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The door cracked open to show Vaszhago, and I gestured toward one of the two chairs in front of me.From my desk, I grabbed a silver case, opening it up to a dozen black cigarettes. Unlike the human variety, these didn’t produce the godawful scent of tobacco, nor leave the yellow stains of nicotine behind. They gave off a much richer aroma, a pleasant one.
The demon plucked one of them and set the end of it to his tongue to light it up. “I don’t think she likes me very much,” he said, taking a drag as he fell into his seat.
“You’re not very likable.” I lifted a decanter of chthoniac with a raised brow, to which he nodded, and I poured him a glass.
“Maids seem to like me just fine.” After raising the glass like a toast, the crazy bastard tipped it back, and within seconds the bubbly red was gone. He slammed it onto my desk, and I filled it again.
“That had to burn.”
Jaw clenched, he shook his head. “Been a long time since I had straight chthoniac.”
“As for my staff, given the nature of your kind, I’ll caution you. If any of them go missing, you’ll be at the top of my shit-list.”
He chuckled and eased back into his chair, taking a much smaller sip of his drink. “If I decide to feed, it’ll be on something more substantial than a poor unclaimed soul.”
“No crossing The Vale to the mortal realm until the job is finished.”
He took another drag and blew it off. “You’d watch an old friend starve?”
“Were we ever friends?”
“Did I kill you?”
“Well, whatever conscience you may have magically sprouted back then no longer applies. Particularly now.”
“Why is that?”
I rubbed a hand down my face, dreading the thought of having to ask the favor. “I need you to chain me at night. And if I attempt to harm Farryn in any way, you’re to end me without hesitation.”
Vaszhago’s eyes shuttered, and he tipped his head back smiling. “Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed of hearing you say those words? What a strange turn of events.” Canting his head forward, he stared back at me, his eyes flickering orange. “The Jericho I once knew would not lay down his life for anyone.Anyone.”
The truth in his words took me back to that time before Farryn had been born, when I was nothing more than a walking corpse with violence in my heart. “She is the exception.”
“And of all the wonderfully skilled creatures in this world, you chose a human girl.”
“She fascinates me.” I buried my smile in another sip of my drink.
“If I ever achieve being in the presence of one without wanting to consume its soul entirely, perhaps I’ll sample what fascination you glean from mortals.” After polishing off the remains of his drink, he pushed his glass onto the desk and held up his hand when I offered another. “What exactly is causing all of thisconcern?”
“I’m in Rur’axze. The only thing that can temper it is the one thing I happen to be low on at the moment.” I’d been low on vitaeilem before, while submerged in parts of the demon world that had drained my angel energy. The worst had been when I’d stumbled upon the portal to Eradye in the underground scene. The shadowed world where my father had hidden away.
“Vitaeilem? Have you not considered seraphica?”
“Seraphica for a Sentinel is the equivalent of getting a hand-job from a wraith.”
Vaszhago snorted, running his hand over his jaw. “Surely, you feel something more significant than that.”
“Not much.”
“And so, now, you are at the mercy of your demon half.” After blowing off another plume of smoke, his lips curved to a cunning grin. “If not for the binder which prevents me from doing so, testing the strength of your bond with Farryn would certainly make for good sport.”
“Know that I would kill you. Painfully so.”
“If she doesn’t first.” Groaning, Vaszhago shook his head. “You have me follow after a female who invites death with every bumbling step.”
I smirked at that, watching him push up from his chair and stamp out his cigarette in the ashtray on my desk. “I’ve some diablisz steel cuffs and chains in one of the rooms of the undercroft.” Left over from the times prior to Farryn’s arrival, when the maids, particularly Evie, would indulge my occasional craving for pain. With my memories of Farryn lost, I’d had no understanding for why I’d woken from dreams needing to fuck something like my life depended on it. Had I known it was her the whole time, inciting those urges within me, I’d have probably ended up a dead man for tearing through planes to get to her. Perhaps losing my memories had been more merciful than anything. “I’ll ask you to confine me each night.”
He gave a tip of his head and turned toward the door before exiting my office.
