Epilogue
JULIAN
Today was the day. After weeks of handling insurance stuff, looking at houses and apartments, and agonizing over what would suit them best, Julian and Valac had finally found a house.
It was an old two-story farmhouse outside the city that had seen better days.
A couple of the shutters were hanging loose.
The front porch’s once white paint flaked from the aged wood.
Most of the screens on the windows were broken.
A family of raccoons lived in the crawlspace under the house.
The realtor hadn’t even wanted to show it to them.
It was perfect, because it was theirs.
The first thing Julian did when they got the keys was open all of the windows to air the staleness out of the old place. And together with the rest of their friends, they loaded up what few belongings they’d amassed in the penthouse above In Extremis and carted it all to their new home.
Now, Julian stood in the living room, fighting a grin.
They’d left a lot of the old furniture from the apartment—although Talon had insisted they take the bed, which suited them just fine.
The furniture they did have was bought from secondhand stores nearby.
It was all worn and mismatched, and Julian loved each and every piece.
Talon appeared in front of him, holding a cardboard box labeled ‘kitchen.’ “Are you sure about this?” His dark eyes trailed around the room, and his lip curled. “This place is kind of a hole.”
“It needs some sprucing,” Julian admitted. “That’s the point. My last place needed a lot of updates, too. I like doing that stuff. It makes it feel more like mine.”
“The deed does that already,” Talon said with a smirk, then disappeared again.
“Besides,” Julian called, knowing he was still within earshot in the kitchen, “now Ashmedai can stay in that apartment over the bar instead of at the Rink.”
Valac came down the stairs, shirtless and mouthwateringly hot, and replied, “Ashmedai rarely sleeps, doesn’t eat human food, and has no need for bathroom facilities. He eats sin, not food or water.”
“He might like a hot shower, though,” Julian rejoined. His lips pulled up into a helpless smile as Valac approached him. “Everybody likes a hot shower.”
Valac smiled patiently. “I doubt it.”
“Well, he’s going to find something he likes about the surface soon. Ira said he’s going to find someone, right?”
“We have no idea when. Or who. Or how.” Valac frowned. “I find it hard to believe a sin eater is even capable of feeling half of what I feel for you.”
Julian’s knees wobbled, and he melted into Valac’s arms. “You say the sweetest things.”
Their lips brushed just before the front door banged open.
“No kissing!” Storm declared, carrying two boxes stacked on top of each other and leading a parade of the others, all with boxes of varying sizes. “It was your idea to move, so grab some boxes and help.”
“We have been!” Julian protested.
“Well, keep going,” Storm said. “These boxes aren’t going to unpack themselves.”
“Blame Shadrach,” Julian said. “He’s the one who bought most of it.”
“You’re welcome.” Shadrach breezed by with an arch look, and Julian chuckled.
When they finished bringing everything in, Julian ordered a stack of pizzas, and they all sat around the living room floor—since they didn’t have enough seating for everyone—and gorged themselves.
A warm breeze blew through the house, carrying the scent of grass and pine.
The property was outside the city, a little over an hour from the Rink.
That wasn’t a big deal for someone like Valac, who could teleport, and Julian figured it was a good idea to have a place more removed from the rest of the city and its dangers.
Surrounded by trees and at the end of a long driveway, their house was remote enough to be a good hideaway from the guild, should the need ever arise, and Julian had made sure when they bought it that the Sentinels all knew they were welcome to crash there whenever they needed.
“What does Ashmedai think of the surface so far?” Julian asked. He hadn’t been at the Rink quite as frequently in the last few days while they closed on the house, so he’d missed some of the sin eater’s first days with them.
Thoughtful glances passed from person to person.
Talon said, “He’s adjusting. He hasn’t actually been around much, although I did take him to the apartment and let him know he could rest there whenever he wanted.
He wants to hunt, so that’s what he’s doing.
I showed him where the guild is located and told him he can kill anyone who comes out of there whose soul looks dark. Time will tell how it goes.”
“They’ll know they’re being targeted,” Julian said. “They’ll retaliate.”
“And we’ll be ready,” Talon said. “I’ve informed the halflings that we’re declaring war. Plenty of them have come forward and said they’d be willing to help fight. They don’t like the paladins any better than we do. They’ve been attacking halflings on sight for months now.”
