Whoa, back the fuck up. “Courtship?”
Her huge puppy-dog eyes lit up. “Oh yes, daemon are very specific about their intentions when it comes to courtship. They leave gifts of meat for their intended and the intended will gift them food in return, accepting their courtship.”
“That makes no sense. This is Keon we’re talking about. Why would he want to court me. Lilith wants him to kill me…eventually.”
“It’s an instinct. I’m not even sure he can control it fully; it’s all pheromones, Fee.” She huffed. “I’m sorry you had to see it.”
“Wait, was that why he was licking my bed?”
Her mouth turned down as she considered it. “Possibly.”
He’d told me he needed to track me. “How do I stop it?”
“Just don’t feed him. Do not offer him food, and do not cook for him.”
“Fuck.”
Iza winced. “Oh, dear.”
“What do I do, Iza? You have to help me.”
Iza frowned at Cyril. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, just take the darn thing.” She dropped the rat and returned her attention to me. “Speak to him candidly. He’s the queen’s Blade. I’m sure the last thing he wishes to do is court a potential victim.”
She had such a way with words, but she also had a valid point. “Thank you. I’ll sort it.”
I looked down at Cyril, who now had a huge, rat-shaped lump in his body. “Enjoy digestion.”
Cora’s laughter drifted down the corridor as I approached the kitchen, and Keon’s smooth tones followed up. I picked up the pace.
“You want to try some?” Cora said. “Here you—”
“Don’t feed him!” I ran into the kitchen and stood staring at them both like an idiot.
Cora had a teaspoon of mince held up to Keon’s face but slowly lowered it, shooting me a wary glance.
“O-kay, I won’t… Fee?”
I felt like a twit for my overreaction. Unless he’d been leaving her rats too, her feeding him probably didn’t matter a jot.
I cleared my throat. “Keon, can we…Um, can we talk outside for a minute?”
Cora raised both her brows as Keon slipped out of the room.
“I’ll fill you in later.”
“I’m intrigued,” she said.
“And don’t do all the fun stuff without me.” I pointed at the table laden with ingredients ready for our boozy mince pies.
Keon was leaning on the wall to the left of the kitchen door. “What do you wish to talk about?”
Best to get straight to the point, candid, like Iza advised. Yes, I was taking advice from an imp.
“You’ve been leaving rats outside my door.”
His eyes flinched.
“Iza has been cleaning them up, and then I fed you…” I let the sentence hang, hoping he’d pick up the thread and run with it.
He didn’t.
Crap. Okay. “Look, I didn’t know you had this courtship thing. I didn’t know what feeding you meant. The cheese puffs, the popcorn, the cereal. I was just being hospitable.”
His jaw ticked. “It doesn’t mean anything.” He rubbed at his temple. “I barely recall the rats. The food was…kind.”
Now I was confused. Had Iza gotten it wrong? “So, you’re not trying to court me?”
His horizontal pupils dilated, and my face was reflected clearly in them, mouth slightly parted as if I was waiting on words. I pressed my lips together and dropped my gaze to his lips. They were thinner than Azazel’s or Mal’s, but they were perfectly formed with a neat dip at the top and a slight kick at the corners. And…I was staring. I looked away, fixing my gaze on the wall by his ear.
“So, no courtship. Right?”
“I may have to kill you someday soon. There would be no sense in courting you.” His tone was cool and direct, but instead of putting my mind at rest, it made my stomach churn.
“I know, Keon. I know you have a duty to the queen. I know if she asks you to, you’ll kill me. But not right now. Right now, we’re just co-trainers. Right now, you’re part of my team.”
“You said that before. To Malachi. You said those things.”
He’d been listening. “Would you rather we treated you like an outsider?”
He seemed to consider this. “No. I prefer this.” His tone grew soft and hesitant. “I prefer this while I can have it.” He locked gazes with me. “For what it’s worth, I will not enjoy killing you, Seraphina Dawn.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but my pulse reacted by kicking up, and my stomach trembled.
“Understood. Now, let’s make mince pies.”
Keon turned out to be pretty nifty when it came to making pastry, but I could have sworn he sniffed me several times as we worked together in the kitchen. He vanished without a word once the pies were baking, and I filled Cora in on the dead rats and the courtship.
Cora was silent for a long time. “Be careful, Fee. Be careful around him. I know we’re playing at being friends right now, but we can’t forget who he works for or where his loyalties lie. He might be attracted to you because of pheromones or whatever, but Lilith raised him. She’s his queen and his master.”
“I know. He knows too. He basically said that outside.”
“Good, as long as we have no misconceptions.”
I picked up my hot chocolate, heavy on the whipped cream, and took a sip.
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Cora asked.
In all the excitement, I’d forgotten to tell her I’d be spending Christmas Eve at Deadside, and then it occurred to me there was no reason for her not to join me. She hadn’t wanted to come with me before because she’d believed she was a ghost, and then after we found out she wasn’t…Shit, I’d never invited her after that.
