Fool Me Twice (Redwater Demons #2)

Chapter 1

1

A nd Auntie Ez!” Desi continues excitedly. “Did you know that sharks don’t have baby teeth and adult teeth like humans do? They just keep growing teeth! Thousands of them!”

“Shocking and disturbing,” Ez says, and she frowns across the picnic table at Cass and JJ. “Seriously, she’s four. Why are you teaching her marine biology?”

“We’re not!” Cass protests. “We just got her a book of fun facts about the ocean, and she just happened to, you know, enjoy it.”

“Like, really enjoy it,” JJ says, throwing Ez a somewhat chagrined look. “Desi, did you tell Auntie Ez about the whales?”

Desi slams her hands down on the table, delighted. “The whales sing! Did you know that the whales sing, Auntie Ez?”

“I did know that one,” Ez says obligingly, taking one of Desi’s little hands and squeezing it. “Do you want to hear them? There are recordings online.”

Desi’s eyes light up. “Whale songs!”

Looking amused, Obie holds out a hand. Instantly, an image of scientists lowering an underwater microphone into choppy blue waves blossoms to life above his palm?—one of Obie’s famed memoryscapes, pulled directly from his head. “Or we can listen to them right here. I spent a few weeks on a research vessel back in the eighties, just for fun?—I can show you some of the scientists’ original recordings.”

Desi gasps. “Science boat! Yay!”

Ez fights back a smile as Desi clambers over the table and into Obie’s lap, poking at the memoryscape like it’s a touchscreen. Right now, the five of them are having lunch at Lakeside, the leisurely stretch of grass and sand that’s squashed between the town proper and the small lake that borders the forest to the west.

It’s also one of the biggest locations for the Redwater Food Truck Association, as the delectable spread of tortilla espanola, bibimbap, and gulab jamun piled on their table can attest. Cass’s shiny new boyfriend seems particularly enthusiastic about his samosas and churros con chocolate, and Cass keeps giving JJ the most adoring of heart eyes over his currywurst.

They’re disgustingly in love. Ez is kind of jealous. Not of Cass or JJ, of course, but of their little romance subplot in general. They might all be glamoured beyond recognition right now?—perks of Cass and JJ being fugitives from the Chain and the Sanctum?—but even though Cass’s current dark brown skin, tightly coiled black hair, and deep brown irises are closer to Ez’s usual appearance than his own, she’s pretty sure half of the food truck operators can recognize him by his heart eyes alone. “So homeschooling is going well?” Ez prompts.

“Definitely,” Cass says, smiling fondly as Desi exclaims over the dolphins in Obie’s memoryscape. “We found a preschool curriculum that we like and are… allegedly using, but we’re just making sure all the historical inaccuracies stay out of the lessons.”

“I still can’t believe they teach that Columbus discovered the Americas,” Obie grumbles. “That was never a thing.”

“That’s good,” Ez says. “About the homeschooling, I mean. Not the genocidal maniac. And, uh…”

She trails off, trying to think of another suitable topic of discussion. Not for the first time recently, she comes up blank, and she takes a hasty bite of her tortilla to fill the awkward pause.

It’s beyond strange, really. Less than four months ago, Cass was a proud bachelor who had neither the time nor the desire for a partner or a child. Now, though, Desi is undoubtedly the star of most of his conversations, and while most of his Desi stories are ridiculously cute, they usually don’t require much input from Ez and Obie.

And it’s even worse when JJ watches Desi so Cass can have some “adult time” with Ez and Obie. Then, Cass tends to spend a disproportionate amount of their hangouts waxing poetic about his boyfriend. Ez is also accommodating of these tangents, because JJ is actually kind of hilarious for a human?—and a former demon hunter, no less?—but once they’ve exhausted the topics of Cass’s Daughter and Cass’s Boyfriend, it’s like the entire well runs dry.

What did they talk about before Desi and JJ stumbled into their lives? Ez can barely even remember. They’d reminisce over old memories and bicker over questionable movies, of course, and Obie would unsuccessfully try to cajole them into joining his bowling league, and Ez would rant about her latest spellcasting experiments??—

But, in the end, their conversations usually drifted towards Cass’s favorite subject: planning their next campaign. Deciding which dictators needed to be toppled or terrorist regimes needed to be demolished. Now, though, Cass is adamant that he’s not touching another war for a long time?—maybe even forever. Originally, it was just a temporary hiatus until Desi grew up and JJ?—the sole human among them?—passed away in sixty to eighty years, but now…

Obie’s voice is quiet. “How about you, JJ? How’s everything going for you?”

