The Demon Within (37 page)

Drowsiness filled her, but she refused to lose any remaining time they had left. Daylight was only an hour away.

“Ruman?”

“Hmmm?”

A slight pause followed while she tried to work up her nerve. “Tell me what your life was like…before you became a guardian.” Tucked in his arms, she refused to call him a demon.

Not after what they’d just shared.

Her heart ached when Ruman went rigid beneath her head. His arms tightened like a band, pushing the air out of her lungs. If he breathed, she couldn’t tell.

She’d ruined it.

Why couldn’t she learn to keep her big mouth shut?

Chapter Twenty-seven

C
aly waited, gliding her fingertips across his abdomen and chest in large, sweeping stokes to soothe them both. Despite his reaction, she refused to take back her question. It was too important. She was starved for any information about him, and desperately wanted to know what she was up against.

“My life?” He gave a casual shrug that belied his strangled tone. “It’s different from what you’ve experienced. We’re not human and aren’t treated the same.” He paused as if deciding whether to share more then sighed.

“I was an angel of the lower regions. My duty was to make all the souls that came before me record their sins, wait for the ruling and deliver them for judgment.”

She didn’t think he noticed that he spoke about his life in the past tense. Though she wanted to know about him and not his job, she was greedy enough to take what he was willing to share. When he didn’t say more, Caly nudged him, half afraid to learn more. She couldn’t compete with his home. “What happened?”

“Day after day, year after year, I listened to the worst of humanity as they listed their crimes and begged forgiveness.”

He lifted the arm from around her and rested it over his eyes as if he couldn’t bear to look at her. She froze, afraid that if he noticed her, he’d stop.

“I couldn’t take it anymore. A woman murdered her family, but because she begged for forgiveness, the piece of dung won a reprieve.” His breathing increased, his chest billowed with his agitation. “She didn’t feel any remorse, said she was doing what was commanded of her when she killed. It was a lie, and we both knew it.”

A humorless laugh escaped, bringing a chill to her skin so cold that her chest ached when she spoke. “What happened?”

“The crime that landed me here is I lost her reprieve papers and damned her soul.”

“But you did nothing wrong.” Indignant, she rose up and turned to look at him. “She deserved punishment for her crimes.”

He dropped his arm and faced her with a shuttered expression. “But it wasn’t my place to pass judgment. I didn’t trust the system enough to follow the procedures.” His harsh laugh grated on her ears. “The woman was given a temporary reprieve. After due consideration, she was consigned to Hell for her crime and lack of remorse.”

He pulled her down tight against him, pushed her head back on his chest and absentmindedly trailed his fingers through her hair. She would’ve said he did it to distract her, but he didn’t appear to notice the way her heart leapt at his touch.

“By then it was already too late for me. Because of my years of loyalty, I was sent to earth to become a guardian statue. Until I pass my test, I will remain here.” Caly felt his lips brush her brow, and they both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.

She understood rules and the need for them, but she wondered if she wouldn’t have done the same thing in his place. His doubt was the only reason they were together, and she couldn’t help but be grateful.

She must have nodded off when a loud knock jarred her awake. The clock said they’d slept the day away, it was already sunset. A glance revealed the shutters secured the window against the dying daylight.

She slowly twisted to face Ruman, and her breath escaped in a big puff. Human. She’d been spared waking up to cold stone. Warmth flooded her face, and she resisted the urge to touch his exposed chest.

“Caly?” Jarred opened the door, sucked in a harsh breath and promptly whirled, closing the door nearly shut. “Give a guy some warning, would you?”

His disgruntled tone brought a crooked smile to her face. Caly untangled herself from Ruman and padded to her closet for clothes. “That’s what you get for entering without waiting. What’s wrong?”

“Henry needs to speak with you. He’s insisting.” She glanced at him through the crack of the door. Both annoyance and concern were etched on his face as he stared at his feet. “He won’t be awake long.”

“I’ll be right down.” They needed her. It was as simple as that. Incredibly sore from the fight and the more recent activities, Caly realized the futility of trying to hurry. Remembering those actives in vivid detail brought a smile to her face. She was pulling at her shirt when a rustle of sheets made her turn.

Still asleep Ruman turned on his side, his arm reached out to her empty side. The urge to crawl back into bed was a physical ache gnawing at her. A bad omen ran through her that if she left, nothing would ever be the same again. She shook her head at the foolishness. It had to be the demon trying to play tricks on her, trying to pull her away from her duty.

Firming her resolve, Caly moved her pillow and carefully placed it under his arm. He curled around it, inhaling deeply, and sighed, slipping further under the Sandman’s spell. The sight made her stomach flip-flop wildly. Watching him alone in
her
bed, she cursed Henry for interrupting.

She wanted to steal back under the covers and wake him with a kiss. To fight the urge to do just that, she snatched her shoes, and backed out of the room. The door closed behind her with a soft click.