“Cora, I’m sorry.” I reached out and grabbed her free hand.
“What have you done?” She looked at me guardedly.
“It’s what I haven’t done. I never invited you to Deadside with me after we found out you were a tulpa. Not once.”
She raised a brow and sipped her chocolate. “It’s fine. I figured you wanted a space that was yours, you know.”
“Urgh, no. I just didn’t think. I’m sorry.”
She put her mug down. “Are you serious? You mean all this time I could just have invited myself along, and you’d have been fine?”
“Yes!”
“Well, in that case, I’m coming with you next time you go. I’m dying to see that place.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“I want you to meet Aunt Lara. I want her to meet my best friend.”
“Fee…are you sure you want to share the precious time you have with her?”
She was referring to the ascension. “I’m sure, Cor. And I know she’d want to meet the person who held me together through my grief. The best fucking person I know.”
Cora blinked rapidly. “Fuck off trying to make me cry. This mascara isn’t waterproof.”
My comm beeped with a message from Mal and I was instantly on alert until I read it.
Meet me at the Necro Cineplex in an hour. We’re going on a date.
It was probably mid-afternoon in Necro. Where would we be going on a date?
Cora peered at my comm and grinned. “It’s about fucking time.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mal took me to a movie, and not just any old movie, the latest thriller with a killer mystery and enough intrigue to keep me on the edge of my seat. He held my hand, he fed me popcorn, and then afterward we walked through the streets, hand in hand, talking, not about Dread, or mouths, or vamps, not about the war to come or anything remotely related to work, but about the movie.
We fucking dissected it.
We ate at a cool little restaurant tucked away on a side street in central Necro, and when we stepped outside, he pulled me close and kissed me so deeply we drew several wolf whistles from passersby.
We walked hand in hand toward Lumiers.
“You did a drop-off?”
He made a face. “Left it as long as I could. I hate it there; the atmosphere, it’s so…” He shook his head. “Nope. Not going to ruin the date by talking about this.”
But I wanted to know. I wanted to know him, and purgatory was a big part of his life.
“Tell me. Please.”
He gave me a skeptical glance.
I laughed and hugged his arm. “I want to know.”
“It sucks,” he said. “It’s a wasteland of despair, all black and red and ominous, and there’s malice and pain and regret, so much fucking regret it clings to you when you leave, and then there’s this place, I call it the edge zone. I see it sometimes in the corner of my vision, but it’s gone before I can get to it. It’s a shimmer, like… I can’t explain it. I’ve tried to get to it so many times.”
I studied his profile, all tense and thoughtful.
“It’s like a hot spot,” he said. “But not a bad one.” He sighed. “I can’t explain it, you’d have to see it.”
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Take me with you next time.”
He gave me an incredulous look. “You’d willingly go to purgatory?”
“If it meant I was with you, I would, yes.”
He pulled us to a stop, tipped my chin up with his warm fingers, and claimed my mouth in an achingly soft kiss that sent my pulse off on a gallop.
“Get a room!” someone called out good-naturedly from across the street.
Mal broke the kiss with a smile.
I kissed the corner of his mouth. “What was that for?”
“Because.” He kissed the tip of my nose.
So, it was with a giddy heart that I entered Lumiers for the round of coffee before we needed to head back. Leana greeted us with a tired smile. “Hey, what can I get you?”
“Really? You know me.”
She waved a hand and laughed. “Of course. Yes, mocha. And you’re a cinnamon latte,” she said to Mal. “I’ll be right over.”
She went back to wiping the counter, and Mal led me toward a table by the window. My attention went back to Leana. She looked pale. Well, as pale as a pink daemon could look. Listless.
“Mal, something’s off with Leana.”
Mal twisted in his seat to look back at her. “She does seem a little less enthusiastic than usual. But it’s late. She might have had a long day.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I gave him my full attention. “Thank you for tonight. I needed it. A normal date with a demon I love.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing you say that.” He took my hand and laced his fingers through mine. “I promise you I’ll never get complacent. I’ll never take what we have for granted.”
I wanted to kiss him so bad. I wanted to hold him. The kiss outside had ignited a fire in my blood only he could quench.
“Let’s forget the coffee and go home.”
He drew his bottom lip into his mouth and caught it between his teeth. “Uh-huh, I knew it. You only want me for my body.”
I leaned forward across the table. “Every delectable inch of it.”
“Wait, now I feel like we’re discussing a certain part of my body.”
“My favorite part.”
“Wow, objectifying me. Not cool, Fee.” His smile was full of mirth, but his eyes were filled with the syrupy desire that promised plenty of orgasms.
There was a clatter and then the crash of glass. Leana stood, clutching an empty tray. The contents were smashed all over the floor.
She looked over at us. “I’m sorry. Let me clean this up, and then I’ll get your drinks.”
I pushed my seat back. “No, don’t worry about the drinks. Let me help you tidy this up.”
She tried to shoo me away. “No need.”
She swayed, and Mal caught her neatly, pulled out a chair with his foot, and lowered her into it, suave as can be.
