as one to the door, still closed for our privacy. It was too thin a barrier between the danger in here and all the innocent people in the rest of the trattoria.

  We dropped our magic.

  “Sit down.” Malik’s body returned to his corporeal state with nary a mark on the chair or his suit, just that same acrid burning in the air. “We’ll share some food, enjoy some conversation, and then you’ll be free to go, no harm to anyone.” The marid popped a balsamic-glazed fig in his mouth from the platter of assorted antipasto on the table.

  Outwardly, I remained calm, but I scanned him for any evidence that he’d been a demon tiki torch just seconds ago. I’d seen demon glamours fall away, I’d even seen transformations, but nothing on this level. What kind of power did it take to not leave a single drop of soot on anything? Or you know, not turn this restaurant into an inferno?

  “What if I don’t want to sit and chat?” Ari asked. “Will you compel me?”

  “I don’t compel.” Malik reached for a prosciutto-wrapped breadstick, shrugging when Ari didn’t move. “Suit yourself. But I assure you the food is delicious.”

  “Right.” Ari said. “When you sexually drain people, it’s all free will on their part.”

  Malik arched an eyebrow. “It is rather. Curious?”

  Ari jerked a chair out and sat down. “Not in the slightest.”

  “Mmmm.” Malik’s lips quirked up in a half-smile and he waggled the breadstick at me. “Eat, Nava. You seem like a girl who knows exactly what she likes.”

  I helped myself to a fig. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “That wasn’t an insult, petal. The excesses of human confidence are wondrous to behold.”

  Ari crossed his arms. “You mean we’re greedy. Which works out perfectly for demons to take advantage of.”

  Malik bit into the breadstick. “Aren’t you judgmental?” I snickered at his assessment, earning me a hard look from Ari. “What’s wrong with wanting more?” the demon asked. “More money, more fame, more power, more sex.”

  He said that last bit in a low rumble and I reached for the closest water glass because, holy Hannah, my nipples had gone hard.

  Malik smirked. “That drive is exactly what has propelled mankind to some of its greatest achievements.”

  “Or its worst depths,” Ari said.

  “True. But you don’t get one without the other.” He tilted his head. “Don’t you want more, Rasha?”

  “More dead demons?” Ari raised a hand. “Guilty as charged.”

  Yeah, I’d really picked the wrong hunter to spill my drink on back at the club. Once we’d dealt with Malik, I had to resolve the Leo situation.

  “No,” Malik said. “Just… more.”

  Ari tried to hold his stare but he broke first.

  Malik ate another fig punctuating his words with expressive gestures. “And to speak to your earlier point, I don’t take advantage of humans. I’m charming, I’m good looking, and when I need someone, I enjoy that need. As do they. I may take some of their energy but in the long run I leave them much better off than I found them.”

  I nibbled on the end of a breadstick. “Don’t sell yourself short or anything, Malik.”

  He smiled. “I never do.”

  “Jakayla’s behavior was described as addictive,” I said. “How is that better off? Or not compelled?”

  “Have you never been addicted to anyone? That deep-seated craving for a particular individual who you just can’t get enough of?” I squirmed under the weight of his stare. “Did he compel you?” I flushed. “Lucky man,” he said. “Though not his fault for how you felt.”

  Ari huffed an incredulous laugh. “Is that why you drew the symbol for love on your victims? You imitating this confidence you admire? Your twisted love resulting in sociopathic killing? Or just plain old demon evil?”

  A waiter knocked on the door.

  I tensed.

  “Come in,” Malik called.

  The waiter entered bearing a bottle of wine. He presented it for Malik’s approval, then poured a taster amount into a wine glass.

  Malik tried it and nodded. The waiter poured some into the glass in front of Ari.

  “I don’t need any.”

  “He most certainly does,” Malik said. “Top him up.”

  “Would you like a glass?” the waiter asked me.

  “No, thanks,” I said.

  “Very good.” The waiter took his leave. As he shut the door, the smell of garlic and roasted meat wafted into our private dining room.

