Chaol
Until Daniel.
He’d meant what he said right before he stepped out of the cave.
Daniel was his. Not just for now, not just to get him through Hell.
He had no idea what it meant or why he felt this way, but it was like an itch he couldn’t scratch.
He couldn’t deny it. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Daniel would find it strange to sleep on his shoulder.
It was instinct to sit beside him and offer him comfort.
To physically place himself between Daniel and any other threats that waited out there in the dark.
For now, his goal was the same. Get to the surface with Daniel. He would figure everything else out later.
Maybe one day. But not today.
“My darkling,” Chaol whispered into his hair. “You should wake. We have another long day of walking ahead of us.”
Daniel groaned. “Tell me yesterday was a very bad dream. Tell me I’m not really in Hell.”
“Yesterday was a very bad dream. You’re not really in Hell.”
Daniel blinked his honey brown eyes open and looked at him. It was too sleepy to be called a glare. “Dick.”
Chaol snorted out a laugh.
Daniel didn’t move as he observed their positions—his weight on Chaol and Chaol holding his hand aloft. “Why are you holding my hand? Why are we snuggling? Did I really manage to sleep through the night?”
“I was looking at your ring, I was trying to make you more comfortable, and what can I say? I make for an incredible pillow.” Honesty seemed to be the best policy for a holy man like Daniel, but too much honesty might sway him against Chaol.
He couldn’t tell him about Amon, but he wanted Daniel to trust him.
Somehow, Daniel belonged to him, and in order to truly make Daniel his, Chaol first needed to understand these possessive feelings for himself.
He’d never felt this way before, and he couldn’t risk pushing Daniel away by demanding too much too fast.
Daniel’s cheeks darkened. “You’re not so bad, I guess.”
Not a ringing endorsement, but he’d take it. It was a step up from ‘you know what? It doesn’t matter.’ He didn’t know exactly what he’d said to set Daniel off yesterday, but he’d like to avoid it happening again. Enduring the human’s anger had left him feeling wrong-footed and uneasy.
Daniel’s eyes fell to the ring on his finger, and a complicated frown crossed his face. Chaol recalled what the wraith had said last night about Daniel being a murderer. Paladins didn’t kill humans, but the statement had been pretty clear.
“Can I ask you something?” he ventured.
Daniel met his eyes. Did he realize they were still snuggled together? Did he mind? “Sure.”
“Last night, that thing called you a murderer. Why?”
Daniel’s expression shuttered, and he looked toward the dying embers of the fire. “I killed someone not long ago. A paladin. I’d already left the guild. I was patrolling with the Sentinels—”
“The who?”
“The Sentinels. They’re a—new group of demon hunters, sort of. Like the paladins but better.”
There was a new group of demon hunters on the surface? Why did Daniel say they were better than the paladins? “Better how?”
Daniel huffed. “Do you want to hear about the guy I murdered or not?”
Chaol laughed. “Fine. Stick a pin in that question and we’ll come back to it.”
“Sure. So, they don’t like us, because we’re former paladins who have left. Well, among other reasons. But they think we’re monsters—”
“Just for leaving their precious cult?” It wasn’t that hard to believe, really. The fanaticism ran deep behind those holy walls. Chaol had chosen to live across the country from them during his last stint on the surface for a reason.
Daniel smacked him in chest. “No more interruptions.”
“Sorry, sorry.” He’d have flayed the skin from any human who dared to lay a hand on him like that in the past. Now, he felt a curl of warmth in his chest for it. Daniel was comfortable enough to admonish him. That had to be a good thing.
“Anyway, we met a paladin squad on the street one night. There were three of us and six of them. It turned into a fight, and Casey—the guy that the wraith looked like—drew his sword to stab my friend. So, I drew mine and beat him to it.” Daniel squirmed in his arms, so Chaol tightened them until he subsided with a huff.
“I didn’t—mean to kill him. I just didn’t want him to hurt Alex. ” Guilt threaded through his tone.
“You’ll hear no judgment from me, darkling. I’ve killed a lot more than one in my lifetime.”
Daniel snorted weakly. “I don’t know if that helps, really, but thanks. He was just the first, anyway. We killed a few more the night we rescued the Alvarez kids.”
“Oh?” They should really get moving, but there was no way Chaol was interrupting him if he was willing to share more about who he’d been before he’d died.
“Yeah. I wasn’t directly responsible for any of those, but we…” His gaze went distant, and his lips parted.
“Danny?” It was the first time he’d called Daniel by name. He liked the shape of it in his mouth.
