“Nah. Least I can do is put you to bed. Gotta get that fire back somehow, and sleeping in a chair ain’t gonna do it.”
“You talk funny,” I mumble.
He lowers me onto my bed and slides his hands from under me. The claws are nowhere to be found, thankfully. I watch him through slits as a range of emotions passes across his face too quickly for me to fully grasp.
“What do you mean?”
It takes me a second to remember what I said. “You speak like a human. Like you’ve been here a lot.”
“Would you prefer I be posh and aristocratic?”
I snicker at his poor attempt at a Cockney accent. “Did you get your training from movies? Is there cable in Hell?”
“No. I’ve just spent more time than most topside.” Indecision dances in his black eyes. “Did you give any more thought to my proposal?”
I swallow hard and suddenly don’t know what to do with my hands. “Seems like you’re getting the better end of the deal there. All I get is some information. You get a whole curse undone.”
He cocks his head to the side and studies me. “Well, I was hoping you’d feed me, too.”
“So, I feed you, break your curse that probably doesn’t exist, and I get lessons in demons?” The longer he talks to me, the more awake I am, which only leaves room for frustration to creep in.
He shrugs, his grey skin glittering in the moonlight filtering through the window. “You could ask me for just about anything and I’d give it to you. Even if you don’t help me, I still probably would.”
“Why?” As soon as the question pops out, I wish I could stuff it back in.I don’t care why. Maybe a little, but definitely not enough to demand he tell me.
The corner of his mouth tips up. “Dunno. Just something about you. So, what would you like in exchange for your witchy abilities?”
I struggle to sit upright, and he sways closer. I ignore the movement, not entirely sure whether I want him touching me. Every time he has, I get a weird feeling in my chest. It’s been a while, but I don’t think curses can rub off on someone else. It’s not a cold one could catch. Except that only pertains to curses on witches and humans. Demons probably have a whole other set of rules. I swing my legs over the side and face him.
“What if I can’t help you?”
“Helping only requires trying, spitfire. As long as you try, you’ll help.” He shrugs again, the movement jerky. “At this point I’m desperate, and the only time I feel normal is here or when I’m sleeping in Hell.”
“Demons sleep?”
He chuckles breathlessly. “I’ll tell you if you agree to break this curse.”
I huff, tipping my head back. “Fine. I’ll help you, but I want more than knowing shit about demons and Hell.”
He steps closer and our knees brush. Tiny shocks skip up my thighs, and heat settles between my legs. This was not part of the deal.
Percy was kind enough to fill me in on what she knew about demons. It wasn’t much. I was able to dodge why I wanted to know, and she chalked it up to being bored. Of course, she didn’t tell me anything useful, really. All she could talk about was how hot they supposedly were and how amazing they were in bed. She regaled me with stories of past witches having mortal men ruined for them by getting dicked down by a demon.
Staring at Dimitri and the glint in his eyes, I believe the tales.
“What exactly would you like, Mari?” he murmurs, a dark seduction weaving its way through the air. It wraps around my body, and I suppress a shudder of anticipation.
I open my mouth, then snap it shut when his pupil flashes purple. The deep color bleeds into his irises, and he leans back.
“Dimitri?” He doesn’t respond, his gaze fixed on a point over my head. “Water. I’ll get you some water.”
Either he’ll poof out of existence again or he’ll create a lightning storm in my bedroom. Not exactly the type of lightning I was fantasizing about a minute before. I rush for the bathroom and grab the cup. At least this one fills faster than the last one.
“What else?” I ask as I step back into the now empty room. “What the fuck.”
Dimitri, facedown and cockeyed on my bed, must have passed out. At least his back is rising and falling in an even rhythm.
“Thirty seconds, dude. I was gone for thirty seconds, and you take over my bed? This isn’t…I should banish you. That’s exactly what I should do. Because we’ve spent a total of maybe an hour together.” I shuffle around the room, picking up abandoned clothes and kicking things into the closet. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. For all I know, you’re a figment of myimagination. Yet here I am, contemplating just saying fuck it and crawling in next to you.”
