Read Online What a Demon Wants by Kathy Love - Free Book Online Page B

looking at him as she continued to sort through her papers.
    He couldn’t disagree with that, but not for the same reasons.
    This time he did leave her office but paused in the hallway, out of sight, but close enough to hear another of her sighs. Hopeless, tired.
    He waited, listening. The creak of her leather office chair as she sat down. The shuffle of papers. A couple more sighs.
    Again, he felt that tug, that longing to help her, but he couldn’t. She had to concentrate and get her work done and so did he. He needed to keep his mind on the job and figure out what was really going on here. Because something was going on. His gut told him that, and he wasn’t often wrong about such things.
    But as he made his way to the living room, he kept hearing her parting comment.
    Bad choice.
    That remark summed up this whole situation, didn’t it? Backing up the boyfriend lie.
    His choice to stay. Pretty much every choice he’d made since meeting this woman.
    Demon woman, he reminded himself. Remember she was a preternatural—just because she didn’t affect him like other preternaturals wasn’t reason enough to lose sight of what she really was.
    But now he knew one thing was definite. Leaving was out of the question. Not after the run-in with Ellina’s brothers. Jude did not trust the photo negative twins. Not one bit.
    Ellina might think they were just troublemakers, pranksters, but he didn’t believe that for a minute. They’d come here for a purpose and not just to taunt her. There had been a point to their appearance. They had made it known their father wasn’t pleased with her. But why? Was Ellina’s father the real threat?
    He needed to research the twins and her father. Fighting demons was always tricky—
    no two demons had the same strengths and weaknesses.
    He exited her house, moving with his usual stealth. The street was quiet, even though it was a fairly warm afternoon. His black van was parked a couple houses down the street.
    Sun glinted off the darkly tinted windows, making it impossible to see inside the vehicle.
    He strode to the rear, disengaging the alarm system with the keyless remote, then unlocking the double doors. The back of the van was set up as a makeshift living space. A mattress took up the side behind the driver’s seat; the bed was made up neatly. Several bins were piled up behind the passenger’s seat: one filled with clothing and others with dry goods and canned supplies. A couple gallons of water sat beside the plastic tubs.
    But it was his computer case and two duffels close to the back doors that he reached for, slinging the computer and one duffel over his shoulder. The other he carried at his side.
    He slammed the doors closed, locked them, and engaged the alarm again. He silently reentered Ellina’s cottage, again stopping to listen. He also tuned his body into the vibe of the house. Nothing prickled at his skin or caused a creeping sensation along his spine. The house was fine for the moment. But he’d already discovered demons could pop in at the snap of his fingers.
    He didn’t want to make that mistake again. Getting caught off guard even for a second could be bad news for Ellina…and him.
    He dropped the duffel bag in his hand next to the sofa. The canvas bag filled with clothes made a muffled thump against the hardwood floor. He was much less cavalier with the other two bags, setting his computer case on the polished coffee table. The other bag he placed carefully to the side of the sofa, out of the way.
    He listened again. Concentrated. Ellina was in her office. He could sense her there.
    And she was fine. He dropped onto the couch and reached for his computer case.
    While his computer booted up, he pulled out the file Maksim had faxed him. Jude had already read through the notes, but he scanned them again, focusing his attention on the mentions of Ellina’s twin brothers.
    Andrey and Pasha.
    Maksim stated in his notes that he considered these two capable of being a