Chapter 10
10
G enerally speaking, Cass keeps Desi on a human schedule.
He doesn’t need to, of course. Little niceties like eating three meals a day and sleeping at night aren’t required for demons?—in fact, they don’t need to eat and sleep at all. But Cass has found that sticking to a human schedule is the best way to blend into modern society, which will be important if he and JJ ever decide to enroll Desi in public school. And since he’s determined to let her enjoy her little toddler life to the fullest, that means giving her a stable routine with plenty of quality time for learning and growing.
Usually, their mornings start with Desi dashing into Cass’s room and jumping on his bed to wake him up. It’s rare that Cass actually sleeps?—normally, he just relaxes under the covers and lets his mind wander for a few hours?—so he’s typically ready to grab her by the ankles and walk into the kitchen with her upside down and giggling.
Breakfast is always an interesting affair. For the first few weeks, Cass obediently stuck to stereotypical breakfast foods like scrambled eggs and pancakes, but the first time Desi requested spaghetti and meatballs at eight a.m., he wasn’t about to refuse. Nowadays, their three meals of the day are fairly interchangeable, and Cass is really enjoying the challenge of finding new recipes for Desi to try.
Their days generally pass in a blur of playing dragons, reading picture books together, and chasing each other around the backyard. Cass is valiantly trying to teach her some of the principles of spellcasting?—just little exercises to help her control and strengthen her powers?—but Desi’s attention usually wanes within ten minutes, so he tries to sprinkle a few smaller lessons throughout the day.
By the time bedtime rolls around, Desi’s eyelids are usually starting to droop. Cass typically carries her into her bedroom, tucks her in to cuddle with Hana the Wyvern, and reads her one last story before turning out the lights.
Clearly, it’s not a schedule that leaves Cass much time for himself. He’s surprised to find that he doesn’t really mind, though. After over two hundred years of living on his own, he thought that having another person in his house would be a constant irritation, but he genuinely loves how Desi’s shaken up his schedule. At this point, he can barely remember how he used to fill his days before she exploded into his life.
Still, he’s grateful that she’s also embraced the time-honored human tradition of napping, usually curling up on the couch to doze for an hour before lunch and an hour before dinner. And she obviously cuddles with Kira during those naps, because Hana is her nighttime cuddle-wyvern, not her daytime cuddle-wyvern. Those precious few hours give Cass all the time he needs to do little chores around the house, scroll through his phone, and take a few minutes to just relax.
It’s a good schedule, Cass thinks.
Or, at the very least, it’s a good schedule until the day Desi wakes up screaming.
“No!” she shrieks, nearly making Cass jump out of his skin as she thrashes herself awake. “No, no, no, no, no? ? —?!”
“Desi?— Desi!” Cass lunges across the living room to pull her into his arms, whipping his head around to find what could’ve hurt her. The only thing in sight is Kira the Wyvern, currently squashed between Desi’s chest and Cass’s belly, and the layers of spell work Ez wove around Cass’s property prevent any remote magic attacks, so??—
So there’s nothing. Nothing that Cass can fight, at least.
But Desi, apparently, disagrees. “I don’t want to!” she screams, pounding her little fists against Cass’s chest. “I don’t want to do that anymore, don’t make me do that anymore, don’t? ? —?!”
All at once, realization jolts through Cass.
She had a nightmare. A nightmare about being controlled by her summoner in that derelict barn in the forest, from the sound of it.
Instantly, Cass feels nauseous. Demons don’t dream in the human sense, of course?—even when they “sleep,” it’s really just a profound level of relaxation, not a different physiological state. Dreams aren’t part of that, but??—
But nightmares can be. Nightmares are generally a sign that a demon feels secure enough to start facing the trauma of their past, to start coming to terms with being dragged away from Tamaros and compelled to do their summoner’s bidding and realizing they could never go home. That subconscious push off the ledge is what forces most demons to reckon with what was done to them, find some kind of meaning in the chaos of Earth, and come out stronger on the other side.
Cass didn’t think to warn Desi about nightmares because it took him decades to have his first one, decades to feel safe enough to start processing that trauma. It took running far away from the place where he was summoned, and finding Ez and Obie in that bar right before the War of 1812, and learning every fighting style known to humankind to protect himself, and??—
And Desi got to that point a month after being freed from her summoner?
Based on the strength of her crying, it looks like the answer is a resounding yes. “I wanna go home,” she sobs. “I wanna go back with Cass and JJ. I want??—?”
