Chaol
Now they were surrounded by demons, and the cloak wasn’t going to be enough to hide Daniel when they all came out to play in the darkness.
“Not much further,” he said.
“Where are we going?” Daniel panted.
“Somewhere safe.” It would be easier to explain when they weren’t running at top speed.
The squat building was within sight when Daniel’s hand jerked in his. Chaol turned as Daniel shouted in alarm. A demon, half-blended with the shadows, had sunk its claws into his cloak. Daniel jerked free, leaving gouges in the fabric.
“Come on, come on,” Chaol urged.
They stopped in front of the little stone building with a slanted roof.
Windows were carved into the walls, shielded by wooden shutters.
When Chaol touched the door handle, it glowed red and allowed him to turn it.
He all but shoved Daniel inside the dark room ahead of him and slammed the door shut behind them.
Daniel’s quick breaths were the only thing that broke the silence for a few moments. His eyes were wide, because he couldn’t see in the absolute darkness of the room the way Chaol could.
“Where are we?” he whispered.
“Hang on, let me turn on a light.” He brushed past Daniel to touch the fireplace, calling forth the hellfire below the surface.
It was a neat trick. Demons like him couldn’t control the hellfire, but there were access points like this throughout Hell.
Like the geyser where he’d found the rybboc and estrith resting, hellfire burbled out of the ground all over the place.
In places like this where a house was built around it, it acted as a convenient source of light.
Daniel blinked in the warm, reddish glow, turning to take in their surroundings.
The home wasn’t a large one; it was only a single room.
The air held a chill, because he hadn’t been there in so long.
There was a bed on the far wall, layered with furs, and a chest at the foot of it made from scaled demon skin.
A bookshelf loaded with leather-bound books and scrolls stood on the right wall, and a worn rug covered the stone floor.
In the corner beside Daniel, a small table with a lone chair gathered dust.
It wasn’t much, but it was all he had now.
Something outside tap-tap-tapped on the window shutter, and Daniel whirled around, inching away from it.
“Don’t worry, they can’t come in,” Chaol said, gripping Daniel’s shoulders from behind. “This place is warded. Only I can open the door.”
Daniel looked around again, like he was seeing the place in a new light. “Is this your place?”
“It is. I didn’t actually intend for us to stop here, but needs must.”
Daniel shot him a sly smile. “Didn’t want to let me see where you live?”
Chaol chuckled. “No, it’s not that. I just meant for us to make it out of the city before nightfall.”
Daniel winced. “Yeah, we didn’t account for the homicidal… angel.” His eyes went a little distant, like he was still having trouble wrapping his brain around it. Chaol was, too, honestly. Daniel met his eyes again, stepping closer. “Well, I’m glad I got a chance to see your home.”
Before he could stop himself, Chaol scoffed. “This isn’t my home.”
Daniel tilted his head, brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”
Chaol bit his lip, looking away. He hadn’t meant to open those old wounds. “I—nothing. It’s nothing.”
He tried to turn away, but Daniel caught him by the waist, reeling him back in. Chaol was helpless to resist, letting himself be manhandled.
“Come on. You can tell me.”
Chaol’s throat was dry. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Daniel, staring into the hellfire as he said, “Kalmachs have clans. We live and hunt together.”
Daniel was quiet for a moment. “What happened to yours?”
Desperately, Chaol said, “We don’t have to talk about this. You should rest.”
“Chaol,” Daniel said softly. Had anyone ever said his name with such tenderness?
“Danny,” he pleaded. “Let it go.”
“No. Tell me.” His hands slid around Chaol’s sides to his back, bringing their bodies flush.
He was helpless. Helpless. Soft-spoken words and Daniel’s possessive grip around his waist couldn’t really be enough to break him… could it?
Heaving a sigh, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Daniel’s.
“Years ago, long before you were born, our clan decided they wanted to venture to the surface together. For a little while, it was great. But soon after we arrived on Earth, we started getting picked off one by one. At first we thought we could fight back, but any time we tried to launch an attack, we lost more. Soon, the clan was divided. We could stay and keep fighting, or go back to Hell where we would be safe. The majority voted to stay, so the rest of us stayed, too, because that’s what a clan does.
They stick together. But… we made the wrong choice. I’m the only one that’s left now.”
He didn’t mention Amon. He couldn’t bring himself to drive that wedge between them now that they were finally getting close.
