Epilogue
MALACHI
This wasn’t how Malachi hoped to spend their first visit to one of the VIP rooms. Distant bass thumped through the wall, muted because they’d turned the sound system off here. Malachi sat on the curved leather sofa that lined the edge of the mirrored room, watching Luke and Alex on the dancer’s platform. But they weren’t dancing. No one was even using the steel pole that rose up to the ceiling. No, they sat huddled together with a stack of papers and a laptop between them, going over business models and property rentals. The cabinet of toys sat lonely and unused. The X-frame in the corner of the room was regrettably ignored. All the other devices and furniture were forgotten. Beyond a brief, wide-eyed look around the room, Luke had ignored it all to focus on work .
Malachi glanced over at Talon, who sat on the other side of the leather couch with a dark bottle in hand. Black eyes met his, and he saw his exasperation reflected back at him.
Satan help them, they really did promise themselves to a pair of do-gooders .
“I mean, I think an office is probably our best bet,” Alex said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “That’s what most people think of when they think of private investigators, right? They have to have a base of operations.”
“I would agree, but we can’t afford any of the traditional office spaces listed here,” Luke said.
Talon waved a hand and opened his mouth to speak, but Alex cut him off. “No, Talon, we’re not taking either of your money for this. We want to do this on our own.”
Malachi blew out a breath, taking a very long drink from his own bottle. He’d have a better buzz by now if he’d been drinking something laced, but Luke outright refused to kiss him if he tasted anyone else’s blood in his mouth. Which, he supposed, was fair. So, whiskey it was. It would barely give him a buzz, but it was a small price to pay for being able to kiss Luke whenever he wanted.
He slouched down, propping his feet up on the edge of the platform beside Luke’s legs. “You could always pay us back later,” he suggested. “You want to help people, but you need a place to draw in clients before you can do that. You have to have money to rent a space, and you can’t make money until you start working. It’s all very circular. We could treat it like a loan.”
Luke looked like he was considering it, but Alex shot him a dry look and said, “You’re telling me you wouldn’t forgive the loan completely after one good dick-sucking?”
Luke’s face flamed. “Alex!”
Malachi chortled. “He is very good with his mouth.”
“Mal, I swear to God!”
“I’m sorry, baby, but it’s true,” Malachi said, turning his foot to rub Luke’s outer thigh with the side of his boot. “He’s got my number. I’d let you forget all about the loan in a heartbeat if it would make you happy.”
Luke softened immediately, and Talon rolled his eyes—he did that a lot when anyone but Alex was being remotely sappy.
“That defeats the purpose of offering it, then,” Talon said wisely.
“We’re doing this ourselves,” Luke said, “but thank you, Mal. It’s enough to know we have you both in our corner.”
“Always,” Malachi said, stopping short of calling him ‘treasure.’ That was a private nickname, for them and them alone.
Luke grinned like he heard the unspoken endearment and went back to studying rental listings.
Talon jerked his head at Malachi. “Where’s your shadow at tonight?”
“Parking lot across the street. Yours?”
“We teleported straight here,” Alex said. “They’re probably still at our apartment building.”
“Well, not all of us can do parlor tricks,” Malachi said.
“Bite me,” Talon said, cheering him sarcastically with his bottle.
“No thanks, I’ll leave that to Hawk,” he rejoined, cheering him back.
Talon glared, and Alex snorted.
“They’ll make a move eventually, won’t they?” Luke asked, glancing between the demons apprehensively. “It feels like we should be doing something to prepare.”
“Sloan’s probably still trying to get council approval to make a move,” Alex said, his face grim. “I doubt what happened with Luke has done anything to sway him from the cause. We just have to be ready when they do. If we let Talon or Malachi kill the guys following us, it’ll be seen as an act of aggression.”
“Anything we do would be an act of aggression,” Malachi said. “Including self-defense, I’m afraid.”
“Storm’s keeping an eye on the guys outside,” Talon said. “He’ll run in and warn us if they do anything unusual. In the meantime, we’ll keep our heads down. They can make the first move. We’ll make the last.” He seemed so effortlessly confident that Malachi felt himself relax. It was nice to have a powerful leviathan on their side.
Alex shot a contemplative look at the stack of papers in Luke’s hands. “Wonder how they’ll react when they find out we’re planning to continue hunting demons.”
“With any luck, they’ll take it as a sign they should leave us alone,” Luke said. “If we’re still doing good work and not hurting anyone, maybe they’ll realize we’re not worth hating.” He looked so morose, Malachi longed to reach for him.
“That’s very idealistic of you,” Talon said coolly, and just when Malachi was about to open his mouth and admonish him, Talon softened and added, “But for what it’s worth, I hope you’re right.” His dark gaze settled on Alex, always on Alex, and the two shared a soft, intimate look.
Malachi stretched out, hooking his foot around Luke’s ankle. Luke cast him a sweet smile, turning his foot into the touch.
“We underestimated them once,” Malachi said. “We don’t do it again. Whatever they’re planning, we’ll be ready.”
Luke told him a few days after the attack that he’d never expected them to try to kill him. Of all the ways they might have reacted to his relationship with Malachi, murder never even made the list. And even Malachi had to admit it was far more extreme than he’d expected. The Paladin Guild believed themselves to be the good guys. Murdering a human for any reason wasn’t their thing. He’d expected an attack on himself, never Luke. Even Alex had only been banished, not physically harmed for being with Talon.
Clearing his throat to herald a subject change, Luke brandished the stack of papers. “I mean, I guess we could… take out an actual loan,” he suggested hesitantly. “Six months’ rent maybe, and start paying it back once we start getting clients.”