Cass’s heart cracks along the seams. “Desi, sweetheart,” he whispers, hugging her tightly, “you are home, okay? None of that was real. It was just your mind playing tricks on you. This is real, okay? You’re here, and you’re home, and you never have to go back there, and??—?”
Cass keeps rocking her and whispering soothing words, struggling to figure out his next moves. His first instinct is to call Ez and Obie, but a sharp pang of guilt holds him back. They’ve been on call ever since Cass took Desi in, always ready to rift to his side to babysit or help him run errands around town, and he doesn’t want to bug them on one of the few days they’ve had to themselves this month.
But the only other person who even knows Desi exists is Julian Jackson, and despite their tentative steps from active enemies to cautious allies, Cass sure as hell doesn’t want to beg the stupid hunter for help.
Slowly, Desi’s screams choke off to quieter sobs, but her tears don’t show any signs of slowing down. Cass thinks she might have realized her nightmare wasn’t real, but he knows that doesn’t make it any less upsetting.
And Cass’s efforts to comfort her clearly aren’t enough. Time to call in the big guns. Either he’ll have to bite the bullet and interrupt his friends’ free time, or??—
Or swallow his pride and reach out to the one person who has a proven track record of laying Desi’s real-life nightmares to rest. Taking a deep breath, he carefully adjusts Desi in his arms, tilting her chin up to meet her eyes. “Desi?”
She sniffles in reply, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“Desi, sweetheart, do you?—do you want JJ?”
For a long moment, she blinks up at him, her lower lip trembling.
And then she nods and throws her arms around his neck, crying even harder.
“Okay,” Cass whispers, easing himself to his feet and carrying her down the hall to her bedroom. “Okay, Desi, I’ll get JJ for you. You just?—?” Hopelessly, he sets her down on her bed, grabs Hana from the blanket fort, and presses her into Desi’s arms next to Kira. “You just stay here and keep your wyverns close, okay? They’ll keep you safe.”
“Okay,” Desi croaks, and she buries her face in Kira’s side and continues to sob.
Reluctantly, Cass backs out of her room and shuts the door behind him, snapping his fingers to lock it from the inside. Even if Desi is a powerful demon, she also has the mind of a four-year-old, and the idea of leaving her alone in the house makes his skin crawl?—even if Ez’s defensive spell work is unparalleled.
But he just needs to find JJ and bring him back here. Fifteen minutes, tops. Grimacing, he casts a quick spell to make himself invisible, peels open an invisible rift, and steps straight into enemy territory.
Councilwoman Nasir’s eyes are as cold as steel from behind her desk. “It’s been a full month since you lost the demon on the Redwater–Kingsborough border,” she says crisply, “and it still hasn’t been located.”
JJ’s throat feels like sandpaper. “Oh?” he says faintly. “Is there, um, any chance that one of the Chains picked her?—picked it up?”
“There is not.” Nasir’s expression doesn’t change, but her tone makes it clear that JJ just asked a stupid question. He fights back a wince. “Every Sanctum has operatives who monitor their local Chain, and no one in the tristate area has reported any sightings. No, the demon December remains hidden and unregistered?—and that makes it particularly dangerous, as you of all people are well aware.”
Like he needs to be reminded. After all, the demons who killed his family were unregistered, too. “Understood, ma’am. So, uh, is Strike Team Kappa being assigned to track it down?”
Councilwoman Nasir considers him. JJ does his best not to fidget. He’s no stranger to being called into her foreboding office?—out of the five-member Council, she’s the one in charge of personnel?—but this time feels different.
Namely because Roma and Bryant aren’t with him. The very thought makes his stomach twist with anxiety. Normally, purebred Bryant does most of the talking when Strike Team Kappa is called in to give mission reports, and whenever she falters, Roma’s clever understanding of Sanctum politics can carry them through any sticky spots.
Usually, it’s like JJ isn’t even there. Considering his low status as a neophyte hunter, he thinks that’s probably by design?—and since that low status makes him an easy target for punishments, he also thinks it’s probably a good thing.
Now, though, he’s alone. And based on Councilwoman Nasir’s disapproving eyes, he hasn’t done much to impress her so far.
“No,” she says eventually. “There’s no reason for me to assign this to Strike Team Kappa when it was already assigned to you weeks ago. When we sent you out in late December to dispatch the summoner and bring back the demon for testing, it was with the tacit understanding that you would actually complete that mission, not leave it half-finished. The fact that the three of you haven’t made any steps to locate the demon in question reflects poorly on all of you.” Her eyes narrow. “Especially you, Julian. Losing the demon was your blunder, and I expect you to redeem yourself from it.”
