My Demon Assistant (Demon Debacles #3)

One

Eshim

"D on't worry, Lux. You'll do fine. It'll be like a walk in the cake!" I said as I puttered around the house, my phone pressed to my ear as I waited for my friend to speak. He and his mate were going to a work event, and Lux was worried about taking their baby.

He was one of the kindest, sweetest demons I knew, and his human form of baby blue eyes, blond hair, and tiny stature just emphasized that. He was a wonderful demon, and really flourishing as a dad.

"It's a park, Esh," he replied with an amused sigh, and I stopped short, squinting at the wall in confusion.

"The event is at a...park? I thought you said it was in some fancy hotel."

"What? No, it is. The phrase, Eshim. It's 'a walk in the park,' not 'a walk in the cake.' Why would anyone walk in a cake?"

I blinked, then went, "Oooh," even though I felt like walking in a giant cake might be kind of fun. Like delicious quicksand you could eat your way out of.

Lux snickered, but I knew from experience he wasn't laughing at me. Sometimes, I could be a bit much to handle, and some of my demon friends were better at it than others. Lux and another demon named Ryk were my closest friends, and they always found my little mistakes funny. They never got annoyed at me for them either. Star and Kor did, but they were grumpy old assholes so they got a pass. I loved them anyway.

Lux started to speak, but a loud, booming laugh came from the background of his call, and grabbed my complete attention. I stumbled, then grabbed the kitchen counter before I could fall.

No way. No fucking way.

"Who was that?"

"Who was who?" Lux asked, puzzled, and I sighed, then started pacing across my tiny kitchen.

"The man laughing in the background. Who is he?"

"Uh...you mean Jerry?"

Jerry .

"If Jerry is the guy with the loud, beautiful laugh, then yes. Who is he?" I pressed, and Lux must've realized something was up because his voice turned serious.

"Jerry is Archer's best friend. And business partner. What's going on, Eshim? Wait. Wait. Please tell me he's..." He trailed off, his voice full of hope and just a touch questioning.

There was no one way for a demon to recognize their mate. Some did it with sight, others with touch, and I, apparently, recognized mine by his voice.

"He's my mate," I confessed, excitement fizzing through me as I all but skipped around the kitchen. This was so unexpected but so, so good!

Lux shrieked. He actually shrieked. A smaller, cuter voice copied him, and I grinned. Gunner was going to grow up to be such a poop-stirrer. I just knew it.

"What's wrong?" a voice, probably Lux's mate, Archer, called, and Lux said something to assure him everything was okay before speaking to me again.

"Are you sure?"

"Bitch, this is not the kind of thing to joke about," I assured him, and he made another excited sound, though this one was a bit toned down.

"This is awesome! I was so sad I couldn't tell Jerry everything, especially since Archer's other best friend—and Jerry's ex-wife—is mated to Fressia."

"What? Fressia is my ex-wife-in-law?" I demanded, and he snickered.

"I don't think there's such a thing, but yeah, Fressia and Kat are mates. Actually, Kat just moved out, so I was worried about Jerry being lonely. This is perfect timing. What are you going to do now?"

I'd been thinking about that as we talked, so I already had an answer ready. "First, I'll talk to King Damien and explain the situation. Hopefully, he'll allow me to move closer to you. If not, I can just go back and forth. Though, judging by the dark souls' trajectory, it doesn't look like they'll be heading this way anyway."

Lux, I, and twenty other demons were stationed in the human realm after a bunch of dark souls escaped with the help of a gone-bad demon named Mammon. So far, the group had slaughtered a coven of vampires and some other supes, but they were still in the water. It seemed like they were headed west, and if they kept going the way they'd been so far, they wouldn't be crossing through the town—or even the state—I was in.

"Sounds good. I still have the contact details of my old landlord, and I think my old place is still empty, so if you want you could stay there," Lux offered, and I grinned.

"Can I? That's awesome!"

Lux hummed. "Go talk to King Damien, and then call me with an update. I'm excited for Jerry to know everything!"

"Don't tell him."

"Of course not. That's your job. I wonder how he'd react..."

Telling Jerry would come later, though. First, I had to meet him. Since humans couldn't sense a mate bond, I'd have to woo him the human way, which I knew nothing about. So much to learn!

After Lux and I ended our conversation, I jumped up on the kitchen counter, swinging my legs as I tried to gather my thoughts.

By now, quite a few of the demons had found their human mates, and they'd all done it differently. Azazel had been summoned by his, Ryk, Star, and Nico found their mate in their human roommate, and Lux's mate was the dad of the baby he was hired to take care of.

Except Azazel, they'd all had time to get to know their human before sharing the truth with them. That seemed to be the easiest way to go about it, since the emotional bond would keep the human from freaking out when they found out their new partner was a demon. Now, I had a plan of action:

Step one: talk to King Damien.

