I Hate Everything About You

“Hey, Josie,” Cayden whispered as Zane made his way back to us.

“Hi, Cayden,” I replied sweetly, looking up into his gorgeous green and blue eyes, smiling. He smiled down at me, but looked away quickly when Zane finally approached.

“Hey, sexy,” he smirked. I scowled at him and held Cayden’s hand tighter.

“Let’s just get over The Boundary. The sooner, the better.” Zane rolled his eyes and Cayden pulled me into his body a little more, making me feel secure. Zane stood on the other side of Cayden, who placed his hand on Zane’s shoulder and recited the incantation to take us over. Zane wasn’t able to travel over from The Shadows alone. Any old supernatural could pass into The Shadows, but once in, a demon had to let them back out.

I felt a heavy pressure pushing down on my head and chest, so I squeezed my eyes tightly and clung to Cayden until the pressure suddenly dissipated. When I opened them, it was dark, wherever we were.

“What’re we doing here?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Zane replied, walking ahead of us. I scoffed at him, my mouth open slightly and Cayden tugged at me gently, leading me away to follow Zane. I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at Zane’s back as he led the way to wherever the hell it was we were going.

“No matter how hard you glare at me, beautiful, I’m not going anywhere,” Zane informed me cockily. I huffed and heard him chuckle.

“You’re so aggravating,” I retorted.

“Sticks and stones, sweetheart,” he retaliated, throwing a smirk over his shoulder to me.

“Come on, Josie, calm down,” Cayden urged, whispering.

“How can I? I have no idea where we’re going or why we’re even here. Can’t you tell me?” I persisted.

“No, I’m sorry. Don’t worry, Jo, you’ll be fine.” My heart skipped a beat because it’d been so long since I’d been called Jo. In fact, Cayden was the last one to say it to me almost three years prior.

“I heard that,” Zane announced without looking back.

“Shut up, Zane,” I replied, completely exhausted from his presence and it’d been less than an hour. He laughed again and continued to lead the way through the dark, winding alleyways.

“What’s he talking about?” Cayden, demon as he was didn’t pick up on subtle heart murmurs as much as Zane, or even Eros, could. Cayden was the most gentle, least frightening demon I’d ever encountered. I’m sure Lucifer was less than pleased with him as a life form, but he got his jobs done well over what was expected of him, as few and far between as those jobs came.

“Nothing. He’s just being an ASSHOLE,” I informed him, nearly yelling the last word. I could see Zane shaking his head and felt Cayden’s eyes on me, confused, but I couldn’t look at him.

After about 20 more minutes of aimless walking, in which I’m sure we crossed our own path multiple times, we slowed in front of a run down, abandoned-looking building.

“We’re here,” Zane announced, stopping in front of the door.

“Are you sure?” I asked worriedly, glancing around the alley.

“You wanna check and see?” he challenged, his eyes growing more and more red. He was hungry and he only needed one small reason to rip my throat open.

“No,” I replied sheepishly, slinking into Cayden’s side as he instinctively put his arm around my shoulder. Zane kept his eyes on me as he knocked, in code, on the wooden door. I looked at the ground as we waited, avoiding contact with Zane.

“Good, you’re here. I was getting worried,” a strong, familiar British voice said. “I was about to send a search team out for you.” I look up and saw the most powerful demon from The Shadows standing in the doorway, smiling chivalrously.

“We’d have been here sooner is we didn’t have any baggage to weigh us down,” Zane answered curtly.

“Fuck you, Zane,” I shot back.

“I know you want to,” he winked.

“You’re vile and—“

“That’s enough, Josie,” Cayden scolded, causing me to revert back to being a child, obeying, but still glaring seethingly at Zane.

“Hello, Josephine,” Damien said sweetly to me.

“Hi,” I replied softly, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Well, come in. Eros would be most unhappy should anything happen.” Damien opened the door a little wider and ushered us into the building.

He had done an amazing job of concealing the true nature of the interior of the building with the run-down façade of the exterior. Inside, the walls were lined with gold filigree fleur-de-lis’, a diamond chandelier hung from the ceiling while first edition classics lines the numerous shelves and sat atop desks and tables. A breath escaped my lips as we entered the sitting room, my eyes scanning the floor-to-ceiling cherry wood bookshelves.