  My stomach growled. “Can we go now?”

  We needed to find some other way to kill Malik since surprising him was impossible.

  Malik picked up Ari’s glass and held it out. “Don’t waste a great Merlot.”

  When Ari didn’t take it, Malik set Ari’s glass down, and picked up his own. “No drink, then. Let’s talk about you. I’m fascinated by that topic.”

  I put my tongue back in my mouth at the absolutely filthy smile that Malik trained on my brother.

  The clouds darkening the sky over False Creek had nothing on my brother’s expression. Ari pushed his chair back, but before he could stand, Malik’s hand had shot out to clamp down on his arm.

  “Let. Go.”

  “Tell me, Ari, if it’s all so black-and-white, where on that moral spectrum do you fall?”

  Ari jerked his hand away. “Pretty obvious.”

  “Is it?” The marid brushed a speck of lint off of his cuffs. “Portalling in was a cute twist, but did you really think you could surprise me enough to overcome my millennia of honed instincts? You know what I am, Rasha. You know my kind have walked this planet since the building of the first pyramid, since the Great Ziggurat of Ur. Admit it. You knew that you and your lovely sister could never take me down, yet did you show up with a gang of hunters to erase me from the earth?” Malik sipped his wine. “Or did just you go for it anyway?”

  Ari flushed red. “Fuck you.”

  “Probably not tonight. Enjoying the appetizers, petal?”

  I froze mid-reach for my fourth fig. Refused to feel embarrassed and took two. “Yup.”

  “See? Your sister is honest. I find that refreshing.”

  Hearing that approval from him made my self-empowerment feel sketchy. I drank some of Ari’s wine.

  Out in the main part of the restaurant, there was a loud crash of glass and applause for the dropped tray. Why did patrons do that? A man called out, “Sorry.”

  Malik tapped his index finger against his chin. “Tell me, Nava, what have you sought in your short life? Fame?”

  “Sure.”

  “Accolades, respect?”

  “Who wouldn’t? Hardly brilliant insights.” I drank some more wine, his smirk getting under my skin.

  “Mmm,” Malik said. Geez, this demon was as irritating as my brother. “Love?” he asked.

  “Why have love when I can have fun? Ari, seriously. Let’s go.” I shoved my chair back.

  Malik’s chair scraped across the wood planking. He caught up to me in a second, spinning me to face him. “You want it all.”

  I tossed my head. “So what if I do?”

  The demon tilted his head down to meet my challenging stare. His eyes were an ordinary brown and yet I had the distinct impression that some ancient intelligence saw right through all my plans, outmaneuvering me in games I hadn’t realized we were playing yet.

  I shivered, my lips parting with a soft sigh.

  “Nava,” Ari said. “Stop talking to him.”

  Malik flicked his fingers. Still trapped in the depths of his regard, I heard a meaty thwack and my brother’s grunt.

  “Go on,” Malik urged. He glanced past me, his eyes delighted and cruel. “Tell me. What would you sacrifice to have your life exactly as you want it?”

  His damn eyes forced the truth from me. All-seeing, exposing me, and making my continued silence impossible.

  “Everything.” The answer tore out of me. Chest
heaving, I spun away from the demon…

  …and right into Rohan, who caught me. He jerked back as if burned.

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” I said.

  “I think you did rather.” Malik held up his hands at my glare. Winking, he disappeared. Cue flame, blinding light, searing heat, yadda yadda yadda.

  I blinked against the bright afterimage on my corneas.

  Ari swore, cradling his shoulder and running out of the room as if he could catch Malik. I ran after him. Clearing up Rohan’s misunderstanding would have to wait until after we’d found the marid.

  I got halfway through the main dining room, when I heard Leo’s assigned ringtone coming from my purse. Before I could answer it, I was cornered by our waiter, steering me towards the bar and insisting that I pay the obscene amount this restaurant charged for the appetizers and wine that Malik had ordered.

