Chapter Twenty-Three
RUTH
It was another morning of rinse and repeat. The last few months were full of that. I’d go through the emotions of knowing I was going to die. Then I’d have to be okay with it.
First, the demon got me down about life. Then he went and stomped all over me as a woman. I thought about it long and hard all night. He avoided me. Maybe this was why, but when I approached him—I wouldn’t even let myself think of the fact that I came onto a demon. But he knew and didn’t shut me down hard enough. Then I was slightly mortified because the only one that came on strong was me.
I didn’t know what to think.
The fact of the matter was, the one who did the seducing was all me. But I had every right to feel betrayed. Of all the people I could have been attracted to, I became ensnared by the soul reaper himself.
I hadn’t seen the gremlin since yesterday, but I didn’t doubt that he was in my home creeping somewhere. Maybe even the demon too.
I shivered at the thought. When I had left Jayne’s apartment yesterday, there was a single Red Grace left at the door. I knew what it was that left it without needing an answer.
I got dressed and got the hell out of there in fifteen minutes. I wouldn’t have taken that long if it wasn’t for waiting on John to pick me up. Rupert wasn’t back from vacation, but I did let him know that Max was a no-show. I had no clue where he was and at least that much was true.
I texted Jayne to ask if she wanted to visit The Oppressors with me today. I needed a distraction and with them I could count on that, but of course, she shot me down. I had expected that much. Something about them made her nervous. But she did that a lot. Got all weird around attractive guys.
As I entered Black Hearts studio, I was convinced I was asking to run into the demon. He did own the place. Which now that I thought of it, made perfect sense. No wonder I succeeded. He made it happen. For the price of my soul.
Music was my air, lyrics were my lungs, and without them there was no living. Music was my one and only after all. My one true love.
That was why I came here. Even if it meant asking for trouble. If I couldn’t write, I could still listen and sing. I could set myself free. My restless mind and body needed that.
“Ruth.” So I wasn’t surprised when I heard him call my name, but the adrenaline that raced through me was part fear and something else.
I ignored him as I pressed the elevator button and waited.
“Shouldn’t you spend time with your mom?” he dared to ask me, knowing I couldn’t ignore it.
I whipped my head around causing my curls to smack my lips as I did. I pulled the curls out of my lip gloss and glared. “You’re unbelievable.”
He stepped next to me and tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re running out of time.”
I scoffed. “How can you say that to me? I would still be alive a month—a year from now—if you’d leave my soul alone.” The doors opened, and I rushed inside. Of course, he followed. “What are you doing? You could at least respect my wishes and stay away until then.”
“This is my building. I respected your words and left you alone at home, but you come here and you’ll see me.” His gaze flicked over me leisurely.
I studied him, the way he continued to look at me, lips drawn down a little, eyes sad—almost in yearning? But that couldn’t be right. “You’ve been waiting on me to come here, haven’t you?”
“You should know,” he ignored my question, “the band you hang out with are not who they say they are.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“They’re demons too.” I staggered, and he tried to catch me. I moved back before he could. “They won’t hurt you. I’d never let that happen.”
His words brought tears to my eyes. So many times I thought he cared so much over the past few weeks. But now he was the one causing me all this hurt. The doors pinged open, and I wiped my face. “Stop pretending to be a human. I hate it. Can’t you see the only one causing me pain is you?”
“Ruth…” I hated when he said my name that way, so soft and piercing—regretful.
I almost ignored him as I walked out the doors, but I couldn’t help myself from looking back. When I did, I saw the flowers at his feet. “Why do you leave the Red Graces everywhere? So many times over the years, I’ve seen them.”
He looked down at his feet and saw them too. When he raised his head, his gray eyes were burning red. “Because you’re slowly killing me.” My heart thumped once, twice—I stopped counting since it was better not to think about why it thumped. I was afraid. I felt betrayed. But I wished that were all I felt.
“And you’re about to kill me.” I pushed my feet away from the demon, but the moment I did, I slowed back down and thought about what he said. Were Liam, Pete, and Steve really like him?
By the time I made it to the recording room, I was hesitant. I tapped on the door instead of entering like I usually did. “Come in, Ruth.” Liam’s voice was a smooth as ever. I found it hard to think he was a demon like mine. I refused to call him by his name anymore. He was simply a demon now.
When I opened the door, I was greeted by three wide, handsome smiles. These boys were tall and lanky almost—they did have some muscle on them I noticed, but they were extremely beautiful people. Especially Liam. I connected with him right away. I thought him to be a friend. All of them. Only to realize that maybe instead of letting one demon in, I brought in four.
Liam placed his guitar down and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“This is going to sound weird…” I trailed off. “But why do you guys hate the president?”
“You mean Amit?” He laughed. “There’s no way we’ll get along with someone like him.”
“They have a sense of superiority,” Pete added.
“They?” I caught that and pointed it out.
The guys looked at one another. “Just the higher ups. You know… Presidents, bosses, guys like that.”
I knew a lie when I heard one. I took a deep breath. “I know all about him. He told me what you guys are.” He didn’t tell me what they were, but they didn’t know that. If he was lying, I’d know. Either way, I was getting an answer.
Three smiles became slightly warped and tilted like they didn’t know where to go from here. “What did he say?” Liam asked slowly, eyeing the other two before pinning his gaze on me.
