Chaol #2
“Sure, go ahead,” Chaol told him. He had nothing to hide. Most of them weren’t written in a language Daniel would be able to understand, but he didn’t mind telling him what they were about, if he really wanted to know.
Sure enough, Daniel opened one of the books and thumbed through the pages in confusion. “What language is this?”
“One of many demon languages. We have six hundred sixty-six languages, not including all the human languages we’ve picked up over the years.”
Daniel looked at him in surprise. “Seriously?”
“Of course. Hell is a big place. A lot of the demons have evolved around their own kind, and they developed their own languages along the way. At some point, they started trying to communicate with other species, and the languages spread.” Chaol went to the bed and sat down on the edge, facing Daniel.
“Someday, when you’re a demon, we can come back here and explore the city. You might like the library.”
“Library?” Daniel repeated, sliding the book back into place and drifting over to flop down beside Chaol. “You’re kidding. There’s a demon library?”
Chaol chuckled. “We aren’t all mindless beasts. We have languages and history and culture just like you humans do.”
“I guess I never really thought about it before. It makes sense. I mean, okay, Ashmedai doesn’t seem like the literary type, but I’ve met halflings and leviathans and behemoths who obviously didn’t just toil in the muck down here.
Talon and Shadrach are even kind of… refined, I guess you could say.
I guess I thought it was just because they’d been on Earth for a long time, but it makes sense that they’ve just always been that way. ”
Leviathans. There it was. Daniel knew leviathans with connections to the guild. Were they the same leviathans who’d had a hand in killing Amon?
“Talon and Shadrach,” Chaol repeated, trying to sound idly curious. “They’re friends of yours?”
“Yeah, do you know them?”
“I don’t think so.” But he would. Would Daniel hate him for killing his friends? Was he willing to find out?
Daniel went on, not noticing Chaol’s distraction. “I guess I’ve always thought of Hell as being a singular sort of place where sinners go. It never occurred to me that the demons who lived down here did more than torture them.”
“It would get pretty boring if that was all we did,” Chaol remarked, then gestured to the bed. “Why don’t you try to get some rest? If we get an early start tomorrow, we might be able to reach the transformation pool before dark tomorrow.”
Daniel’s gaze fell to the furs for a moment before returning to Chaol’s, his brow furrowing with uncertainty. “What exactly happens at the pool, anyway? How does it work?”
Chaol scratched his jaw. “I’ve never seen it done, truthfully. I know you have to submerge yourself. I don’t know what happens after that, exactly. And…” He stopped, hesitating. He didn’t want to scare Daniel, but he also wanted him to be prepared.
“Tell me.”
Chaol sighed. “I hear it hurts. Like thousands of years of torture condensed into a single moment.”
Daniel paled, lowering his eyes. “I kind of thought it might. Doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you can do without some kind of consequence.”
Chaol reached for him, threading their fingers together, and Daniel focused on their hands.
“Just remember that it’s temporary. A moment of pain for an eternity with—” With me, he almost said, but maybe that wouldn’t be the solace he wanted it to be.
They barely knew each other, and Chaol, for one, was still keeping a pretty big secret.
Maybe Daniel wouldn’t want him when all was said and done.
Warm, honey brown eyes met his. “With you?”
Unfamiliar nerves jangled within him. He’d never felt this way before. “If you want.”
“Do you want?”
Chaol fought down a smile. “I told you, you’re mine. I don’t think any amount of time is going to change that. A hundred years from now, you’ll still be mine. I just… didn’t want to get ahead of myself. This is still new. You might get tired of me.”
Daniel huffed out a bright laugh. “Get tired of you? I doubt it. This might’ve scared me if I hadn’t seen my brother just go through something very similar. And trust me, we’ve got it easy. He and Ashmedai could barely have a conversation in the beginning.”
Chaol smirked, seizing Daniel around the middle and twisting to throw him down on the bed. Daniel yelped, a peal of laughter leaving him as Chaol blanketed his body with his own.
“Good,” he purred, kissing Daniel’s smile. He liked this, cradled between Daniel’s muscled thighs. “Because you’re mine. Whether you’re human or demon, physical or not, now or a thousand years from now. Mine, mine, mine.” He’d never tire of saying it, now that he’d given himself leave to.
Daniel looked uncertain. “I hope so.”
Chaol knew where his thoughts traveled—down the same worried path they’d already gone once.
He worried that becoming a demon would change how Chaol felt about him.
Chaol wouldn’t rehash the conversation they’d had before.
Time would show Daniel that Chaol’s feelings wouldn’t be swayed.
It wasn’t his humanity—or not just his humanity—that Chaol liked.
“You’ll see,” Chaol singsonged, sealing their mouths together. As much as he wanted to rut against Daniel’s willing body, he refrained. When he finally got off, it would be when Daniel could, too. He could be patient.