“We’ve had this argument many times, Nigellus,” Rans said, and there was steel in his tone. “Don’t try to drag her into it.”
Nigellus waved the words away. “Forget I even brought it up, Ransley. I should know your stubbornness by now, I suppose. Though, as I said before, I see no reason why Zorah should be trapped within the barriers of Hell. Second-generation she may be, but she is still demonkin.”
I hoped he was right.
“Just to be clear—I realize that staying in Hell is the best way to avoid situations like what happened at the club,” I said, “but I don’t intend to be stuck there forever with no way to get out.”
And that much was true, though I was still struggling with everything else. It was hard to see this as anything other than Rans sending me away. Intellectually, I might be able to convince myself that it was an altruistic gesture on his part to keep me safe. But a lifetime of being tossed away by men because I unknowingly took too much from them meant I had an ugly little voice living inside my head. That voice was quick to offer an alternate perspective.
You suck him dry, draining his energy over and over. You drag him into danger at every turn. One day, you’re going to kill him when you die. Is it any surprise that he’d rather spend whatever time he has left as far away from you as possible?
Rans looked at me, and then at Nigellus. “Give us a moment, please,” he said.
Nigellus dipped his chin. “As you wish. I’ll be in the lobby when you’re ready, Zorah. And Ransley? You might want to have a word with Mr. Leonides whenever he returns. I can sense that another demon has been in this suite of rooms recently.”
With that, he vanished from his chair. Rans cursed sharply.
I looked around as though I expected a demon to pop out from behind the sofa and yell ‘boo’ at us.
“What does he mean, another demon was here? Guthrie hates demons!” I said.
Rans closed his eyes, schooling his expression back to neutrality. “I don’t know, and it’s not something you need to worry about, regardless. But before you leave, you do need to understand why I can’t come with you.”
I hurried to cut him off, not wanting to hear him say the words aloud.
“No—Rans. I get it. I really do. You’ve been amazing, and I can never thank you enough for everything you’ve done.” I was babbling. I could hear the words tumbling over one another, but I couldn’t seem to stop them no matter how much I wanted to. “Look, I know I can’t do anything about the life-bond, but I was serious about not intending to be stuck in Hell forever. So if there’s ever something I can do for you—”
He was in front of me before I even registered the movement. One finger pressed lightly against my lips, stemming the flow of words. I watched, wide-eyed, as he crouched in front of me.
“There’s only one thing I need you to do for me, luv,” he said, letting his finger fall away. “And that’s to be safe. Don’t become another casualty of this war. Stay in one piece, and be true to your own nature. Promise me, now.”
Be true to your own nature.
Good god.
Did he mean my succubus nature? He was telling me in so many words to stop fixating on him, wasn’t he? He’d spent the time since he’d dragged me back from Dhuinne training me to get the energy I needed from other people—not from him.
He’d been... weaning me off him.
My throat tried to close up, and I swallowed the obstruction down. I could feel my heart shriveling in my chest like an old piece of jerky.
“Sure,” I said lightly, as though I weren’t dying a little inside. “I promise.”
He looked at me as though he wanted to peer right through my skull to the thoughts hidden beneath. But his expression remained carved from stone, every inch the marble statue I’d mentally compared him to the very first time I’d seen him.
A dark angel.
Right now, that darkness was threatening to swallow me whole.
“I should go grab my stuff,” I said, trying to ignore the thickness in my voice. “Wouldn’t want to keep Nigellus waiting.”
Rans was still in front of me, more or less preventing me from rising. He continued to stare at me for an endless moment. I couldn’t hold that steady gaze, though. My eyes slid away from his, fixating on my hands in my lap. They lay curled there like a pair of dead things.
Just when I thought I couldn’t stand another second of the stifling silence, he rose in a single smooth movement and turned away. I wasn’t sure my muscles would work when I called on them, but they did. My legs lifted me from the sofa and carried me to the guest bedroom, where my pitiful collection of belongings lay.
Most of my things were still in the carryon bag I’d been living out of for the past weeks. I packed the rest and added a couple of keepsakes I’d rescued from my house during the cleanup. Rans was no longer in the living room when I returned. Perhaps he’d gone out to the rooftop patio. Or perhaps he’d turned into mist and flown away.
Whatever the case, silence blanketed the penthouse as I hefted my tiny suitcase and left the apartment, taking the elevator down to the ground floor. Nigellus was waiting in the lobby as promised, looking like some rich CEO waiting on a business meeting. His dark eyes assessed me in a single look. To my relief, whatever he saw convinced him that idle chitchat wouldn’t be welcome.
I followed him down to a quiet corner in the parking garage, trying my best not to notice the sleek
