Chapter Thirteen

Gasoline and the scent of smoke. My face was wet with blood, and the sound of crunching metal echoed between my ears as I came back to my body.

I tried not to move but couldn’t. A heavy weight pressed me into the backseat of the SUV. I squinted, my eyes stuck shut with blood. It took some maneuvering to wipe my face, but it didn’t make much difference.

The weight on top of me groaned—Malphas.

I remembered the elevator. Locking my teeth and holding back the scream.

Then nothing.

When I finally opened my eyes, broken glass covered us like confetti. My shoulder burned from the seatbelt, and my hair hung down strangely. The car was on its side.

Caim’s head hung loose, chin to his chest. Malphas was sprawled over my body as if he had tried to hold onto me as the car had lost control.

My throat burned.

The kind of burn that only came after I had loosened my scream.

Oh fuck .

I’d killed them. I’d killed Caim and Malphas.

My eyes filled with tears, and I stifled a sob. Maybe the firefighters would come soon, but the stink of gasoline was growing by the second.

My hands were pinned. I couldn’t sign. I needed to do something . My scream had already done enough damage; my voice couldn’t do much more. Could it?

“Help!” I shouted, my throat raw and my voice scraping on its way out. “Help me! Please!” I sobbed.

Malphas stirred. Opening an eye, his head on my chest. “Don’t count me out just yet.”

“Malphas?”

“You’re speaking?” He groaned as he shifted, releasing some of the weight from my chest. “You ruptured my ear drums, Sweetheart.”

Still crying, a watery chuckle burst from my lips. Now that my hands were free, I could sign, but I didn’t want to.

Malphas knew my secret.

He had heard the scream, and he had lived. Maybe because he was a demon, but I wouldn’t take any chances. From my experience, luck didn’t happen twice.

“Caim?” Malphas called out from the back seat. “You awake?”

Caim groaned in response. “My head is killing me.”

“You’re telling me.” Malphas squinted. “Maddie has some pipes on her.”

“I’ll say.” Caim rolled his head, glancing at us in the back seat. “Have you considered opera?”

“It’s not a joke.” I reached up, brushing my hand over my bloody face. Regular blood was quite dark when it dried, but mine had always had a strange neutral tinge—more blue than regular humans. My mother used to say it was because Fae had copper in their blood instead of iron.

“I could have killed you both.” I chided, unsure if I was scolding them or myself. “What the fuck happened?”

“Someone fell fifty stories. Splat .” Caim said in a dull voice.

“Splat.” Malphas echoed sardonically. “They didn’t survive.”

My voice was hollow. “I only scream when they die.”

Malphas slanted a gaze my way. “Let’s table that for now.”

“No,” Caim rubbed his shoulder, where his seatbelt had drawn blood. “I very much want to know what kind of creature screams in the presence of death.”

“Most people scream when someone dies.” Malphas pointed out, rubbing the blood from his cheek.

“Not like that .” Caim retorted.

“We’re sitting in a car wreck!” I reminded them, my voice growing shrill.

Giving up on unclipping his seatbelt, Caim tore free with a single tug. With little effort, he swung his legs over and kicked out the door. The crumbled metal flew clear across the road.

The door closest to my head was pinned against the ground, and the door by Malphas’s feet was dented, too much to even bother with.

Malphas slid off me and helped me through the gap in the front seat and the open passenger door. A dozen small fires from the spilled gasoline had erupted in the street.

I didn’t need to be told to hurry up, as whatever was going on under the hood of the SUV grew in temperature.

Caim, Malphas, and I managed to get far away enough before the car exploded, but the heat wave against my face was unpleasant.

The adrenaline of the crash left my body like my soul departing. I sagged, feeling the energy I had clung to drip away, and my teeth began to chatter as it hit me that I had almost died.

I could have killed Caim and Malphas.

I could have died .

“What do we do now?” Caim stuffed his hands in his pockets. A single stripe of blood poked out from under his hairline, trailing down his face like war paint.

“The number 74 bus,” Malphas stated dryly, pointing to the single bench at the end of the block.

It was common knowledge that some of the world’s strangest people rode public transport, coupled with a bus route through the middle of a demon-populated city, and it was a downright rave.

Caim made several friends while Malphas and I looked on, patiently waiting for our bus to cross the tracks into the human district.

