The Demon's Song: Paranormal New Adult Romance (3 page)

“Mr. Crane?” she called through the door as she opened it. The lighting in his office was turned down, but the raging storm outside illuminated the space with each crack of lightning. The rain beat against the wall of windows where Draven Crane watched the stormy weather outside.

“Miss Lowry, yes please come in,” he said as he turned to face her. “Please get the light on your way.”

A crack of lightning brightened the room just in time to let Cadence find the switch. With the lights all the way up in the room, Cadence quickly realized that there was no fourth floor of the building, only the vaulted ceiling that extended at least thirty feet above.

The room itself was bare, save the large black desk in the center of the room. Instead of furniture, the focus of the room was on the large windows that made up every wall of the office, save the one that separated his space from Ramona’s.

“How is your first day going?” Draven Crane asked as he stepped away from the windows and sat down at his desk. “Have a seat,” he instructed before she had the chance to answer.

“It’s going well,” she said, though it was only a half truth. Part of her wanted to ask him why the hell he thought he should promote her over Olivia and instantly make her an outcast at the office, but part of her wanted to thank him. It meant a large bump to her already considerable salary and she could use the money.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Draven said as his eyes scanned her face. “And Ramona is showing you your new responsibilities?”

“Yes sir, thank you Mr. Crane,” she managed to say.

“Please,” he stopped her again. “Call me Draven. Mr. Crane is so formal.”

“Um, okay,” she nodded.

“Now, Cadence,” he said as he stroked his strong jaw with his finger. “The name Lowry, it’s English, is it not?”

“I think so,” Cadence nodded, unsure what he was getting to.

“I think I’ve met some Lowrys before,” Draven nodded as his eyes intently watched her. “Do you know anything about your family history?”

“Not really,” Cadence said as she fiddled with her own fingers.
Why is he asking me this?
she thought as she tried to calm herself down. Draven’s gaze was intimidating and she wasn’t sure if she could sit still much longer while he continued to watch her. Despite his strong glare and intense eyes, she was never truly scared of him. Something about him made her feel strangely safe, despite her own uncertainty.

While Cadence sat and played with the uneven fingernail on her pinky finger, Draven stood up from his desk. Thunder boomed all around them as he walked around the side of his desk and moved behind her chair.

She didn’t know whether to watch him as he moved, but she couldn’t help but keep her eyes straight forward as Draven almost prowled around her. Even with the thunder outside and the rain pounding on the windows, she could hear her own heart in her chest. She could almost feel the heat radiating from Draven and she couldn’t stop a shudder as she thought about him watching her.

Even though she didn’t know the answers, Draven still questioned her. “What school did you go to?”

“Cornell,” she answered, only managing the one word.

“What did you study?” he asked as he sat on the edge of his desk.

“English literature,” Cadence answered, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. “But, I, uh, didn’t finish,” she admitted to him.

“And why’s that?” Draven asked. His eyes narrowed as he waited for her answer.

“I didn’t really think I was getting what I wanted out of it,” she answered honestly. Something about the way he looked at her felt like she was compelled to tell the truth.

“And what was it you wanted out of it?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I went into it because I love reading and I’ve thought about writing, but I don’t know. I think I just thought it would give me more real life experience.”

“And that’s why you left?” Draven asked. He sat so perfectly still as he watched her that it was nearly unsettling, yet she couldn’t find it in her heart to be truly scared.

“That, and stress,” she said, unable to stop herself. “My eyes kept going all weird and I was seeing stuff and wow I shouldn’t tell you this. You’re my boss.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “We’ll be working closely together and I want to know about my new assistant.”

“Okay,” she relented. “But it’s not like I went crazy and was actually seeing things or hearing thing, nothing that bad. It’s just like, shadows at the edge of my eyes. Little things, but they got worse when I was in school.”

Draven’s calm veneer was strong, but he couldn’t hide the slight rise of his eyebrow as his interest grew. “And do you still see those shadows, as you call them? Do you see the now?”