JJ pauses with a churro halfway to his mouth. “It’s… going. Demonically enhanced abilities feel eerily similar to Sanctum enchantments, but not having to eat or sleep nearly as much is definitely a change.” He winces. “And so is the fact that my spellcasting is worse than ever. I guess human magic doesn’t like its practitioners to have half-demon souls.”

Cass ghosts his fingers up JJ’s spine. JJ’s shoulders relax the slightest bit. “We’re adjusting together,” Cass says firmly. “Demon magic apparently isn’t a fan of half-human souls, either, so we’re working through our spellcasting woes side by side. And JJ is excellent at reminding me about pesky human things like drinking water and sleeping regularly, so we’re surviving.”

JJ puts a hand on Cass’s knee and squeezes lightly. Obie’s lips turn down in the corners. “I really wish I’d seen anything like this before,” he says, frustration twisting through the words. “What’s the point in being around for fifteen thousand years if you still haven’t seen everything under the sun?”

JJ blanches. “Fifteen thousand? I thought you were closer to five thousand!”

“He changes it depending on the day,” Ez needles, nudging Obie in the ribs. “I think even he forgets how old he is sometimes.”

Obie rolls his eyes. “Sure, make fun of the senior citizen,” he says, and his gaze drifts back to Cass and JJ. “The lack of documented cases definitely makes it hard to extrapolate forward, though. I?—I don’t even know how long you two are going to live. I’d have to assume maybe a few centuries for both of you, but…” He trails off. “That’s really just guesswork.”

JJ twitches, his eyes flickering to Cass. Ez’s chest hurts. She knows that JJ doesn’t regret agreeing to the soul bond?—it was the only way to save Cass’s life after the Sanctum tore his soul apart two weeks ago, after all?—but none of them were expecting Cass to haul off and reverse the connection at the last minute, accidentally mixing their souls together.

JJ was willing to die to save Cass. He just didn’t realize how much Cass was willing to sacrifice to save him. Even though reversing the bond was Cass’s decision, Ez knows that his current trials as a half-human?—and his potentially shortened lifespan?—have been weighing heavily on JJ.

But, at the very least, it looks like JJ will have a few hundred years to come to terms with it. “That’s not a bad deal,” Ez says, nodding at JJ. “Cass and I have both been around for about two and a half centuries. Not too long, not too short. As long as you keep yourself busy, the years can fly by.”

“And it’s so easy to stay busy with streaming services nowadays,” Obie adds. “I will readily admit that I dislike most things about modern society, but streaming services aren’t one of them.”

“I meant keeping busy in a way that gives your life purpose,” Ez drawls, “but sure. Let’s go with that.”

JJ snorts, rolling his eyes. “Well, for now,” he says, reaching over the table to pick up Desi and put her safely back in front of her churros con chocolate, “we have all the purpose we need right here.”

Cass’s smile is soft. Ez’s heart twinges. It’s not jealousy this time, not guilt or remorse, but??—

But it’s more like homesickness. Nostalgia. Because she, Cass, and Obie have been following each other into danger for two hundred years, freeing humans from oppression and making a difference in the world, but now??—

Now, Cass seems content just to stay home and take care of his little family. JJ is struggling a bit with the transition to civilian life?—twelve years of demon-hunting indoctrination are difficult to overcome?—but he’s rapidly settling into a packed schedule of playing dragons with Desi and learning how to cook. Even Obie seems to be enjoying their vacation from warfare, focusing on his bowling league and his garden and his myriad streaming services.

Ez… is not. She’s been trying to distract herself with a few spellcasting experiments?—deactivating Sanctum enchantments, healing corrosion burns, the usual?—but it’s hard to concentrate without an external deadline. And she loves these twice-weekly get-togethers the five of them have?—really, she does?—but part of her almost wishes she didn’t have to see how much things have changed.

Although Desi, of course, is always a gem. She slurps down the last dregs of her hot chocolate, grinning with a wide brown mustache. “Ooh, Uncle Obie! Do you think I could go on a science boat, too?”

“I don’t see why not,” Obie says.

“Hooray!”

Cass shoots Obie a look. “Maybe when you’re just a little bit older, sweetie,” he says, ruffling Desi’s hair. “Maybe we could start with a regular boat first? Go on a little vacation and??—?”

Abruptly, Ez catches a glimpse of purple-gold in her peripheral vision. She whirls around to see an enormous rift opening at the far end of Lakeside, right between Currywurst To Go and Gimme Tortilla. Twenty feet away, there’s a man with glowing hands and a sinister expression, chanting in a decidedly ominous way??—

Summoning a demon from Tamaros. Summoning a demon from Tamaros in the middle of a damn civilian area.

Oh, thank Nostringvadha. Finally, some action, Ez thinks, and she drops the glamours as she and Obie leap to their feet.