Page 66 of Indecent

For the most part, Daniel didn’t feel that much different as a demon. Sure, he sometimes said things now that made people like Nicolas and Julian, who knew him before, look at him strangely. And sure, sometimes he was overwhelmed by the sense of power that came with being a harbinger. And he needed Chaol more strongly now than he had as a human—at least as far as he could remember.

The little changes were harder to put his finger on.

Like now. Lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, he realized he wasn’t tired. He’d been up all night patrolling, then came home and fucked Chaol into the mattress for at least an hour. He should be tired, but sleep eluded him. Beside him, Chaol’s breathing was deep and slow. How was he sleeping? Why wasn’t he as full of boundless energy as Daniel seemed to be? Demons did sleep—or, some of them did. Chaol was proof of that. Ashmedai didn’t. What about harbingers? He didn’t want to be the kind of demon that never slept. It sounded boring.

Daniel sighed, shifting onto his side and curling around Chaol’s back. Chaol pressed back against him, boneless and deliciously naked.

“Wha’s wrong?” Chaol croaked, threading their fingers together on his stomach.

“How are you sleeping?”

“I’m not. I’m laying here and listening to you huff and roll around.”

Daniel glared at the back of his head. “I am not.”

“Are, too. So, what?”

Daniel sighed. “I can’t sleep. Why can’t I sleep? I should be tired, but I’m not. I’m bored.”

Chaol rolled onto his back. “Sorry, darkling. Demons don’t actually have to sleep as often as humans do. You can’t sleep because you don’t need to sleep.”

“Then how are you sleeping?”

Chaol’s mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile. “I just told you, I wasn’t sleeping.”

“You seemed pretty asleep.”

A slow smile grew across Chaol’s mouth. “You get good at going through the motions. You even good at making yourself doze when you don’t really feel like it.”

“Why?”

“Because otherwise eternity gets boring. You can read, you can watch movies and television, but eventually, it all starts to blur together. When there’s nothing else to do, you lay there and pretend. Let the time pass you by. Let your mind drift.”

Daniel sighed, fitting his chin on Chaol’s shoulder and pressing their cheeks together. “Demons sleep because they’re bored?”

Chaol nodded. “Sometimes. It’s a pain to go out during the day. Direct sunlight kind of burns, which I’m sure you’ve noticed. It won’t kill us, but it’s annoying. So we hole up somewhere and wait it out. That’s a lot of time stuck inside with nothing to do.” He tucked his arm behind his head. “We don’t have to sleep—or try to sleep—right now, if you’re bored. You have the internet now. You can read a book, watch something, whatever. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” He’d never had any hobbies before. Training and fighting were pretty much all he used to do. Chaol was right, eternity was going to get pretty boring if he didn’t find ways to entertain himself.

“Do you want to go downstairs? We could make some coffee, poke around and see if these two have anything fun to do.”

“Yeah, okay.”

While Chaol dressed, Daniel swiped his brand new phone off the bedside table and opened up his texts to send one to Nicolas and Ashmedai. Nicolas, like Julian, might be asleep at this hour, but he had a feeling Ashmedai would see it.

First drawback to demonhood: I can’t fucking sleep

He and Chaol crept downstairs, dodging around shafts of sunlight that slipped in through the cracks in the blackout curtains covering all the windows.

His phone buzzed as Chaol led him into the kitchen, and he sat at the table while Chaol hunted for coffee grounds to put in the machine. Daniel suppressed a laugh at the absurdity of it all. He wondered if Valac was with Julian when he bought the heavy curtains, and if anyone saw them and wondered if one of them worked nights. ‘Maybe he works nights, or maybe he’s dating a demon.’

His phone chimed.

Ashmedai

Nothing moves slower than daytime Nic is asleep Sleeps all the time He snores

Daniel chuckled.