Demon Bones: The Soul Series Book 2

by D. S. O'Neill

  She blinked at them blankly. “…no shit. I did that? Huh. Go figure.”

  A large hand shoved her back again.

  Uh oh. Big A is getting angry. Y’all better watch out.

  “You can tell Lord Azeros that she is none of his business, and to stop sending demons to trail her. If he does, they’ll disappear.” The threat in Jace’s voice was unmistakable, and the other two demons shifted nervously behind the one with the dirty blonde hair.

  But Dirty Blonde didn’t look nervous. In fact, he looked smug. “You’re awfully protective of her right now, especially considering she’s supposed to have enough power to knock three Chaos demons on their asses and leave them there. Gotta wonder why a girl that powerful would need to hide.”

  Damn it. So much for the idiot theory.

  She felt Jace’s entire body tense, and their conversation about family and him considering her to be a part of his popped into her mind. There was no doubt in her mind that he would fight to protect her, and there was also no doubt that he would win, hands down. These guys didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

  Dirt Blonde grinned evilly.

  Or maybe they did.

  A pair of large, unfamiliar hands suddenly wrapped around Ria’s arms and viciously ripped her from her protection behind Jace. Wrenching her head as far around as she could from her restricted position, she peered up at a fourth demon she’d never seen before as he leered down at her. “Hello, little pet.” He sneered.

  “Not your pet.” She growled through gritted teeth as she struggled against him, even managing a few jabs into his not-so-soft gut with her elbow, not that it did her any good. His stomach was comparable to a brick wall, and elbowing him there hurt like a two-faced fucking bitch, but she did it anyways.

  “Stop, you little worm. You’re pissing me off.”

  “Oh, I’m pissing you off? Well, I’m so sorry! Next time bring some food and maybe I’ll fucking go quietly!” Elbow jab.

  He gripped her arms tighter and shook her so violently her head snapped back and forth, causing her teeth to jar together painfully. “I said, knock it off. And shut up while you’re at it.”

  She grinned through the pain in her jaw and neck. “You hear that, Jace? This fucker wants me to be quiet. Do you think that’s even possible? Cuz, gotta tell ya, I’ve known me my whole life, and that shit ain’t never happened.”

  Something sharp suddenly appeared against her throat. Her mind vaguely registered the sensation of a knife pricking her sensitive skin.

  “Let’s see you talk with this.”

  Chapter 5

  “Okay. You’re a douchecanoe.” Ria giggled roughly through the constriction against her throat.

  The knife pushed harder into her skin, and she couldn’t help but experience a wicked sense of satisfaction at the feel of something warm drip slowly down her neck. Jace’s eyes followed the drop and his jaw set.

  His eyes flew back up and met hers, and she could feel the sense of frustrated hurt he exuded.

  She’d hurt him. By allowing—no—goading the demon into piercing her skin, even just fractionally, she’d hurt Jace.

  Because he felt he was supposed to protect her.

  An overwhelming sense of guilt swamped her as she clutched the demon’s arm, trying to pull the offending object away from her neck. She didn’t think—she never thought—she just acted, and when she was in a situation where she felt challenged, her initial reaction was to fight back the best way she knew how. With her smart mouth.

  In that moment, several bizarre, confusing things happened all at once. In front of her, Jace whirled around and launched himself at two of the three demons, tackling them both at the same time, bringing them down to the asphalt with a painful cracking sound. To her right, a black blur rushed past, slamming into the Dirty Blonde with the same force Jace hit the other two with. It took a long second before she recognized the figure pounding into Dirty Blonde with the force of a category 5 hurricane. It was Tallen. Where the hell’d he come from?

  But of all the things that left her a befuddled mess, the one that stood out the most took place directly behind her.

  The demon let go.

  It was a gradual motion, almost as if he weren’t in control of himself, but he did it, and Ria whirled around to face him while taking several steps back.

  He looked at her, confusion written over his face. A curious confusion, as if whatever was happening was an oddity that he wanted to examine further but didn’t quite know how to.

