A few hours later, we'd all decided to take a 'break' from searching for the answers we needed. But I wondered how temporary this rest would be. I didn't know about anyone else, but I sure felt like giving up. I couldn't believe we'd got this far only to be stumped by the last hurdle. 

Robbins was out in the garden doing whatever she needed to do to calm her nerves, whilst the rest of us had crashed out in the living room and switched on the television. There was a silence surrounding us as we were all too tired to start up a conversation, although the quiet would occasionally be punctured by a groaning comment from Dev: "My back aches", "This whole thing is a load of dung" and, the one repeated the most, "Why the hell did I leave my cigarettes?" I couldn't help but sympathise with him there. I wouldn't have minded a smoke after all of this. 

We stayed like that for about half an hour until we heard the front door open. I was expecting to see Robbins coming in to tell us all to get back to work, but it wasn't her. Instead it was Spence, who took the empty seat to my right. 

"Afternoon," he said to Carmen and I, before nodding a greeting at Dev. 

"Spence," my assistant spat out, a glare taking over his features as he folded his arms across his chest. 

I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaw, exasperated with his childish behaviour. Spence looked as surprised as I was at first by the sudden animosity, but he shrugged it off without much concern, clearly unbothered by Dev's reaction. 

"Where have you been?" I asked, trying to steer the attention away from the embarrassing demon on my left.  

"I was just checking on some of my mates at the Safe House." 

"Safe House?" 

He smirked at me. "It's where all the ex-mafia men who became Christians live now." 

"How safe is it?" 

"Very," he answered with all seriousness. "There's not a safer place for them to go." 

I frowned and turned my gaze to Carmen. I didn't want her to leave my side but...I wasn't the safest place to be at currently. If someone I trusted like Spence assured me enough that this location was completely away from harm, maybe I could stop forcing Carmen to be a part of my dangerous world for a small space in time. I could finally keep her safe for a while, even if that meant keeping her far away from me. I'd do anything to protect her. 

"What?" She asked as I continued to stare at her. I didn't reply and she scowled at me. "What are you thinking?" 

"Spence," I started, turning my attention back onto him. "Is there any space in that house for another person?"

Carmen's eyes widened as she understood where this was going. "No! No way. I'm staying here." 

"Spence?" I pressed on, ignoring her.

He looked at both of us cautiously, reluctant, I suppose, to get involved in a couple's argument. But he answered nonetheless. 

"Yes." 

I nodded. "Next time you go, do you mind taking Carmen with you?" 

"I'm not leaving." 

I turned towards her. Those emerald eyes were bright and gleaming and rearing for a fight.

"Let's speak about this in private." 

She nodded and we both got up. I let her walk on further in front of me as I stopped in the doorway, tilting my body around to speak to Dev. "I want you to go back to the attic and have a look at the book." 

"What? Why?" The scowl hadn't left his face since Spence sat down. 

I glared at him. "You know why. You can't play nice, so you need something to busy yourself with. Go. Now." 

"Urgh." He rolled his eyes and got up, taking every opportunity to drag his feet as he made his way out of the room and up the stairs. I followed him and when we got to the upper floor I pulled open the attic door for him, giving him a little shove up the ladder. 

As soon as he had disappeared from my view I made my way over to our bedroom. Carmen was sitting up against the headboard of the double bed, poking her chin out in defiance already. If I wasn't so prepared for a fight I would've laughed at the defensive stance, which was so contrasting to her small frame and soft features. 

I closed the door behind me and folded my arms over my chest. The sky outside was overcast and the single window opposite me did little to shed any light on the bedroom, making the already tense atmosphere dark and murky. I didn't want to argue with her, but I had no choice. 

"You need to leave. It's not safe." 

"Do you not want me here?" She asked, hurt pouring into her voice. 

I gritted my teeth. She was trying to make me feel guilty on purpose and it was working. "Of course I want you here." I moved closer to her. "But I want you safe more." 

She shook her head. "I get it. I understand. But I'm too involved now. You can't just send me away right at the last minute. I want to see it all through." 

"Why?" I asked her, taking a seat next to her on the bed. "You could die. We could all die. Wouldn't you rather be away from that?" 