“That was the night I died, I think. But I don’t remember how. What happened when we went in there? I remember… Ashmedai sucked the life out of somebody. We all stood by and watched.”
“Dark, indeed.” That did sound like a sin eater, so Chaol quietly rearranged his opinions. It wasn’t that he’d ever thought Daniel was lying, exactly, but embellishing to make himself seem less scared of Hell? Maybe.
Daniel sighed, looking frustrated.
“More will come to you in time,” Chaol said, squeezing him gently.
Daniel settled once more against his shoulder. “Truthfully, I’m not sure I want to know. Some things might not need to be relived, y’know?”
“Perhaps. I don’t think you’ll get much of a choice, though. If it happens, it happens.”
Daniel hummed, going quiet for a while. His gaze drifted to the sickly looking trees outside their shelter and the burgeoning light in the sky.
“I don’t suppose Hell has coffee.”
“I think a lot of demons would be less interested in leaving if it did.”
Daniel laughed as he pushed himself upright, and Chaol wanted to bottle the sound and keep it with him forever.
What the fuck was happening to him? A single human shouldn’t be able to get under his skin like this. It was like Daniel had already burrowed in and planted roots.
Chaol stood, leading Daniel out of the cave and stretching. The wraith’s remains were scattered through the trees where Chaol had tossed them, stinking like sulfur. Daniel stared at the pieces for a long, inscrutable moment.
“You did that for me,” he finally said.
“I did. It would have hurt you.” He would kill anything that threatened Daniel. He didn’t have to understand that to know it was true.
Daniel’s golden brown eyes met his, and Chaol felt flayed open, like Daniel had the key that unlocked his deepest, most hidden chambers. A furrow appeared between his brows, and his teeth sank into his bottom lip.
“Do you…?” he started.
Chaol resigned himself to his fate. Whatever Daniel asked, he would answer honestly. A part of him was even eager for it. Ask me. Ask me so I can tell you you’re mine.
Daniel shook himself, turning away with reddened cheeks. “Never mind. Um. We should get moving, right? We’re wasting—daylight? Is that what this is?”
Chaol tried to quell his disappointment. Of course Daniel wouldn’t ask. Daniel didn’t even know what to ask. Besides, it was probably better to keep his confusing feelings to himself. If Daniel knew how Chaol felt, he could use that against him. “Technically, yes.”
“Why isn’t it just dark all the time? Demons prefer darkness, right?” Daniel asked as they fell into step together.
“To mark the passing of time? Because the sun rises no matter where you are? I assume Heaven also has a night, although I’m certain demons don’t come out during it there.”
“Eh, I’m undecided on all of that, anyway,” Daniel admitted, scuffing his boot on a smooth bit of rock.
“Oh? The holy man doesn’t believe in Heaven? The reaper showed you the light, didn’t she?”
Daniel sighed. “She did, yeah. I mean, I believe it exists. I’m just not sure I’d ever want to actually go there.”
“Why is that?” Chaol said.
He blew out another heavy breath. “It’s hard to believe in, uh, Him when the people who profess to worship Him are the ones doing all the horrible things to me and the people I care about.”
Chaol tilted his head. What exactly was going on up there with the guild?
They’d always been fairly cult-like, but he never would have imagined that they would go to such extremes as to drive their own people away.
Daniel was clearly a good person. He should have fit right in with all the other do-gooders in the guild.
Instead, they were targeting him and others like him. Had they really fallen so far?
It was only a matter of time before they came across another demon.
Hell was full of them, after all. Chaol heard them before he saw them, their voices breaking through the otherwise quiet forest. He paused, taking Daniel’s wrist to pull him to a stop as he listened intently.
Daniel froze, his slightly wide eyes staring at Chaol, waiting.
They were speaking one of the common Hell languages.
“…lost two good pullers during the breach,” one was saying, his voice deep and guttural.
“Pullers! I lost an arm, you swine!” another said, her voice higher, like a whistling wind.
“What is it?” Daniel breathed. “What are they?”
“They’re talking about a breach,” Chaol said. “Stay here. I want to go and talk to them. Maybe they know something about all the gates being shut.”
“What?” he whispered, looking around wildly. “You can’t just leave me here!”
“You’ll be fine. I won’t be far. If I can hear them, I’ll be able to hear you. Just, y’know, if something attacks you, scream and I’ll come running.”
Daniel looked affronted. “It’s funny you think I’d do anything else.”
Chaol clapped him on the arm, fighting to hide his amusement. “Good man. I’ll be right back.”
“Chaol. Chaol!” he hissed.