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“At least this way, he’s not always fucking watching me. Zane.” He shot me an extremely perturbed look. “I’m supposed to tell you not to lay on that.”
“Good job, gold star, what a very good little demon you are — Hey, hey, woah!” I leaped up the moment he raised his foot to smash it down on my face. “Be nice, be nice, fucker. I’m getting up.” I took a long drag on the joint, exhaled in his face, and dodged away before he could hurt me. He looked ready to snap my neck — it was charming, really.
“I’ll see you tonight then!” I flicked the joint over my shoulder as I walked away, earning some disgusted looks from a few passing students. I made sure to snap my teeth at them to keep them moving. “That little pub off Main Street! Rose and Thyme. I’ll meet you there.”
The streets were crowded that night, and the bar even more so. Drunken humans bumped against the tables, walls, and each other; their volume growing louder and louder as they all tried to be heard over each other. It was a special kind of chaos, watching intoxicated humans get together. Like puppies let loose to do as they pleased.
Leon didn’t look at them quite so fondly.
“The next human that bumps into me is going to get their spine separated from their fucking body,” he snapped. He had his back to the wall, his eyes scanning rapidly over the crowd. The beers we’d bought weren’t going to do anything when it came to getting intoxicated. But, as with most edible things found on Earth, we consumed them because the taste was interesting, not because they had an effect.
“Easy, kid.” I shook my head, relaxing in my chair. “It’s all part of the fun. Clumsy, intoxicated humans...glasses of their cold, fermented beverages...you, staring past my head like I don’t exist.”
He snapped his gaze back to me. “Got distracted.”
“Thatwas more than just distraction,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder. It wasn’t hard to determine where his gaze had been. All I had to do was find the woman staring at him, who quickly snapped her gaze away the moment she noticed me watching her. She was too small for her clothes, her booted feet dangling from her barstool, her eyes enlarged by her thick glasses. She couldn’t keep her gaze away for long. It kept dragging back, irresistible curiosity demanding she look again. But she wasn’t just some random, curious human.
She was seated at a table with Victoria Hadleigh.
I raised an eyebrow in Leon’s direction. “Is the Hadleigh woman going to be a problem?”
He shook his head. “She doesn’t care. She’s not constantly kissing Kent’s ass, unlike Jeremiah. She doesn’t give a fuck what I do.”
“And the other woman you’re staring at?”
“She’s a new student at the university. Raelynn Lawson. Bothersome. Too curious. Can’t get her nose out of places it doesn’t belong.”
“I’m guessing she’s got it up the Hadleighs’ asses?”
“Unfortunately,” he muttered. “It’s not entirely her fault. Victoria and Jeremiah decided she’s their toy of the week. They’ve been lavishing her with attention.” His eyes narrowed. “It’s odd. I don’t know what the hell they want from her.”
“Do you care?” I chuckled, but the sound died at the expression I glimpsed briefly on his face. “Holy shit, youcare.” I looked back again. Tiny human woman, fidgety, couldn’t stop glancing in his direction. “Oh no.”
“Don’t start,” he groaned. “Idon’tcare. It’s just...strange. A curiosity.”
“That’s how it starts, Leon,” I said. “One day youdon’t care,and the next you’re obsessed. If she’s involved with the Hadleighs, she’s not good for you.” He grunted, my words bouncing off his thick skull like ping pong balls. “Fucking hell, we need to get you out of Abelaum. Away from Kent. This has gone on too long.”
He ran a hand through his hair, leaving it even messier than before. “The man is insufferable. His family...also insufferable. I want to murder them. Is that too much to ask for? One little opportunity to slowly and meticulously rip their limbs off, starting with fingers and toes.”
“I should bring it up with the council again. Keeping a demon in captivity for over a hundred years isn’t normal. At some point they have to intervene.” I paused. As much as I wanted to have a casual conversation, there was still a purpose I had for seeking him out.
There were few things I ever felt a need to keep from Leon, but this...this might be one of those things. He didn’t exactly have good feelings about Juniper. It wasn’t personal on his end — she was just a bad memory. But it felt like a shitty thing to say, if I were to admit I had made a bargain with the woman that eluded his capture all those years ago.
She was supposed to be dead, and he’d paid for her survival dearly.
“What did Kent let you out for anyway?” I said. “Why the sudden guard duty?”
“The Libiri made a sacrifice.” He was still staring behind me, utterly infatuated. “The kid...Marcus. It was him. The Libiri offered him up to the God and had me toss his corpse down into the mine. So shit is stirring up. Kent wants me to make sure the Eld don’t become a nuisance. If bodies start piling up, it’ll make things more difficult for him. Fuck, if that’s all he needs me to do, what’s a little guard duty? It’s easy enough. And he leaves me alone, most of the time.”
Toss his corpse down into the mine.Oh, Juniper was going tolovethat. This was going to be a goddamn pain in the ass.
I would have rather heard it was at the bottom of the ocean. That would be easier than going down into the mine.
“Sounds like things are finally going Kent’s way then,” I said. “I guess that’s lucky for you.”
“Maybe. The old man has been acting a little strange.”
“How so?”
