17. Chaol #2
Valac relaxed then, sitting back in his seat with an easy nod. “Good. I just needed to hear you say it.”
Chaol frowned. “Hear me say what?”
“That Daniel becoming a demon hadn’t changed your bond. I had to be sure. We know how it feels to fall for a human, but none of us have experienced what happens when our human becomes a demon. We didn’t know if it might change the way that connection felt. Becoming a demon changes a human soul.”
“Does it?” Daniel asked idly, sounding more curious than bothered.
Hell yeah, it did, Chaol thought. Only time would tell how much, but the Daniel he’d met in Hell who had cowered from the nighttime wraiths and agonized over how sex might change after he transformed would never have held Chaol down and fucked him until he screamed.
Demon Daniel took a certain sadistic pleasure in showing Chaol no mercy.
The human he’d been before had kissed him tenderly.
And while he still had his tender moments, there was an edge to him now than hadn’t been there before.
Chaol didn’t care, as long as Daniel was still his.
Chaol drew him in for a kiss. “You’re still you where it counts, darkling.”
Daniel looked bemused. “So I am different?”
“Not in any way that really matters. You still love your brother and your friends, right?”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah.”
Chaol affected a grimace. “You might not feel the same about church, and your alcohol tolerance will be through the roof. Those are small prices to pay for eternity, though.”
Daniel smiled, giving him a light shove that still nearly toppled his chair over. Only grabbing onto Daniel and the table kept him upright, and Valac, watching them wordlessly, chuckled lowly at Chaol’s flash of panic.
“Harbingers are very strong,” Valac added. “And like last night, you’ll have to be mindful of your emotions, or the hellfire will react.”
Daniel winced. “Right.”
“Draego said he’s sticking around, right?” Julian asked. “You could ask him for tips.”
“That would be a good idea,” Chaol said. “He can help you master your powers.”
“So we’ll go by the Rink later and see if he’s there?” Daniel asked.
Chaol wasn’t fond of the idea of being in the same room as the leviathans again, but he’d have to get over it if he wanted to stay by Daniel’s side. Valac carefully watched the emotions pass across his face.
“Yes,” he finally said. “We can go by the Rink.”
Daniel softened, laying a hand on Chaol’s thigh under the table.
Power vibrated through the house. Daniel stiffened as he sensed it, and he and Chaol turned at the same time. A moment later, Nicolas and Ashmedai appeared in the kitchen. Julian wordlessly reached over the sink and pulled the blinds down. Ashmedai gave him a nod of gratitude.
“Hey, we left the boxes in the living room,” Nicolas said. His honey-brown eyes landed on Chaol. “Oh, you found him.”
“He found me, actually,” Daniel said. “Showed up after we got here last night.”
“Nic, you hungry?” Julian asked. “The food’s done.”
“Always.” Nicolas offered him a smile, but it fell away when he looked at Chaol again. “So, you’re sticking around?”
Daniel answered before Chaol could. “Yes. It’s just like you and Ash, Nic.”
Nicolas sat in the chair adjacent to Daniel and Valac, while Ashmedai lingered in the shadows behind him. “Is it? He doesn’t like us, right?”
“I don’t like them,” Chaol corrected, resting one arm across the back of Daniel’s chair. “Did you kill Amon?”
Nicolas tilted his head thoughtfully. “No, no, I was a little busy outside with the possessors.”
“I remember,” Daniel said, and added to Chaol, “They threw him into one of the cars. Busted the back windshield of Elijah’s car.”
Nicolas nodded sagely. “Good times,” he deadpanned. “Eight stitches in my lower back from the broken glass.”
Ashmedai rumbled out an unhappy sound at the thought.
Daniel snorted out a laugh. “Anyway, don’t worry about Chaol, okay? He’s mine, which means he’s yours, too.”
“Wait, what now?” Chaol said. He didn’t agree to that. What exactly did that entail?
Ashmedai’s orange, glowing eyes crinkled, the light dimming slightly in what Chaol had to assume was a smile somewhere under the shadowed hood. “Your brother is my brother,” he said. It sounded like a quote.
Julian plated the food and brought it over. Sausage links, scrambled eggs, and mixed fruit. He sat down across from Chaol.
Nicolas smiled sheepishly, reaching back for Ashmedai’s clawed hand. “I made Ashmedai promise me that he’d take care of Daniel if something happened to me a little while back. We’re family, and we’re all each other had for a long time.”
