Page 34 of Whispers From The Dark

And another.

Egg Donor

Your shit better be packed Petra. I mean it.

A new text comes through, and I don’t like it. Dmitri wants to give Petra her last paycheck and perform an exit interview. I’d assumed she wouldn’t be paid for pissing off his richest customers, and Last Drop isn’t the sort of employment that includes exit interviews. I suspect he wants recompense for potential lost clientele. There’s a saying humans use that I like: You cannot get blood from a stone. He shouldn’t expect any monetary compensation from her. He shouldn’t expect anything.

Anything except me, I suppose.

I don’t know why I’m reading her texts and spying on her in the bathroom instead of slipping into her mind. Perhaps it’s fear. Perhaps she saw too much when she looked me in the eye and didn’t balk.

Since I don’t plan on leaving her soon, thanks to my brothers, I suppose I should stop putting off the inevitable. I will myself to appear behind her in the shower. Barely tangible, just the smoke and steam and the weight of my hands on her waist as her skin grows slick from her conditioner.

“What the fuck, Az?” she curses, nearly jumping out of her skin. “Where have you been, asshole?”

I laugh, pleased by the easy petulance falling from her lips after a lifetime of play-acting kindness. She relaxes into my hold and attempts to lean against me. I pour all of my energy into solidifying to support her.

“Around,” I respond, because there is no simple explanation for my absence. She did not tremble at my natural form. She knows what I am and does not hesitate to speak with me, and she is the one who grasped me and led me into her body.

It is clear she has a fondness for me at the very least. And at the very worst, more.

What is most fearful is that I desire it to be more.

My brother Belphegor has taken a mate. Granted, his mate is inhuman and thus can only consent in the way any mammal can. Lucifer has had his share of dalliances in the past. I don’t know why I hesitate so.

“Well, fuck you too then,” she says, but she doesn’t mean it. She sighs, leaning her soapy head back to look up at me. Her eyes meet mine before tracing the tips of my horns. She smiles, and something inside my chest draws taut. It’s almost hard to breathe.

I blame it on the steam.

“I’m glad you’re back. It’s been lonely up here.” She points to her temple.

“I fear you won’t be rid of me so easily,” I say, aware of my hypocrisy. Moments ago, I’d planned to rid her of me forever. And I realize, in a moment of clarity, that this word is why I am not keen to keep her. When I desire something, I keep it and refuse to let go. Forever is a word Petra cannot possibly fathom. I won’t claim her as mine only for her to one day choose something else.

For me, it is all or nothing. A mortal could never understand.

To be inside Petra’s mind once more is a gift. I fill all the empty spaces, and it is warm and pleasant. Despite her irritation with me for leaving, she is quick to forgive. It is impossibly easy with her.

“This is the first time I’ve left Jack alone for more than an hour,” she confesses.

The man replacing the window is a family friend, so she let the child stay home to let him in while she took this meeting with Dmitri. Blissfully trusting—and perhaps a hint naïve—Petra doesn’t suspect Dmitri of foul intention.

It is a good thing she has me.

“Your friend will be with him,” I say, only mildly surprised by my urge to comfort her.

No mortal who has seen my true form has returned to me for comfort—only favors, wrapped in visceral fear and disgust. It’s easy for me to give her what she needs because she gave me what I had never dared to desire.

“Yeah.” She’s nervous, silent for a few minutes as we step off the bus. “Don’t make yourself known. I need to make nice in case I need to get my job back.”

It shouldn’t make me feel wretched, but it does. She doesn’t trust me to give her what we agreed upon. Because I am a demon after all.

Dmitri waits by the fountain into which he knocked Petra’s phone. It wasn’t long ago, only a blink in my long existence, but since that night, I have been changed.

Because of her.

When Dmitri approaches, looking greasy and tired, he pulls an envelope out of his inner jacket pocket. I hide within Petra, just as she asked, but based on his energy, I already know this is going to go south.

“I’ve deducted your last paycheck from the total. I’m only charging you for the VIP suite that I had to comp the Sauveterre party. It seems the demon has left you, so I’ll let you pick up as many extra shifts as you need to cover it.”