The relief I felt at seeing her alive and unharmed begins to abate as jealousy takes its place.
Kastros releases a low, inhumane growl from behind me, and I know his thoughts are on the same wavelength as mine. Demons are naturally possessive of things they think belong to them, but that possessiveness is nothing compared to what they feel for their Centers, for their mates, when they claim them as their own—and not kill them. I want to lunge across the hallway and tear the boy limb from limb, cackling maniacally as I feast on his blood.
But that’s not me. I’m not as impulsive in my decisions as Akor or as passionate as Van. As the leader, it’s my job to think things through and reach a rational decision—
Why the fuck is he touching her arm?!?
This punk is fortunate that I have Kastros with me and not one of the other demons. Since he used to be leader, he knows just as well as I do that we can’t always act recklessly. We have to think through every decision. Killing this guy would mean a body. A body would mean cops, unless we could make him into a zombie like we did with Jason. And then there are the security cameras to think about…
No, we can’t murder this kid. Which is quite a shame, if you ask me.
“Is this guy bothering you?” I ask roughly as I race forward, barely wrangling the growl that threatens to escape. I’m pretty sure my lips are vibrating, though, so I can only pray that any sound I make is soft enough that he doesn’t hear. I move to stand protectively beside Katrina. Then I turn towards the asswad with narrowed eyes.
Katrina merely rolls her eyes, as if we’re normal, jealous boyfriends instead of bloodthirsty demons from Hell. She’s lucky she’s so damn cute.
“Guys, this is David. Stacy’s boyfriend.” She stresses the word “boyfriend” with a pointed look first at me and then at Kastros. I guess we didn’t hide our reactions as well as I hoped.
Kastros merely grunts in greeting, hands shoved into his pockets to obscure his claws, but I shift to stand slightly in front of Katrina. I’m sure my reaction is raising a billion red flags, but I don’t give a damn. This kid is standing way too close to her.
“And where is Stacy?” I bite out, thinking about how satisfying it would be to claw off his face. They do that in Hell, actually. It’s sort of like an arts-and-crafts station for human souls—you claw off the human’s face, and then it’s your choice what you do with the skin. There are a lot of fucked-up masks down there. I’m pretty sure someone even made one into a basketball.
As if my scathing words called her, the girl in question appears around the corner of the hall, juggling a huge ass painting she must’ve made for art class.
“Fuck. Sorry I’m late, babe. Thanks for waiting. Mrs. Shreba forgot I was coming by to pick this up, so she had the door locked.” Stacy, a blonde with bangs, pecks David on the lips before turning to Katrina with a wide grin. Her smile wilts when she notices me and Kastros. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s my fault we’re loitering. We’re just about to leave.”
Does she think she’s in trouble? I’m almost tempted to keep the ruse going and give all three of them detention, just to have an excuse to punish David.
“It’s fine,” I respond gruffly, exchanging a quick look with Kastros. “But school is over, so these halls need to be empty.”
There. That sounded teachery, right?
Stacy begins to pull on David’s arm, dragging him down the hallway, but she pauses suddenly and turns back to Katrina with hopeful eyes.
“You’re coming, right? You said you would.”
Coming? She better not mean in the sexual way, or else I’ll add two bodies to my kill list.
Katrina blushes brightly, ducking her head, before nodding. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Yay!” Stacy claps her hands together and does a little shimmy in place. “It’s going to be so much fun!”
My curiosity is threatening to make my entire body burst. I can tell Kastros feels the same by the way he’s repeatedly tapping his finger against Katrina’s upper arm, attempting to garner her attention so he can sign to her.
“What’s going to be fun?” I demand as soon as Stacy and her boy toy are out of sight. I never really liked Stacy all that much. Don’t get