The words slice through JJ like knives. Not only is the Sanctum going to actively start searching for Desi again, not only is Strike Team Kappa in hot water because of JJ’s decisions, but??—
But above all, knowing that he let the Council down?—and, by extension, let Roma and Bryant down?—makes him want to crawl into a hole and never face them again. “Understood, ma’am,” he manages, struggling to keep his expression neutral.
“Hm.” Councilwoman Nasir turns back to her files. “I expect Strike Team Kappa not to neglect its other duties while you search for the demon, and when you find it, you’re to report its location to me immediately so we can send another strike team after it?—one that won’t make mistakes. Until then, you’re dismissed.”
“Yes, ma’am,” JJ repeats, and he quickly backs out of the room, fumbling the door open behind him and sliding it shut as soundlessly as possible. Swallowing hard, he turns blindly in the direction of the nearest staircase and starts walking.
The fact that Desi is still on the Council’s radar is a really bad sign. JJ thought that “losing” her would mean her file would simply be forgotten, or that they’d assume a nearby Chain picked her up. As far as he knows, the Sanctum has never had such a pronounced interest in a runaway neophyte demon before, and the thought makes him feel sick to his stomach.
Maybe it would’ve been better for him to send her to the Chain. Maybe it would’ve been better for him to claim he’d killed her in the first place. Maybe??—
There’s a quiet whistle from ahead. Startled, JJ looks up to see Chester hovering just out of sight around a corner, motioning JJ forward.
A little bit of the tension in JJ’s chest eases as he breaks into a jog to reach him. “Hey, man,” he says, slipping down the side hallway and clapping Chester’s arm in greeting. “What’re you doing here?”
“Bryant told me you got called to the principal’s office,” Chester says, nodding down the hall towards Nasir’s door. “You okay?”
JJ’s eyes burn. He scrubs a hand down his face, letting out a slow breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Uh-huh,” Chester says, and he positions his fingers like he’s viewing JJ through a camera. “Now, give me the line again, but with feeling this time.”
JJ scowls at him.
Chester raises his eyebrows back. “Well?”
JJ wavers briefly before looking away. “Nasir is pissed about the demon I lost last month,” he admits quietly. “The Council thinks Kappa should’ve tracked it down by now. Said it’s a failure that reflects poorly on us.”
Chester’s eyebrows furrow. “Since when is that your responsibility? As long as it’s not wreaking havoc around Redwater, it’s not really our problem. I’ve never heard of a strike team being expected to track down a neophyte demon after it escapes.”
“I…” JJ’s stomach churns. “I don’t know. Maybe there was something special about?—about it.”
Or maybe they already know JJ is lying to them. Maybe they’re waiting to see how deep of a hole he’s going to dig himself.
Maybe they’re watching for him to slip up and lead them straight to Desi. JJ silently resolves to take a new route to Cass’s safe house the next time he goes, maybe even reinforce his cloaking spell.
Anything to keep the Sanctum away from her.
Chester’s jaw twitches. He lowers his voice. “Nasir called you in, not Roma and Bryant. You think she’s pinning the blame on you to avoid pinning it on them?”
JJ fights back a flinch. Chester’s first instinct is always to blame the bloodlines hierarchy, but JJ has to admit that he’s usually not wrong. “I don’t know,” he repeats softly. “In the end, though, it was my fault. The demon escaped on my watch.”
Chester’s eyes narrow. “No, it wasn’t. The only reason it escaped on ‘your’ watch is because Roma and Bryant were sloppy enough to get banished. And you took down an entire militia and the summoner on your own. The Council should be giving you a medal, not reprimanding you.”
“I don’t want a medal for doing my job, Locke.”
“You know what I mean.” He arches an eyebrow. “But, since we’re serendipitously free at the same time, do you want to train for a bit? Just like old times?”
JJ’s heart feels warm. He knows perfectly well that Chester doesn’t usually take breaks?—since the morning shift in the prison starts at eight a.m. and ends at two p.m., he just eats lunch afterward?—so the fact that he specifically took one today to try and make JJ feel better is almost enough to erase the sting of Nasir’s disapproving eyes. “Sounds great,” he agrees, and he finally lets his shoulders relax as Chester leads the way out to the training grounds.