A Demon Made Me Do It(22)

“But if you need to, um, work, I don’t think you will find what you’re looking for where I’m going. It’s a nightclub, and not a very nice one,” I add in response to his quizzical look.

He nods, understanding. Bones has a very specific type of female he’ll seduce: Between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two, beautiful, healthy and intelligent. One who doesn’t smoke, drink, or use any drugs, and most importantly, a virgin who is at the peak of her fertility cycle. Girls like that probably aren’t hanging out at a seedy downtown nightclub in the middle of the week.

“Well, then, I’ll just search the nearby area. Find a partner in a home that is not brightly lit. Call for me when you’re done, and we’ll meet back up.”

“I’m tormenting a few regulars after. They’ve been let off easy the past few nights so I have some making up to do.”

“You gonna hit up Old Lady Sullivan?”

I nod.

“Cool. I’ll meet you there. I love watching you freak her out.” Of course he does. Mary Sullivan castrated eleven men before murdering them and burying their bodies in her backyard. So far the police and her neighbors have no clue what she’s done. But I know. And now she’s a regular.

“Okay.” I shuffle over to where he’s standing and give him a hug. “Thanks for being here…thanks for everything,” I whisper.

“No problem, kiddo.” His voice sounds thick. I pull back, touched by the compassion in his mahogany eyes.

“Go. You obviously need to mate. Get it out of your system.” With a smile, I gently push him away. I never want him to know how much it bothers me that he has to go do that. When he finds his perfect virgin, seduces her, and impregnates her with his seed—I know he has no choice. If he doesn’t continually reproduce with Sapies, his function as an incubus—one who is capable of assuming human form and being my friend—will cease to exist. He’ll become and remain a Hound of Hell permanently, forced to guard our sacred realm for all of eternity.

But it really bothers me. I hate thinking of him lying with all those women, flooding them with his intoxicating powers of romance and seduction. I hate knowing he gives them something he can never give me. I hate knowing—no matter what—I’ll always be forced to share his affections with nameless, faceless girls who provide him with a reason for existing.

And I hate myself even more for feeling this way. I am a Justice demon, for Satan’s sake! I’m supposed to be free from passion and operate only on reason and rationality, not be subjected to crying fits of anger and the discomfort of petty jealousies. What a crock of crap it is. Totally illogical. And pathetic. What do I expect him to do…sit around and pine over me night after night? Tell me he loves me more than anything else and can’t bear the thought of living eternity without me? That I’m his one true reason for breathing and without me his life has no meaning?

Yeah…dream on. Demons don’t work like that. Only Sapies get all wrapped up with their crazy emotions. Something that, thanks to Liora, seeps into my life where it shouldn’t. At least demons have the ability—and good sense—to shut off the feelings they don’t want to feel. Not Sapies, though. They seem to enjoy being enslaved by them.

But I can’t blame Bones for any of my madness. He’s just as incapable of ignoring his demonic desires as I am of ignoring my tainted-by-human ones.

“You sure you’re okay?” Bones asks, studying my face.

“I’m fine…promise. Tonight is just what the doctor ordered. Carnage followed by torment. Can’t wait.” I fake a small smile.

“Okay…well, I’ll catch up with you at Old Lady Sullivan’s. And be careful…don’t get too cocky out there,” he says with a wink.

“Yeah, same to you.”

For a brief moment we stare into each other’s eyes, both of us feeling what neither can say. Then, with a grin as sinful as the devil himself, Bones shakes and quivers, gracefully landing on two large paws. He lets out a lustful howl and sprints toward a remote farmhouse in the distance.

I take a deep breath and head toward the bright lights of the city.

******

About twenty miles from the club, I wave my hand at a passing motorist who instantly screeches his car to a halt. Now that I’m out in the open I can’t run anymore, not without attracting the type of attention we all try to avoid. It makes our lives easier to keep the Sapies in the dark about certain things. If they really knew what was going on right under their noses…

I pop my head inside the passenger window of the luxurious Mercedes. A well-dressed middle-aged couple sit side by side, both wearing the blank fixated look of someone under my spell. People are just too easy.