The feeling of unease increased.

Someone cleared their throat. Caly whirled, her hand dropping to the small two-inch blade tucked into a sheath hidden in the waist of her pants. She was already swinging when she recognized Jarred. The blade stopped inches from his throat. “Don’t do that. You know better than to sneak up on me.” Eyes lowered, she sheathed her knife, hands shaking at the near miss.

She’d been so wrapped up in her emotions, she nearly killed him. Oscar had always warned her to keep everything locked tight. Could this be what he meant? That if she lost control of her emotions, those around her would be in danger?

“I could’ve killed you.” The stark reminder was more for her than him.

“It seems we both live a bit dangerously these days.” Jarred raised a brow and gave a pointed look to the door behind her.

Caly turned on her heel and marched down the hall, shoving all her emotions back into the deep, dark place where they lived with her demon. “Spit out what you mean to say and be done with it.”

His footsteps followed and the silence stretched. “Just be careful.”

“Yeah, I know—”

“No.” Jarred snagged her arm, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You’re the cornerstone of this organization. Without you all of us would either be dead or worse. Don’t let all your work be for nothing. This fight is a long way from being over.”

Heat billowed through her, and she clamped her hands on her hips to keep from strangling him. She reined in her anger and spoke as calmly as she could. “Did you ever wonder if maybe we weren’t meant to battle alone? If we partnered up with the demons’ willing to help, we’d have a much better chance at winning?” Not waiting for a reply, Caly thudded down the stairs, and stalked toward Henry’s room.

Did she believe what she said?

Maybe. She trusted Brie.

Did she trust Ruman?

“Until you rely on the wrong one,” Jarred called from behind her.

Caly glanced back at him and raised a brow. “Unfortunately, demons don’t have the corner on betrayal.” Shoulders back, she entered the spare room Jarred had commandeered for Henry.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

If it was possible, Henry looked worse. Half of his hair had fallen out, leaving behind scraggly tuffs of spindly strands. His paper-thin skin showed his veins like bruises. His eyes were sunken. He’d lost so much weight, his bones protruded from his frame while his skin seemed to slough off his body. The smell of dry, rotten husks filled her nose, and she choked back the gagging sensation.

“Of course I would.” She sat in the chair next to the bed. Careful not to hurt him, she picked up his hand and tried not to recoil from the dry, brittle flesh. “She really sucked you dry, didn’t she?”

His laugh turned into a hacking cough. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Mindful of his frailty, she helped him take a sip of water. The excitement seemed to exhaust him. “Are you—”

“Fine.” He coughed again. “I’m fine,” he wheezed, “as much as possible under the circumstances.”

A tinge of compassion darted through her, but only a little. She’d known him far too long to believe he’d changed. Next week, he’d be up and around, harassing her again.

“I want to see the medallion.”

It wasn’t a request. That Henry resorted to begging put her on edge. Suspicion darkened her mind, but she wanted to see what he’d do with it.

It took her less than a minute to retrieve the piece. With the chain tangled in her fingers, she let the three-inch medallion drop to dangle in the air. The disk spun as the chain swung back and forth. Light reflected off the metal, shimmering like something inside responded to her touch.

Henry reached out a shaky hand. Caly hesitated, gave him a hard look then lowered the medallion. The chain rang against the golden disk as it slunk to the mattress.

His outstretched fingers closed reflexively around the piece. The greed and possession she saw so often came and went in his eyes. A smile crossed his face and faded. “You were meant to have it.” He never once lifted his gaze from the disk as he spoke.

“The disk?” Caly stared at the man on the bed, baffled by his behavior.

Henry shook his head. “Both the leadership of the group
and
the medallion. I thought I might find something I recognized, something Felicia let slip that could help us.” A disappointed grimace came to his face. “Nothing.”

“I’m sorry.” Caly spoke softly, but something in what he said nagged at her, the ability to see something that wasn’t actually there.

“For?” The snideness in his voice was pure Henry. “Me stealing the leadership, back-stabbing you, leaving you to die or you stealing my medallion to keep it safe and the group alive?”

Caly swallowed hard at his so very Henry-like apology. “Sorry Felicia wasn’t the woman you wanted her to be.”

“But she was.” He gave a wiry smile. “If only she’d been human.”

Caly rose as he nodded off, exhaustion etching lines on his face. He seemed to sink into the mattress.

Unwilling to hide the medallion in the same spot, Caly slipped the disk from his clenched fingers and removed the chain. She racked her mind for a solution, her fingers manipulated the metal between her fingers like a giant coin trick when what Henry said struck her.

“That’s it.” Caly bit her lip as Henry shifted on the bed. She eased out of the room and headed to the library. Oscar called her a menace when she first came to live with him. As a form of punishment, he had her make wax copies of every headstone in the old graveyard. The cemetery hadn’t frightened her. She knew where evil resided and it wasn’t in the centuries-old cemetery long forgotten by man.