Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(17)

Azi looked from the computer to Sam. Irritation coursed through my body. “Do you not understand—”

An explosion of red burst into the air. Sam shot forward and jammed her finger against my chest. “I understand that you repeatedly whining in my ear about how important this is won’t do anyone a damn bit of good.”

“You dare use that tone with me?”

Brows knitting together to form a deep V, she poked me again, this time harder. “Oh, I dare.”

“Is there a problem?” The woman came around the desk and stopped a few feet from us. Her attention was trained mostly on Sam, but her eyes occasionally darted to me, full of suspicion.

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it with a snap. I knew that look. It was the I’m about to go postal and shred your ass look. With a deep breath, she shook her head and gathered the notes she’d made on the bars’ locations. “No. Sorry about the noise.”

Azi shouldered past the woman. Sam made a move to follow, but the librarian grabbed her hand. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to go with him.”

Don’t say a thing!

I felt the demon gearing up to attack the woman—verbally or physically, I didn’t know. Neither would be good for our cause, though.

Let Sam handle it.

“While I appreciate the concern, my boyfriend is an * at the moment. I promise he’s just going through…” She glanced back and narrowed her eyes. “A temporary phase.”

The librarian hesitated. Her colors swirled, a mix of fear and uncertainty, but she stepped out of the way instead of arguing, probably happy with herself for trying but thrilled to not get truly involved.

Sam forced a smile, then dragged my body out the door and into the cold air.

Azi let her lead us to the car before ripping my hand from hers. “No more distractions. We need—”

“The rock,” she finished with a sigh. “Yeah, yeah. Broken demonic record.”

It took the paper from her. “One of these places is in Virginia. The other is in New York.”

“The one in New York obviously isn’t a huge issue, but Virginia might be a problem.”

“We have a vehicle.”

“We do,” Sam agreed. “But it requires fuel to get from point A to point B, and last time I checked, I had about twelve dollars in my bank account, and Jax has even less than that.”

“If you need currency, then take it from someone who has it.”

“And who, exactly, should that be?” It didn’t answer her, but a response wasn’t necessary. She knew exactly what the demon was hinting at. Sam’s eyes narrowed, and she tensed. “You’re not going to mug random people.”

“It won’t be random. I will choose someone that I feed from.”

“The hell you will.” Deep red burst into the air around Sam’s shoulders as she came at us. With an impressive shove, she let out a growl. “What you do is bad enough—but robbing them, too? There has to be a line.”

Azi’s confusion was so thick that it nearly choked me. “I will stick to the human’s rules when I feed, as I have since taking control.”

“Rules?” Her face was tinted red, and the muscles in her neck stretched taut. Sam wasn’t normally high-strung, but this whole thing had to be taking a toll on her nerves. “What frigging rules?”

“I will only assault evil men.” A flicker of amusement flooded my system. “Unless you wish me to feed by other means.”

I will f*cking kill you…

But, as usual, my threat went ignored. Not that I could blame it. I was about as dangerous as a three-legged kitten right now.

“Other means? As in let you put your grubby hands all over me?”

“They’re his hands.”

“And when he’s back in control, I’ll welcome them.”

“Fine then.” The demon chuckled. “Then perhaps I could find a volunteer.” Azi turned my body to face the truck. It straightened and gazed into the window, flashing a wicked smile at my reflection. “Human females find him appealing. I don’t believe I’ll have any trouble finding—”

A swirl of red and gray filtered into the air. “He’d never let you do that.”

My body leaned forward. “His body has…needs.”

“Yeah? Well as far as I know, no guy ever bit the big one from lack of sex.”

“If I wish to cavort with a willing participant, he has no way of stopping me.” Azi leaned in close. “He might like it. I wonder… Shall I tell you of the other females?”

Sam’s face paled, and she backed away a step. “Others?”

“He was merely seventeen when he left you. Do you think it truly conceivable that he didn’t fornicate before you?”

What the f*ck are you doing?

“I—”

Azi laughed and I felt it. Intense satisfaction. Not at hurting Sam, that wasn’t its intent, but at hurting me. It wanted me to pay for what I’d done to Malphi. “In the beginning, it was how he fed me. I preferred the anger, the violence, but Jax resisted. He didn’t want to harm people. Would you like details?” It moved a step closer to her, now just a few inches from her face. “Would you like to know how many there were? What their names are? The sounds they made as he—”