25. Never Piss off a Demon #2
The promises rang out from all members of the quartet, but Luke found he didn’t believe a single word they spoke.
Maybe they would change for a little while, but it wouldn’t stick.
The only reason they were trying now was because their asses were on the line.
They didn’t actually see what they were doing as wrong.
Luke clenched his teeth. There were few things he hated more in the world than a bully. He’d heard more than enough slurs in his life just for being gay. They had been happy to single him out for his love of birds and for being poor.
Combine that with the pain and fear Matteo suffered, and Luke found he couldn’t let this go. They’d escaped this time, and maybe they would leave him alone, but wouldn’t they turn their mocking and torment on another innocent person? They would have learned nothing.
Turning away from Azroth, he strolled in front of the four men who’d kidnapped him and Matteo. They looked bad, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in a day or two. They might even argue that this was all a nightmare.
“Don’t kill them,” Luke said firmly.
Shouts and cries went up on all sides, but he ignored them. He returned to Azroth, who was fuming and bristling with barely controlled rage.
“Don’t kill them, but can you scare them?
Make it so they never bully or torment anyone again.
Make them forget about Matteo and me. And I never want to see them at Ravenwood again.
Make them…go somewhere else. I don’t care where.
” He paused and tipped his face up to the demon, a smirk playing on his lips.
“Can you do this, or are you not up to the challenge?”
Azroth’s anger fizzled in a flash, and he grinned at Luke. He booped the tip of his nose with a talon. “You’re such a sneaky little human. I knew you were perfect for us. Scaring can be just as much fun as killing.”
The fear and tension that had nearly choked Luke unwound, and his legs almost gave out under him. He’d been afraid the demons wouldn’t agree to his request and the weight of four dead students would have crushed him, even if these were his own would-be murderers.
“Luke is right!” Azroth announced to the other demons. “Killing is easy. Keeping them alive for a lengthy torment is far more difficult and requires all our talents. Let us prove our skills haven’t gone rusty.”
Before Luke could state that he didn’t want to see what they did, Azroth waved a hand at him and the world went dark.
Luke awoke and sat up to find that he was in his own bed at the mansion. Thin sunlight leaked through the one window in his room as the sun had just started to rise. A low murmur drew his attention as Matteo shifted next to him, stretching his arm across Luke’s lap as he slept.
Was it all a dream?
Had he fallen asleep with Matteo after they’d had sex, and he’d suffered a nightmare?
“It wasn’t a dream.”
Luke’s head snapped up, and he found Azroth seated in the same high-back black leather chair he always sat in when they were in the library.
The demon was in his human form, wearing a tidy charcoal gray suit.
On the palm of his left hand, he balanced a delicate china cup and saucer, as if he’d been sitting there enjoying some tea while he watched over Luke and Matteo.
“What?” Luke whispered.
Azroth smiled. “You don’t have to whisper. He won’t wake until I allow him to do so.”
“Oh. But…what you were saying…”
“It wasn’t a dream,” Azroth repeated. He paused to take a sip of his beverage.
He motioned with the cup and saucer as if he were intending to place them on a nonexistent table, but as soon as he released them, they disappeared.
“Those four fools who dared to attack you have been dealt with. They are still alive,” he tacked on as Luke drew in a breath.
“Their memories don’t contain you or Matteo, but they are very vivid about the consequences of what happens when they harm others. They are not quite as sane?—”
Luke held up a hand and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Stop. I can’t. I…I don’t want to know. Even if they deserved it and more, I’ll still feel guilty.
I don’t care if that makes me a coward.” He could all too easily imagine Azroth and the others turning the brains of his attackers to useless pudding.
It wasn’t so much that they didn’t remember Luke.
It was more likely that they didn’t recall their own names.
“You’re not a coward. You are a very good person, Luke. Never doubt that. Too good for the likes of us, but we don’t care. You are stuck with us.”
That didn’t feel like a bad thing. Luke had found a home and a strange friendship with these demons that he had no desire to lose, even after last night’s insanity. Maybe they were a little overprotective, but they also listened to him. And he liked that they were just as protective of Matteo.
“The reason I am here is Matteo.”
Shit. Maybe I’d spoken too soon.
Azroth grinned, and Luke glared at him.
“You need to stop reading my thoughts.”
The demon chuckled. “Then stop thinking so loudly.”
“Whatever.”
“We will never harm Matteo unless that is your wish. My concern is that he currently remembers last night. However, I can wipe his memory, making it so that he believes you and he fell asleep after making love. He won’t even remember those college students at all.”
Luke stared at his handsome face relaxed in peaceful sleep. It felt kinder to take away those horrible memories. Let their first date be unmarked by anything negative.
Except he wasn’t a fan of mucking around in Matteo’s mind. It wasn’t right to change his memories, even if it was done out of kindness.
And what about the demons? If Luke continued to live with the demons, it was only a matter of time until there was a slipup and Matteo encountered one of them or some other magical weirdness. Would he have to get Azroth to change his memory again?
Unless the demons intended to leave him now…
“The competition is over. Matteo and I are dating. We’re officially boyfriends. At least for now. What happens now? Do I need to move out? Will you wipe my memory of ever having met you?”
Azroth blinked several times, and his lips parted, but no sound slipped out. It seemed he hadn’t considered that yet. “Oh. Yes. I’d forgotten about that. The game. Well…” He licked his lips, appearing to stall for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. “Do you wish to move out and forget about us?”
“No,” Luke replied without a breath of hesitation.
Azroth relaxed in an instant. “Ah, well then, there’s no need for you to move out. You still have much more schooling to complete, and you are an excellent fit in our little home. We can find other ways to amuse ourselves.”
“ With my help,” Luke added, bringing a smile to Azroth’s handsome face.
“Yes, of course. But Matteo?”
Luke sighed and gazed at the sleeping man.
He adored Matteo and looked forward to dating him, learning everything he could about him.
But the demons were going to continue to be part of his life.
They’d become a strange family. Could he date Matteo and not share that part of himself with the man he was falling for? It wasn’t fair to either of them.
“I don’t want him to forget. I want to tell him about you and the other demons. You need to meet,” Luke said.
Azroth stared at him in shock yet again. “Oh…okay.”
“But…he may not take the news all that well. If he can’t adjust, can you tweak his memory then? Not hurt him, though.”
The demon waved a hand dismissively prior to rising from his chair.
“Yes, yes. That’s fine. Not everyone can deal with the idea of demons as well as you have.
We understand. And we promise, no matter what, we won’t ever harm Matteo…
unless you say we can.” He strolled to the stairs.
“I’ll let you both get another hour of sleep.
You will awaken naturally with memories fully intact. ”
Azroth had barely finished speaking when Luke flopped down onto his pillow and drifted off into blissful sleep.