“Which kind of makes our partners family, too,” Daniel said pointedly, pulling Chaol’s arm around his shoulders and grinning at him.
A clan of six, Chaol remembered, looking from face to face. Daniel and Chaol, Nicolas and Ashmedai, Julian and Valac.
He met Daniel’s knowing gaze. He knew exactly what Chaol was thinking and gave him a slight, encouraging nod.
Chaol cleared his throat. “Like brothers-in-law?” They might eschew him calling it a ‘clan.’ Few other demons kept to clans the way kalmachs did, and they didn’t trust him. They might not appreciate it. But maybe one day.
Daniel beamed at him. “Exactly.”
Putting up with the leviathans would be a small price to pay for this.
Dropping his voice to a whisper, Chaol asked, “When did we get married?”
Daniel laughed. “In the graveyard.”
Heat shot through Chaol at the memory. It had been a long night, but all things considered, it hadn’t been long at all since that moment.
Hell, Daniel had showered at some point last night, but Chaol hadn’t yet.
He probably smelled downright indecent, streaked with graveyard dirt, dried blood, and cum.
There were definitely sticky things in certain unmentionable places.
He couldn’t even pretend it bothered him, though.
There was something satisfying in knowing Daniel’s essence was still inside him. Blood, cum, anything.
“That reminds me, I’ll need a shower before we go to the Rink.
And if those boxes they brought you are clothes, I’ll need to borrow some.
” He was still walking around shirtless, which he suspected was frowned upon in public spaces.
Shirts made it more difficult to transform, because his wings would rip through the fabric, but with any luck, he wouldn’t have to take flight today anyway.
Julian sighed dramatically, casting a forlorn look at Valac. “That’s probably what our guest room smells like, isn’t it?”
“Most definitely,” Valac said.
Daniel grinned, shoved a whole sausage in his mouth, and Chaol endeavored not to stare. “No regrets. Demon sex is incredible.”
Chaol laughed.
Nicolas smiled, looking a little incredulous. “I still can’t believe you’re even here.”
Daniel’s smile was as soft as cloud fluff. “I couldn’t leave you alone, Nic. I had to come back and make sure you were okay.”
Nicolas’s warm brown eyes filled with emotion. “You walked through Hell for me.”
“And I’d do it again,” Daniel swore. “It’d be easier now that I’m a demon, but you know what I mean.”
Nicolas laughed wetly, wiping at the moisture in the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I get you.” He sniffled, then cleared his throat. “So, what’s the plan moving forward?”
Daniel’s brows rose, and he looked at Chaol, who shrugged. “Well,” Daniel said, “we’re going to find this angel, and we’re going to help with the guild. After that, eternity, I guess.”
Nicolas gestured to Chaol. “You’re willing to work with the Sentinels even though the demons who killed your brother are among them?”
Chaol blew out a breath through his teeth. He would probably have to answer this question many times. “If it means staying with Danny, yes.”
Nicolas looked approving. “Good answer.”
Daniel shrugged one shoulder. “If he tried to leave, I’d just hunt him down.”
A slow shudder rolled down Chaol’s spine. “Sounds fun. Don’t tempt me.”
Daniel’s glowing eyes met his and a subvocal growl rattled from his throat.
Chaol chuckled, unbothered. “I’m kidding, you animal.”
Daniel’s hand found the back of his neck, squeezing possessively. “Mine.”
“Yes,” Chaol agreed. “Very much so.”
The Rink was no less crowded when they made their way there later that evening.
Chaol’s eyes wandered as they appeared in the middle of the room.
Valac had teleported them all there, since Daniel didn’t know how to do it yet.
They formed a comical, demonic chain, Valac holding Julian’s hand, who held Daniel’s, who held Chaol’s.
The padded training area was littered with people on cots and sleeping bags, most of whom eyed him and Daniel warily.
There was a short ladder under the scorch mark on the mirrored ceiling.
Daniel grimaced at it, but Chaol had to swallow back a snort of amusement.
These people were all former paladins. What did they think of Daniel going to Hell and becoming a demon?
They’d been taught to hate creatures like them.
Hell, he wasn’t entirely sure why any of them were here.
The Sentinels, he understood. They’d fallen in love with demons, and now they had a vested interest in protecting what they’d created here.
Why had the rest of these people come here seeking refuge when they were supposed to hate demons like them?
Draego was already there, deep in conversation with Talon and Ira beside the air hockey table.
“…telling me you’re not just sticking around because of the new harbinger?” Talon was asking.