Demons of the Sun (24 page)

“Now that
would
embarrass me.” She gave him a smile, hoping he didn’t notice how hard she had to work for it.

He lowered his eyebrows, and she knew she’d done a horrible job hiding her sorrow. “What is it then? Something’s wrong. I could see it in class, and I can see it now.”

How could she tell him she wanted to talk to Mara to find out where the demons were, but was terrified to fight by his side because the vile creatures would give her away? It was selfish, but she couldn’t help it. For the first time in months, she felt truly happy. Was it so awful to want to hold onto her happiness as long as possible, even if it meant not being totally honest?

He put his hand on her neck and brushed his thumb along her jaw, just like he had this morning. “Come on, babe. You can tell me.”

But she couldn’t. The mere thought of it sent waves of panic crashing through her. So she threw her arms around his waist, leaned her head on his chest, and listened to his pure, one-hundred-percent demon-free beating heart. Closing her eyes, she offered a quick, silent prayer to Aphrodite that when the truth came out, he wouldn’t hate her forever.

He kissed her forehead and her heart caught.

Oh, who am I kidding. There’s no going back from this. 

Someone gave an exaggerated throat clearing behind her. “I hate to break up the love fest and all, but my best friend has been M.I.A., and I need her for a few minutes.” Danielle grabbed Persephone’s hand and pulled her away from the comfort of Jax’s arms.

Danielle glanced around, then leaned in. “Okay, so I’m going to need all the deets on Jax, but first I should warn you the whole ditching-class-thing didn’t go over so well with Miss Nelson. The group project was yesterday, and she was way pissed you weren’t there. Like talked to me after class about it and asked me all about how you were, even though,
hello
, you’ve been holding out on me.” The next sentence came out as a whisper. “She even asked about your grandma, but don’t worry, I didn’t say anything.” Danielle straightened. “Anyway, I wanted to give you a heads up so you could make up a good excuse before we go in there. And I’m guessing hooking up with the hot guy you live with isn’t going to cut it.” She stuck her fist on her hip. “Now, since my life is currently beyond boring, spill. And I want lots of details.”

Heat filled Persephone’s cheeks as she told Danielle about her and Jax’s first kiss and how amazing it was.

The memory of how last night had ended popped into her head, and the image of the lifeless body on the steps of the St. Louis Cathedral put an elephant-sized dent in her joy. Good thing she was used to pushing her emotions aside. “Anyway, today things are great. Really, really, I-think-I’m-losing-my-head-a-little, great.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Danielle raised an eyebrow and fixed her with a serious glare. “But not so happy I had to find out from Charlane that you two were a thing. She said he announced it in front of the entire class last period.”

“That was just him hamming it up when we got caught passing notes. I swear, I keep landing myself in trouble, no matter how hard I try to stay out of it.”

As Persephone stepped into the classroom, Miss Nelson’s eyes met hers. Judging from the expression on the teacher’s face, there was a lot more trouble waiting for her.

Once again, Persephone found herself standing in front of Miss Nelson’s desk after class. This time, though, Jax stayed by her side. Miss Nelson handed him a sheet of paper. “There’s your make-up assignment. Now please go so I can talk to Persephone alone.”

Jax ran his hand across Persephone’s back as he walked past her. “I’ll be right outside the classroom.”

Persephone turned her attention to Miss Nelson, wanting to hurry this up and get out of here as soon as possible. “I know I missed the project. It was an excused absence, my grandma called it in, and I plan on making it up, I swear.”

Miss Nelson motioned to the chair across from her desk. “Have a seat.”

Apprehension knotting her stomach, Persephone sat and crossed her legs. Miss Nelson didn’t just look mad, she looked disappointed. Which was much, much worse.

It’s crazy that I’d rather face a disgusting demon right now than her.

“You know I want the best for you,” Miss Nelson said. Then she was off and lecturing about how Persephone had let her group down, how she needed to be more responsible, and how she’d noticed Persephone withdrawing more and more. Apparently her grade was slipping, too. “I’m sure you think I’m being hard on you, and I am, because I know you can do better. You’re a bright girl and you can have a bright future if you’ll only apply yourself.”

Excelling in class wouldn’t give Persephone a bright future. Not being a Sentry would have given her that. Too bad it wasn’t an option.

Miss Nelson steepled her hands. “After giving it some thought, I decided that being proactive is a better approach than waiting until you’re too far gone.”

“I’ll do better,” Persephone said. “I promise.”

“Well, since your grandmother has signed you out not once, but twice in the last few weeks, I think it’s best—”

“Twice?”

“Last Friday you missed my class, too.”

Oops. Forgot about that one. No wonder she thinks I’m a problem student.

“Persephone, I want to set up a meeting with you and your grandma.”

Persephone’s mind stumbled to set this right before it got out of control. “You can just tell me. Or write a note. I’ll make sure she gets it.”

Miss Nelson shook her head. “That’s not going to work. I want to see her, face to face.”