Step two: (hopefully) move into Lux's old place.

Step three: Figure out a way to get close to Jerry and woo him.

Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Jerry

I sighed as I stepped into the dark house, then closed and locked the door behind me.

Flicking on the lights, I threw my bag on a cabinet, then shrugged out of my jacket, throwing it on the coat stand. I sighed again when it fell limply to the floor, and headed deeper into the house, leaving the coat where it was.

Living alone after living with the same person for more than a decade and a half was...strange.

The house was too quiet, too empty, and I didn't like it.

I didn't want a stranger moving in either, but a part of me wished Kat hadn't moved out. We'd gotten married straight out of high school, too young to realize that while we loved each other, we weren't in love .

It took until our mid-twenties for us to figure ourselves out, for Kat to realize she was very much into women and exclusively so. Our divorce was amicable. Actually, it was so amicable that we continued living together even after everything was said and done, something that ended up being a problem for all our subsequent partners.

Until Fressia.

Fressia was a stunning, smart woman with light brown eyes, dark skin, and the most vibrant red hair I'd ever seen, and she was head over heels in love with Kat. Their romance was pretty whirlwind since they'd only met a month ago, but I could tell she was it for Kat, so when she said she wanted to move in with her new girlfriend, all I could do was call on Archer and Calux to help us move her stuff.

I was happy for her, and for Archer. They were the people I was closest to in this world, and I was delighted they'd both found people who made them feel loved.

Still, I couldn't quite push away the sliver of envy that dug deeper and deeper into my heart when I watched them being all happy and soft with their partners.

It'd been a long time since I'd been in a relationship, and I missed the cozy comfort that came with having someone in your corner, someone you could depend on. I'd never really found it again after Kat, and I was afraid I never would again.

As if that wasn't enough, my longtime assistant had just put in her notice because she was moving to the other side of the country to be closer to her family.

Carol had been with us since Kat, Archer, and I started our advertising firm. She was our first employee, beginning as a receptionist and PA for all three of us, and then moving on to becoming just my PA as our company grew. After Kat and Archer, she was the person who knew me best, and I was not looking forward to her departure.

All of next week would be about finding a replacement for her, and I was glad I'd have her help in picking the right fit. I didn't think our company would've survived without her support, and there was no one better than her to help pick out her successor.

I fell onto my couch with a groan, rubbing my face against the couch cushion as I removed the band from my ponytail. After rubbing at my scalp to relieve the ache that formed after having my hair tied up all day, I let my arm hang over the side and just lay there for a moment.

Food. I needed food, but I didn't have the will to cook. Cooking for one wasn't fun at all.

Delivery it is. Again , I thought morosely, and still, I didn't move.

God, if Archer or Kat saw me now, they'd kick my ass for being a mopey idiot.

It wasn't their fault. I didn't blame them for finding happiness, and I was glad they'd found their people.

My issues were my own, and I knew intellectually that they hadn't abandoned me. That I could show up at either of their houses right now and they'd feed me and hang out with me and they'd enjoy it.

I knew that, but it didn't matter.

It'd been a long time since I'd felt lonely, and I'd forgotten how bad it could be.

Being a foster kid meant you knew not to get attached, and I hadn't. Not until I met Archer and Kat in middle school.

We'd been thick as thieves from the moment we met, and there had been no secrets between us. Hell, we didn't have many boundaries.

Even when I had to change schools because of changing homes, we'd kept in touch, and once I was in high school, Kat and Archer had saved up so I could stay with them after I left the foster care system.

They'd saved me, and they were my world.

And now they had worlds of their own, of which I was a smaller part than they were of mine. It made sense. Archer had a son and a boyfriend, Kat had a girlfriend, and of course they'd care more about them than their old friend. It was the way it should be.

Maybe what I really, truly wanted was someone to call mine. Someone sweet and dependable, someone who wouldn't leave.

"Stop daydreaming, Jerry," I muttered into the cushions, then heaved myself up. "And now I'm talking to myself. Just great."

I should get a pet. A pet was like a roommate, right? And I could talk to a pet, cuddle with them. It wasn't anywhere close to finding a romantic partner, but with Carol leaving and Archer working less to focus on his family, I needed to make work a priority.

I could get a dog. I could even bring them into work. I could take the dog on walks on my lunch break, or have my PA do it if I was busy. Dogs were good judges of character, weren't they? I might even let them sit in on the interviews to pick the new PA.

Tomorrow. I'd go to the animal shelter tomorrow.

Placing a delivery order, I grabbed a quick shower and changed into sleepwear just as the doorbell rang.

Paying for the food, I brought it back to the kitchen, then ate out of the boxes as I looked up the closest animal shelters. Some even had pages or websites on social media with short bios of the animals they had available for adoption, and I spent almost an hour scrolling through dog pics and falling in love with all of them.

Choosing a dog might be a tougher decision than I'd expected.