Page 45 of When I Accidentally Summoned a Demon

Then I look down. Oh. Bethie is asleep in my arms, curled in my lap. A children’s book lies open on the couch. I vaguely remember reading it.

I do not remember falling asleep.

Vesper smiles at us. “Come on, Big Guy. Let’s get her into her bed, then you come to ours.”

I rise carefully, holding Bethie against me as though she is the most pwecious thing this world has ever created.

Once we’re in the bedroom, the word she spoke catches up with me.

Ours. Not her bed. Ours.

I say nothing. But I carry the word with me long after Bethie is tucked beneath her blankets.

END OF SEPTEMBER

The Veil is changing.

The September afternoon is still warm enough that Bethie is wearing shorts at the park, racing Vesper toward the climbing structure while her mother’s laughter carries over the grass. Nothing about the day should feel threatening. Yet the air has acquired an undertone I recognize. A subtle pressure against my skin. The faintest metallic taste behind my tongue.

The distance between worlds is narrowing.

I remain near the path while Vesper catches Bethie around the waist and lifts her high enough to produce a shriek of delight.

Then I see the man. He stands across the street with a dog beside him. My attention locks instantly. The hound is disguised well enough for mortals. Black coat. Long muzzle. Ordinary collar. But it is not a dog. The creature turns its head toward me. Its eyes meet mine.

So this is what Vesper and Bethie saw months ago.

I step closer to the curb. The underling does not move, although the hound’s posture changes subtly beside him. It knows what I am within Hell’s hierarchy.

Neither creature is foolish enough to challenge a Duke directly. But they do not need to. They found me.

My gaze hardens. His does not waver.

Behind me, Bethie shrieks with laughter as she races down the slide into Vesper’s waiting arms, utterly unaware of what stands across the street.

The man briefly regards them. Every muscle in my body tightens. His attention returns to me. I let him see the warning in my face, the slow shake of my head.

A moment later, he turns away. The hound follows. I don’t move until both disappear around the corner.

“Pwecious!”

I turn instinctively. The tiny beastie is waving at me from the top of the slide while Vesper stands below with both arms ready to catch her.

But as I return to Vesper and Bethie, the thinning Veil presses against my senses like the first warning of an approaching storm.

Lucifer will know where I am.

And tonight, I do not intend to sleep deeply.

* * *

I have discovered several things during the hours Vesper has been asleep.

The first is that the Friends’ conflict in episode fourteen resolves exactly as I predicted it would, had anyone communicated the primary concern in the first act. I find this vindicating.

The second is that Vesper keeps a hidden shelf of books in the back of our bedroom closet. I discovered it a week ago while putting away laundry. At first, I assumed the books had been placed there simply because the shelf was difficult to reach. Then I opened one.

Not children’s books. They are rather…seductive—vivid, detailed, and extraordinarily useful as reference material for the continued worship of my Mistress. Sexy or spicy in her words. I have read two of them. I am now beginning the third.