“I do still see them,” she nodded. “Even after I left school, they kept getting worse. Actually, this is the first time I haven’t seen them in a while.”

“Well that certainly is something,” Draven noted. “And may I ask, how old are you?”

“Twenty,” she gulped, hoping that her young age wasn’t a mark against her. “But I’ll be twenty-one on November first. What about you?”

The moment the question came out of her mouth, she regretted it. It was stupid and childish and she expected a lecture about disrespect, but she couldn’t stop herself. Even though he was guarded and decidedly dark, there was something about him that drew her in and just as much as he wanted to know about her, she wanted to know about him.

Instead of anger, he let out a low laugh that was closer to a purr than a chuckle.

“Older than twenty, that’s for sure,” he admitted, but offered little more than that. If Cadence had to guess, she’d say he was about thirty, but that did seem awfully young for someone to be running a legal firm. Especially a legal firm that had such high profile clients.

It was the first time that she had seen him smile and there was something about it that tore down her guard. Even just the hint of a grin on his lips made her see that he wasn’t quite so intimidating, at least when he wasn’t trying to be, and suddenly a part of her wanted to get to know him better.

“Now Cadence,” he said, his voice turning almost stern again. “I know I put a lot of pressure on you, promoting you like I did.”

“Kind of,” she admitted without thinking. “But I can handle it,” she immediately assured him. She needed the money and didn’t want to risk the raise she was sure to get.

“I know,” he agreed with a glint of something mischievous in his bright blue eyes. “There is definitely something very special about you. I’m very glad you’ve decided to join my firm.”

“Me too,” Cadence said, and she did mean it. Her new boss may have been intimidating, but she couldn’t deny that she liked him. She was even a little attracted to him, but she knew that needed to be kept to herself.

Despite knowing she needed to keep her mouth shut, something compelled her to speak. She almost found herself saying something incredibly stupid, but Ramona buzzed the office just as Cadence opened her mouth to speak.

“Mr. Crane?” she said. “Your next appointment is here.”

“Thank you, Ramona,” he answered as he leaned back on the desk and pressed the button on his phone.

“Should I go?” Cadence asked as she squirmed in her seat.

“Please,” Draven nodded.

Quickly, Cadence rose from her chair and made for the door. She almost made it to the door before he called to her again.

“Oh, and Miss Lowry,” he said.

“Yes?” she answered.

“I do so look forward to speaking with you again.”

A hot blush crept over Cadence’s pale cheeks as she fled the office. Something about his voice and how he said those words sent a shiver down her spine in the best way possible. She barely even noticed that as she left, Jared Stark, a leading actor since the eighties, passed by her in the doorway.

“Oh wow, was that...” she went to say to Ramona, but stopped herself.

The executive secretary gave her a look that said, ‘What did I tell you earlier?’

“Was that... how long I was in the office?” she recovered with and received an approving nod from Ramona in return for her efforts.

“I had it covered,” Ramona smiled. “You did get a phone call though, reception put it through.”

“Who called me?” Cadence asked, her brow furrowed.

“Someone named Jane,” Ramona told her. “Asking to take you out for a late lunch for your first day.”

Cadence didn’t want to come off as a slacker or a flake, but after the morning she’d had, she could use a break and a friend to listen. Still, she refused to ask for permission to go.

“Go,” Ramona smiled. “I doubt any of the girls here are going to want to be your lunch time friend now that you’re Mr. Crane’s assistant.”

“What about you?” Cadence asked, not wanting to be rude.

“I’m used to eating alone at my desk,” Ramona said with a faltering smile. “You’ll get used to it too, so you might as well have a little fun before you have to take over for me for good.”

“Oh,” Cadence said, not quite sure how to respond to that prediction of her future. “Well, thanks. I’ll be back in an hour, okay?”

“Take your time,” Ramona assured her. “I doubt you’ll miss much.”

With that, Ramona pulled out a tattered paperback and began to read.

