Vein of Love (Blackest Gold Book 1) (8 page)

MOLLY DIDN’T SLEEP
for the next two days. Her parents had gone off to their Hampton cottage after Molly again begged them. They said they wanted her to message them any chance she had, but she’d been failing at that.

She went to the museum like a zombie whose only source of living was research, and she didn’t see any sign of Tensley. Where he had gone to, she didn’t really care, as long as he didn’t come back. One morning she’d actually forgotten about him, spending a blissful five minutes walking around until she tripped over his giant, oil-black combat boot where it sat in the middle of the foyer. Her chest had tightened at the unwelcome reminder of her fiancé’s presence, and she’d had the niggling notion he’d left it there on purpose.

Molly’s eyes strained to read one more page of
The Rosier.
She had a rhythm formed: two pages of demon history and culture, two pages of research on India’s art from the sixteenth century for her internship. Balancing both scrambled her mind, and she soon found her hands turning page after page of
The Rosier.

Why did love matter so much to them? Why did they get ripped out if they developed a full heart?
The book didn’t help; it was obviously meant for someone from Tensley’s world with basic knowledge.

She needed more information, more knowledge to use against him. She needed to know how to play in his world and find a way to destroy the bastard.

Her stomach grumbled.

Maybe food would give her knowledge.

After a good minute of weighing the pros and cons of venturing out of her bedroom, she caved, grabbing
The Rosier
and padding down the stairs into the silent house. Strangely enough, she hadn’t seen Tensley even sleeping there, so she wondered if he was staying somewhere else.

Turning into the kitchen, she froze.

Tensley sat on the small breakfast bench, leaned over, elbows relaxed on his thighs, hands hanging between his knees as he heatedly discussed something with Illya, who stood. They both turned, startled by Molly’s sudden appearance.

Greeaat. Now my day is ruined.

“Uh, sorry. I didn’t think anyone was home,” she mumbled, taking a step back.

“This is your house,” Illya laughed, glancing down at the book in her hand. “You reading
The Rosier?
”

She nodded. “It’s a bit overwhelming; I don’t understand a lot of it.”

“Well, you can ask us anything about it. We’d love to help,” he offered.

Molly opened her mouth, hesitating. She peeked at Tensley’s tensed figure. Now was her chance. Be the dumb blonde. Trick them into giving her something she could use against him. “Why are demons heartless?”

Illya blinked and glanced at Tensley.

Tensley sighed, none too thrilled. “I’m going to be late.”

For what?

“I just want to understand you,” Molly said softly, making sure her voice was pleasant and sweet.

Tensley watched her closely and his jaw clenched, unclenched until he looked away.
“Demons don’t have what
your kind
call hearts, as we already discussed.”

After a good few seconds, Molly figured Tensley was done speaking. She frowned. Maybe she should have batted her lashes, damn it.

Illya cleared his throat. “When we’re born, we have half of one. If a demon develops a full heart, Fallen, the Crown Prince of Babylon, will destroy it, and that demon will be reborn without morals or values. They will be worse than before.”

Molly scowled. “But why does he do that?” She watched as Tensley grabbed a ruby red apple and tore a violent chunk out of it.

Illya stepped closer, leaning against the counter. “It probably stems from the fact Fallen was in love with a human girl and ripped his own heart out. He was banished from the gods for interfering with lowly mortals. Hence, he started his own race. Still a touchy subject for him.”

Tensley swallowed his food and turned to face her. “He also established a rule that if a demon had a relationship with a human and conceived a child out of wedlock, the unborn child and the mother would be killed.”

Her heart sank. “Have demons never heard of birth control or condoms before? That’s barbaric.”

Tensley laughed, but it was humorless. “Trust me. You don’t have to worry about that. We’re cursed.”

Molly gawked back at him. “Come again?” 

“The council of gods, now gone, feared that demons would overpopulate with humans and become unstoppable centuries ago, so they devised a plan to sterilize them from reproducing with humans. The only way to conceive is through affection, which if the demon doesn’t stay inside their limits creates a heart, thus condemning the demon anyway. We aren’t just going around knocking up humans—not only because it puts
us
in danger, but because it’s basically impossible without affection.”

“Sex is fine between demons; there are no emotions, no attachments between the two. It’s for the sole purpose of either gaining power or exchanging it,” Illya said.

Molly watched Tensley’s masked expression. What did Tensley desire? Power?

“Fallen also has a rule that a demon male must be married by his twenty-fifth birthday or he will be killed. It’s an ancient tradition of cementing the male demon into reproducing in wedlock. Again, the bastard’s hung-up on traditions that people are too terrified to fight him on. So our wedding will take place on August fifteenth—not this summer, but the next,” Tensley stated calmly.

“What if I don’t marry you?” Molly retorted bitterly.

The front door slammed, interrupting what would’ve assuredly been a venomous response from Tensley. Footsteps thundered against the tile floor of the foyer, and when the kitchen door swung open, Molly’s chest caved as the air left her gaping mouth.

September slid into the kitchen, her eyes widening at the sight of the two demons. She skidded to a halt.