  “The fuck are you looking at, asswipe?” She growled at him, ready to take him on with Jace and Tallen at her back.

  Watching her carefully, he took a step forward, but his eyes immediately flitted behind her. She could see the hesitation in his gaze and she knew that Jace and Tallen were standing behind her—she could feel their body heat seeping through her clothing with how close they stood, ready to attack at a moment’s notice. The demon seemed to think better of it, and instantly disappeared.

  “That jackass really didn’t deserve to get away. I was seriously about to say ‘sic him’. Why didn’t you sic him on your own? You totally could have…” Turning around, her words died in her throat at the look on the guys faces. They both looked pissed. At her.

  Eep.

  ******************************

  “Come on, guys. It’s not that bad.” Ria attempted futilely to calm down the raging angel and demon that were both pacing in front of her on the couch as Dax healed her neck. It really wasn’t that bad—barely a scratch, but by the way Jace and Tallen were acting, you’d think she’d been brutally murdered and left in a ditch on the side of the road.

  “Why would you do that, Arianne? Do you realize how dangerous that is? You can’t mouth off to someone when they have a goddamn knife to your throat.” Jace fumed, pausing in his pacing to fix her with a heated glare while he spoke. Tallen just continued pacing, throwing glances her way every so often that were loaded with irritation and blame. She flipped him off.

  “And why are you so pissy? In fact, now that I’m asking questions, how the fuck did you even show up in that alley in the first place?”

  Tallen stopped pacing and stared her down. “Cade told me about the demons yesterday. I followed you. I knew Azeros wouldn’t give up on you once Jerrick told him what happened, so I’ve been keeping an eye on you knowing more demons would show up at some point. I wanted to send a message.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “Send a message?”

  He nodded, a single, jerking motion of his head down, then up. “Jerrick thinks I’m dead. I wanted him to know I was still very much alive. Then you had to go and get yourself stabbed.”

  “Okay, first of all—I wasn’t stabbed. I was nicked. There’s a big difference. Second—you used me to send a message to your brother? That’s kinda low.” She fixed him with a pointed stare as she leaned back against the back of the sofa, arms crossed, Dax sitting next to her silently. His healing had only taken moments. Just more proof that it wasn’t as big a deal as they were making it out to be.

  “I didn’t use you—“

  “No, actually, you did.” Jace interjected roughly. “You knew more demons were going to be coming around. You weren’t following her to protect her, you were following her for your own, selfish purposes.”

  He glowered at Tallen, who glared back just as heatedly. The room seemed to rise in temperature, and Ria quickly guessed that if she didn’t cut in soon, a full-on brawl was gonna break out, and she honestly wasn’t sure if anyone would survive it.

  “Hey, listen you guys—it’s not that bad. Nobody really got hurt, right? Everything turned out okay.”

  Two sets of eyes whirled on her, one fiery gold, the other a deep, churning blue. They glared at her.

  “Whoa. Okay…all the attention is back on me. I can totally handle this.”

  “You were injured, kitty cat. Maybe not full-on stabbed, like you said, but you could have been. Easily. You have no access to
your powers and no way to really defend yourself.” Tallen ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I need to go take a walk or something.”

  With that, he walked out the front door, slamming it behind him so hard the coat rack next to it wobbled.

  Everyone stared at the door in silence.

  Through the silence, Ria sighed heavily. “Why do I get the feeling he’s not just mad at me?”

  “Because he’s not. None of us are.” Jace responded quietly as he slowly turned and made his way up the stairs to his room, each step looking as though it took every ounce of energy he had. Once upstairs, Ria heard the door to his room softly closed.

  She turned to Dax who still sat quietly on the couch, observing everything without comment. “So how much groveling do you think I’ll need to do before they forgive me?”

  Dax looked at up at her with a blank expression. “They’re not the only ones who are mad, you know. That was a stupid, horrible risk to take. We could have lost you…and we just found you.”

  Guilt began to eat at her insides, churning them into a hot mess of regret.

