Demons Like It Hot (Demons Unleashed #2)(79)

“Shh,” Matthias whispered, pressing a warm cloth to her forehead. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and dabbed away some rancid sauce.

“The demon,” she moaned. She attempted to pull herself up. “Edie.”

Matthias placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Edie isn’t here.”

“Goddess—Edesia.”

“Shh,” Matthias murmured. His breath hitched. “Goddess? Another one?”

She forced her eyes open, grabbing Matthias’s shoulder. “You did it, didn’t you?”

Matthias’s gaze narrowed. He stepped away from her. “No. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.” He turned to the window. “And I sure as hell wouldn’t have had another demon do the job.”

He did have a point. He was a trained mercenary. He knew how to kill. But he had also kidnapped her. What’s not to say he wasn’t still working for the Infernati?

Then again Edie had said he was a good man. She was a goddess. Weren’t goddesses all-knowing? And why did she want it kept a secret? She shook her head. After a year of all this weirdness, she knew better than to question things.

“I need a shower,” Serah mumbled, taking a whiff of her sauce-covered chef’s jacket. “I smell like I fell in a sewer.”

“I called Kalli for cleanup.”

“Thank you.”

Matthias crossed his arms. “It wasn’t me, Serah. I swore to the Fore-Demons and Rafael that I would protect you. I might have done some reprehensible things in my past, but one thing I’ve never done is broken my word.”

“Balthazar doesn’t seem to think so.”

“I did what was asked. They were the ones who broke the vow.”

“I’m still trying to understand why.”

Matthias took a deep breath. “It’s complicated.” He took a seat next to her on the bed. “I don’t expect forgiveness. I wouldn’t forgive myself either.”

“I just want the truth.” Serah sat up in the bed. “You owe me that at least.”

“If I said you couldn’t handle the truth, would you understand?”

“Sorry, that line’s already been used.” She reached down and slid a finger across a splash of sauce. “If I can handle a demon in a pot, I think I can handle what you’re hiding.”

Matthias nodded. “I kidnapped you, but not for money. I was already planning on retiring before the Infernati contacted me.”

“How noble of you. You did it for free.” Serah rolled her eyes. “Not a good way to get on my good side.”

“I did not do it for free.”

“Then what did you do it for? Notoriety?”

“You said you wanted to know. Let me tell you.”

“Fine. What did the Infernati have on you that was so bad you needed to kidnap a Pure-Blood?”

“I didn’t know you were a Pure-Blood. I thought you were just the succubus’s friend.”

“So that makes it okay?”

“No. I am not saying that at all. If I knew their true intentions I would have turned down the mission.”

“It still doesn’t make it right.”

“I know!” He reached out and grabbed her hand. She should have pulled away, but instead she allowed him that one touch. “Let me explain.”

“Okay. I won’t say another word, unless you ask.”

Matthias nodded. “I was married before. I joined Emperor Frederick II in 1228 to go on his crusade.”

“The Holy Roman Empire?” She had gone to Catholic school, after all.

Matthias nodded. “I was raised near Münster, in modern-day Germany.”

“Like the cheese?”

Matthias scowled. “No, unfortunately not. Let me continue. My wife, she never told me she was with child.”

Serah cringed as he told the story. How he’d taken a blade through his chest. How he thought an angel was taking him to the Promised Land. But it wasn’t an angel. She was a demon. She’d turned him into a demon for her own pleasure. Serah’s stomach roiled.

Salome. She remembered the story from her years at Catholic school. It was only fitting that Salome would choose the Infernati in her demonic afterlife.

“She showed me what the Paladins had done to my village. It had been burnt to the ground. My wife had been torn to pieces, she said. Then she told me about the babe. How she tried to save it.”

But she had lied. Kalli had shown him the truth. How the villagers had been manipulated by the Infernati. How they tried to kill her. Kalli had shown him his wife’s final moments, how she eased her pain.

But one thing disturbed Serah the most. The baby had been ripped from his mother, quite literally. She clenched her fists. Of all the sick and demented things she’d heard in her life, this had to be the worst.

“I’d always believed the baby had died. I’d been conditioned to believe the Paladins had killed everyone in the village. The truth is, Salome killed Josephine and our child because I chose them instead of her.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Kalli happened to be in the area and she saw the fire. The villagers attacked her as she rushed to my wife’s aid. Unfortunately, she was too late.” A tear crested along his eyelid, ready to drop. “Kalli had to burn the village. They’d been changed to animi mortui.”