  All my protests about needing to go after my brother and promises to come back and pay fell on deaf ears. Hoping Ari was able to keep up with the demon, I pulled my credit card out and handed it over.

  It was declined.

  There was a whoosh from the open kitchen and a flame shot up on the stove. The chef smothered it with a lid. I craned my neck trying to spot the towering mound of dirty dishes that I’d now most likely be required to wash.

  “Here.” Rohan handed over his card which covered the bill no problem.

  I shook my head. Freaking fabulous. But he had saved me from dish duty. “Thank you.”

  We hurried outside but Ari and Malik were gone. At least my car was still in the packed lot. I strode towards it, Rohan keeping pace. “About what I said,” I began.

  A Smart Car slowed down beside me, the driver giving me the universal hopeful eyes for “are you leaving?” I nodded and kept walking, the car following us.

  Rohan twirled a finger between us. “What would you say this is?”

  “It’s not anything anymore.” I beeped the fob but Rohan planted himself in between me and the door.

  “You’re–” He clenched his hands into fists, then exhaled and slowly unclenched them. “Go for a different answer.”

  The driver honked, his expression questioning. I held up a “one minute” finger.

  “It’s us. Do we have to label it?” I shouldered him aside to open the door.

  He huffed a laugh. “Yeah, Nava. Normal people label relationships, not find every excuse in the book to keep denying that they’re in one.”

  “Please. Normal people do that all that time. Not that we’re in a relationship. A relationship implies an equal dynamic and that’s not how you roll. You don’t listen. You barge in when you’ve been told repeatedly you’re not welcome. Violate boundaries left and right–”

  Hurt flashed across his face. “You think the kiss was a violation? I gave you every chance to stop it.”

  I stared at my feet. “You’re missing the point.”

  “No, you’re being deliberately obtuse. As usual.”

  Another honk from the waiting driver. This one long and pointed.

  I spun to face him. “Honk again and watch me stand here all freaking day.”

  He glowered at me and drove off, leaving me with Rohan, stony-faced, his arms crossed.

  “I’m hardly the obtuse one. Also?” I beckoned Rohan close with the crook of my index finger. “Little secret. We’re not normal. We hunt demons and wield magic. Pretty freaking abnormal. And that’s without all the rest of the baggage you Brotherhood boys come with.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I tossed my purse into the car. “You’re broken. All of you. Even as you’re all so committed to your fantasy that you’re these chill dudes with your shit together.”

  He actually rolled his eyes at me.

  “Don’t hold it in, Snowflake. You’ll get cancer.”

  “Then enlighten me.” His voice was clipped. “About these many issues.”

  Another car slowed down next to us.

  I shooed it off with a sharp jab, then commenced Rohan’s enlightenment. “How about for starters you’d rather die than admit you’re still messed up over whatever happened to your cousin?”

  His expression went ice cold. “Don’t talk about her.”

  “How could I?” I slammed my hand down on the top of the door. “You won’t tell me anything about her. You’re still punishing yourself for what happened even though you say you’ve moved on. You’re so scared of revealing yourself that every single thing with you is a calculated decision designed let you stay in control and make sure you have the upper hand. God forbid you give anything away.”

  “Like you’re some open book.”

  “Compared to you, I am. Plus, I may have trust issues and control issues but at least I’ve never pretended otherwise.”

  “No, you revel in it.” The flatness in his gold gaze, his body vibrating with barely suppressed violence, that had been him controlling his reaction. With these words, he tipped into an all-consuming black storm. A supernova of fury. His eyes sparked as he stepped toward me. “You revel in this deep ‘self-awareness’ of yours that’s nothing more than an excuse to let yourself off the hook and do exactly what you want.”

  Fatigue drained the very marrow in my bones. I sank into the driver’s seat and jammed my key in the ignition. “If that’s how you feel, then why are you here? Did Kane find the ingredients?”

  “Not yet. I fingerprinted the spine,” he said. “Got a partial match with a Rasha. A deceased Rasha. We have a connection. Not to whether the spine was used to bind the gogota but the Brotherhood did modify them.”