Daniel looked stricken. “What happened? Who was attacking your clan?”
Chaol gave him a flat, morose look until understanding and dread dawned on Daniel’s face.
“Paladins,” Daniel breathed. “It was paladins, wasn’t it?”
Chaol nodded.
“And you still agreed to help me through Hell?” Daniel asked.
“I told you, darkling, it was long before your time.”
“That doesn’t matter! I was a part of the institution that killed your family. Why didn’t you want to kill me on sight?” Daniel tried to pull away, and Chaol caught his arms, guiding them back around his waist where he wanted them.
Chaol smiled ruefully. “You mean besides the fact that you were already dead?”
Daniel angled a flat, unamused look at him. “Yes, besides that.”
“Because you weren’t going into the light,” Chaol said. “You were fighting it. You lit up the moment I mentioned there being another way back to the surface, and you didn’t care what it was. I’ve never met someone as crazy and brave and amazing as you.”
Daniel stared at him in shock, and then lunged toward him, squeezing hard.
It was a hug. Chaol couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged him.
His old clan wasn’t big on affection. They were still demons, after all.
They hunted together, tended to each other’s wounds, and lived together in a cave on the side of a cliff outside of Pandemonium.
No one had ever held him like he was something precious. Like he mattered.
Slowly, he lifted his arms and returned the hug, melting against Daniel’s body and tucking his face in the curve of his neck. He’d move mountains for this human, he realized with awe.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Daniel said in his ear. “I would never do something like that. I’m not one of them anymore, no matter what this stupid ring says.”
“I know,” Chaol said, voice muffled against Daniel’s shoulder.
He raised his head and reluctantly met Daniel’s eyes at last. “Anyway, I left our old home after the rest of the clan was gone. It felt too big and empty to stay there alone. I came to Pandemonium and found this empty little hovel. No one else had claimed it, so I marked it as my own. It doesn’t feel like home, but it’s all I have left. ”
Daniel shook his head. “It’s not all you have left, though, right? You’re going back to the surface to visit friends.”
Right, he’d said that. Now was his chance to come clean about that lie, confess to everything, and see what Daniel thought about his plot for revenge. But the words stuck in his throat, and he nodded dumbly instead.
“And,” Daniel ventured shyly, “you also have me. As a friend, if nothing else.”
Chaol tugged Daniel’s collar aside and thumbed at the reddened mark he’d left on his neck. It should have faded by now, and a satisfied rumble left him at the sight. It was there because Daniel accepted it as a part of himself, the same way the guild ring remained steadfastly on his finger.
“I think we both want more than that.”
Daniel grinned, lifting one hand to cradle Chaol’s jaw. “Yeah. How are you feeling, by the way?”
“Better. I think I’ve mostly recovered from whatever he did—or tried to do.” The aftershocks of pain hadn’t been fun, but they’d faded along with the general weakness. At least whatever he’d done hadn’t been permanent.
“Good.” Daniel brushed Chaol’s cheek with his fingers. “Scared the shit out of me.”
Chaol laid his hand against Daniel’s, turning his head to press a kiss to his wrist. “Me, too.”
But wait. The hand on his cheek was the same one with the guild ring, and he felt no ring there now. Guiding Daniel’s hand away, he peered down at it.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“The ring is gone.”
Daniel followed his gaze to his ring finger, and his lips parted in surprise.
Chaol couldn’t stop the smug smirk from spreading across his face. “Did I call you mine and rearrange your sense of self so thoroughly?”
Daniel’s honey brown eyes met his, and he was surprised by the shock and vulnerability he saw there. “Maybe,” Daniel confessed on a breath. “The paladins would kill me for associating with a demon. Hell, they’ve already tried.”
Chaol growled. “And I thought I was the monster.”
Daniel shook his head bitterly. “They’re not what they used to be. It’s more important to follow orders than to do the right thing now. They’ve forgotten what they’re supposed to stand for.”
“Then it’s good you left them.”
Daniel offered him a weak smile.
Demonic laughter floated in through the cracks in the shutters, but it was distant and inconsequential with the hellfire crackling warmly and Daniel’s body hovering close.
Chaol trailed his hands down his chest, loosening the cloak and inspecting the slashes in the leathery fabric.
He was lucky they hadn’t snagged skin. Removing the cloak, he tossed it over to the table in the corner.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he said.
Daniel grinned, turning away to inspect the bookshelf. He reached for a book and glanced back in question.