You won’t have to deal with other people
, Cadence’s inner voice told her.
It’s perfect for you, don’t let the boss scare you away from the job.

It was good advice, but as she made her way to the elevator, she wasn’t sure if she could believe it. Something about Draven Crane scared her, but she couldn’t put her finger on just what it was. All she knew was that lunch with Jane was exactly what she needed right then and she breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator doors opened for her to enter.

Chapter Three

The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but Cadence was pulling herself from the futon where she slept at Jane’s house. Mr. Crane had an appointment at seven that morning and that meant she had to be there to greet his client. Ramona had warned her the hours could be weird, but she wasn’t sure she could handle starting work before seven in the morning, especially after his last client left at ten the night before.

To make things even more stressful, it was Ramona’s last day with the firm. Once she left at five that night, it meant that Cadence was on her own to deal with Mr. Crane and his eclectic, often famous, group of clients.

Despite the long hours, she rarely actually saw her boss. He was always there before her and she never left after him. He rarely left his office and their only real interaction was when she paged him to let him know clients were there. She knew he was in there, and he did make requests from time to time, but there was no interaction like that first meeting in his office.

Thinking about their first meeting made her shiver as she crawled out of bed and threw herself into the shower. Her bones ached from lack of sleep and she closed her eyes to let the hot water wash over her body and clear the grogginess from her mind. For only a moment, she let herself be at peace and she took the moment to enjoy the refreshing shower.

When she opened her eyes, another shadow was there in the shower with her. This one was larger and closer than any before and took up so much of her vision that she swore there was someone in the tub with her. With a startled jump, she fell backwards and almost fell right onto the faucet, but at the last second, her fingers caught the shower curtain and she managed to right herself.

With another blink, the shadow disappeared. Cadence’s heart was thumping hard in her chest. The relaxing effects of the shower evaporated and she was left feeling more stressed than ever. The shadows were getting worse and worse, and she didn’t know what to do about them.

The only place the shadows weren’t ruining her life was at work. Maybe it was because her mind was so focused on not screwing up at her new job that she didn’t notice them, but deep down, she knew that wasn’t the truth. There was something about the office in general that left her with a certain unease.

She shook her worries from her mind and stepped out of the shower. After her little scare, she knew she was running behind and would have to move quickly if she was going to get to work before Mr. Crane’s first client of the day was set to arrive.

Her first paycheck wasn’t set to come in for another week, but being Mr. Crane’s executive secretary meant she needed more than just one ill-fitting outfit. Ramona had given her access to the discretionary fund, at Mr. Crane’s approval of course, to buy a few new skirts, blazers, and blouses to ensure she looked the part of her new position.

After she got paid, it would be up to her to fill her closet with more of the matching outfits, but the few new pieces would be enough to get her through the next week.

It was when she was buttoning her blazer that she heard a crack of thunder and she let out a groan. For a day or so, it seemed that the weather had finally cleared up some, but last night it had picked back up again and now it was going to rain for her walk to the office.

Jane had offered to drive her, but Cadence wouldn’t let her. She had already done so much for her, Cadence wasn’t going to make her be her taxi service on top of that. Especially not at six-thirty in the morning.

Instead, she threw her black kitten heels into her purse and grabbed Jane’s rain boots and one of her old jackets from the closet. She’d at least bought an umbrella with the discretionary fund and opened it as she stepped outside.

The walk was only ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity as she made her way through the pouring rain of the dark morning. She couldn’t see that far ahead of herself. Cursing, he wished she’d brought a flashlight, but it was too late to turn back. Even when she did arrive at work each morning there was only ever one car in the parking lot, the sexy black sports car that she assumed was from the sixties. It had to be her boss, he always arrived ahead of her.

In fact, in order to be at her new desk before the seven a.m. client was due to arrive, she’d have to use the shortcut that she’d found on a late night walk home. She had to cut across an empty lot and a dead end street, but it would shave a few minutes off her time. As long as she didn’t get caught in a hidden mud puddle, she’d find herself at her desk by six fifty.