  I looked at Rohan, trying to find the right words to say thank you. To say something.

  The silence stretched out between us, growing tauter and thinner until Rohan pivoted sharply, and in that motion I swore I heard a loud crack as any connection we had ever had broke with an irrefutable finality.

  21

  Ari didn’t answer his phone so by the time I’d driven back to the chapter house with no contact from him, I’d worked myself into a frantic state, unable to see anything other than my brother’s broken bloodied body from when Asmodeus had tortured him.

  I ran inside. “Ari?”

  I checked every floor with no sign of him, then hit the basement, running into the Vault almost blind with panic.

  A dark-haired guy was making out with someone. All I could see was the back of Dude #1. His arms were braced against the wall as he kissed his partner. My red haze only cleared when I noticed the size of the hands that grabbed Dude #1’s ass, pulling him closer. Two guys and therefore not Rohan.

  Dude #1 groaned, arching his hips into Dude #2, who fisted his hair in Dude #1’s hair, tilted his head and sucked hard on his neck.

  I was so stuck on the “whoa” of the scene, I’d failed to consider the “who.”

  Kane and Ari.

  “Aaack!” I screeched.

  Ari jumped away from Kane, blond hair messed, lips swollen.

  “Did you go after Malik at all?” I asked my brother.

  Kane went uncharacteristically still. “Malik?”

  “Our marid serial killer,” I said.

  Kane’s face and arms turned iridescent purple, his salt-based poison coating his skin, making him deadly to the touch. “Letting off some steam, were we?”

  My eyes burned from the salt in the air.

  “Since when is that an issue?” Ari said.

  Kane shook his head at Ari, contempt on his face.

  Ari stepped toward him. “K–”

  Kane’s hands flew up, keeping Ari at bay, and he stalked out of the room. Ari punched the wall, bloodying his knuckles on the concrete.

  “Good job,” I said.

  “You’re one to talk. I told you not to talk to the demon.” Had I not just seen the same contemptuous look on Kane, I might not have identified it on my brother because I’d never been the recipient of that expression from him.

  “Malik was right,” I said. “You’ve dru
nk the Kool-Aid your whole life about how you’re doing good and how this big noble cause excuses everything to the point where you can’t see all the actual damage in your wake.”

  “By ‘damage,’ I’m guessing you mean you? Not knowing when to stay out of something?” he fired back, walking off.

  I grabbed his arm and spun him around. “You’re the one who blew our shot at getting him. Fuck you and your hypocrisy and double standards. All of you, but especially you, Ari. Do you know why Rohan showed up? I was right. There was a Rasha print on the spine. The Brotherhood is up to its neck in dirty dealings and you, darling brother, better figure out where you stand on the matter.”

  I’d always known that if I gave people a chance to come into my life and be a significant part of it, I was simultaneously giving them the power to hurt me. I just hadn’t believed that applied to the person I’d shared a womb with. The one whose presence I’d instinctively sought out through the good and the bad like he had with me.

  “Being Wonder Twins was only ever good in theory,” Ari said. “The reality? Two Katzes in the same sphere is one too many.” Jaw tight enough to shatter, Ari pushed past me, knocking into my shoulder as left the room.

  “You’re such a brat,” I yelled after him.

  I drove over to Leo’s apartment building with the window rolled down, holding all the jagged bits of myself together, and willing the frigid night air to seep inside me and make me numb.

  “Open up, baby,” I said into her intercom. “Mama wants cuddles.”

  “Sleep-stealing bitch.” She buzzed me in.

  I got into the elevator, my butt braced against the rail, my head bowed.

  I should have forced a different resolution with Ari, kept looking for Malik, done something to further this investigation, but after the shit show that had just gone down, I needed a night to get my head back in the game. When my life had flipped upside down and I’d become Rasha, my greatest wish had been to put Ari back on his rightful path. And I had, except somewhere along the way, I’d also decided that I could be good at this and more importantly, that I could be happy being Rasha. I’d been lost for a long time.