It was hard to ignore that we had literally driven away from the scene of the accident, even if there were no other cars. Maybe the Red City had different rules, or maybe the police would be knocking on our door any moment. If there were even police in the Red City.

Caim pointed to the elderly woman at the front of the bus, who didn’t seem to mind that the horned demon occupied the seat next to her. Her body was frail, and her skin leathered from too much sun. I hadn’t thought too much about the humans in the Red City beyond my own experience, but they weren’t all prisoners. Case in point, Aimee and Darla.

The elderly woman seemed to be lapping up all Caim's attention.

Caim caught my eyes and waved at me. “Dorothy says I have kind eyes!” He shouted down the aisle of the bus.

Malphas groaned, turning to face the window.

I gave Caim a limp wave, unable to summon a laugh when I was covered in my own blood. I looked like the main character of a horror movie, but not a single person on the bus blinked twice at our appearance. Not even when Caim shook his hair like a dog and a rain of broken glass shards landed on the bus floor.

Finally, Pete’s bar came into view, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was bloody, and any adrenaline had long since left the building.

We got out of the bus as quickly as possible, though Caim made a point of thanking the driver as he hopped out of the front door of the bus. He blew Dorothy a kiss. Maybe that was just who Caim was—a flirt.

It seemed that I was the only person he didn’t flirt with.

Maybe there was something wrong with me.

Malphas jammed his hands in his pockets, gesturing with his chin to the end of the street. “I need a shower.” He grumbled, starting to walk without waiting for Caim or me to catch up.

I rubbed my hands down the front of my shirt, but the blood had dried tacky, and only soap would do. I needed a shower, too. Maybe even a bath for my sore muscles. Malphas was a distant figure at the end of the block before Caim spoke.

“You’ve got secrets.” He said as if he found the notion utterly delicious.

I shrugged but didn’t speak.

Caim put his hand on my shoulder, stopping in his tracks. “What? Cat got your tongue?”

I gave him a look. “ I don’t speak.” I signed.

“You do,” Caim argued. “But not to me? Just Malphas? Why?”

I rolled my eyes at his tantrum. I wanted to ask the same. Why did Caim flirt with everyone but me? Instead, I shook my head and tried to walk past him. Caim extended his arm, forming a barrier. I could have ducked under his arm or walked around, but that wasn’t the point. The horned demon clearly had something he wanted to say, and I sensed I wouldn’t be going anywhere until he was done.

I rolled my hand expectantly, my brow raised. “ Go on then .”

Caim cleared his throat, his red eyes intent on mine. “You’re pissed about Darla.”

My eyebrow didn’t drop. No shit. I was pissed, even if I didn’t understand why.

“You’re going to tell me about the scream,” Caim said sternly. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know what I’m up against.”

“ My hero.”

A puzzled look crossed Caim’s cherubic face. An expression I had never seen before. I guessed that he wasn’t used to his smooth-talk failing.

When he didn’t speak, I ducked under his arm and hurried after Malphas.

The single-story had one bathroom and one half-bath, which meant a toilet but not a shower. Considering the house had five bedrooms, whoever designed it didn’t have humans in mind.

I didn’t know how long Malphas planned on showering, but it had been an hour, and I was still coated in blood. It was in my hair, under my fingernails, and all over my clothes.

I didn’t have such an extensive wardrobe that I could afford to change before bathing, and I was about ready to pull my hair out if Malphas didn’t finish up soon.

Finally, I heard the water stop and pulled off my clothes, grabbing the single towel from the wardrobe.

I waited a suitable number of minutes before making a beeline down the hallway before Caim could jump in and steal the rest of the hot water.

I was so consumed with washing the blood from my body that I didn’t bother knocking as I tried the handle. The bathroom was unlocked, and I strode through the door—a second away from dropping my towel.

The shower was very much occupied, though the water had stopped running. Hunched over at the waist, his hand curled around his cock, Malphas’s eyes were closed, and his mouth parted in pleasure.

Something stirred inside of me, between my legs and in my chest, sending a flash of heat through me.

I must have made a sound because Malphas opened his eyes, his hand slowing but not stopping as he met my gaze.

I couldn’t sign my apology. I didn’t want my towel to drop.

I couldn’t help but look down at the sculpted perfection of Malphas’s body. His hair was wet, slicked back from his face, and water droplets clung to his tan skin.

