Demon of Desire

Sloan felt him push himself away from Kellan’s hand. She could see the pain in his eyes but he didn’t make a sound. Her grip tightened as she tried to stop him from ripping his own heart out.

“What are you doing?” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as her arms grew weaker. “Stop it! Kellan, help me,” she barked out.

“I won’t let you.” Jake’s voice was stronger now. He heaved one more time and this time he screamed in pain.

He sound of tearing flesh and the gut-wrenching scream of pain filled the air as the stench of fresh blood claimed the room once more. Jake dropped to the ground once he finally managed to separate himself from Kellan.

Sloan immediately grabbed Kellan’s arm and stared down at the beating heart in it. Trying to catch her fleeting breath, her gaze shifted from the heart to the body at her feet.

“Jake,” she gasped. “You killed him.”

“He wanted to die.” Kellan threw the heart into the puddle of blood.

Sloan immediately went for it. Without thinking, she pushed it into the gaping hole in Jake’s chest. “Jake”

“What are you doing?” Kellan grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the body.

“I love him.” Sloan tried to fight against him but couldn’t. She gave up and let him pull her away like a rag doll.

“He is dead. You need to think about the future now.”

She stood there, staring past him to the body on the ground. She couldn’t see anything but him.

The sound of the elevator bell rang once more. Archer, Axel, and BB ran out with their weapons raised. The first thing they stumbled on was Jake’s lifeless body on the ground.

Archer glanced at it once before he started shooting arrows at Ali. A loud hiss of pain looped in the room as, one by one, Archer shot his arrows at her.

Axel and BB were still transfixed by Jake’s lifeless body, ripped apart on the floor. Taking off her long duster, BB covered Jake’s body then stepped over it. The two girls stood facing Archer and Sloan but didn’t do a thing.

The target soon changed when Gabriel came into the room. He charged at them and took them both at the same time. Sloan took advantage of the distraction and went for her swords. She held them firmly in her hands and turned to Kellan.

He met her gaze and didn’t move, even when she advanced toward him.

Archer came between Sloan and Kellan.

“Get out—now,” he barked.

Sloan didn’t budge. Instead, she watched as the two went up against each other. Out of the corner of her eye she saw BB shear Gabriel’s head off. These were her two worlds going up against each other, and all she could do was watch as one destroyed the other.

Kellan’s strength was more than Archer could handle. He was already pinned against his back but he still struggled furiously. The sound of Archer’s gun going off a couple of times was muffled by Kellan’s body. But even with all the holy water and blood being pumped into him, Kellan was still strong.

When Archer got pushed down to the ground, Sloan leaped over him, intercepting Kellan’s attack. She lunged at him with the swords. After a few cuts, Kellan pulled them out of her hands.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

She fisted her hands and held them up. “Defending the only family I have left.”

“They aren’t the only family you have left! What about—” before he could say “baby,” Sloan attacked him. She kicked him in the jaw and followed up with a few tactics she’d learned from hours of training. With every blow she delivered, she felt a power surge in her like an electric current.

The rest watched in wonder as Sloan attacked him with a speed and strength they knew wasn’t humanly possible. Archer got on his feet and grabbed Sloan’s swords. He was about to intercept when Axel stopped him.

“I don’t know what it is, but I think you should leave this to her.”

When Kellan fell to the ground, Sloan stopped and looked down at him with a mixture of emotions. She loved him, but she also hated him with the same capacity. She shifted her gaze for a second to Jake’s body and fresh rage built inside her.

She hated Kellan more than she loved him.

She kicked him, but then he caught her foot and pulled her down under him. “You are different…better!” He smiled then leaned down to her ear, “You can thank my son for the new you.”

“Sloan!” Archer called out, drawing Kellan’s attention.

“Let’s see who’s better,” she whispered, kicking him off her. She stood up and signaled for Archer to throw her the swords.

Kellan tried to intercept but Sloan was faster, pulling all the power she could from the being inside her. Without thinking twice about it, Sloan buried both her swords deep inside him. She was gunning for his heart. It was only fair.

Kellan’s back arched as he groaned in pain. Sloan pulled the blades out and her once sparkling silver swords were now tainted with a black, silky liquid. She moved to stand in front of him, to look him in the eye as he died.

Kellan fell to his knees, wheezing. He looked up at Sloan and didn’t move. He seemed to waiting for her to kill him. Sloan wasn’t sure if she had subdued him or if he was doing nothing intentionally. She didn’t let it deter her. Once again she buried both her swords where she expected his heart to be.

Kellan’s body arched once again as he groaned in pain.

