Ink & Dagger (Sins of Eden #1)

6. Chapter VI

Chapter VI

Jaxon

A s I twisted the knob, I found that the front door was locked, so I knocked heavily on it a few times, tapping my toe as I tried to peer in through the dark windows. After impatiently standing out front for five minutes, I attempted the studio number on her business card and watched the red light blinking on the corded phone sitting on the front desk.

No answer.

Shoving my cell phone into my back pocket, I slipped around the side alley to try the back door. As the handle turned, I opened the door and stepped into a small kitchen, lit only by the moonlight streaming in through a single window. While I was thankful that I was able to get in without using my powers and raising suspicion, it infuriated me that she kept it unlocked.

Movement on the other side of the room raised my hackles and I quickly zeroed in on the sound as a long black ball python slithered out of a nest on the floor. The moonlight glittered off its scales as it slithered menacingly towards me, hissing in its approach.

“Shh, calm friend. I come in peace,” I announced, lifting the bag of food and holding my ground. “I’m not here to hurt the Witch. Just to ask for help,” I added, not expecting a reply.

“Good. Hurt her and it’ll be the last thing you ever do, Demon,” it hissed as it stared me down.

Well shit. Looked like I was in for a real treat with this one.

Still not as terrifying as my own three-headed companion, though. The Familiar watched warily as I headed for the door and walked down the long hall to my Witch’s tattoo room. What I found made me break into a wide smile.

My little raven-haired spitfire was curled up on her tattoo bed. Her black hair was arranged in a wild bun on top of her head, a blanket was haphazardly draped across her, and an open book was clutched to her chest. From here, she looked like a dark angel. My dark angel.

Setting the bag of food on the desk, I gave her thigh a squeeze and chuckled softly at the squeal that emanated from her as she awoke. She flourished a pocket knife as she sat up and I laughed even more.

So fucking feisty.

“Calm down, Little Witch. I promised I’d be back,” I announced, rolling the stool from her desk to sit down.

I began pulling the boxes of food from the bag, all the while disregarding the blade that she was brandishing in my direction. She could use it on me if she liked, but it wouldn’t do anything but turn me on more. Actually, that didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“What the fuck? It’s - ten thirty,” she groaned, blinking away the sleep from her eyes and holding her cellphone out to show me the screen like I wasn’t aware of the time.

“I ran a little behind, but I wasn’t about to miss our date,” I told her with a smirk.

Removing my jacket, I placed it at her feet at the edge of the tattoo bed.

“This isn’t a date. I don’t even know who the fuck you are. Why are you here?” She groaned with a stifled yawn, closing the pocket knife and setting it down beside her on the bed.

Ignoring her question for now, I passed her a box of Pad Thai and handed her a set of chopsticks. I’d gotten more than we could possibly eat tonight. I knew what she loved, but I didn’t know what she would be in the mood for and I hated that she worked through lunch. Honestly, I didn’t give a fuck what she did with the leftovers. I just wanted to make sure she was fed.

“Egg roll?” I asked, holding one out to her.

She skeptically took the egg roll from me and I watched with ravenous eyes as she dipped it in the small container of sauce before taking a bite. Watching her eat was enough to cause my cocks to twitch and my food laid forgotten as she went back for more.

Fuck, this woman was sexier than she realized and she wasn’t even fucking trying.

“Seriously, why are you here?” She asked, breaking the silence and bringing me out of thoughts of her beautiful pink lips wrapped around the head of one of my swollen cocks.

“I need a Witch’s help. Someone that can locate a missing - person,” I told her bluntly.

Her eyes narrowed as she assessed me. The moment of realization hit as her eyes widened a fraction and she set her chopsticks down.

There it was. Yes, Sweet Witch. I know just how powerful you are.

“So you’re really not here for a tattoo?” She asked warily, her eyes roaming over the tattoos covering the backs of my hands and up my arms.

The way her eyes grazed across my body as she pictured what other ink I had under my clothes felt like a tender caress and I burned to feel her hands on me.

“You do realize that it typically takes an experienced coven to locate a missing person right?” She asked, as if she wasn’t the strongest Witch to ever exist. She picked her chopsticks back up with a small smirk, before taking a bite of food.

“I’ve tried that. They can’t find him,” I told her, before taking a bite of my own food.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out on a bite of Pad Thai. “A whole ass coven couldn’t find your missing person, but you think I can?” She snorted, pointing her chopsticks at me before going in for another bite. “Damn, I hate to say this my dude, but did you ever stop to consider that they might be dead?”

The low growl in my chest caused her eyes to snap up to mine and goosebumps raised along her arms.

“That’s not possible,” I gritted out.

Just the thought alone infuriated me enough to almost cause my glamor to slip, but I watched with sadistic delight as her pupils blew wide with desire. Looked like my Sweet Witch liked a little fear. I’d have to keep that in mind.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. That was an asshole thing for me to say,” she sighed as she looked away.

It wasn’t her candor that pissed me off. It was the desperate fear that she could be right.

“I’m guessing, since you know I’m a Witch, that you’re not human? What kind of Supe am I trying to locate?”

She glanced at my mouth, before meeting my eyes again. Definitely not a vampire, Sweet Witch, I thought with a toothy grin. I held her stare as my smile widened. This was good, she was considering taking the job, but this next part would be the deciding factor.

“I’m looking for my brother. A Demon,” I admitted, gauging her reaction to my confession.

Most Supes were well aware of the cost of working with Demons. We were either tempting them to sin, dragging their soul to Hell, or making a bargain that worked to our advantage because for some damn reason, everyone always failed to read the fine fucking print.

My brothers and I didn’t trade in deals and Demons weren’t inherently evil, but dwellers of Hell had a bad rep regardless of how - well, not pure - but honest our intentions were.

“Fuck,” she whispered, dragging a hand across her face. “Which would make you -,”

“A Demon as well,” I answered for her.

While my confession may have caught her off guard, I noticed that she didn’t falter or tremble at my admission. Either she wasn’t afraid and she should be, or she was terrified and didn’t let it show. If only she knew the whole truth.

Instead, Emily peered at me more intently, as if trying to see past the glamor I’d conjured to fit in with this wretched realm.