My eyelids fluttered, and my cheeks turned pink when I realized I was staring.

Malphas didn’t take his eyes off me, even as I stepped out the door and ran back to my room.

If I counted how many times I’d interrupted someone giving themselves a handy—man or woman, I would run out of fingers. Pun intended. Prison blurred the boundaries, especially regarding that kind of stress relief. I was strictly dickly, not for lack of trying, but I’d walked in on so many people touching themselves that it wasn’t a big deal anymore.

Maybe it was because Malphas was male, with a penis. A very lovely penis.

I slapped my cheeks, shaking my head. Come on, Maddie .

Malphas?

Grumpy Malphas, who hoarded cheese like some kind of goblin.

Malphas, who made sure I was fed. Who always made sure to address me directly, even from the beginning. When it would have been so easy to just talk over the little mute human girl.

My cheeks warmed again, and my body hadn’t stopped buzzing—which had nothing to do with the car accident that had left me riddled with aches and pains. I’d put the demons in a box in my head, forgetting that they had needs, too.

Still dressed in a towel, I did what any self-respecting person does when they wanted to forget how embarrassed they were. I went to the kitchen and pulled open the cupboard. Poured a glass of wine and grabbed a wedge of brie. I bit into the cheese like an animal, sucking the wine down as I leaned against the counter, but every time I blinked, I saw Malphas’s hand around his cock.

I was so distracted that I didn’t see or hear Caim as he swanned into the kitchen in a change of clothes, blood still splattered on the side of his face.

He flashed me a wink, and I shook my head to clear it.

“ What ?” I signed.

“Could you pour me a glass of wine?” Caim gave me a strange look. “You’re blocking the cabinet.”

“ Oh .” I jumped away from the counter. “ Sure .” I poured the glass and held it out to Caim. My fingers shook. He reached forward, wrapping his fingers around the glass, and I imagined his fingers around Malphas’s cock. I jumped, almost dropping the glass. Caim grabbed it from my hands before it fell.

“You’re jumpy today.” He noted. “You almost dyed my shirt red.”

I wiped my sweaty hands down the front of my shirt.

Malphas appeared in the doorway a moment later, the shoulders of his shirt damp as his hair dripped onto his clothes. “Maddie.” He sagged, relieved. Had he thought I would leave? I had no clue.

I stepped back from Caim, even though we hadn’t been doing much more than talking.

If Malphas found anything suspicious about our proximity, he said nothing. Silently, I took a glass out of the cupboard and poured Malphas some wine. I left his glass on the kitchen island to avoid touching his hand—I probably would have combusted if he wrapped his fingers around something else.

I needed to get my mind out of the gutter.

“So, Maddie.” Caim sipped his wine. “Want to tell me what the screaming was all about?”

Had I screamed ? I wondered. I thought I’d handled seeing Malphas’s cock demurely, silently, if anything.

“The scream when you saw the dead body.” Caim clarified, giving me a look that told me he was thinking about taking me to the hospital to check for a head injury.

Maybe I did have a head injury.

I shivered, wrapping my arms around my chest.

Did I want to tell them? I’d buried the secret like a box in my backyard, sucked down by the earth, and decomposed until there was no longer a line between the box and the dirt. Did I even have a secret? Perhaps it was more like a disability.

“I am a Bean Sídhe,” I said aloud, grabbing my wine and draining it before filling my glass again.

“ Banshee ?” Caim perked up. “Stolas told me what the Tailor said, I thought he was being sarcastic. Because of your silence.”

“It’s spelled differently, but the origins are the same.” I winced. “We scream in the presence of death. My family hails from the Aos Sí—where the Fae were born. We came to the Human Realities many years before the demons, fleeing persecution.”

“Your kind is hunted?” Malpha’s gaze darkened.

“Yes.” I rubbed my hand over my mouth. “When we are young, Bean Sídhe will alert to any death in their vicinity. Most of my kind don’t even leave their homes until they reach their teenage years. There is too much of a risk. Too much sensory overload, and if someone dies within a mile radius?” I shook my head in horror, not having to imagine the situation; I’d lived it. “I’ve been silent most of my life. I used to wear a special mouthguard.” I leaned back and showed the demons the roof of my mouth and the scarred ridges from the retainer I’d worn. I’d never taken it out, and it had damaged my back teeth and torn my mouth to bits, but it had kept me alive—so I couldn’t complain.