He knew war between the guild and the demons was inevitable, but it didn’t make it any easier to stomach. He dropped his half-eaten pizza on the open box lid and sighed. “Things are about to get hard, aren’t they? Harder than they already were.”
As always, they looked toward Ira, who licked the grease from his thumb and calmly said, “Yes. But it’ll be worth it.”
Julian leaned against Valac, who wrapped an arm around him. “Promise?”
Ira smiled. “Yeah. I may not know everything, but I know that.”
“Do you know who Ashmedai meets?” he asked. “I’m so curious.”
Ira pressed his smiling lips together and didn’t respond.
“He always keeps the good stuff a secret,” Shadrach said, shooting Isaac a fond look.
Ira said slowly, as though testing each word, “Ashmedai and his… person will have some difficulties ahead of them.”
“No shit,” Storm said. “The sin eater barely talks, doesn’t understand the surface world, and any paladin with half a brain will take one look at him and run the other way.”
Malachi pointed at him. “Okay, there we go. Things we know about Ashmedai’s human: paladin, brain dead,” he cocked his head thoughtfully, “wildly kinky.”
Alex nearly spat his pizza out. “Wait, what?”
“Oh, come on,” Malachi said. “Anybody willing to bone a sin eater has some hidden kinks. I mean—” he squinted, “—do you think he even has a face? What does it look like under there? How does he suck the sin out of people? Maybe it’s just a round…
hole.” He raised his brows. “Which I can get behind.”
“No you cannot,” Luke quipped matter-of-factly.
“He doesn’t just have a hole for a face,” Julian said. He felt strangely protective of the monster that said his soul was bright. “We can see he has two eyes.”
“How do you know for sure those are eyes?” Malachi teased.
Julian threw a spicy pepper at him, and Malachi laughed, plucking it off the box and eating it.
Two by two, the humans and their demons said their goodbyes.
Julian couldn’t muster enough energy to walk anyone to the door.
Laying on the floor with his head in Valac’s lap, he waved at each of them as they went, some walking through the front door and some disappearing in place, leaving Julian and Valac alone in their own house for the very first time.
The clock, which they hadn’t hung yet, ticked quietly on a stack of boxes, unseen but accounted for.
“Moving is exhausting,” Julian said. “I think all I have the energy for is putting the sheets on the bed and collapsing. And maybe we could skip the sheets.”
Valac chuckled, combing his fingers through Julian’s hair. “I can handle the sheets. Wait here.” He slipped away, lowering Julian’s head gently to the floor.
Julian was left staring up at the ceiling. “I’m really starting to feel spoiled, you know!” he called. An ancient demon was down the hall wrestling a fitted sheet onto a mattress because Julian said he was tired. How was this his life? And how had he functioned pre-Valac?
Valac appeared beside him a moment later, scooping him off the floor and into his arms. Julian yelped, flinging his arms around Valac’s neck as he rose into the air. He blinked, and then they were in the downstairs hallway, standing between the bathroom and bedroom doorways.
“I assume you need to do human things in the bathroom,” Valac said.
Julian groaned. “Yeah, I should.”
“I’d help, but I don’t think I can brush your teeth for you.”
Julian snorted. “No, that’s okay. I can manage that much.”
Most of their stuff was still boxed up, but the boxes were at least in the right rooms. He found everything quickly, nudging the box out of the way with his foot, then brushed his teeth and washed his face.
He stripped on his way to the bedroom, leaving his clothes in a trail through the hallway from the bathroom to the bed.
Valac was already in bed, sitting against the headboard, and he drew the blankets back when Julian approached, hopping from foot to foot as he pulled off his socks.
Valac’s violet eyes trailed appreciatively down Julian’s body.
“I should thank Shadrach for getting you those,” he said, eyeing Julian’s jockstrap.
Julian plucked at the waistband with a chuckle. “I put it on this morning thinking maybe we could christen the house after everyone left, but that might have to wait until tomorrow.”
“I’ll let you get a few hours.” Valac’s voice was laced with dark promise, and a shiver rolled through Julian. “And then you’re all mine.”
“I’m always all yours,” he replied, flopping down beside him and burrowing under the blankets.