13. Your New Dating Advisors
Your New Dating Advisors
LUKE
L uke sat on the edge of his bed, his fist wrapped around the strap of his backpack, trying to work up the courage to leave his room.
He wasn’t sure how he’d slept last night after that frightening encounter with Azroth.
The only thing he could think of was that he’d passed out from exhaustion.
It had been a long day, and then he’d been worn out from shock.
Demons.
He was living in a house full of demons.
His brain didn’t want to believe it. Prior to now, he wasn’t sure he’d even believed in God, let alone demons, Heaven, and Hell.
But…demons.
He’d seen the red eyes, talons, horns, and wings. Azroth’s wings had been enormous, spanning the entire width of the library. Did the others look like him? Or were all the demons different?
Luke dug his elbow into his knee and dropped his forehead into his hand. Why was he even wondering about something like that? What did it matter how they appeared? He needed to get out of there, right?
Right?
Except what he’d said to Azroth was the truth.
They had been nice to him. They were the best roommates he’d ever had.
Each of them had been thoughtful and funny.
No one had threatened him or made him feel unsafe.
Azroth even sent those crows to watch over him.
Did leaving the house mean he would never see Atticus and the rest of the murder again?
Okay, the crows had been spying on him for the demons, but that didn’t mean they’d had to protect him.
What should he do now?
Well, the important thing was leaving his room and going to school.
His first class of the day wasn’t for nearly two hours, but he was afraid to leave his room because that meant he could encounter one of the demons.
It was a long walk from the top of the house to the front door.
He wasn’t too proud to admit that he’d checked out his window to see if there was a way to climb to the ground using the different roofs, but with his luck, he’d break his neck climbing out his window.
No, he had to be brave.
They hadn’t tried to kill him, and he’d been living in the house for several weeks.
It wasn’t likely they’d try now. Besides, if he moved quickly and quietly, he might be able to escape without anyone noticing him.
Demons were like vampires, right? They probably slept during the day and were awake at night.
After telling himself that ridiculous lie, Luke slung his bag onto his shoulder and stood up on trembling legs.
His breathing was ragged as he crossed the room and tiptoed down the stairs, skipping the one that creaked the worst. He clenched his teeth, pulled his door open, and screamed when he was greeted by the sight of Azroth on the other side.
Luke fell backward on the stairs, hitting his elbow on the railing and knocking his head on one of the steps. Stars exploded in front of his eyes, but after his vision cleared, he found the demon was still standing there with a weary frown on his lips.
“I even came here in my human form so I wouldn’t scare you,” Azroth stated in a disgusted voice.
“S-sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to be there. I thought the hallway would be empty.”
Azroth’s frown eased a bit. “Oh. That’s a good point. Forgive me.”
Luke blinked at him for a second, his brain still trying to comprehend that the demon had apologized to him. “ Um …last night…you…you told me you’re a demon, right? I didn’t dream that.”
“Correct.”
Luke swallowed hard. “And the others…”
“Demons as well.” Azroth took a deep breath and released it. “That’s what I’ve come to discuss with you. Do you have a few minutes to chat before you leave for class?”
“I…um…” Luke stammered. He wasn’t sure his heart or brain could take another “chat” with the demon. His thoughts were shattered glass already, and he was sure he’d never be able to piece them together. Was Azroth trying to grind what remained to powder?
Sadly, the demon didn’t wait for an answer.
“Let’s talk in your room.” He took a step forward, and Luke loudly clambered to his feet. As he tried to adjust his bag on his shoulder, the strap ripped, but it didn’t tumble to the ground. Azroth’s hand shot out, and he caught it, pulling it the rest of the way from Luke.
“Hm. This ripped. I’ll mend it while we talk,” he announced, and Luke’s brain tapped out. The demon was scary and threatening, but also he was fixing Luke’s backpack. Nothing in this world would ever make sense again.
All he could do was climb the stairs with the demon trailing behind him.
When he reached the attic, he stepped aside, allowing the demon to enter.
Azroth’s attention was on the battered bag as a glowing black thread darted here and there across the thing.
He wasn’t just mending the torn strap, but also the spot where the zipper was tearing from the bag and the hole that was steadily growing in the bag’s bottom.
After less than a minute, Azroth handed the bag to Luke, and the thing looked brand-new.