Both demons stared at me, but I couldn’t read their expressions.

“Our powers grow more discerning as we age.” I shrugged. “There is a right of passage amongst the Bean Sídhe. We call it the claiming.”

“The claiming?” Malphas echoed.

“When we settle down and find our home, we claim the land. But we can’t leave it for long without growing sick.” I explained. “I’ve never claimed anything, but the claiming is why my kind is persecuted.”

“You’re not claiming land that isn’t yours?” Caim joked.

“Nothing like that.” I bit my bottom lip. “Once a Bean Sídhe claims their land, they own the very air of it. Every inch of it. They can sense a bug dying, sickness, and the emotions of the people living on their land. They become God, in a way.”

“How much land can a Bean Sídhe claim?” Malphas sipped his drink.

“Depends on the Bean Sídhe.” I shrugged. “But my kind hides because people want that kind of protection. Humans, demons, other Fae. We were imprisoned by Kings of the Aos Sí to guard their strongholds.”

“I can imagine why someone would want that kind of protection.” Malphas kept his emotions from his voice. “And you have been in hiding? Is that why you were in prison?”

I grimaced. “Not exactly. Something was hunting my family line. They didn’t want us for protection. Honestly, I’m not sure what they wanted. It took my mom. Then, it came for my foster parents. They weren’t Fae or even Bean Sídhe, but they were tortured. I think the thing that hurt mom was hunting me. Searching for me. Torturing them for information.” Bile rose up in my throat, and my eyes burned. I swallowed convulsively, but the sensation didn’t go away.

“There is a creature in Hell named the Tumbi’ka .” Malphas rubbed the corner of her eye. “They are protective of their lair. Once they claim a lair, they can never leave.”

“What happened to them?” I asked.

“They were eaten.” Caim interrupted with a smile.

I covered my mouth with my hand. That felt too close to home.

“The Tumb’ika or the Tums, as we called them, made camp at the edge of the forest of Greed. Unfortunately, they were too close to gluttony, and the Purgers came.” Malphas explained. “Purgers gather food for the King of Gluttony, Beelzebub. His royal court is insatiable. They cannot satisfy their hunger. It is their curse.”

“The Gluttony demons just ate another species of demon into extinction?” My voice hitched. “That’s awful.”

“We all have relatives we don’t like.” Malphas shrugged.

Our conversation devolved to silence, and Caim strutted past me, grabbing the wine bottle and bringing it to his lips. He grinned around the lip of the bottle as he drank. “You’re not so scary after all, little Murderer.”

“Not a murderer.” I couldn’t look away.

“Well, you’re definitely sneaky.” Caim held out the bottle, offering it to me. “I noticed that someone had been in my room.”

“Laundry.” My voice was husky. It didn’t escape my notice that I was still dressed in a towel.

“Some of my toys were moved.”

I officially couldn’t speak. My cheeks burned, and I looked away, my eyes finding Malphas on the other side of the kitchen island.

“I’m not the only one she violated then.” Malphas joked, though his gaze was heated.

Caim’s brows disappeared into his hairline. “Oh? Do tell?”

Malphas licked his lips and stalked around the kitchen island, approaching us. “Let’s just say that our little pet caught me in a compromising position.”

“Can’t have been too compromising.” Caim quipped, “As I wasn’t behind you.”

Malphas rolled his eyes.

I knew what they were doing. Trying to distract me from our heavy conversation. From exposing my past like a chest hugger bursting through my ribcage, splattering tragedy like human offal.

I wasn’t a stranger to sex.

But I’d been a teenager then.

“So,” I said, affecting a casual stance. “Which of you takes that huge thing I saw on Caim’s bed? I’m guessing Malphas?”

Malphas chuckled darkly. “I’ve seen that toy.”

“Is it to scale?” I looked down pointedly.

“A demon can be whatever shape they wish to be.” Malphas shrugged. “Would you like me to wear that shape, Maddie? Or would you prefer the plastic?”

I shuddered against my will.

“I’d like to watch her take both.” Caim chimed in. “Should I go get the toy?”

“Maybe we should see if she’s ready first?” Malphas arched a brow.

I was backed against the counter, unable to move as the two demons crowded me. Even so, I knew the moment they reached between my legs, they would find out I was soaked—and I didn’t have the energy to feel ashamed.

