Page 43 of Hexes From Exes

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It took Stephanie about four laps around the block in the sweltering heat before she felt calm enough to sit down on a bench. She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Rick.

Stephanie

You missed Diego running away from me like I was the grim reaper. Is he real, by the way?

Silence.

Stephanie

Is everything good? It’s not like you to go radio silent like this.

Nothing.

Chapter Eighteen

The demon council was just as old and terrifying as Rick remembered from his youth. In school they’d toured the demon council building at least once. It was a way to familiarize the youth about the hierarchy and government in Anathamea. The bottom were the lowly workers like Rick and others who contributed to the magic in the realm. Enforcer demons and others of more importance made up the middle of the pyramid. At the top sat the council of demons, which were five old as the devil demons that helped to shape the realm over the last few centuries.

The oldest, Beck, sat in the middle of the table of five. His gaze was just as sharp as it was when Rick was a young demon, sitting in the gallery watching the council meeting proceed. Back then, the young demons mostly watched small things, like the council’s yearly reading of the laws of Anathamea and voting to keep or remove any of them. As far as Rick knew, no new laws had been passed in nearly half a century, and no old laws had been thrown out in recent memory. Sometimes the children would witness a petty squabble between neighbors that the council needed to settle.

It was nothing like what Rick was going through now.

The gallery was empty, a fact that made Rick’s heart sink. Zed wasn’t even there to watch and give support, the betrayal cut deeper than Rick wanted to admit. He would have thought Cass would be there, she was a member of Magical Investigations after all. His gaze trailed over the door to the chamber for another few moments hoping that one of them would burst through the door. Nothing happened, though, and he was left to face the council with just the three enforcers at his back. The one he’d elbowed earlier had a staff with a prod at the end that Rick was sure would electrocute him if he tried anything. Hopefully they hadn’t figured out that they didn’t have his true name, that would cause even more problems.

The enforcers nudged Rick forward, bringing him deeper into the chamber of the council room. Rick’s gaze darted from Criton on his far left, to Seph the only female demon, to Gred on Beck’s right, and finally Ynnia, a particularly infamous demon. Ynnia was known for inventing awful types of torture for rule breakers, even for minor offenses. It was also known that the others overrode him most of the time.

Usually.

“Rickaron,” read Beck, his eyes squinting at the scroll in front of him with Rick’s name on it and his alleged crimes. “You stand accused of unlawful interactions with a human.” Beck’s gaze turned to Rick then, his eyes widening a bit at the sight of him. Rick was on the larger side for a demon since most revenge demons had to have a bit of bulk to get their jobs done. Still, Rick knew he was an imposing figure. But he was nothing against the enforcers and the ancient demons in front of him, and he knew it.

Rick said nothing as Criton leaned to the side, his clawed hand stroking his wrinkled chin. “How do you plead?” Criton asked.

“What evidence do you have?” Rick asked. This was the crux of defending himself. What did they consider unlawful? Fucking Stephanie was 100% unlawful, and he’d likely earn a dock in his magic and maybe probation. Worst case scenario, he’d be stripped from his position as a revenge demon and sent to do something else. The thought of losing access to the portal sent a jolt of fear through him. How would he see Stephanie? She probably already felt like he was no different from her exes, sleeping with her and then abandoning her.

“Your lap top,” Seph said, splitting the single word into two separate ones. The council never got used to the technology and obviously disapproved deeply of using the human inventions. Rick was surprised they even understood how they worked.

“My laptop?” Rick echoed.

“Yes, it was reported that you’ve been conversing with a human woman in a very friendly matter,” Beck said, reading from the scroll.

The realization hit Rick. The messages he sent Stephanie would have shown up on his laptop as well in the messaging app. He tried to think back to anything they spoke about. It was never explicit. It was always about her next date. Even the conference, where he technically went as her date, she’d mentioned that her ex was going to be there.

“She is part of my recent assignment,” Rick said. “She had a counter deal for a curse that some human men cast on her. As part of the deal, she needed to prove they were in the wrong.”

“That’s not your job,” hissed Ynnia from the end of the table, leaning over it as if he were seconds from clearing the table to attack Rick.

“It was part of my research. She was more clever than the men,” Rick said carefully. He was treading dangerous ground, but if he was cautious this would all be dismissed. He’d have to find some other way to communicate with Stephanie where this sort of thing wouldn’t happen again. How could he be so stupid to forget that his laptop was linked to his communication device? He just needed to keep a level head for another few minutes and then this would be over, and he could punish himself all he wanted. Then maybe yell at Zed for leaving him out to dry against the council alone.

“It is within the role of a revenge demon to investigate and alter curses as they see fit, though it hasn’t been done in some time,” Beck said to Ynnia, flashing him a glare to try to silence him. Good, at least the eldest was on his side.

“Our transport says you’ve been spending a lot of time in the human realm,” Ynnia continued, undeterred.

“Yes, part of the deal involves me watching her go on dates with these exes to prove they’re the problem. Between the time difference and the nature of these dates I’m often in the human realm very late,” Rick said. It wasn’t a lie, he was just leaving out the fact that he often slept on her couch.

And last night slept in her bed, with her naked body pressed against his.

“Hmm,” Beck said with a nod, as though that settled it. Ynnia wasn’t convinced. “Approach the bench,” he said quietly. Rick turned to look at the enforcers on either side of him. They shrugged, trudging along next to Rick as he took a few steps forward.