Nix
“Hey,” I say, handing Evie a protein bar and sitting down next to her. She looks at the bar in her hand, and shrugs, opening it up.
“You should be resting,” she says, not looking at me but still keeping an eye out. Azi came back an hour ago and set the fire up with our help. We have three tents set up in the cave around the fire. Azi offered to swap with Evie, but she didn’t want to and told him to sleep in case they need another portal. It’s clear something bad happened between them, and they clearly still have feelings for each other. Or, at least, Azi does. I’m not sure about Evie. She turns to look at me, her bright-blue eyes reflecting the light from the fire in the cave, and it makes her look so very innocent and stunning. She may be stunning, but we all know innocent isn’t a word I would use to describe her. She has let her hair down, and it frames her face. The dark blue is stunning, so natural and like it was always meant to be that colour.
“I needed some fresh air,” I tell her, pulling out my own protein bar from my coat and opening it. I bite down on the chewy crap, hating the fake plastic taste.
“These are crap,” Evie voices my thoughts on the bar, scrunching her face up and putting the bar down after she chews a bit.
“Crap is a nice word,” I say.
“How does your arm feel?” she asks, not exactly concerned but more curious.
“Better. I’m alive, and I owe you for it,” I say, keeping my eyes locked on hers. I will pay her back for the debt one day. I will never forget what she did.
“Can I sit?” Connor asks from behind me, his question is clearly for Evie more than it was for me from the way he stares at her.
“I don’t own hell, you can sit wherever you like, Connor,” she replies, and he chuckles, going to her other side and sitting down.
“You both should be sleeping,” she comments.
“If you keep telling me to go to bed, love, I might start getting excited that you’re going to join me,” I tease her, watching how she turns to look at me with a small grin.
“You’re a flirt, Nix,” she says with a low chuckle, and looks back into the cave.
“Is Azi really your ex?” Connor blurts out, looking at where she is looking. Her whole face tightens with her fists as she looks back at the entrance.
“Yes,” she replies dryly.
“You really dated a demon? A demon overlord?” Connor asks in shock. Evie laughs, shaking her head.
“Demons aren’t that different from humans and Protectors,” she tells us. I’ve lost count of how many demons I have killed, how many I’ve sent back to hell on missions. Demons aren’t all roses and sunshine, that’s for sure. I’m certain Azi has done his fair share of evil things.
“You know he is an overlord? Do Protectors even know much about overlords?” she asks us.
“We know there are ten overlords, all brothers. All very powerful and that our old king killed one over three hundred years ago,” I tell her, and she nods her head.
“Azi said his brother deserved to die, that his sin was controlling him, making him evil. I still wouldn’t bring up his brother again,” she suggests.
“Sin?” I ask.
“Each brother has a sin that makes them an overlord. Think the seven deadly sins, and you get a rough idea,” she shrugs.
“What is Azi’s?” I ask.
“Not my secret to tell,” she replies quickly, with a little smirk on her soft, pretty, heart-shaped lips.
“You protect him, even though he clearly hurt you. What happened?” I ask.
“Why should I tell you?” she replies quickly.
“We are likely to die down here, so anything you tell us will be kept secret,” Connor says, making her laugh.
“I’ve seen you all fight, you might not die down here,” she says. That was almost a compliment. She might be starting to like us, after all.
“Then we will keep our mouths shut, so the deadly assassin doesn’t come after us,” I tease her, and she laughs, but it dies off. We are silent for a while before she starts speaking.
“Azi saved me from hell when I was eighteen. I fell in here by accident when I was fighting a Protector. I think he was trying to send me here, anyway,” she says, clearing her throat as my fists tighten in anger for her. A Protector came after a child? Why the hell would they do that? “Azi and I hit it off instantly, and I fell for him. I was young and stupid, and he was hot, knowledgeable, and well, off-limits being a demon overlord and all. I have always liked the dangerous shit in life. He was just different from anyone I had met. I trusted him,” she stops, anger burning over her eyes.
“So, what happened to make you hate him like you do now?” Connor asks gently.
“I walked into our apartment, seeing him with a half-naked demon girl standing between his legs as he sat on a chair. I opened a portal to hell and made sure they both went into it. I haven’t talked to him until the club the other day,” she tells us.
“Then, he is a fucking idiot, blue. If he had you, he had something he never should have thrown away,” Connor tells her, and she laughs.
“I know, and he knows that now. I’m sure when he came back to his apartment to see all his designer clothes cut up, his expensive shit destroyed, he realised his mistake,” she says, and I laugh.
“I bet that annoyed him,” Connor laughs.
“It did, but I was more bothered about other things at the time. Vi also stole my lucky cat statue, which I want back, by the way. Can we talk, Vi?” Azi asks from behind us, and Evie stands up.
“Stop calling me Vi, and you’re not getting your cat statue back,” she snaps and walks around him as his glowing red eyes fill the cave with light. “I’m going to nap.” We all watch her walk until she disappears into the cave.
“Don’t even think about touching her, she is mine,” Azi states, placing his hands on his hips. I laugh as I stand up, walking over, so we are eye to eye.
“She sent you to hell, which you deserved. You don’t stand a chance, and she fucking isn’t yours. She is a Protector,” I tell him, seeing him slowly lose his temper. Connor places his hand on my shoulder, pulling me away.
“Evie doesn’t belong to anyone, not the Protectors, not the demons. I know that from just knowing her a few days,” Connor tells us both. “This alpha macho shit won’t get you back in her good graces, Azi,” he tells Azi, and then walks away from us both to the cave entrance.
“I’m watching, go and sleep,” Connor tells me. I pull my eyes away from Azi’s, walking around him. I’m surprised when he doesn’t say a word to me, but maybe he can’t because he knows Connor’s right, Evie isn’t anyone’s. But I like her, and I’m damn well going to try to make her notice me. Evie is worth pissing off a demon for.