“I’ll get the dustpan and brush and cleaning supplies,” he said. “Storeroom?”
Leanna nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed.”
“You’re not well.”
“I’m just tired. I don’t know why. I’ve been sleeping way too much.”
My scalp prickled. “When did you start to feel like this?”
“I’ve been feeling drained for a couple of weeks now, but it’s gotten worse the last couple of days.”
Mal returned with the cleaning supplies, and together, we mopped up the mess and picked up the broken crockery. Leana didn’t argue or try to help. She truly looked wiped.
Once we were done, I crouched by Leana. “I think you should close early today.”
I expected her to argue, but she simply nodded. “Yes.”
“Okay.” Mal hauled her to her feet. “Let’s get you to bed.”
“Where does she live?”
“Here, the third floor,” Mal said. “If you kick everyone out and flip to the closed sign, I’ll get her settled.”
Half an hour later, all the patrons were gone, and Leana was tucked up in her flat.
I flipped off all the lights. “Mal, can daemons get sick?”
Mal shook his head. “Not regular human sickness, but who knows, anything is possible.”
I gnawed on my bottom lip. “Azazel’s been super tired recently too.”
“You think Leanna and Azazel are sick?”
“I don’t know. I just think we need to look into it. It’s too much of a coincidence.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll get my reapers to ask around, see if this fatigue is affecting any other demons or daemons in the city.”
I stepped outside and locked the door with the keys Mal gave me, then posted them through the letterbox.
Mal tugged me to him by the lapels of my coat. “Shall we fly home and get some dessert, naked, in bed…”
“Sounds perfect.”
It was snowing, a gentle swirling kind of snow, the perfect kind for Christmas Eve. I stood in the lounge with Aunt Lara and Anna, watching the elements make the world even more beautiful.
I’ll miss you was on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t want to spoil this moment, our last day together. Tonight was for joy and laughter. In a couple of days, Aunt Lara would be gone. I needed to make the most of this time.
Belly full of great food and blood warm from the mulled wine we’d had, I slung my arm around my aunt and pulled her close.
“We should build a snowman,” Cora said. “A huge one for the kids to see when they wake up in the morning.”
“What a fabulous idea,” Anna said.
“Do you have a carrot for its nose?” Cora asked.
“Let’s see what we can find.”
They hurried off together, leaving Aunt Lara and me alone. Yep, this was Cora’s way of giving us some space. I loved her for it.
Aunt Lara hugged me to her. “Have you been eating enough? You’ve lost weight.”
“But I’ve put on muscles.” I cocked my arm and flexed for her. “See.”
“Oh, gosh, you have too.” She smiled warmly at me. “I’m so glad we got to spend this time together.”
“Thank you for a beautiful Christmas Eve.”
“It’s not over yet,” Aunt Lara said. “I got you a gift.”
My throat tightened. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“I know. But I wanted to.”
She hurried out of the room but was back a moment later carrying a parcel. It was the size of a large hardback. “Here you go.”
I unwrapped the gift and turned it over. A brown leather-bound journal, pages thick and creamy beneath my fingertips.
“It’s beautiful.”
Aunt Lara chuckled. “And you’re confused as to why I’m giving this to you. I know you’ve never been inclined to keep one, but I think you should start. Your life will be long, filled with so many memories, but with time they might fade or become muddled. If you keep an account, you can always go back and experience those treasured moments again and again.” She patted the diary in my hand. “This is to start you off. A friend to hold onto your memories and to share your deepest secrets with, even the ones you can’t tell the people you love.” She stroked my cheek. “Use it, my sweetheart.”
I nodded and clutched the journal to my chest. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
There, I’d said it.
She pulled me into a hug, and I let the tears fall. I let it out, because when Ascension Day came, there could be no sadness, only joy at the fact that the only mother I’d ever known would find peace.
Aunt Lara wiped my tears, and then we watched Cora and Anna throwing shoddily made snowballs at each other and falling on their asses outside.
“I think we should go show them how it’s done,” Aunt Lara said.
“Totally.”
I didn’t want the girl time to end, so when we got back I dragged Cora to my room where we devoured a box of donuts sitting cross-legged on the bed.
“I love this,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Cora and I called out in unison.
The door opened, and Azazel peered in. He looked from Cora to me and then smiled. “Just wanted to make sure you got back okay.”
“Uh-huh?” Cora wiggled her brows. “Are you sure that’s all?”
Azazel sucked in his cheeks. “Cora…”
“Azazel…” she sing-songed.
Cora made to get off the bed, but I pulled her into a hug. “We’re having a girls’ night.”
Cora relaxed against me.
Azazel smiled. “If you were Mal, I’d fight you for her. But I like you too much.”
Cora blew him a kiss.
“Enjoy girls’ night, and if you get hungry, there’s a meat stew in the oven and fresh bread too.”
“I love you,” I called after him.
“I love you too!” Cora cried.
And then he was gone.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go hang with Azazel?” Cora asked.
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