Eight
Xin
Four days after I'd blackmailed Patrick, Hella paid me a visit.
These days, she spent most of her time with Pythor's mate, Codie, playing the role of pet and bodyguard, but she still visited the rest of us when she felt like it.
Almost as tall as Gray, she was all black, the tips of her ears covered in white flames invisible to the dwellers of the human world.
She'd just appeared in my living room/office as I was sipping my coffee, and if I wasn't a demon, she'd have scared the hell out of me.
"Hey, Hella," I greeted as she approached me, offering her some pets.
All animal souls went straight to Afterworld, but somehow Hella had managed to stay behind, and now she was a demonhound adored by all demons.
Once she was satisfied with the pets, she walked over to the front door, then turned back to me.
"You want to go outside?" I asked, and she gave a soft woof.
While Hella could teleport anywhere she wanted just like us, she couldn't make herself visible unless one of us was around. It was a safety measure so she wouldn't accidentally reveal magic to humans.
I assumed that she wanted to go to a dog park, and that was why she wanted me to come with her. Codie and Pythor must've been busy because I knew Codie would've taken her otherwise. That kid loved Hella.
"All right, I'll take you," I said as I stood up and changed my clothes with a snap of my fingers.
Sticking my phone in my pocket, I magicked up a leash and collar for Hella.
The dog parks around my place were pretty small, but I remembered seeing a good-sized park near Gabriel's place, so I decided to take her there.
The fact that it was Saturday and Gabriel might be there with Gray didn't really cross my mind. At all.
I teleported us to an alley nearby, then led Hella down the street and to the park.
It was about four in the afternoon, so the park wasn't too crowded. There were six humans, and two dogs, and when I released Hella, she raced straight for the dogs. I imagined it must be lonely to be the only dog in the demon realm.
I took a seat on a stone bench as I watched Hella, breathing in the early evening air.
It'd been almost a year since I got to the human realm, and yet it felt like I'd been outside more these last two weeks than I had in the months before.
While I'd ventured outside for my daily rounds—looking for any signs of Mammon or the dark souls—I hadn't had much interest in exploring the human world. I'd spent most of my time online, learning about this practically magical thing called the internet.
The last time I'd been summoned was in the 13th century, so the internet was a new and fascinating thing for me.
When we were first sent here, the Otherworlders had given us phones so we could contact them and keep them updated. That was where I'd used the internet first, and once I realized just how massive the world of the internet was, I'd had to know more.
Hella raced back to me, her tail wagging rapidly, and I ruffled the fur on top of her head. "Having fun?"
She gave a soft bark, then turned around and raced off.
I scanned the park, observing the humans sitting on benches similar to mine.
There was a pair of siblings in the middle of an argument about stolen toys, a couple—most likely their parents—and another couple, two young women holding hands and whispering softly, one of them periodically glancing toward one of the dogs.
Just then, a new dog and owner pair approached, and even before I saw his face I knew who it was.
I felt myself straighten up, and I deliberately ducked my face, not wanting Gabriel to think I was watching him or waiting for him.
I followed him by the sound of his footfalls as he walked deeper into the park, then paused and started walking toward me.
Glancing up at the last possible second, I squinted up at him, like the sun behind him was blinding me. It was the human thing to do.
"Xin?"
"Gabriel? Hello." I moved to one side of the bench so he could join me, and he hesitated for a moment before sitting down.
Gabriel released Gray from his leash and he ran off. I watched as Hella clocked the newcomer and hurried toward him. While I could see the white flames on her ears and her red eyes, humans would only see a normal black dog with dark brown eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Petsitting for a friend. This is Hella," I said, nodding toward her. "I saw this park last time I came over. The ones near my place are very small. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all. It's a public park."
I smiled, and for a few moments, we simply watched Gray and Hella play. It was clear to see they'd clicked, and I was glad.
Then again, Hella hadn't met an animal she could get along with yet.
I wanted to talk to Gabriel, but the only topic I could think of was work, and I didn't want to talk about that. I wanted to know more about Gabriel, but I had a feeling he would close up if I asked him about himself.
Hella and Gray started a tug-of-war match with a piece of stick, and Gabriel chuckled when Gray lost his grip and rolled over backward.
I remembered he'd mentioned at some point that Gray had originally belonged to Kevin. He'd adopted him a few months before he was arrested, and at first, Gabriel hadn't been a big fan of the dog.
He clearly loved the dog now, maybe because he reminded him of his brother.
His brother. Was that a topic I could ask about? He'd certainly been close to his brother, and I wondered if he'd ever gotten the chance to just talk about him.
After all, most people thought Kevin was a thief, a criminal. That cop, Aisha, was the only other person who believed in Kevin's innocence, but I wondered how much of his brother he'd shared with her.