“September,” she hissed in warning. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay away!”

“Hey…” Illya began to smile, but September only scowled. His warm smile faded into utter confusion.

“Who the hell are you?” September spat at Illya.

He opened his mouth and blinked, gazing at the vein pulsing on her forehead. “I’m Illya, Tensley’s friend.”

“Tensley’s
friend?
” September barked. “That is
not
the right answer, buddy.”

“God, you’re loud,” Tensley muttered, thrusting his fingers through his soft, thick dark hair. Molly fidgeted with her manicured nails, eying the two of them.

“She’s nineteen,
dick,
and she’s not interested in marrying a psycho demon,” September shot back.

Tensley’s gaze swept over to Molly. “Broke a rule
already?
I told you to not to tell anyone what I was.”

Molly cringed.
This isn’t good…

September stomped forward, raising a white-knuckled, curled hand. “You really need to leave, or else.
Dick
.”

Molly widened her eyes. “September!”

Tensley unwound himself and stood, looming over September. “Are you threatening me?”

“Do you see any other
dicks
in the room?”

He laughed, lowering his dark eyes. “It’s not smart to threaten me. And how did you even get in here?”

“I have a spare key.” September shoved his shoulder, and a strange, enigmatic smile washed over Tensley’s lips, like he was holding himself back. Molly squared her shoulders. “Actually, funny story, she’s not living with you any more,” September announced happily. “She’s coming back to
our
apartment.”

Molly wanted to curl into a ball. “
September
.”

His eyes sharpened at her friend’s words, and he turned to look at Molly. “Is that so?”

Molly’s head ached as the room spun. All she could see was Tensley ripping a complete stranger’s heart out.

“Yeah, it is,” September snarled. “So leave her the fuck alone.”

His shoulders stiffened, and that was enough for Molly to know he was on the edge of tipping.

Molly tried to step in front of September, but Illya moved faster. “Don’t.”

Tensley’s shoulders relaxed, and he smirked. “You’re not worth my time,
dick
,” he taunted.

September glowered, gritting her teeth together. Then she attacked, lunging forward and grasping his muscular shoulders.
Oh no.
A terrifying growl left his pursed lips, and within seconds Tensley was in control, deflecting September’s hits and sending her sprawling to the tile.

“Don’t! Please! Stop!” Molly gripped the back of his shirt and pulled—“Tensley!”—and he stumbled back, turning to face her.
Well, at least my powers worked.

As soon as his eyes left Molly, she darted to the gasping September on the floor and helped her sit up.

Tensley looked down at them with a wrinkled nose. “You don’t understand what’s out there, do you? How many damn demons are after you,
thirsty
for you. I’m the only thing keeping them at bay.”

Molly raised her chin and swallowed.
Is he serious?

“He’s right,” Illya spoke, breaking the glaring contest. “They’ve been waiting for another daemon for centuries. They’ll be pissed when they hear you’ve been hidden right under their noses.”

“
Dick
,” September choked out. Even after wrestling with a demon, she still had the balls to retort.

“You don’t want to fuck with me. I’ll rip—”

Molly glared coldly, her heart pounding as she faced off with the monster. “Don’t you dare speak to her like that.”

All heads swung in her direction.

Tensley examined her scowl. “Like
what?
”

She struggled to control her volume. “Like a jackass! Why can’t you be like him? Like Illya?” Molly pointed to the blond demon, who was looking September over for injury.

“I can’t be like
him
,” Tensley spat.

“You can’t be nice?” She didn’t understand. She didn’t understand how they were both demons, but with such different personalities.

“Just fucking drop it.” The veins in Tensley’s neck throbbed. Hm, she’d struck a weak spot. Maybe that’d be her angle. That’d be her ticket to destroying him.

“Tensley.” Illya narrowed his eyes.

Tensley returned the look, then marched out. The front door slammed a moment later.

Illya reached a hand out to September, his eyes soft. “I’m sorry about him. He’s just stressed.”

“I doubt that,” September said, waving Illya’s hands away and getting up on her own.

Molly stared in awe at him. How could he be a demon? He was so kind.

“I’ll give you two some alone time,” he said after a few beats of awkward silence, smiling and walking out.

September groaned when they were alone, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I hate that bastard.”

Molly fixed her lopsided sunglasses and glared. “I told you to stay away! He almost hurt you!”

“I’m trying to
help!
You can’t do this, Molly.”

Molly tapped her fingers against the marble. “What do you suggest I do?”

“You can’t deal with this alone. It’s not like middle school; these aren’t snobby twelve-year-olds we’re dealing with. You need to fight back.”

“I did! I
did
fight back, and it didn’t help!”

September waved her hands. “Okay, okay. So the police obviously can’t help with
demons.
Do you know of anything else? Anyone who could help us?”

“No!” Molly thought back to Albert. “Wait…” She dug the piece of paper out of her pocket; she’d kept it on her since meeting Albert three days prior, but wasn’t sure why. “This warlock gave me something, but I have no idea what it means.”