I wanted both of them. Together, one after the other, I didn’t care. The air was close, hot, and hard to breath, and they hadn’t even touched me yet.

I reached forward, gripping Malphas’s wrist. We both waited. He expected me to push him away, but I tugged him toward me. His hand slid under my towel. I was exposed. One tug of the fabric, and I would be naked in front of two demons.

Malphas claimed my lips the moment his fingers danced over my upper thigh, seeking my core. He brushed his index finger against my clit, and my whole body jerked. I felt Malphas smirk against my lips, uncharacteristically cocky. The towel unraveled and dropped to the floor. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that I was covered in my own dried blood, sweat, and tears. Nothing mattered but Malpha’s hand between my legs.

Caim brushed his thumb over his bottom lip, watching as Malphas fucked me with fingers, first one and then two inside of me. Plunging in as deep as they would go. The heel of his palm rocked against my clit as I writhed, pinned to the cabinet as Malphas leaned forward and kissed the seam of my jaw.

“Good girl.” Malphas purred. “Do you like being watched?”

My wetness echoed through the kitchen, making everything seem dirtier somehow. I locked my teeth, biting back a moan as a jolt of pleasure unwound from my core, building into what I knew would be an embarrassingly fast orgasm.

I still Malphas’s hand with my own. His fingers stopped, pressed inside me to the hilt. Silently, I shot him a hot look, pulling his hand from my pussy as I got to my knees. I reached for the waistband of his trousers, making quick work of the zipper. His cock strained against the fabric of his boxers, a wet patch where the head of his cock was desperate to break free. I brushed my hand over his front, and he jerked. Malphas shot me a wanton look, and my face heated as I pulled down his trousers and then his boxers. His cock sprang free, thick and angry, leaking precum like a beaded pearl. I wrapped my hand around his cock, but my fingers didn’t meet.

I imagined what he would feel like inside of me, pushed to the hilt.

My tongue darted out as I licked the precum from his slit before sucking the head into my mouth. I felt a hand on the back of my head, not to force me down, but resting there, feeling the movement as I began to suck him down deeper.

Malphas’s fingers twitched in my hair, and he let out a low moan, and as I sucked the length of his cock, focusing on the angry head, his hips jerked and began to rock.

I was naked, kneeling on the floor in front of Malphas. I opened my eyes, looking up at him. His head was tilted back, his blond hair stuck to his forehead, as he closed his eyes in pleasure.

It felt good to watch Malphas come undone.

I hadn’t forgotten Caim. Until that moment, the horned demon had seemed content to watch. As I glanced over, I saw that Caim had removed his clothes, stroking his cock from root to tip as he watched us. His eyes darkened as they met him, and he moved closer.

Malphas, sensing the movement, seemed to move in tandem as Caim knelt behind me. He reached forward, his hand brushing over my stomach and between my legs, as he positioned my body—opening my legs to expose my pussy.

My mouth was full of Malphas’s cock, drool leaking from the corners of my lips as I tried to fit his expansive member in my mouth. Malphas paused as Caim lifted my hips until I was no longer kneeling but bent over at the waist as I sucked Malphas. I couldn’t ask what was happening, but that added to the thrill of it. I wanted Caim as much as I wanted Malphas.

With one swift movement, Caim lifted my leg exposing my core as Malphas continued to fuck my mouth. My body was suspended by the two demons, as Caim slid inside of me. My pussy stretching to accommodate his size.

I squirmed, exhaling though my nose as I tried to adjust.

I was that experience, but even I knew a cock wasn’t meant to feel like that . There were ridges where there shouldn’t have been, though the skin was smooth and he stretched me so deliciously.

When Caim shifted his hips, and I felt a nub at the base of his cock run against my cliterous. I knew .

His cock was exactly like the dildo I had found. He hadn’t been joking.

My eyes rolled back in my head as Caim thrust faster, harder, and deeper, the fat head of his cock slamming against my cervix in a way that should have been painful but sent me wild.

Malphas’s thrusts grew jagged, he pulled free from my lips, holding his cock to my face as he continued to rub the angry member.

“I’m going to fucking paint you.” He growled.

His voice was enough to send me over the edge, and my orgasm washed over me like a tidal wave.

As Malphas was true to his word, and painted my face white.