“Whoa…” He exhaled. He stumbled to the bed and sat heavily on the edge of the mattress as he inspected the bag. “Th-thank you. That’s amazing.”
“It was nothing. I startled you, causing you to rip the bag. It was only fitting that I repair it.” Azroth replied.
Luke looked up in time to see Azroth wave a hand at the empty spot across from the bed.
A black leather high-back chair similar to what was in the library appeared in a curl of black and red smoke.
With a regal air, the demon sat in the chair and crossed his left leg over his right knee. His elbows rested on the arms of the chair, and he folded his hands in his lap. “I wish to discuss our living arrangement.”
Gulp…
“Do I need to leave today?”
“Not as long as we can come to an amicable living arrangement.”
“Oh.”
Azroth lifted a hand and motioned to Luke. “The point of renting a room to you was to relieve some boredom.”
“You were bored? I would never have guessed that demons could get bored.”
A heavy sigh escaped Azroth, and his head slumped like a wilted flower. “Try existing for eons and see how well you avoid boredom.”
“Oh, that’s a good point,” Luke murmured, talking mostly to himself.
Azroth’s face scrunched up slightly and added in a low tone, “Not to mention, we’re technically not supposed to be here.”
“Huh? Really?”
Azroth huffed and motioned a bit wildly with one hand.
“It’s not our fault, but rather the fault of the people who summon demons.
People want to cut corners or get revenge, so they summon a demon to do a job, saving them from getting their hands dirty.
” He paused to roll his eyes, and Luke had to swallow a giggle.
It was clear Azroth felt these “little jobs” were so beneath him.
“Naturally, any request requires payment, and most summoners don’t read the fine print.
More often than not, we take the payment after the job is done, but then there’s no one left to send us back to Hell. ”
“And you can’t return on your own?”
The demon slowly arched one thin, sculpted eyebrow at Luke. “Would you?”
“Ah, true.” It was an excellent point, and it actually enlightened Luke about some interesting workings of the demon world. If you didn’t arrange a payment that didn’t steal your own life away, any job you got the demons to do for you would kill you and probably take your soul.
But it triggered another, darker and scarier thought.
“ Um …one small question: the time I asked Tog to grab me a soft drink from the fridge…”
A noise escaped Azroth, and his lips twitched as if he were fighting a smile. “No, that isn’t the kind of request that would result in you selling your soul or losing your life.”
Luke released a tremendous sigh of relief and doubled over, his head suddenly lighter and dizzy. “Oh, thank God.”
Azroth sniffed. “He had nothing to do with that. If you had a request that required a more substantial payment, such as your soul, you would be offered a proper contract to sign so that the agreement was binding. In the past several years, we’ve been modeling our contracts after Apple’s service contracts. ”
“Holy shit! No one reads those.”
Azroth’s grin turned positively wicked. “I know.”
A shiver ran through Luke. Good reminder—never underestimate Azroth or the others, no matter how nice they seem.
“We’ve gotten a bit off topic. The point is that we were bored and decided that we would have a contest. We wanted to see which of us could scare you first. As I’m sure you guessed, I won.”
Luke nodded. Azroth had most definitely won that contest.
“We figured after the contest was over, you’d be dead or have left the house. It never occurred to us that you might want to stay.”
“It’s a nice house,” Luke said meekly.
Azroth stared at him with unblinking red eyes for a moment, then nodded. “True. This is a lovely house, and it appears to like you as well, since it hasn’t attempted to eat you.”
Luke shivered. “That’s a possibility?”
“Very much. The house is alive and has a mind of its own. It’s just that the rest of us are stronger than the house, so it obeys our wishes…mostly.”
“Good to know,” Luke choked out. The house…could eat him. Lovely. Not something he wanted to think about when he tried to fall asleep. But as long as the house liked him, there were no problems.
“After some discussion, we’ve come to the agreement that we enjoy having you here as well.”
“What?” That single question came out as a squeak. Some strange things had left Azroth’s mouth, but that had to be the most shocking. “You enjoy having me here?”
“Yes. You’re an interesting human with a fun sense of humor, patience, and a very nice brain. You’re smarter than most of the humans we’ve encountered. That’s…pleasant.” Azroth finished with a little sigh, making Luke feel as if he were a breath of fresh air in a stale room.