  Not my Dax, too.

  “I’m sorry, Daxamillion.”

  He eyed her. “Daxamillion?”

  “Yeah. Cuz you’re worth a million of any other guy.”

  Gradually, a grin lit up his face, turning him from just good-looking to downright gorgeous, lighting his face up like a bonfire raging in the night.

  Quick as a lightning strike, his grin turned from happy to cheeky. “But, ya know…all that stress has really made me tense. My poor shoulders are just so stiff…” He waggled an eyebrow at her, forcing an unsolicited laugh out of her.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. If I want my maple bacon crack, you get a massage. I’m aware. Let’s go, Daxamillion. We should use my room. I don’t think I trust your room.”

  “You haven’t even seen my room.”

  “Hey, yeah, that’s a good point. Why haven’t I even seen your room?”

  He shrugged. “You never asked. I kinda assumed that as a girl you would just give in to your natural curiosity and peek in there.”

  “Well that’s rude. What kinda girl to you take me for?”

  “The kind that’s about to give me a massage in my room because it’s perfectly fine and there’s no reason for you to think otherwise.”

  She waved her hand. “Fine, fine. Let’s go check Daxamillion’s hopefully very clean and not smelly room.”

  “I’m a guy, not a teenager.”

  **************************

  Dax’s room was not at all what Ria expected…and yet, it was exactly what Ria expected. She really didn’t know what she was expecting.

  There were posters of beautiful hiking and mountain climbing locations all over his walls, intermixed with posters of famous cities across the world. Along his dresser and nightstands were photos of him in full hiking gear, standing amidst trees or in the desert or on a mountainside. It was clean and tidy and welcoming, making her feel happy and comfortable at the same time. His bedspread was a deep forest green, matching with the deep mahogany wood of his dressers and nightstands. The walls were painted a matching shade of soft green, and the whole place reminded her of the woods of Washington state where they lived. Dax was clearly a nature guy, not that she hadn’t already figured that out with all the time he spent outdoors.

  Moseying up to a poster of a breathtaking, Spanish-looking city with the word ‘Madrid’ splashed across the bottom in cursive font, she touched it softly. “Have you been to Madrid?”

  A soft chuckled rumbled behind her. “I’m an angel, Red Hot. I’ve been everywhere.”

  His deep, smooth voice coming from so close behind her brought goosebumps to her skin, sending her senses into overdrive. He was close…too close.

  “So! Let’s get this party started!” Ria laughed nervously and whirled around.

  Dax stood in front of her, a grin on his face, the top half of his body completely shirtless.

  Whew, yeah. Definitely need a glass of water.

  His long, lean torso was still tanned to perfection, and she briefly wondered if he hiked naked…or possibly completely nude. Her eyes involuntarily drifted down his defined abs to the sharp V of his hips that dove down below his jeans.

  Dear god in heaven…or wherever.

  Clearing her throat awkwardly, she waved around the room. “Got any lotion or…ah…something?”

  Still grinning, he walked over to his nightstand, opened the drawer, and pulled out a tube of lotion. He reached out to hand it to here.

  She eyed it suspiciously. “I don’t know if I want to be handling that thing. It was in your nightstand.”

  One eyebrow lifted up Dax’s forehead in question. “Why? Where do you keep your lotion?”

  A brief pause. “In my nightstand.”

  He chuckled, grabbed Ria’s hand, placing the lotion in it. “Not everything is an innuendo for something else.”

  “But some things are?”

  He stared into her eyes. “Some things are.”

  Turning around, he crawled up onto his large, king-sized bed and collapsed onto his stomach. Ria stood there staring for a moment, not sure what to do or where to go or what to say or—hell—even if she was still breathing. She just stared at his muscled back and watched his deep breaths rise and fall with his back.

  “You just gonna stand there, Red Hot?”

