Demon Fire (The Angel Fire Book 3) by Marie Johnston (best authors to read .txt) 📗

to think Jack Smith robbed the cradle when you’re the cougar.” She chuckled and he was grateful for the levity. Her terror wasn’t for herself. Whatever she was hiding, she didn’t hide it for herself. “Can you ever see your father again?”

“No. Numen will treat Ransom Cormorant as if he’d never had a daughter. He’ll go back to being a warrior and I’ll worry about him every day of my life and never know if he’s doing well.”

Boone wrapped an arm around her. He’d lost his father before he’d entered the police academy, and he’d dealt with the loss by throwing himself into work. The habit had stayed when things had gotten serious between him and Phoebe.

What would it be like to be gone forever to someone who was alive and well?

“I feel so useless,” she said.

“That’s normal in these types of situations.” Except he had the same frustrating feelings. The last week had been mind-numbingly boring. After today, they’d be allowed to do even less. How many puzzles could one household put together?

“I could live a long time,” she said softly. “Just like this. I probably won’t age like a normal human.”

She stiffened like she was ready for him to shove her away.

The shock sent out more ripples than when she’d admitted her age. A long time. He was middle-aged and she was only just beginning? A concern for another day. He needed to get her out of the loop of anxiety she was in. “If this had happened to someone else and you and your team had to help them, what would you do?”

She shifted to get more comfortable. They were on the edge of the bed with only so many ways to sit. He moved them back, keeping her tucked into his side. She went with him, staying close.

He’d slept above the covers for a week. Next to her, but with space and layers between them. Having her warmth in his arms came with a sense of rightness he didn’t inspect too closely.

“I’d be in a house like this. Maybe not with them. I’d watch the cameras and scour online for any information possible. They’d update me and I’d report any new information to them. Usually, if there was a topic they needed more info on, like what happened to the fallen over the years, I’d research it.” She shifted her head to look up at him. Their position was intimate, but neither of them wanted to change it. “What would you be doing?”

“Before or after I found out about angels and demons?”

She chuckled quietly and rested her cheek on his chest and her hand on his side. Did she realize it was right over his bullet wound? And that his hand was spread over her scars? “Either one. Our operations are similar, I imagine.”

Hadn’t he thought that before. “I’d go undercover at the club.”

“As a biker?”

“I haven’t ridden since that day,” he admitted.

“Do you miss it?”

“I rode as a way to stay close to my dad. To feel alive after a long day in the office. And to clear my head after an even longer day in the field. Afterward, well, I didn’t care if I ever saw another bike again. I’ve found other ways to cope since then.” He’d found a way to avoid it all—the memories and the long days at work.

“I know they don’t trust me, but if I can figure out a way to help, I’m going to do it.”

While she was pregnant? He didn’t bring it up. The thought would get her through some long days of doing nothing. As her breathing evened out, he continued to hold her and wonder what it would be like to do this every day. What would it be like to trust someone enough again to crawl into bed and talk about their day and their hopes and dreams? Sierra had her secrets and they were from different worlds, but he didn’t think about that. She wasn’t the only one who needed to ignore reality to get through this.

Chapter 13

Home filthy home.

Sandeen hovered in the Gloom around his shack of a house. The inside was nicer than the outside, but if he made it look like trash, fewer demons messed with him.

He couldn’t see any other demon lingering around his place, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. How far did Andy’s reach go down here?

He searched the craggy, barren hills around his stone shack. Nothing grew in this realm. The place looked as dark and dirty as the creatures that inhabited it. What did Numen look like? They were supposed to be the good. Not exactly pure, but good. He heard they could grow trees with their energy. Grass too. It’d be thick and plush, a stark contrast to the dirt he’d been raised in.

Permanent smog blanketed his realm. The Gloom was smothering, oppressive, but he didn’t feel like he was developing lung cancer just walking around it. No wonder all the demons had leathery, mottled skin, blackened teeth, jagged fangs, and just a general shitty attitude.

Why was he different?

He hadn’t figured that out, and his sire, Zadren, wasn’t talking. It wasn’t like Sandeen really needed answers. He wanted an escape. He wanted to roam free. Drink a fucking latte and taste it with his own taste buds. He wanted his sire to never be able to find him.

Whatever made Sandeen different gave him the ability to blend in with the humans like no other demon could. Sure, his wings were an issue. And his horns. But he could take a page from Boone’s book and get a cabin in the middle of nowhere and just be. It was all he’d require to live out his existence.

In order to do that, he needed his stash. He’d given the warriors enough information to motivate them to move quickly with Andy. He’d warned Sierra. The rest was up to her. All he had to do was gather his vials of Jameson’s blood and slip