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My eyebrows shoot upward, but I quickly school my features as I hide a triumphant smile. Maybe my work is paying off after all. “I’m open to any suggestions.”
He nods. “I’ll have my team compile a list of ‘pain points’ for your perusal.”
“Excellent.”
I leave the meeting with a strange sense of happiness and despair. It seems he’s finally coming around. But on the other hand, we’re moving straight on as if nothing happened in that library…and as if I didn’t see that petition of him trying to get me fired either.
I take a deep breath as I return to my desk. Ignoring the pain in my heart, this is a win. This is what I’m here for.
But I should know better than to underestimate a sly demon. After sending me a towering stack of “Suggested Revisions” to pore through, Bax somehow produces an even bigger stack of new changes for me to incorporate.
Soon I’m drowning in a sea of edits, addendums, and exceptions. Bax needles me at every turn: “This didn’t account for the moon cycle’s effect on soul weighing,” and, “The genealogy chart should be formatted in concentric circles of damnation.”
Each day my inbox overflows with a thousand tiny tweaks. My carefully organized plans get lost in the onslaught of “fixes”. At this rate, we’ll end up right back where we started!
I finally confront Bax in his office, where he’s examining a struggling soul in a jar on his desk with bored detachment.
“This deluge of requests is absurd,” I cross my arms across my chest and immediately release them when his gaze shifts to my breasts pushing up over my bra. The soul is suddenly engulfed in fire, a scream piercing the air before Bax kills the flames. The poor little thing pants, almost fainting in shock.
“My team is dedicated to perfection,” Bax replies mildly, gaze shifting to mine. The heat in his eyes is ungodly. Swallowing hard, I force myself to not look away.
Is this the same demon that fucked me in an ancient library? The same one that cleaned me up afterward with so much care the memory’s seared into my mind?
“You’re hindering me.” My hands form into fists as I frown at the huge demon. He gives the soul jar a little shake and the soul’s amorphous form jiggles.
“By all means,” he says, “override the recommendations if you see fit.”
Fuming, I turn on my heel. I shouldn’t let him get under my skin. That’s clearly his aim.
From then on, I’m selective in implementing only suggestions that genuinely improve systems. But, unfortunately, Bax’s sneak attacks don’t end there. A few days later, after working all day in the archives, I return to the office to find him looming behind an employee using the new database.
Despite myself, the sight of him sends a delicious shiver right through me, and as if the devil can sense it, he turns and locks eyes with me.
“I—I don’t—” The demon sitting beneath him types frantically on his keyboard. “I don’t know what went wrong!”
“Um, boss…” When another from across the room stands up in his cubicle, red eyes wide with confusion and maybe fear, I know something is wrong.
My gaze snaps to another demon, shaking his head in horror as his wide eyes focus on the screen before him. Without even seeing what’s there, a sinking feeling develops in my gut. When I move closer, I see error messages blazing across every monitor. The new database has crashed catastrophically.
My heart sinks as I rush to assess the damage. All the carefully digitized records are corrupted. Hours upon hours of planning and implementation gone. Days of meticulous data entry, wasted.
As I’m helplessly trying system reset after reset, my gaze shifts to the largest demon in the room. Bax is still where he is, looming over the lower demon as he watches me fight for my life. His expression is unreadable as he stands in the center of the chaos.
Realization hits me like a punch to the gut.Hedid this.
Red hot rage courses through me. Before I can think twice, I’m storming over to him. Grabbing him by the tie, I storm into his office, not caring that a small mortal like me is leading a frickin’ archdemon of Hell like he’s nothing but a dog on a lead. Shoving him inside, I slam the door behind us.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I shout. All my frustration and stress come boiling over. “Do you have any idea how much precious time you’ve wasted with these antics?Do you even care?”
“Elara…”
“No! I’mdone!” I yell, shoving Bax again. “Do you have any idea what your little stunt has cost me? Everything I’ve worked for, gone!”
Bax’s eyebrows shoot up. “Elara…”
“What is wrong with you?” I shout, anger boiling over. “I’ve sacrificed everything for this job! My time, my dignity, my sanity—all to be toyed with by you!” I poke him hard in the chest. But I’m not finished. “This isn’t a game to me! I’m not like you—I don’t enjoy cruelty or torment! Not all of us have the luxury of eternity, Bax. I took this job out of desperation. My sister’s entire future depends on the money from this contract. And you treat it all so frivolously…”
My voice cracks, tears of frustration spilling over. “As if I’m nothing. Well, I’m not nothing! But I guess that doesn’t matter to a heartless demon like you.”