“You’re demons.”
“Might as well come in,” Liam hollered at someone on the other side of the door. I knew because that was the direction he was looking in—behind me. “Can smell your stench from a mile away.”
The door opened, and the soul reaper stepped in. My nerves ramped up as the door clicked shut. “Oh, my God,” I whispered. “So, it’s true.” I turned around and reached for the doorknob. The soul reaper let me, but Liam was there the next second, blocking my way. “Let me leave,” I gritted out, unable to meet his eyes. How did he move so fast?
“Ruth, we’re harmless. We don’t tell any humans because we just want to live in peace.” He glared at the soul reaper. “Why did you tell her we were vampires?”
“Vampires?” I croaked.
“Let me guess, she found out what you are, so you had to tell her about us?” One of Liam’s brows shot up.
“I deserve to know what I’ve been hanging out with,” I told him.
“We’re friends, Ruth. Why should our being vampires matter?” he asked me.
“Because vampires and demons are not even supposed to exist, and yet I’m surrounded by them!” I yelled.
“Have we hurt you?” he asked me with a frown. “Have we even hinted at trying to do anything to you?”
I thought about it even though I already knew the answer. “No…” His words left me even more confused. It felt like it should matter that I was surrounded by non-human beings but at the same time, did it really when these guys had never done anything to me?
“He’s the only one that plans to hurt you.” Liam eyes hardened on the soul reaper.
“He’s right.” Gray eyes trapped mine. “I’ve given you everything, so I can take it.” And with those haunting words, the soul reaper strode out of the room.
One foot moved forward, followed by the other. Before I knew it, I was ready to chase after the demon. I wanted to fight and yell, but my traitorous heart hadn’t gotten the message yet. It was collateral damage in my body’s recent lust for a man who was never really a man.
“If there was a way I could save you, I would, but there’s nothing that can be done when he owns your soul already.”
Liam’s frightening words brought me back to reality. I peered over my shoulder with fearful eyes.
“It’s amazing that you’re even alive,” he continued. “The fact that you are—”
“Means that you might have the ability to save yourself,” Steve finished for him.
“How?” the word tumbled off my tongue clumsily. I felt strange—like an out-of-body experience as I tried to come to grips with more truths.
“The question is how you found out what he was?” Liam backed away as he spoke. I thought it might be to give me the space I needed since I began to breathe easier when he did.
“I was kidnapped, and he saved me.” This was the part I ignored in a desperate attempt to forget what I had learned. “He killed two others to save me.”
Steve smirked and nodded while Pete scooped down and picked up something from the floor. It was another Red Grace which he handed to me before saying, “Use that to your advantage.”
I studied the beautiful flower in my hand.
“Who he is as a demon, and who he was before you found that out, maybe there’s an in between where he can be both,” Steve said.
“He wants to eat my soul.” I never took my eyes off the flower. “That’s all. And I don’t want it to be anything else.” I let it fall to the ground as I met Liam’s eyes. “Show me your fangs.”
“Why?” He sounded just as alarmed as he looked.
“I need to see it for it to be real,” I told him.
I gasped at how quickly the three of them complied. The fluorescent lights above us glinted off the sharpened points as they lengthened from their exposed mouths. I stumbled then righted myself as I took in the sheer size of those fangs. They retracted them quickly, but not before I envisioned them completely as rabid monsters about to tear into my juggler. “Don’t run!” Liam yelled right before I did.
________
John took me home. I found myself alone when I didn’t want to be, but I wasn’t in a good place to be around anyone either.
My mind stayed on the soul reaper. He continued to turn my world upside down. He didn’t only shatter some part of me, but he took my haven as well. My music. I couldn’t sing or think. I couldn’t get past him. The Oppressors had been my last little refuge, and he ruined that too.
I walked out the door full of burning energy to fight back and a couple hours later the fight was dim. I didn’t even walk inside my house since there was a good chance the gremlin was there. I slumped down on my steps and laid back. I tried to look up, but the sun was too bright. It didn’t stop me from trying and trying until spots were all over my vision. Kind of like my life the last ten years. Always going, but never getting anywhere. My end was already mapped out.
I thought about ignoring my phone when it started going off, but I didn’t. “Jayne,” I mumbled.
“Wanna sing?”
“Huh?”
She giggled, aware of how confused she made me. “I know you said you were taking a break, but even I couldn’t pass up this phone call.”
I raised up, rubbing my eyes. Shit. It was going take a second before my vision cleared. “What phone call?”
“S&M wants you to perform live. Not an interview. No talking. Just singing.”
Nothing could have perked me up more. S&M was the hottest talk show in the country right now. The two older women were hilarious as well as smart. Every year the two of them invited me on their show and as much as I loved watching them, I never would. I watched those two pry information out of the most private people in Hollywood. They were a force I knew I shouldn’t go up against.
“How? More like why?” I asked her. “They’ve always wanted interviews with me. After all these years, they’re finally asking me to sing instead of talk?”
Jayne squealed. “Yes!”
I thought about the cons. “When do they want me?”
“Next week.”
Yes. Oh, my God. I would still be alive. How sad that this was what made me happy again. My career was my life, and I was okay with that.
“If there’s no talking involved, then yes, I want to perform. I’m dying to sing for the world here.”
Literally.