Chapter Twenty-Four
RUTH
Instead of going inside, I called up John and asked him to turn around and come get me. The old man was a saint—he didn’t complain at all. He came back and drove me to the park where I gave him money to buy his lunch while I walked around.
I was already in casual clothes when I thought I would be hanging out at the studio today, so I felt a sense of relaxation as I ventured around with no destination. Kids played while their parents stood or sat on the bench.
I felt the urge to smile until I saw him walking parallel from me. The sun did nothing to soothe the chill that he forced from my bones. I slowed my pace, but never took my eyes off his. He walked as I walked, only on the other side. Gray eyes watched me intently, eyes that I knew could change ruby red in an instant.
He was wearing casual clothes, and it hit me then. His appeal. His intimidating nature. His build and height were way beyond average because he wasn’t even a part of this world. I hadn’t noticed I stopped walking until he did as well. He placed his hands in his pockets and watched me.
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.
What was he doing here? No. What was he doing all the time watching me? Why did he do it? I shouldn’t be curious, but it was suddenly all I could think about.
The soul reaper stalked me. It petrified me. He said he would stay away, but I didn’t think he knew how. One thing I could admit, he was always doing as I wanted. Except when it came to this.
I was overcome with the strange urge to approach him. I had so many reasons to fear him, but the soul reaper wouldn’t take my soul today. With that thought, I turned my feet in his direction. He waited for me; the sun filtering his pale skin and doing wonders to my already tattered heart.
The first thing I said when I approached him was, “I thought you would stay away like I asked.”
“When Lars can’t look after you, of course I will be there,” was his dark, dreary response.
I fought the ugly urge to roll my eyes. “You’re the only thing that’s wanting to kill me. You know how crazy you sound?”
“Nothing good comes out of you dying before your time is up for me.”
“Go to hell,” I muttered, then corrected myself. “Or should I say, go back to Hell?”
“Don’t worry, I plan on returning to the Underworld soon,” he had to go and point that out. It hit me again that he was in fact different. He didn’t belong in my world.
“Have you no heart?” I gave him a shove. He never budged. His body was built like a brick. I hated how much I knew that for a fact. Now I was standing there staring at his chest.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“About how disgusted I am that I laid with a demon.” I glowered up at him.
“Are you really?” He caught me off-guard with that one. “To ease your mind, know that this is my real form. I have a soul reaper form and a human one.” It did make me feel better, at least a little. It was nice to know that I didn’t sleep with someone that truthfully looked like his gremlin companion, Lars. “And be honest, you are full of lust when it comes to my outer appearance.”
I felt my entire body tightening. That was when I walked away. I was full of anger, and he was right. And I didn’t want to throw a tantrum in the middle of a park. Although, kicking and screaming at the demon sounded so very tempting.
I hated being betrayed.
His presence covered my entire back before he sidestepped and joined me by my side. “I avoided you for years, and you shattered that the moment you came onto me.” I took a deep, visible breath and kept walking in hopes that he’d stop talking. “No man or demon could have gone up against you and not succumbed to what you did to me.”
I didn’t want to remember that I was the one seducing him, but his words… I couldn’t bear them.
I stopped and turned. “Yeah, I came onto you because I thought you were a man. You knew who I was—you’ve been stalking me the last decade! I’m your damn food, right? Why would you cross that line?”
“Your soul… It’s wilting.” I froze as he brought his hand up, but instead of reaching out to me, he tapped his own chest. “I only want to make it happy. That’s the only thing I’ve been trying to do for the last decade.”
“That’s not true, is it?” I was disappointed in myself that I continued to let myself be hurt. “You can’t have my soul going bad before you devour it, can you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I said otherwise.” He shook his head before his eyes hardened. “Everything I thought I was you destroyed just by existing.”
He stepped in my space, and I swallowed but held my place. He couldn’t do anything right here in public, could he? He gripped my wrist, and I jumped, afraid.
“I should devour your soul right here and now. Get it over with. Let my life go back to normal.”
“Do it,” I goaded him while inside my chest, my heart hammered. But there was something else that flickered in my chest. Longing. A strange, terrible feeling that haunted me. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me. I was never going to be honest with that feeling deep inside me. My heart was trying to make a fool out of me.
“If I do that, I’ll only be killing myself too.”
Wait, what? Breath lost, I peeked up at him. There was true anguish in his eyes. Why was he hurting too?
Stupid, stupid heart. Don’t get confused by his words. “What do you mean?”
“It means that the only thing I want to devour is you, not your soul.”
The fear and the confusion only enhanced the heat that slithered up my body. What was this demon trying to do? Play me for a fool? Like I’d fall for his words. I wasn’t even sure what he meant.
Looking down, I jerked my wrist out of his grip. “Don’t.”
Head still drooped, my eyes widened when I saw his hand move, hesitating at my own hand, reaching for my fingers as if he wanted to grab them, but never quite getting there. He sighed, letting his hand fall, and that was when I lifted my head. “I want to touch you, but I can wait until you allow me to.” The demon talked like a man.
He wanted to touch me, break me, then devour my soul. I hated how warm my insides were.
“You’re an awful demon, even worse of a man.”
That was how I walked away from the demon.