Demons Like It Hot (Demons Unleashed #2)(74)

A gurgling moan came from a pile of rubble in the back of the building. Kalli rushed forward and started digging through the ash and debris.

Then she saw the hand. A very feminine hand with blood trickling down its dainty fingers. Kalli reached out and took it in hers. She felt life, but it was fading fast. “Save yourself,” the woman’s garbled voice said.

If only she could. “No. I’d rather save you.” With a wild frenzy, she threw rocks, wood, and dirt from the pile. Then the woman’s face came in sight. A strand of blood-soaked flaxen hair hung across her brow. Her pale blue eyes pleaded.

Kalli’s stomach roiled. She might be a demon, but she still had a heart.

“Please,” she gasped. “My baby.” She coughed, and blood trickled from her mouth. Kalli flung more debris from the woman’s body. What she saw chilled her to the bones.

“Your baby. It’s gone.”

A loud sob rent from her lips. “No!”

Kalli reached up and stroked the woman’s brow. The wounds were too severe. She couldn’t heal her. She shuddered. This wasn’t an extermination. This was a deliberate act of vengeance. They wanted this woman dead for some reason. “I’m sorry.”

“Husband. Please find him.” She reached for the blood-soaked necklace around her neck. “Tell him I love him.”

Kalli nodded. Reaching around the woman’s neck, she untied the leather string. “I will.”

The woman coughed as more blood dripped down her lips. She reached and grabbed Kalli’s hand. “Please make it stop.”

Kalli closed her eyes, fighting the tears that threatened to spill. She took the woman’s hand and traced her fingertips along the woman’s palm. She might not be able to save her, but she’d not let her suffer. Feeling the numbing energy flowing between them, she scooted next to the woman, still grasping her hand.

The woman breathed a deep sigh. “Thank you,” she whispered. With that, she took her last breath.





Chapter 29


Serah wiped her tears and sat up on the bed. Scrubbing fingers through her tousled curls, she took a deep breath. Matthias was the one who robbed her of her memories. She couldn’t change the past. It was what it was.

She looked across at the mirror and cringed. Mascara ran down her cheeks, her eyes red and swollen. She made Snooki’s mug shot look like a centerfold. And Daniel would be back anytime. Not that she cared. She wasn’t doing the show any more.

She didn’t care about the contract. She’d find a way out of it. She only cared about her dignity. And that only held on by a single thread, thanks to Matthias Ambrose.

“Asshole.”

Then again, maybe that’s what they wanted. For her to give up. Too bad Nonni wasn’t here. She always had a way to lift her spirits.

I did not raise you to give up, Nipotina. Serah sighed. No, she only ran away and hid their true nature. If that wasn’t giving up, she didn’t know what was.

“Why, Nonni?” She swiped her hand across her eyes to wipe away the mascara gone wild. “Why did you hide?”

Her necklace and watch warmed against her skin. She shook her head. Leave it to Nonni to communicate through jewelry. “Why?”

Because you needed to find yourself first. Now go into that kitchen and finish what you started.

With that, the necklace and watch cooled down. Nonni had left the building. Yep, vague as ever. But Nonni did have a point. She needed to step up and kick ass. She’d start with Matthias Ambrose first.

She patted her necklace. Thanks, Nonni. With that, she threw open the door and stormed out of the room. She needed to give him a piece of her mind.

She turned the corner to enter the kitchen.

“No!” she heard an anguished shout. The sound chilled her to the bone. She’d never heard a man sound so tormented in her life.

She froze. It was Matthias. He sat with head buried in his hands, his body wracking with sobs. Kalli sat next to him, her arm wrapped tight around his shoulders.

What on earth was going on? Was he that broken up about losing this mission?

He reached out and grabbed Kalli’s shoulders. “The babe! What happened to our babe?”

Serah gasped. It wasn’t the mission. It was a tragedy from his past. Matthias had been a father. He had a family. He had a wife. She shivered as prickles of guilt washed over her. She should be angry at him, but all she wanted to do was comfort him.

But Kalli was already there, offering him her shoulder. Serah sucked in a breath. What was Kalli doing here anyway?

Serah clenched her fists. What was coming over her?

Jealousy, that’s what.

Why in hell was she jealous? She should hate Matthias. He had kidnapped her, stolen her memories, and kept his dirty little secret. So what if he gave her the memories back. Too little, too late. She should hate him. But all she felt was pity.

“Salome took him. She sent him away. I tried to find him, but I never could. I assumed she killed him. That’s her usual modus operandi.”

“I had a son?” Matthias looked up at Kalli.

She reached for his hand. “Yes. I sensed a boy. Just know that I tried everything to find him.”

Matthias nodded. “I know.”

Serah had to get out of there. This wasn’t her business, and, as secretive as Matthias had been about his past, he wouldn’t want her there anyhow.