Xander
Shit. This day can’t get any worse. These lower-level demons were getting sloppy and cocky. Insulting Demi was a sure death sentence, not just because she was the boss’s half-sister. No, my feelings for Demi go deeper than working for her half-brother.
I’d worked hard to get to where I am today, second in command to a powerful demon. But what did it really matter if I couldn’t see Demi anymore?
Three years ago, I was assigned as Drax’s personal bodyguard. It was an honor for my family to be in such a high position in the Underworld. Or it would have been if they were still alive.
Over ten years ago, my parents were vanquished by witches during a recon mission to the Living Realm during a rare cease-fire. The war between our worlds had raged on since.
I knew it wasn’t safe for Demi to continue to travel between two warring worlds, but that still didn’t mean I wasn’t going to miss her because, of course, she was going to choose the Living Realm. Get married and have a bunch of witchy babies.
“You can ease up on my arm there, big guy,” Demi teases with a smile as we reach her house.
I had to say something, or I was going to give in and kiss her the way I’d always wanted to do. “How are your studies coming along?” I silently congratulated myself for finding a neutral topic of conversation.
She blinked at me several times. “Um, I graduated last spring. I invited you and Drax to the ceremony…” She trailed off and looked away.
Damn it.
I couldn’t believe I so stupidly reminded her of a life she could never have with both sides of her family.
She must have sensed my distress. She reached her hand to my face and looked into my eyes. “It’s okay. I know our lives aren’t normal. I just wish there was a way to combine both instead of having to choose.” She dropped her hand to her side with a shrug of her slender shoulders.
She looked so sad. I wanted to pull her into my arms and keep her hidden away from everyone, even her half-brother. It was the demon inside of me talking. Just like Demi, I was half-demon.
My father was a middle-level demon who fell in love with a human. My human mother chose the Underworld, and together, they worked on finding a way for both sides to live in peace. They were so close to finding a way to combine both worlds until that fateful day.
This could be my last chance to tell Demi how I felt about her since I knew she would choose the Living Realm and her half-sisters over the Underworld and Drax.
I drank in the sight of her with her wild, dark curly hair and flashing green eyes so full of life and mischief. I was going to miss that side of her the most. She makes me feel so alive when dragging me into her crazy schemes.
I took a deep breath, ready to tell her everything that was in my heart. “Demi, there is something I want you to know before I leave.”
The flash of a curtain being pulled back from her house caught my eye. Great, now we had an audience. All three of her half-sisters were watching us through the window.
You’re a demon. You can do this. Three witches staring at you shouldn’t bother you.
I took Demi’s smaller hands in my larger ones. “Demi, I know you have to decide on which world you will live in, but I need you to know something. I…” My eyes flickered to the window again, only to find her half-sisters had now moved outside and were standing on the front porch.
“What is it, Xander? You’re scaring me, and I’m half-demon. That’s hard to do to a demon.” She gave me a soft smile.
Her smile was all the encouragement I need until a lower-level demon rushed by, shouting, “The Underworld is on lockdown. We are trapped up here with no powers.”
Everything happened at once. I jerked my hands away from Demi and tried to conjure a fireball just as her half-sisters tried to use their own magic. Then, suddenly, it was like time stood still. No one's magic was working, and Demi was the only one who looked happy about it.
Her eyes shone with the same mischief that almost got us in trouble with her half-brother last month. Putting a whoopie cushion in the chair of an angry, powerful demon who was usually pissed off wasn’t a very smart idea, but I helped Demi do it anyway.
I hoped she didn’t realize how tight I was wrapped around her little finger. I needed to hang on to some of my pride once she was gone.