16. Chapter Sixteen

Flora was still eyeing me warily and the frantic beat of her heart was insanely loud. Like a marching band of drums or a herd of stampeding elephants. And what was that smell? Spicey and rich and like the most amazing—

“Lori!”

Huh? What?

I blinked, the room slowly coming back into focus. Iver stood in front of me, a flash of curiosity sparkling in his black eyes.

“Fancy putting the fangs away?” he drawled. “I think you’re scaring the witch.”

I reached up and touched my lips and oh, shit. “I’m sorry.”

Flora was braced against the back of the sofa, her knuckles white with the effort of pushing herself as far away from me as she could possibly get.

“She’s newly turned,” Iver said with his usual bored drawl. “Got to expect a few control issues in the beginning.”

Flora looked at Iver like he was crazy, and, admittedly, I was still trying to figure that out myself. The guy was always watching me like a hawk. Like I was the one on the cusp of doing something weird.

I think he’s waiting for me to jump out. Maybe I could scare him.

I snort. “I’d love to see that.”

Iver’s eyes narrowed into two thin slits. “What’s she saying?”

Maybe when he’s sleeping. We could jump out. Bet he wears fluffy pyjamas.

“Nothing,” I replied with a grin.

“Bullshit,” he snapped. “I can tell. You get this little half smile, like you know something we don’t.”

I stepped towards him. “You’re paying close attention to my face.”

His eyes roamed over me, his gaze assessing. “I find the pair of you fascinating. Of course I’m watching you.”

“Sounds fucking creepy.”

And hot, my demon replied, and I swear I could hear her grin.

“You would think that. You’re weird.”

Rude.

“Do you want me to leave?” a quiet voice asked from the sofa.

“What?” I asked as I looked down at Flora. Her brows were pinched, and her lips pursed making me think of a pissed off kitty.

“He looks like he’s going to eat you and not in a bad way.”

Iver scoffed and immediately took a step back. “The demon intrigues me. The woman, not so much.”

Can I punch him?

“No.”

“That’s unusual,” Flora said. “You’re separate from the demon?”

“Long story short, I wasn’t born with her. She ended up with me and hasn’t been able to leave,” I said with a sigh as I sat next to Flora. She flinched as I sat next to her, but not as much as I expected. Perhaps she was getting used to me.

Flora slowly reached towards me, her palm upwards and her hand open. “May I?”

“What?”

She swallowed. “May I see? Demons have always fascinated me, and I’ve never met one like you.”

Iver laughed harshly. “There’s no one like her. She’s an anomaly.”

I looked at her open hand, her fingers small and dainty, like the rest of her. “Sure. What’s the worst that could happen?”

She gave a nervous laugh before her fingers wrapped around my wrist. I instantly felt the brush of her magic against my skin.

“You’re cold,” she muttered.

“She won’t be after she feeds,” Iver said.

I snapped my head in his direction. “Do you ever shut up?”

“Nope,” he replied, popping the ‘p’.

“Just ignore him,” I said to Flora. “I’m starting to think it’s the best thing to do.”

Iver tsked. “Now, that’s not very nice. Don’t forget, I can put you in your place, kitten.”

A growl rumbled up my throat before I even realised and something wicked flashed in his dark eyes. I didn’t have the time to analyse what it was because Flora chose that moment to fall into a vision. Her eyes turned to cloudy white orbs and fixed on my face. Whoa. Creepy.

“Death haunts your steps. Closer and closer it tiptoes, following you. Always following you. You cannot escape. It won’t let you.” Her voice was a deep guttural rasp, nothing like the bright tone she had a moment before, and her fingers dug into the skin on my forearm. “When crimson skies meet pitch black eyes, only then will you truly see.”

“See what?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“The end. You need to run, Lori.”

“What?”

“Run!” she screamed, the sound shrill against my sensitive ears. “Run!”

Her fingers tightened in my arm, her nails drawing blood. It oozed beneath her nails, thick and dark and I could feel my insides suddenly warring with each other. Everything swirled, like oil in water, churning but never mixing. Oh god, I was going to heave.

Iver pulled at her hand, but she wouldn’t let go. Flora cackled wildly between words that were loud and meaningless. My demon yelled, my fangs grew, claws protruded from my fingers as adrenaline pumped through my veins.

“Do something!” I shouted at Iver.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t hold the Sin Reaper back much longer.” I could feel her clawing at my mind to break free, her claws slicing at the inside of my skull.

“Fuck!” Iver roared. “Don’t hate me for this.”

“What—”

He slammed his hand down on Flora”s forehead muttering something I couldn’t understand. She screamed and jolted against Iver’s touch, but he held on until her eyes turned from white to black. They rolled back in her head, before she slumped backwards, falling unconscious.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked as I rubbed the marks Flora”s fingers had left behind.

“Just a little demon possession,” he replied with a small shrug.

“Really? You can do that?”

“Yes, I’m a demon through and through. Not like whatever you are.”

“Can I do that?”

He laughed. Not just a little laugh, but a full-blown belly kind of laugh.

Let me take control. I want to kill him.

“It’s tempting…”

“I’m sorry,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “But no. There’s no way you’d be able to learn that.”

Before I realised it, my arm pulled back and my fist slammed into his smiling face.

Sorry, couldn’t resist,my demon said with a chuckle.

I wasn’t even mad. The asshole deserved it.

Surprise blew his eyes wide as rubbed his jaw. He huffed a laugh. “That was… impressive.”

I folded my arms across my chest and gloated. Just a little, but I could feel my demon preening under the praise. “Thanks. But what are we going to do with her.”

We both looked at the now unconscious witch.

“She’ll be fine. When she wakes, she’ll be a bit groggy but fine. Probably won’t remember anything.”

“Good. That’s good.” But was it though? What had she said? That I was going to see the end, but the end of what? My life? The world? The way my life was going it was most likely going to end up being something tragic and dramatic and I just knew it was going to be something really bad. I heaved a deep breath and fell into one of the chairs. Sometimes I wished my life was simpler. And oh my god, was I about to cry?

I was. I actually was. Tears pooled in my eyes and my face went hot. I brushed the stupid tears away but they just kept coming. Fuck, this was going to be some ugly crying and fucking Iver was here to witness it.

“Lori. Why is your face leaking?” He knelt down in front of me, a mixture of curiosity and panic on his face which actually made him look kind of constipated.

“Go away,” I said as I buried my face in my hands.

“Are you crying? Wait,” he gasped. “Is this self-pity?”

I kicked him in the shin which just made him laugh. Asshole.

Cool hands wrapped around my wrists. “Lori, our fates are not written in stone. What the witch said may come true, but it may not. Only you can write your own future.”

I peeked through my fingers and found him looking at me with a calm gaze, tinged with concern. Being this close, I could see faint lines around his eyes, the ones you get from smiling. He’d been happy once.

A long time ago, my demon said softly.

Urgh. Now I just wanted to help the guy. I turned my eyes skyward. What was it about a tortured soul that made you want to help them so bad?

“Come on,” I said with resignation. “Let’s take advantage of the witch being asleep and everyone else being occupied. Let’s go find this thing for Mordecai.”

Iver’s expression soured. “You raise a good point.”

Yes, and I was about to betray all my friends and those I loved in order to save them.