The Unseen Series

The next morning, Nonali woke feeling oddly refreshed, which was weird considering that she’d slept with an energy-sucking leech.

Stretching out, she realized said leech wasn’t in bed with her, and the delectable scent of coffee wafted into the room. Following her nose, she found Everett in the kitchen, humming a tune she couldn’t place as he flipped an egg. She slid by, stealing a piece of bacon as she went, and fixed herself coffee.

As she took her seat on the stool at the island she blushed, recalling last night’s happenings.

“Good morning.” He grinned, setting a plate with the egg and some bread down in front of her.

“Can I have the ketchup? Also it’s four in the afternoon,” she said around another piece of bacon, squirting the ketchup onto the bread and piecing together her bacon and egg sandwich.

“You know, I haven’t really seen you eat anything,” she said with a raised brow, noticing he didn’t even bother to make himself a plate.

“Ah, yeah. My kind doesn’t need human food to survive,” he responded almost bashfully, rubbing at the back of his neck and leaning against the counter across from her.

“But you’re such a good cook!”

“How else can I lure in the ladies,” he teased.

She chewed thoughtfully, taking those words to heart.

“Actually, mother was human. I’m a Cambion. Half incubus. I learned to cook for her,” he said softly, with an intimate tone in his voice. He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal but she could tell that his mother meant a lot to him.

“I’m sure she loves your food!”

He smiled sadly, refilling her cup and pushing it across the island to her.

“She died a long time ago, back when I was still a kid.”

The room grew somber. “I’m sorry,” Nonali said, deflating. “My parents died when I was young too. I was raised by my grandmother.”

A dark memory clouded her thoughts. She could hear the smashing glass. Her mother furtively pushed Nonali’s tiny, five-year-old form underneath a bed. Gunshots.

She had never seen the people that murdered her parents, but she remembered the rancid smell of sulfur and brimstone and knew that they’d been Other. “So how old are you?” she questioned, blinking rapidly.

“One hundred and thirty-four,” he replied casually, cleaning the kitchen up.

Nonali’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He didn’t look a day over twenty-seven.

Everett turned around and grinned and she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. He pushed her open jaw up, tracing a line down her throat and into her cleavage.

“I’m actually pretty young for an incubus.” He let go and resumed cleaning. “So why don’t you want anyone to know you can see demons?”

“Not just demons. Everything. Not everyone wants to be seen by humans anyway, it’s too dangerous to let the Unseen World know that they aren’t so unseen.”

Another memory hit her: flashes of blood smeared across her hands, coating the knife she held. It was black as soot, and it smelled like rot.

The heavy thud of a body slid onto the pavement as the knife ripped away, sticking out of the throat of the man—no, the demon—before her. There was nothing quite like the feeling of a knife separating skin and muscle, and she would never be able to forget it, no matter how hard she tried. “Did something happen?” he asked softly.

“A long time ago.”

Everett nodded, resting a hand on her shoulder with a squeeze.

“I’m so happy we don’t have work today,” he changed the subject, wagging his eyebrows at her suggestively. “Might I add, my shirt looks much better on you than it ever did on me.”

“Is being in bed the only thing you think of?” She laughed, smacking at his roaming hands.

“Sex demon!” He reminded her in a sing-song voice and lifted her off of the stool, laying her on the couch and turning on the TV.

Some random show plays in the background as he kneels before her and starts to massage her feet. She drops her head to the back of the couch and groans happily.

“They should rename you pleasure demon,” she sighed.

“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have had a lot of time to practice,” he said, red eyes watching her face carefully as he moved up her legs, loosening the muscle and easing her stresses.

“Why do your eyes change color?”

“Change color?” His strong fingers pressed and pulled against the muscles in her thighs.

“Sometimes they’re red, like when you visit me when I’m dreaming,” she spread her legs so that he could reach better, regretting it at the wicked grin that lights up his face.

“Just means I’m thinking naughty things,” he kissed the inside of her thighs.

“That’s the spot,” she moaned.

He reached his hands around and kneaded her lower back. All of the tension leaked out of her, dirty thoughts gone in an instant.

With his face pressed to her stomach, she couldn’t help but take advantage and run her fingers through his thick auburn locks, dragging her nails lightly across his scalp.

She could hear his muffled groan and smiled when he looked up at her.

“As soon as I’m finished with your massage, you’re going to spend the rest of the day playing with my hair,” he demanded.

Alas, that wouldn’t come to pass.

Her phone rang from the bedroom and Nonali grunted in frustration. “I have to see who that is,” she grumbled, trying her best to stand up with a six-foot-tall incubus clinging to her waist.

“But do you?” He pleaded. She pressed the answer button without bothering to check the caller ID and wished she hadn’t.

“I get that you’re angry, but I’ve been worried about you. Not to mention we have a double date tonight, remember? You agreed to it at dinner the other day,” Vee rushed out.

Before Nonali could reply, she continued, “You can stay mad at me, but it would be awful of you to stand this guy up, he’s been looking forward to this for a week.”

Nonali laughed bitterly.

Of course, they had a double date.

The last thing she wanted was to see Vee or her crazy-ass boyfriend again.

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought about that before you believed a man you’ve known for a few weeks over someone you’ve been beside your whole life!” Nonali snapped.

“Nonali. Please just show up. I’m really sorry about what happened. We can talk about it tonight. The bar on Seventh Avenue at six o’clock. Please?” And then she hung up.

“All of that tension I just worked out appears to be back,” Everett observed, leaning against his bedroom door with a brow cocked.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache beginning to form.

“My best friend didn’t believe me about her boyfriend being a dangerous asshole, and apparently she set up a double date that I don’t remember agreeing to that I’m now expected to attend.”

She fell back onto the bed, sprawled out in defeat.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t want to leave her alone with what’s more than likely a secondary creep by not showing up tonight.”

Everett leaned over her, knee between her legs and hands on either side of her face. His eyes were ruby red as he looked down at her beneath long lashes.

“You can stay with me if you don’t want to go, can’t say I’ve ever been too keen on sharing anyway,” he said this with a smirk, catching her bottom lip between his teeth and tugging playfully.

She rolled her eyes and reached up to tug a strand of his hair in return.

“Sharing would imply that I’m yours to share.” She stuck out her tongue, only for him to kiss her roughly, gripping her face in one hand so she can’t pull away.

When he finally let her go to catch her breath, his eyes were gleaming, and a dangerous smirk was stretched across his features.

“Demons are very possessive, doll face, now that you know what I am, and have accepted me despite that, you’ll find it difficult to get rid of me.” He winked, and added, “Pun intended.”

“Too bad I don’t buy into that possessive bullshit,” she murmured, sliding her hand up the back of his neck and into his hair. She wrapped her legs around his hips.

Yanking hard at his hair, she got a bit of sadistic satisfaction out of his hiss of pain.

“I have to get going if I’m gonna be ready in time. I really can’t leave my friend to fend for herself, she’s obviously incapable,” she told him as she rolled them, using her legs as leverage so that she was on top.

She started slowly unbuttoning her borrowed shirt, pushing her hips against his in a teasing way that had him sucking in sharply. He reached up to help her, grab her, something but a cold look from her stilled his hands.

She slid off his shirt, and crawled out of his lap, starting to pull on her clothes from yesterday as he watched with a frustrated snarl.

He walked her to the door and waved goodbye reluctantly, promising she’d be seeing him tonight.

“In your dreams,” she snorted.

“More like in yours,” he said, grinning