Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(43)

“I’m not one of your demons,” she snapped. “You don’t get to command me to do jack shit.”

Her words annoyed the demon, but it didn’t respond. Instead it studied her intently.

Watching Sam from Azi’s perspective was strange. Since embracing the demon, all my senses had been heightened. But with Azi in control, my vision was even sharper. More detailed. Each strand of her hair had multiple layers, with millions of different colors all blended to make perfection. Her lips, slightly parted with the right corner pulled up slightly in irritation, were composed of thousands of superfine strands of color—reds, pinks, and just a hint of blue. In fact, her entire body was a beacon of assorted colors, all shifting slightly from dark to light, oscillating between degrees. She was brightness and beauty personified, from the top of her head right down to the soles of her shoes. Every place except a small section of her chest above her heart.

The small area was muddled, a lot like the murky swirl emanating around her—jumbled and dark.

The demon chuckled and Sam snorted. “Something amusing about that?”

“My human,” Azi responded. “He finds your appearance disconcerting.”

“My appearance?”

Don’t f*cking say it like that!

Of course the bastard ignored me. It ignored her, too, getting out of the car and coming around the front. With an agitated jerk, Azi pulled open her door and said, “Out.”

“Out? Why would I—”

The demon’s impatience grew. It grabbed Sam’s arm and hauled her unceremoniously from the seat. She stumbled sideways, catching herself just before losing her balance. “I will drive. You will sleep.”

“Sleep,” she shouted. “How the hell do you expect me to sleep?” Sam adjusted her jacket and stalked toward Azi. Giving him a shove, she added, “I know this whole ‘living on planet Earth’ thing is new for you, but let’s get one thing straight. I’m not leaving you alone with him for a single minute.”

She doesn’t trust you, I told it.

This confused the demon for some reason. It didn’t understand her tone, or the rigid set of her shoulders. It was puzzled by her expression and the volume of her voice. A rush of images bombarded my mind. Sam and I, the first time we were together. The scene played out as though I was a third party watching from the outside. It focused on the times where my eyes were dark. When the demon was in control.

“You find me repelling.” A statement. Not a question.

Sam snorted. “You’re basically blackmailing us. Damn right I find you repelling!”

“I am not hurting my human.” The confusion faded, replaced by a rush of logic. Azirak really didn’t see the problem here.

Sam stomped her foot. She stalked forward, bringing her face inches from mine. “Jax,” she spat. “He’s not your human. He’s Jax.”

There was a long moment of hesitation before the demon stepped away from her. My head nodded slowly, and the demon repeated, “Jax.” It opened the car door and gestured for her to get inside. “We should go. Time runs out.”

For a minute, I was sure Sam would turn and walk the other way. She had that look about her. Eyes narrow and lips pressed in a hard line, it was the expression she wore just before engaging in a fight. But she surprised me. With a sigh, she pushed past the demon and slid into the passenger seat, slamming the door behind her.

“She is an unusual human,” the demon said as it moved my body around the car. Pausing with my hand on the handle, it added, “It is not surprising that you find her alluring.”

Don’t get any ideas, I growled. I was tempted to push for control, to fight the demon and take back what was rightfully mine, but Azi turned to look at Sam. Beneath all the vibrant colors, she was pale. The distorted mass over her heart seemed bigger than it had before, and her posture was slumped. That cuff needed to come off and we only had a short time left to do it. You better not be bullshitting us. Find Fakori’s ancestor and get that f*cking thing off her.

“I will do as I promised,” it said out loud.

Sam, not realizing the demon was talking to me, huffed and shifted in her seat. She yanked the seat belt out and jammed it into the lock, then turned to face the window. “You better.”



We drove for several hours. Sam dozed in and out. Azi kept our speed at a maximum of five miles an hour above the limit. Its reasoning was that we didn’t want to waste time with the authorities. And while I agreed, the fact that we weren’t moving as fast as possible pissed me off.

This was the longest I’d spent as a spectator. I had no love for the demon, but could almost understand its anger. I felt helpless. Weak. I was caged, and everything, even the simplest things like scratching an itch or shifting around in my seat, was beyond my control.

“I probably should have asked this up front,” Sam said after a while. “But how is it that you know exactly where to find this guy?”

“I have an entire clan eagerly awaiting my return. I had but to ask, and they fell in line.”

“What does that tell me?” she fired back.

“While you were sleeping I called my clan. They are searching for the Fakori descendant as we speak.”

Sam looked from me to her wrist and grimaced.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed. “Does it pain you?”