Well, so do I, but since Gran’s in Heaven and all, that’s going to be a bit tricky to arrange.

Miss Nelson raised her eyebrows and peered down her nose at Persephone. “Do you understand?”

Persephone nodded. She understood all right. She understood she’d landed herself in the kind of trouble she had no idea how to get herself out of.

As she and Jax walked into the house, he put his hand on her back. “Still bummed?”

Persephone locked the door and exhaled. “‘Bummed’ is putting it mildly. Over the phone, they can’t tell Rose isn’t Gran. But since they met Gran, they’re going to notice when a tall black woman shows up instead of a short, gray-haired, white woman.”

“This is ridiculous. You belong to the Order of Zeus; you can kill demons. You shouldn’t have to deal with parent-teacher conferences.”

“Guess I’ll just show Miss Nelson how good I am with a sword, and hope she’s either scared or impressed enough to not pursue the rest.” Without the sarcastic oomph she usually put into it, her attempt to lighten the mood fell flat.

Jax put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed her tension-filled muscles. “You want me to talk to her?”

Persephone leaned back against him. “What can you do?”

His lips brushed her ear when he spoke. “Don’t you remember how convincing I can be?”

A chill ran down her spine. “Remind me,” she whispered.

He scooped her into his arms, carried her to the couch, and tossed her onto it.

A squeal escaped her as he jumped on top of her. His lips came down on hers, and he gave her slow, drugging kisses. His weight, his warmth, his lips—the combination made her head spin. But it also felt like too far, too fast. She put her hand on his chest and worked to catch her breath. “Hold on there, speed racer. We need to take things slow.”

“Right. Slow. Like…” He kissed her again, lingering, slipping his tongue in to meet hers.

She gave in, kissing him back. When his lips left hers, she shook her head, hating and loving how easy it was to get carried away with him. “I need slower for the reals,” she said, scooting out from under him. They were both dealing with a lot, and the last thing they needed was to make everything that much more complicated. “And we need to talk about what we’re going to do about the body we found last night.”

That seemed to sober him up. “Okay. Saving the world from demons time.”

“Lucky for us, it’s part of our job.”

“My job.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t be difficult. Now, we’re out of food, and we need to go talk to Mara. I’m thinking we hit the Quick Stop for snacks on our way to get the 4-1-1, then we’ll be fueled up for the night of demon slaying ahead of us.”

“Sounds ambitious,” Jax said, clearly not all the way on board with the plan.

“Well, when it comes to saving the town from becoming overpopulated by demons, is there really such a thing as too ambitious?”

The lopsided grin he flashed her was so cute she thought they might be able to spare a few more minutes for kissing. “You’re awesome, you know that?”

After all day of feeling not-so-awesome, it was good to hear, even if she didn’t deserve it. “Thanks.” She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Now, get your cute butt off the couch. We’ve got a job to do.”

Arms full of snacks, Persephone walked up to the counter of the Quick Stop. The newspaper caught her eye, and while she really didn’t want to know if the paper had reported on the body she and Jax had stumbled upon last night, she needed to know.

After paying for the newspaper and treats, she sat on the warm hood of the Mazda, while Jax pumped the gas. She opened the paper, struggling with all the pages, and ran her gaze up and down until she found it.

Body Found on steps of Saint Louis Cathedral

Underneath was a picture of the victim, a Mr. Linus Gerou.

Persephone had seen the face before—in a box next to five others, missing eyes and with drooping, deteriorating skin.

She blinked, forcing herself to look past the rotting image in her mind, to how he looked in the picture. Dark hair, brown eyes, skin firmly on his skull, showing no signs of decay, body still attached.

A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” Jax leaned in and studied the paper. “What are you looking at?”

“The body we found last night. This was him.” Persephone’s throat felt raw, and her stomach moved up to the place her heart should be. “I’ve seen him before.”

“Where?”

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Or maybe you would, but that would lead to questions I don’t want to answer.
“He just looks familiar, and we know from his tattoo he was a Gatekeeper. The Order’s already weak and this…” Persephone slid off the hood. “We’ve got to stop it. I just hope Mara can point us in the right direction.”

“Did you hear about the murder last night?” Persephone asked as soon as Mara opened the door.

“Hello to you too.” Mara waved them inside.

“Sorry. But something bad is brewing, and we’ve got to find a way to stop it before it’s too late. Please tell me you can help us find the demons responsible, so we can put an end to it.”

“Come sit down, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Persephone and Jax sat on the antique gold couch, and Mara sat in the chair opposite them. She glanced from Persephone, to Jax, and then back at Persephone. “Something’s different.”

Persephone scooted forward. “About this murder?”

“Between you two. I must say I’m a little surprised, since your connection with your dream man was so strong. I’ve never seen anyone as in love as you were with him.”

Over the last few days, Persephone had been able to keep her guilt at bay—thanks to the happiness she felt being with Jax. But Mara’s mention of Adrastos sent the guilt crashing through the barriers Persephone had worked so hard to keep up.