"As crazy as it seems, no." She met my gaze. "In the last couple of days I've learnt more about the real you then I have in the months we've been dating. If I leave now I could miss out on something." 

I stared at her for a few moments, almost uncomprehending of the words she'd just delivered to me. She couldn't be serious, could she? 

"So you're saying," I started, feeling my insides begin to burn with anger. "That you're willing to risk your life for the off chance you might learn more about me?" 

She flushed. "Well...it does sound a little silly when you say it like that. But yes. That is the reason." 

"It's the dumbest reason I've ever heard!" I was almost shouting at her by now. "We can talk about me over a fucking cup of coffee or something, not in the middle of a demon attack!"

She got up and walked over to the window, trying to distance herself from my rage. "Well there hasn't been a demon attack yet, and whenever I talked with you over coffee all you did was flirt with me."

I glared at her. There was no chance she was going to make me laugh when I was so pissed at her. 

"You're going to that Safe House," I told her, standing up to tower over her. "You are not staying here, where you could get yourself killed, just because of curiosity." 

"But Robbins said it was safe here too," she argued back. "She said about all the defences she'd put up that the book had taught her." 

"When Satan decides to unleash his forces on her, then that won't be the case."

"But why hasn't he then?" 

I paused for a moment, my anger momentarily forgotten. It was something I'd been wondering too. We should've really seen at least one attack from somewhere- surely Satan had guessed by now that Robbins had the book- so what was he waiting for? It did all seem a bit too easy. He was giving us time to study Il Libro Dei Demoni and surely that wasn't in his interest. I had no idea what his plan was and that scared me. 

"I'm not sure," I answered back honestly. "But that doesn't mean we should take any more risks then we have to. And that means you should leave." 

"I'm not going anywhere." She remained stubborn. "I don't care about the danger." 

I took a deep breath, trying and failing to calm myself down. Subconsciously I had moved closer to her until my arms had caged her into the windowsill, my hands gripping the edge of the small bench as she was forced to sit down. I leaned my head closer to hers until our faces were almost touching. 

"You're clearly unfit to keep yourself safe from harm, so now it has become my responsibility to do it." 

She was blushing but still managed to hold my gaze. "I can choose to stay here if I want to. It's my body."

"It's mine too," I said, taking the opportunity to claim her lips with mine. She tried to fight with me for control but I was too angry to let her have any, and she was putty in my hands in seconds. I joined her on the windowsill seat and she slipped her legs around my torso as I pulled her body to mine. I deepened the kiss and everything suddenly became more intimate, more passion-filled, as I poured my concern and my worry and my anger into her. My arms were the only things holding her upright as I gave her everything I was feeling into that kiss. 

To catch our breaths we parted and just stared at each other with a silence broken only by our lungs. I needed her to understand why I had to do this. 

"Every part of my body right now is telling me to keep you here, to never be apart from you," I told her, my voice low and urgent. "But I care about you too much now to be so selfish. Whenever you're around me you're in danger, so you need to get as far away as possible." 

She shook her head. "Even before I found out anything about you Roman, I knew you were dangerous. I knew that I wasn't getting into anything safe. But I don't care. I love you and I want to be with you, and that's all that matters in the end." 

I was stunned into silence for a moment, wondering whether to kiss this girl senseless or strangle her for her stupidity. Whenever she said stuff like that, my feelings always got conflicted. 

"That's my final decision. You're just going to have to deal with it." 

I glared at her. "Your decision is fucking ridiculous and has pissed me off to the max." 

"Oh well, it's your choice to be angry. It won't change anything," she shrugged, which just enraged me further. "Besides, I'm still pissed at you too." 

"For what?" 

"For lying to me about who you really are, obviously." 

I separated our bodies and stood up, seething with rage. "Don't try to turn shit back on me. I've already explained myself enough." 

"And so have I." 

We scowled at each other. 

"I guess this is a stalemate then," I said bitterly, my teeth grinding together in fury. 

She nodded. "I guess it is." 

I shook my head and let out a string of foul curses, before walking out of the bedroom and slamming the door behind me. I was just too angry to face her anymore. If she didn't let me protect her like I was supposed to do, then how could I fill out my purpose? 

My life was a mess and Carmen had caught herself in the middle of it, now unwilling to find a way out. How many others would I drag down with me before this was all done?