“Come, come. Sit down and have a drink. Josie, you look worn out,” Damien directed to me. I looked back to his icy blue eyes and felt myself nod in agreement, although I didn’t recall willing myself to do so. Cayden sat me down on the couch, and then sat in the middle while Zane sat on the other side.

“Bourbon, Josephine?”

“Oh, no, thank you. Water is fine for me.”

“Very good. Boys?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison. Damien nodded and left the room momentarily, in which time, I situated myself on Cayden’s shoulder and closed my eyes.

“Don’t fall asleep, Jo,” he warned gently.

“I won’t. Just resting, that’s all.’ Cayden kissed the top of my head, which he was allowed to do by Eros’ rules. I heard Zane huff and I smiled into Cayden’s shirt.

Josephine, Damien whispered in my head. I opened my eyes quickly just as he walked through the door with a tray of drinks. I hated when he did that, when he transferred his voice into my head before he even entered the room or when he wasn’t around. It always put me on edge because I never knew where he was around me.

“No servants, Damien?” Zane asked, taking the glass from Damien’s scarred hands.

“Not as of late. None quite fit the criteria anymore. They’re not as willing as they used to be.”

Right, Josie? I heard in my head again. He wasn’t even looking at me yet. Once Cayden took his drink, Damien offered mine and it took every part of me not to shake when I set it on the table next to me. He took his own drink off the tray, set that on the side table near the armchair he began to occupy as he also sipped the sweet brown liquid.

“So. When will Eros be joining us?”

“We don’t know,” Zane replied.

“He kept it fairly hush-hush from us,” Cayden chimed. Damien looked to me expectantly, but I shook my head.

“He didn’t tell me anything like that.” He nodded in understanding, but seemed unimpressed with my answer.

“Well, then, we’ll have to find something to keep us busy. Josephine, you look ready for a club.”

“Eros picked it out. Had I known how far we had to walk, I would’ve worn more sensible shoes,” I remarked, extending the leg that crossed over my other, showing off the stiletto that surrounded my throbbing foot.

“I offered to carry you,” Cayden said to me.

“We both did. You know how fast I can run,” Zane added.

“Yes, but I think we all know how she feels about you, Zane,” Damien smiled. I blushed when he looked to me and winked. “Josie, there’s a garden courtyard if you’d like.”

I nodded once more, so he stood up, made his way over to me and offered his worse off scarred hand to me. I looked at it cautiously, but placed my own hand in his open palm as he pulled me up.

“You gonna be okay, Jo?” Cayden asked. I turned to him, smiled and nodded. He looked deep into my eyes and I smiled once more to reassure him.

“It’s an enclosed garden, my friend. She’s perfectly safe,” Damien answered to Cayden. Cayden still seemed skeptical, but he let me go nonetheless. Damien led me through the foyer and down a series of long, dark, carpeted hallways.

“Eros is still hitting you?” he asked, finally speaking. I glanced up to him and he was looking at my neck pointedly. I sighed and nodded somberly, my hand going slack in his.

“And raping me when I don’t want to give it up to him.”

“Oh, my dear,” he replied, stopping and putting his hands on my shoulders, looking down into my eyes. I could have gotten lost in the iciness of his oceanic eyes, but I knew how dangerous that could be. Damien was powerful, almost as powerful as Lucifer. Even still, he had a soft, almost human, side. He pulled me into a hug, and then pulled away almost as quickly. “Yet, you’re not fighting him back?” I gave him a blank stare, condescending even.

“Damien. You know how strong he is, you know how badly he can hurt people. He’d kill me if I fought back, so I just have to bend over and take it…literally.” There were tears welling in my eyes as I relived the pain he’d put me through over the past three years.

“It’s not just that though, is it?” He continued to lead me to the promised courtyard.

“I don’t understand,” I replied coyly.

“I think you do.” I sighed. “You care for him. In fact, I think you love him. No matter how much he hurts you or beats you, there’s a part of you that can’t leave him.” We stopped at a large pair of double doors, of which, Damien opened the right hand one. He put his hand gently on my elbow as he led me inside.