Page 93 of Demon's Desire

I opened the top of the dumpster, and Suldeargan tossed the body inside. It used to seem crass to me—disposing of a body so recklessly—but after about the fourth time that someone tries to murder you, you make your peace with doing what you’ve got to do.

“Are you ready?” Soul asked, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me close.

I pushed up on my toes and kissed him quickly. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

He took my hand, and we started walking to my car. One upside of the events last year was that my parents had become so paranoid about my safety, they’d bought me a brand new car so I didn’t have to walk or take the Metro. Most of the time I did anyway, but once in a while, it was useful.

As we got in the car, I looked over and just watched Suldeargan for a moment. These days, it was hard to imagine there was ever a time when I was scared of him or he wanted to hurt me. Now I knew better. He’d only hurt me if I asked. And once in a while, just for fun, I did.

After a moment, I started the car and began to head home. “Do you want anything specific for dinner?”

He didn’t have to eat, but these days, he usually did.

“Oh, no.” He looked over at me and smirked. “I’m going to focus all of my energy on you tonight.”

I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Right. I should have known.”

“It’s not my fault that you look so damned good when you’re killing things,” he purred, reaching over to stroke my thigh as I drove. “Besides, there’s so much extra adrenaline in post-battle fucking.”

“How romantic.” I gave him a playful look. He wasn’t wrong. There was definitely something about the emotional state after a fight that made things so much more intense.

But there was so much more to our relationship than sex. Suldeargan had become my lifeline and my best friend. He understood me in ways that even Kelly never had. He listened to me. He spent so much of his time trying to make me happy, and I did the same for him.

A few minutes into the drive, I glanced over at him. “How do you feel?”

I always made sure to ask him after we got into a fight. I was always worried that killing other demons might upset him. Most of the time it didn’t, but once in a while, he got pensive after a battle.

“I feel good,” he assured me, looking over at me with a smile. He squeezed my thigh. “As long as you don’t get hurt, I’m fine.”

That was true. Anytime he was distressed after we killed a demon, I had been hurt during the fight. Today had been easy. Most of them were.

“I’m glad.” I squeezed his hand quickly.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“I feel good.” I glanced at him before looking back at the road. “It’s funny… If you had told me before I met you that I’d be spending my life killing demons with my demon boyfriend… I would not have taken it well.”

He chuckled. “I understand. But I could have told you the night we met that you were meant for something like this.”

“What?” I blinked. “Why?”

“When Tiernan set Torie and Mica’s house on fire, everyone in that house panicked. You were drunk, and you were still the only one who jumped into action. All those strangers, all those people, would have gotten hurt without you. Anytime you thought someone was in danger, you protected them. It’s natural to you, no matter what the risk to yourself is.”

“Hm…” I thought about that night as I pulled into the alley behind our apartment. “I never thought about it like that.”

“I didn’t know how, but I just knew after that night that you had the potential to do something amazing,” he said. “And I’m lucky that you decided to do this with me.”

I parked the car and turned to him, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “I’m lucky that you let me.”

He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. In the past, my feelings for any flings or boyfriends had faded. Things got dull and repetitive. With Soul, it had never been like that. Every kiss felt like the first, and I just knew that feeling would never fade.

“If I get to spend the rest of my life killing demons with you, I’ll be happy,” he whispered before kissing my head.

I smiled at him and took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”

I grabbed my hatchets, and we went inside. We’d faced a lot of threats over the last year, but throughout everything, we’d protected each other. We’d been protecting each other for months, and we would do it for the rest of our lives, no matter what came our way, or how difficult it would be.

And I was looking forward to every second of it.