Archer moved behind him and held his cross bow to Kellan’s neck. Axel and BB stood at each of his sides, weapons drawn. Sloan held out her hand and BB placed an unused dagger in it.

She knelt over his body and tore open his shirt. His chest was beginning to heal from all the wounds except those from the blades. Holding onto the dagger with both hands, she lifted it over her head and brought it down with all the strength she could muster.

It was like a scene from Dexter. Meticulously she curved out a hole in his chest. Kellan watched as she did it, not letting out a single sound.

Sloan reached into the gaping hole she made and found the darkness beating inside him. All she wanted to do was to reach out and grab it and then yank it out of his chest, but she knew it wouldn’t be that easy so she used BB’s dagger.

She slowly carved his heart out, and when she got to the final piece of flesh that held it in place she looked up at his face. Kellan stared at her, and the look in his eyes was that of sorrow and not defeat. She immediately realized that he was letting her kill him and it threw her.

“I really did love you,” Kellan whispered in pain.

The sincerity in his voice threw her again. She felt a hurt in her chest as she watched him die, but the image of Jake dying in the same way snapped her rage back in control.

“So did Jake.” She tightened her grip around his heart. “See you in hell!”

Kellan’s hand shot up and held hers in a tight grip and pulled her closer. “You can’t stop fate.”

“It will never see the light of day,” she growled into his ear.

“No!” That was the last whisper that came out of Kellan’s lips before he fell down dead. Sloan put the heart on his chest and drove the knife through the mound of red flesh. Her clothes, hands, and face were now covered with blood. She rose to her feet and walked toward the balcony. She waited for him to disappear into a cloud of smoke. But nothing happened.

She didn’t know how his kind died, but he didn’t die like the other demons did.

He lay there, meters away from Jake’s body, just like any other man.

One of the two men she loved.

She turned into the night, the loving memories of both of them haunting her, choking her.

She felt like she was going to hurl with all the mixed emotions playing a tug of war inside her. She was lost, and trapped in a reality she couldn’t handle. She needed to get out, to leave before the sorrow consumed her more than it already had. If that happened, she’d need a refuge and she’d lose the strength she needed to finish it.

She turned away from the night and hurriedly walked away to the elevator.

“What did he say and what did he mean by no?” Axel called after her.

Sloan put her hand over her belly before she pulled it away in anger. “I don’t know,” she responded, stepping into the elevator.

“What do you mean you don’t know? You said something back,” Axel demanded, going after her.

Sloan just stared at her blankly as she waited for the doors to close. She wasn’t going to tell them she was pregnant. That would be the worst kind of betrayal.

“We won. Let her be,” BB said, holding Axel back. The three of them watched her until the doors closed.

* * * *

They waited until it was dark to haul Jake’s body out.

They headed straight to the cemetery, where they dug a grave next to Sloan’s parents. Sloan was already there, waiting for them. She didn’t react when Jake’s body was covered with dirt. She just stood there and watched, and once it was done she asked to be left alone with him.

“Keep an eye on him for me,” she said to her parents. She laid a rose on the dirt mound.

Sloan went back to Kellan’s place, but she didn’t stop at the penthouse. She let the elevator take her up all the way to the roof. The night air danced around her body and, for the first time that day, she felt calm and relaxed. She walked to the edge of the roof and stared down at the world Levy had once referred to as his, one that was saved from Kellan but lost to Jake.

Sloan could feel the grief choke her. She was gasping for air, for the smallest bit of life. Death had haunted her for years, followed her every move, and now she was going to beat it at its own game.

Her world was empty now, and the only thing she had to look forward to was the evil growing inside her. She took a deep breath. Breathing in the fresh air, she hoped that it could cleanse her within.

Sloan thought back to the past couple of months of her life. She had shared it with both Levy and Jake, and she had to admit that she’d been happy. But when her mind went deeper into her memories she realized one thing—Jake had always been the love of her life. He had always been the one she could turn to, the one she could trust to love her.

And love her he did. He had loved her to his last breath.

Sloan was happy as all her thoughts were now focused on Jake, on his smile, his laugh, his eyes and his kisses. As the wind breezed past her once more, she could feel his arms around her, his body against hers.

He was everywhere.

Joy erupted in her heart as she felt his love soar through her. She was happy. Sloan stood at the edge of the building and she had never felt more alive than she did now. Spreading her arms out, she closed her eyes as the wind caressed her face.

Sloan was happy, and all she wanted was for Jake’s arms to wrap around her and carry her through. She stared into the darkness, but all she could see was his face.

She took another step forward.

And then another.

Then the last one.

I love you, Jake.