Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(12)



“Were of Zenak’s clan. I apologize for not arriving sooner.” The demon’s eyebrows disappeared beneath shaggy bangs. Wearing a Yankee’s cap and worn blue jeans, he looked like a college kid ready for the weekend. “As for Malphi…do you remember, my lord?”

I didn’t need the link to know Jax was two steps away from ramming his fist down the demon’s throat. All that my lord crap.

Wait…

My lord crap? Only members of Azi’s clan referred to Jax that way. But it’d mentioned Malphi. Oh my God… Malphi was part of Azi’s clan?

“I know the name. That’s all,” Jax said, deceptively calm. I had no clue how he held it together. His rage simmered just beneath the surface. I could taste it through the link, a potent, coppery tang that coated the back of my throat.

“The name…” the demon repeated. If I didn’t know better, I would have said it looked disappointed. There was the slightest twitch of its lip and a subtle slump of the shoulders. “No matter. Malphi knows you—and has asked me to deliver a message.”

“What kind of message?”

It turned to me, eerie black eyes boring straight into mine. “Agree to be claimed, or be destroyed.”

Jax snorted. The spark of fury still lingered in his eyes, but there was also excitement. “You first.” He grabbed the demon’s head between his hands and twisted hard. Apparently the fact that it’d been one of Azi’s demons wasn’t an issue. It fell to the floor in a lifeless heap. With a nod to the last remaining demon, he jabbed a finger at me and said, “Report back to Malphi. Whatever it is you want with Sam, forget it. It’s never going to happen.”

With one final snap of its teeth, the demon slipped through the broken window.

“You okay?”

The cuff on my wrist tightened, and a feeling of dread bubbled deep in the pit of my stomach. In the basement back at the Viking, the guy had insisted I submit. The demon said the same thing a few minutes ago. What the hell was going on? “Claimed? What was he talking about?”

“I dunno, Sammy. But I bet Heckle has a clue.” Jax watched me with an odd expression. Almost as if he expected me to crack. “We have to find him.”

“Agreed,” I responded. “But first we should clean up.”

He was covered in blood. Everything was covered in blood, actually. Rick’s previously beige striped couch was coated in carnage, as were the curtains and carpet. The coffee table was smashed to pieces and scattered around the room. It was pure destruction…which I was becoming strangely used to. Six months ago something like this would have freaked me out. Now it was just another day. There was a strange sense of familiarity in it all and that scared the crap out of me.

As I shook my arm, Jax looked from the cuff to me. The doorbell rang and he threw up his hands. “I call bullshit here… It’s like two in the morning—who the hell could be out there?”

“Well, at least we know it’s not a demon. They’re far too rude to ring the bell.”

He snorted. “Never know.”

“There really is no such thing as a break, is there?” I said, crossing the room to the door. I had the urge to rub the inside of my wrist but resisted, figuring it would only make him antsier. When I pulled back the curtains, I groaned. There on the step was the worst possible visitor. A demon might have actually been preferable. It was our next door neighbor—my Aunt Kelly. “Our messy living room and my spanking new demon jewelry isn’t our only problem…”





Chapter Five


Jax


“Not good…” Sam yanked the curtains back into place and spun around. The link between us surged to life, a fresh wave of panic flooding through it.

I frowned. The last thing we needed with a house full of corpses was an uninvited visitor. “There was a lot of noise. Did someone call the cops?”

“It’s Kelly!” she said, stomping her foot. “Kelly is standing on the front porch.”

Perfect f*cking timing, as usual. I scanned the living room. The place looked like the set of a high budget slasher flick, blood and bodies strewn all over. “Get rid of her,” I snapped. We didn’t need Sam’s nosey aunt poking around right now. Or ever. She didn’t know about me and I intended to keep it that way.

Sam took a deep breath and opened the door a crack. “Kelly,” she said, voice ringing with forced cheerfulness. Kelly should have been able to see through it. She’d raised Sam, after all. But she was as clueless now as she had been when we were young. “It’s after midnight. Are you okay?”

“I heard loud noises.” The elder Merrick tried to push into the house, but Sam blocked her.

“Noises? What kind of noises?” When Kelly found out Sam moved from her apartment and in with me, her head exploded. There was yelling and screaming and large amounts of dramatic bullshit. She’d never been a fan, always pushing Sam toward my brother Chase who, ironically, was the real bad seed. Usually I never missed an opportunity to rub our living situation in her face, but I kept quiet now. “I haven’t heard any noises.”

Kelly tried to push past her again. “Don’t play games with me, Samantha. I know what I heard. Things falling and breaking. Clanking and clattering. It sounded like a war over here.”

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