Page 82 of Not Your Ex's Hexes
“But I don’t want to!” The she-demon stomped her foot.
Rose folded her arms over her chest, the move plumping her corset-covered breasts. “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want. It’s a fact of life.”
“Not inmylife, witch.” Cumitox leaped, taloned fingers spread out as she reached for Rose.
Damian pulled her away from the claws’ trajectory with a split second to spare, and the demon howled, swinging around to catch him, too. Damian ducked and the strike hit nothing but air.
Drawing on his inner hellion, he weaved around each punch and kick, his reflexes and increased speed making contact practically impossible. Rose stood off to the side, her mouth slightly agape as she watched.
“This isn’t a spectator sport, little witch,” Damian jested, ducking yet another swinging fist. That time thewhooshof air brushed across his cheek.
Too damn close.
“You want to do that little hocus-pocus thing?” Damian breathed a little heavier as he dance-battled with a now-raging Faroi. “Magical cuffs like you did with the Gryndors would be pretty good right about now.”
Cumitox looked more hesitant before taking her next lazy swing. “The Gryndors? You’re the two Hunters that took down the Gryndor brothers?”
Damian nodded his head toward Rose. “Technically, she did all the heavy lifting on that one.”
The demon stopped, not looking the least bit winded, and stared at Rose. “It takes powerful Magic to incapacitate a Gryndor demon… especially the brothers. What’s your familial line?”
“That’s an awfully personal question for having just met, isn’t it?” Rose quipped. “But I’m a Maxwell.”
Cumitox’s red-scaled face went petal pink. “You’re the descendent of Edie Maxwell?”
“That would be my grandmother.”
The Faroi slowly returned to the demure form of Virginia Cummings, her face lit up with something akin to awe. “I can’t believethe Prima’s granddaughter was sent to pick up little ole me! This is almost better than seeing my sweet Nick in concert! I’ll go with you, witch. No fuss.”
Rose slid a coy, smug look Damian’s way. “So you’re not going to eat me for a midnight snack and wear me as a skin suit?”
“Oh, no. Absolutely not. This is a much better story to tell my quilting circle. They’ll die with jealousy, and that’s more priceless than whatever delicious meat is on your bones.”
He silently cursed at the wicked gleam in Rose’s eye.
He’d brought her along with the hope she’d either be bored to tears or terrified into screams, but she’d experienced neither. Nothing except a healthy dose of determination. As much as that should bother him, he also couldn’t help but be a smidge bit proud they’d done it together… and his inner demon, pushing against his flesh, agreed.
That was more dangerous than any Hunting target.
17
Third Time’s the Charm
Dirty, tired, and more than ready to shower off abandoned subway grime, Rose still would’ve thought she walked on cloud nine if her boots weren’t pinching her toes. As promised, Virginia Cummings—aka Cumitox—didn’t cause an ounce of trouble while Rose and Damian delivered her to the Supernatural authorities, and since the assignment didn’t take as long as they’d thought, she’d convinced Damian to snag another.
She still rode a Magic high from bringing in the “renegade vampire”—Drac—who turned out to be a Norm dressed in vampire cosplay attire with a horribly fake Transylvanian accent. The Supernatural groupie had spent the last couple months living in abandoned subway tunnels, hoping to stumble onto a vampire nest to call his own. He hadn’t believed Damian when he’d told him he’d be more likely to find one in a penthouse along Central Park West than the tunnels.
Rose hummed, unable to yank the smile off her face as she worked her keys into her front door.
Damian chuckled right behind her. “You look and sound awfully happy for someone slathered in substances of questionable origins.”
She gave him a slow once-over, and bit her bottom lip. Even with dirty jeans and disheveled hair, he still looked edible.
Rose shrugged. “You’re not exactly clean, either… or grumpy.”
Her front door clicked open and she turned. They faced each other in the hallway of her apartment building, Rose all too aware of the adrenaline still coursing through her system, and with it was a healthy dose of raging libido.
Her gaze dropped to Damian’s mouth and back, only to catch him doing the same. Lust quickly hijacked all her good sense.
