But before I can enjoy it for more than a couple of seconds, his finger reaches up and touches my temple, and I just...stop. One touch from the blue demon, and I’m suddenly, utterly and completely blank.
Like...no panic, no fear, no overheating, no cooling balm, nothing. In fact, I can’t even move. It’s like he actually paused me. I’d be freaked out, but my emotions are paused right along with my body.
Motherfucking demons.
I wake up on a fainting couch in a dark room that—praise the Hellgate—is nice and cool. I run my hands over my body, expecting the stifling leather pants to have disappeared, thus allowing my body to once again regulate its temperature, but I’m surprised—and relieved—to find I’m still fully dressed.
I’m confused for a moment when my hand brushes against something hard and grainy, but I quickly realize it’s my scythe. It’s been left at my side like some comforting stuffed animal. I don’t know what it says about me that I’m actually snuggling it.
Demons.
The word rushes to the forefront of my mind, and I swallow hard as I sit up and take a groggy look at the fainting couch I’m perched on. Of course they have a couch perfectly designed to place a fainter. I wonder how many security guard employees have lain on this thing before me.
The tick of an old grandfather clock is the only sound that fills the room aside from the squeak of my leather as I take stock of myself. Surprisingly, I feel really rested. Like I’ve just woken up from the best sleep ever and I’m spry and ready to go. I stretch a little and look around at the shadow-dipped room, noting that it’s different from where I was before.
I take a second to question if all of this was just some fucked up dream. I mean, who tells some poor, unsuspecting woman that they’re demons, pushes their pause button without permission, and then just leaves them alone in a dark room? I don’t care what species you are, it’s rude.
I could escape. I could tell the world what I know. I could go full Gaston and rouse the villagers and show back up here on their doorstep ready to pitchfork their asses. But as appealing as that all is, my thoughts of escape and whistleblowing have one fatal flaw...no one will believe me. I’ll be one of those kooks trying to convince everyone that I was abducted and anal-probed by the aliens.
Actually, worse, because my story isn’t even that interesting. I was scared in a graveyard, invited into the house where four guys told me they weren’t humans, and then I went unconscious. Definitely not headline news.
Just fucking great, Delta.
I drop my head into my hands and groan out my frustration. I knew this was all too good to be true, but I could have never seen the whole demon thing coming. I just figured I’d get here and it would be some fucked up telemarketing job that I just got tricked into doing.
“Get out of debt, fix my house, find a job I like. That was my to-do list. Not skip down
Mindfuck Lane with a bunch of hot demons,” I mumble as I try to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do now.
“So you think we’re hot?” a smooth voice asks me, and I scream at the unexpected invasion of it.
My eyes flare as I look up and see Echo stepping out of a shadow—and I don’t mean that he was casually leaning against a wall and reveals himself. I mean he literally steps out of a fucking shadow.
His dark tattoos swirl and move over his pale skin, settling again when I squint at them as he makes himself fully visible. The hair on my arms rises as I swallow hard, all doubts of him not being human flying out the window. He is completely otherworldly, there’s no more doubt about it.
“How the fuck did you do that?” I ask, but any response he offers is drowned out by the French doors slamming open and the three other demons tumbling into the room. The lanterns on the walls come to life, flooding the room with light.
“She’s awake,” Jerif says, sounding anything but excited about that fact.
“Are you okay?” Crux asks as he comes forward, walking behind Iceman.
Am I okay?
“Uhh. No, not even a little bit. You guys went full paranormal on me,” I tell them.
Iceman frowns. “Full...paranormal?”
“Yes!” I say with a huff. “You caught me off guard and then did some freaky shit to make me actually swoon. You made me go full Bella Swan when I’m a fucking Katniss Everdeen at heart,” I told them accusingly. “Not cool. I’m allowed to pause myself. You are not allowed to pause me, ever!” I add, staring at Iceman, because I need to drill that point home.
They just stare at me until Echo looks over at Iceman-Rafferty. “Did you mess up her brain? Because she’s just making up words now.”
Iceman just shrugs as if it’s a definite possibility. I look at him accusingly. “You can’t just knock someone out,” I say with anger.
“You were panicking. I didn’t want you to injure yourself.”
“Or the window,” Crux supplies with a grin.
I get unsteadily to my feet and shake my head, my overloaded brain still trying to process everything. “I need to know what the hell is going on,” I say before wincing at my choice of words.
Iceman gives me a placating look, probably because I look like I’m about to start panicking again, but I’m not. I’m surprisingly level-headed right now. A bomb was dropped at my feet, and