Gabriel
"Will you tell me a little about your brother?" Xin asked, glancing over at me for a moment. The evening sun made their pale brown eyes glitter, and I forced myself to glance away before they caught me staring.
Ever since I'd put my plan into action, I'd had dreams about my brother every single night. Mostly memories, but sometimes my mind cooked up scenarios based on what I knew had happened.
I hadn't talked about Kevin with anyone since he died, not even Aisha. At least, not anything more than the basics of what had happened.
I'd talked about what happened to Kevin, but I hadn't talked about the man he was. I hadn't talked about my brother.
"He was the best man I ever knew," I said finally, my voice low like it was a secret I was imparting.
It felt that way. I'd kept all my memories of Kevin hidden in my heart like they'd disappear if I shared them with someone.
But maybe the opposite was true. Maybe sharing would make the memories even more unforgettable in my mind.
"He was just a little over eighteen when he adopted me. I was nine. Our parents had died in a car accident, and suddenly, we were all alone in the world. He could've let me go into foster care. It certainly would've been easier for him. But he didn't."
I smiled as I remembered the look of utter horror on his face when someone—my father's coworker, maybe? I didn't remember that part clearly—had suggested it. He couldn't even fathom the idea of sending me into foster care.
"He got a full ride to his first choice university, and he used some of the money our parents had left us to rent an apartment off campus so we could stay together."
"He sounds like a wonderful brother."
"He really was," I said, my voice still just a whisper. "He was my brother and my parent all at once. He was the best friend I'd ever had."
"I'm so sorry you lost him," Xin murmured as they placed a soft hand over mine on the bench. I froze for a moment, but didn't pull away. Their hand felt nice over mine, warm and real and human. It was comforting.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, but I realized I had more to say.
While Gray and Hella played as if they'd always know each other, I told Xin about Kevin.
The silly things, the little memories I'd made with him growing up.
I showed Xin the graduation picture on my phone, and the pride I'd felt at how proud Kevin was of me.
I'd felt like a million bucks, and it had just been my high school graduation.
I didn't talk about his arrest or the rest of it. Xin already knew that part, and there wasn't much else to say about it.
Instead, I focused on the good times, the music recitals, the family trips. I even recalled some memories about our parents that I'd forgotten, though I still struggled to remember their voices. Would I forget Kevin's voice one day too?
All throughout our conversation, Xin's hand stayed on mine, anchoring me to the here and now as I delved into the past, into happier times.
I didn't know how to tell them what it meant to me, them being here. We'd stumbled upon each other completely by chance today, and yet seeing them was exactly what I'd needed.
Xin had given me a reason to look back without the shadow of what had happened. They'd given me the chance to remember Kevin like he was before Patrick Lewis ruined our lives.
Maybe that was why I did it, some desperation to keep the moment going. But when Xin took their hand away and said they should be leaving, when they stood up, I found myself reaching out and grabbing their wrist.
Xin's gaze dropped to my hand on their wrist, and I let go quickly, my cheeks warming. What had I been thinking, grabbing them like that?
"Gabriel?"
My name flowed on their tongue, and for a moment, I felt like no one except them had ever said my name correctly.
Shaking my head at my own fanciful thoughts, I cleared my throat and spoke. "Thank you for listening to me. Can I buy you a cup of coffee, as thanks?"
Xin opened their mouth, then closed it before nodding quickly.
I smiled even as danger signs flared in my mind. This was not keeping my distance. This was not waiting until Patrick was behind bars.
Yet I didn't rescind the invitation. Instead, I called Gray over as they called Hella, and the two of us clipped the leashes onto our respective dogs, then walked out of the park together. For coffee.
This wasn't a date, I told myself. Like I'd told Xin, I just wanted to thank them for listening to me talk about my brother. They didn't have to do that. Yet they had, and they'd been so kind about it.
There was a coffee shop just a block away from the park, and they had outside seating, so I usually went there after the dog park most weeks.
Once we got there, Xin waited outside with the dogs while I went in to place the orders. A Latte for me and an Iced Americano for him. They also carried dog cookies, so I got two of those.
Xin smiled when they saw the dog cookies, and they let me feed Hella, who carefully took the cookies from my hand while Gray chomped down half of my hand with his cookie.
Hella finished hers in a single bite like a pro, while Gray made an absolute mess of his cookie with his old-man teeth.
When our coffee arrived, we chatted about simple things. Books, movies, songs.
We didn't talk about Kevin, or the mission, or any of it. For a brief moment in time, I was just like any other guy, having coffee with the person I liked and getting to know them.
I wished we could just go on like this, that all the rest of it could just disappear. But it couldn't.
After we went our separate ways, I spent my walk home reminding myself of all the reasons I'd told myself before for keeping my distance from Xin until the mission was over.
It was much harder to believe that was the right thing to do now that I'd spent some actual time with Xin outside of the mission.