The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

We both jumped and Mal looked a little sheepish.

"Olivia, this is Chris."

A tall, wonderfully curvy black woman came out fromthe back of the store. She hit every stereotype of a new age shop owner thatMal did not. Pink T-shirt with a black cat on it. Witch hat dangly earrings.Capris and sandals. Well, the last were more Santa Fe in the summer than newage. She was grinning at me, and I liked her instantly.

"Hi." I forced myself to talk normally,though I still felt really awkward. I did not like feeling awkward. It was nota normal experience for me.

"Hello. I've been trying to get Mal to bring hismystery girl by. So glad you are here."

I glanced at him and he shrugged, looking a touchembarrassed.

"Yeah, it's been a busy few days. First chance Igot. Nice place you have here."

"I'd press you for details, and trust me, I wantto know everything." She paused, wrinkling her brow for a moment beforelaughing. "Maybe not everything, but I've got to run next door for a fewminutes. I'll be back. My apologies for meeting you and running out."

She was out the door before I could say it wasn't aproblem, so I turned my attention back to Mal and arched an eyebrow.

"She made assumptions," he said hesitantly. "Wehaven't really had a chance to talk about our relationship."

"Right." I could not explain the sinkingfeeling in my gut. What the hell was wrong with me? "It's fine. I did justcome by to see if you had any thoughts on Aaron."

Mal studied me for a few moments. "Chris. I dowant a relationship. We just haven't had a minute to talk. Between the demonsand everything else." He threw in a smile probably to lighten hisstatement a bit. "You have said you want to keep me around."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I." I stopped myselffrom saying any of my normal stupid lines. I did not want to fuck this up,though I had no idea what actually to say. I never talked about relationships.I just had a little fun and eventually moved on. Usually fairly quickly. Thismight have been only the second time in my life I'd found someone I wanted tostick around. Two someones even. Three, a small voice whispered, and I told itto shut up. I could barely handle the feelings the vampire and the incubus werebombarding me with. Aaron probably wanted someone that would fit nicely intohis white picket fence life. An eighties throwback punk was not that person.Especially one that was an exorcist.

"You're thinking awfully hard, Chris," Malsaid.

"Sorry, not good at any of this relationshipstuff." I shoved my hands into my pockets.

"Well, it hasn't exactly been normalcircumstances, either."

"Probably just as well for me." I laughed,some of the tension easing out of my shoulders. "My normal usually doesn'tturn out well. You heard Darius. He thought a demon would be better for me thanmy normal types."

Mal chuckled. "Sabian is trying very hard to begood for you. He likes you a lot. So do I."

I shifted uncomfortably.

"Tell you what. Let's deal with this demonproblem and if you're still speaking to me by the end of it, we'll discuss wherewe're going from here."

"Sounds good, mate." The idea of a futurediscussion made me uneasy, but I felt it was probably just because the entiresituation was uncertain.

Fortunately, Mal changed the subject. "I'm sureit won't surprise you to know I was also curious about his tattoos. I've done afew searches in between other tasks. The only thing that really seems to matchup is a rather old description of biblical style angels. There are plenty ofother mythologies that deal with eye imagery of course, but in combination withthe wings, and the style, well, it was the only thing that seemed even close. Aarondoesn't seem the religious type, especially for ancient religions, so it is avery confusing choice. Honestly, I think we'll have to ask him." Mal slida book over to me and I looked at the picture.

"Well, that's terrifying." I studied thepicture. It was of a creature with six wings, three on each side, and a set ofsome sort of crossed rings in between the wings, all covered in eyes. Thecenter was depicted as a fierce glow, also covered in eyes.

"Vaguely," Mal agreed. "If he does havesome celestial blood, and the tattoos are actually markings instead of choiceson his part. That might explain why Sabian and I had a hard time touching him."Mal frowned. "Though I never really did go for the idea that vampires weredamned. Perhaps it's simply something contradictory in our natures that causesthe pain."

"He did admit to having some powers after Dariusand McClellan left. He can sense if someone is lying or not. He now knows aboutyou and Sabian."

Mal nodded, as if he had expected that. "Thatalso lends to this theory. Interesting. I suppose sacrificing someone withangelic blood would be diabolical enough to summon a demon prince who did notwish to be summoned."

I shuddered. "We've got to stop them. Maybe it'stime to get Sabian to contact the prince again and see if we can get moreinformation."

"I agree." Mal took the book and slid itunder the counter. "I've got to be here for another hour. Where is Sabian,anyway?"

"He's guarding Aaron while our new friend picksout a replacement vehicle."

"Why don't you stay here until Olivia gets back.Then we can leave together. My car is at home."

"Yeah, sounds good. Where do you live?"

"Just down the way." He told me his address."I'll take you by sometime soon."

"Sounds good."

"I have a question," Mal said and I tensedslightly. Why was I having these strange reactions? I did not get worried aboutwhat men thought of me. Or anyone, for that matter.

"Yeah, mate?"

"You're an exorcist and an occultist. Surely you'vegot your own library?"

"Oh! Yeah, when I quit, I kind of really quit.Buried all that fuckery up in some chests on family land in the mountains."

Mal raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Dude, it was a bad time leading up to me gettingout. Really bad time."

"I understand. If you ever want to talk aboutit..."

I shuddered. "Maybe someday."

He nodded his understanding. I supposed he'd seen