  Cracking her neck and mentally preparing herself for the unavoidable onslaught of hormones, she slowly walked up to the bed and crawled on top of Dax’s legs. She squeezed a decent-sized dollop of lotion into her hands, rubbed them together a bit to warm it up, then placed her slightly shakey hands onto Dax’s sinewy back. She started at the base of his spine and rubbed upwards, surprised by the number of knots he had.

  “Jesus, Dax. You really are tense.”

  “Told ya.”

  “But…you’re an angel. Aren’t you supposed to be, like, immune to this kinda human-esque shit?”

  “I’m a fallen angel, Red Hot. We’re closer to being human than you’d think. We don’t need to eat, but we do need to sleep, and we’re slower than an angel. We’re also not quite as strong…although I’m not entirely sure that’s true on Jace’s part. He seems just as strong and fast as when he was a full angel. Maybe it’s a seraphim thing…”

  “So you still have your reaper powers, you’re still super-strong and super-fast…I’m not really seeing the drawback of being fallen.”

  “There really wasn’t a drawback…until now.”

  Ria paused in the middle of her ministrations. “What do you mean?”

  He pushed himself up a bit on his forearms and turned just enough so that he could see her.

  “Now, I don’t feel like I could protect you if I needed to.”

  Her heart broke a bit inside her. Why was this guy, whose smile was as bright as the sun, so good at breaking her heart?

  “I’ll try to be more careful, Daxamillion. I promise.”

  Collapsing back against the bed on his stomach, Dax heaved out a great sigh.

  “No, you won’t.”

  She stared at his back as she silently continued to work out the knots, now moving over his upper back and shoulders. The remainder of the massage hour was spent in mutual silence as she contemplated each of the guys.

  Though she didn’t know when it had happened, each of the guys seemed to be getting more and more concerned with her safety and general well-being. They were growing attached to her, and that tiny part of her that rebelled against all things touchy-feely was rearing its ugly head, warning her that getting too close would be a weakness on her part. A real weakness, not her ‘weakness’ for food.

  Although she really did love food.

  When the last knot in his back gave, she sat back on her legs on the side of his bed. He turned to his side, still lying down, and watched her. “Whatcha thinkin’ bout, Red Hot?”

  “You. Jace. Tallen. Cade. You little worms.”

  “Pardon?
”

  “You guys are little worms. You wormed your way into my life. Knock it off.”

  “Make us.”

  “Oh I’ll make you alright—hey, stop that!” Ria gasped as Dax suddenly attacked her ribs, tickling her violently. She collapsed backwards and attempted to roll away but Dax’s solid arms and firm hands wouldn’t allow it. He tickled her mercilessly until she finally threw up hands and screamed. “Mercy, mercy! I give! You guys can stay in my life as long as you want!”

  Sitting back, Dax shot her a smug smile. “Damn straight.”

  “Who’s straight?” A deep voice asked from the open doorway.

  “Not me!” Ria chirped, raising her hand as she turned to smile at Tallen as he leaned against the door jam.

  Tallen blinked at her. She turned to Dax, hand still in the air. He blinked at her. She blinked at the both of them. “What?”

  “Did you just say you’re not straight?” Tallen inquired, straightening up and stepping into the room.

  “Yeah. Why? Don’t tell me you’re a bunch of homophobes.”

  Dax jumped up from the bed, standing in front of Ria with both his hands on his hips as he stared her down. “Are you telling me you’re a lesbian?”

  “What’s wrong with lesbians?”

  He floundered, his hands waving frantically in the air. “Nothing! Nothing at all! They’re great and awesome and fantastic at softball—“

  “That’s a stereotype.”

  “—but you! You…you can’t be a lesbian!”

  “Well, I’m not. But I’m not entirely straight, either.”

  His eyebrows pulled together in confusion, and then slowly evened at out as realization dawned on him. “So, what you’re saying is…you’re bi?”

  “Yes, good job.”

  Glancing back at Tallen, who had a wickedly amused expression on his face, Dax chewed on the edge of his bottom lip before turning back to face Ria. He opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it. Opened it once more, then immediately closed it again. It looked as though he were trying to figure how to say something.