“But then we’d have to pay the loan on top of rent after that first six months,” Alex said.
Malachi opened his mouth, and Alex pointed warningly at him. With a smirk, he subsided.
“Put out an ad for your investigative services,” Talon said, “with both of your phone numbers and email addresses. You can speak over the phone to any potential clients and meet… at a coffee shop or something until you have enough to afford to rent a place.”
Alex looked askance at Luke. “That’s not a bad idea.”
Luke inclined his head. “We may have no choice. We’re both… a bit lacking in the financial department.”
Talon held both hands out as though to say ‘ hello? ’
Alex waved a dismissive hand at him. “Not counting our demonic fountains of money. And we can’t rely on you for everything , you know.”
“Why not?” Talon asked, while Malachi nodded seriously. “What else am I going to spend this money on? Worldly possessions are boring. It would make me happy to buy you things.”
“What, like boring worldly possessions?” Alex repeated, narrowing his eyes .
“Like office spaces,” Talon replied pointedly. “Office buildings , if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t, but thanks,” Alex said with a sweet smile. “We’ll do like you said, do it by phone until we have a hub of some kind.”
Luke shrugged. “Better than nothing, I guess.” He stacked up the papers and closed the laptop, piling everything on top of it.
Malachi leaned in, hooking his fingers under Luke’s knee and tugging him to the edge of the platform until their knees were almost touching. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a couple of good cases under your belt and have a fancy office before you know it.”
Alex said, “I’ll email you when I get the ad written up and let you make any tweaks you think it needs.” He stood, and Talon draped an arm around his shoulders, urging him toward the door none too subtly.
“Sounds good,” Luke said.
“See you guys later!” Alex said as Talon led him from the room.
“Much later,” Talon murmured as the door closed behind them.
Malachi snorted. “He’s such a cheerful guy, isn’t he?”
Luke chuckled. “Yeah.” He pressed closer, climbing into Malachi’s lap and taking the bottle from him, taking a generous sip and scrunching his nose as the whiskey burned on its way down. Blowing out a hard breath, he set the bottle on the shelf behind the couch and leaned in, pressing his elbows to the leather cushion on either side of Malachi’s head. “Have I mentioned lately how hot you look?”
“Am I?” Malachi asked delightedly.
“Mm-hm. Sitting over here like something from a rock band, sprawled out on this black leather and watching me like I’m something you want to eat .” His lips brushed Malachi’s, not quite enough to kiss.
Malachi hummed, curling his fingers under Luke’s knees and dragging him in until they were flush. “Oh, I do want to eat you, treasure. Want to eat you right up.”
Luke smiled, settling more comfortably on Malachi’s thighs. “So, listen. I did a thing.”
“A thing,” Malachi repeated, his eyes roaming Luke’s face. He loved every inch of it. The scars, the stubble, the whiskey-brown of his eyes.
“Mm-hm.” Luke raised up and slipped a hand into the front pocket of his jeans. The movement brought his groin very close to Malachi’s face, and he couldn’t resist nuzzling into the bulge below his zipper. Luke let out a startled laugh, threading his fingers into Malachi’s hair. There was a soft jingling sound, and he pulled a chain from his pocket.
“What’s this?” Malachi asked.
Luke held it up. It was a sturdy silver chain necklace, with a small key threaded onto it. He gasped dramatically, holding out his hand and letting Luke drop it into his palm. “Is this the key to your heart, treasure?”
Luke chuckled. “Sort of.” He reached under the collar of his T-shirt and pulled out a necklace of his own. This one had a small, folded knife pendant with a pearl grip.
Malachi stopped breathing.
Luke turned the necklace around to let him see the clasp. But it wasn’t a clasp at all. It looked like a small padlock.
“This is… You…” He didn’t know what to say.
“I’ve given it some thought. A lot of thought, actually. And I’ve decided that you’re what I want. What I’ll always want. I don’t want to think about a future where you go on alone long after I’m gone.”
Malachi shuddered. He didn’t like thinking about that either, and had pointedly avoided considering that prospect after he’d told Luke he would accept his decision about whether or not to start taking Malachi’s blood.
“I want to be with you forever,” Luke said. “So I got this. And I want you to be the only one who can take it off me.” He grinned, like he was proud. Malachi was proud, too. “I thought necklaces instead of rings would work better for us. You already have enough rings, and wearing a ring would just remind me of the guild. This way, this is just ours.”
“I love it, treasure,” Malachi said, putting the necklace on and tucking the key under his shirt. Then he reached for the little knife on Luke’s necklace, opening it with a click and watching it gleam in the overhead lights. “Beautiful. Just like you.”
Luke huffed bashfully.
Malachi shedded his leather jacket and pulled his cutoff shirt over his head, then sat back and reeled Luke in closer, taking the little knife in hand again and pressing it to his chest.
“What, right now?” Luke asked.
“Why not?”
Luke plucked the knife from his grip. “All right, but I want to do it.”
Malachi grinned eagerly, slouching down on the seat and baring himself for Luke. “There’s lube on the shelf behind us. We’ll probably need it once you start cutting on me.”
Luke snorted. “That’s so romantic.”
“I aim to please.” Malachi’s hands fell to Luke’s jeans, and Luke straightened to give him room to unfasten them and pull them down. Malachi hummed in approval, kissing Luke’s exposed hip, trailing a wet line to the waistband of his boxer briefs and peeling the fabric down to free his hard cock. It bobbed in front of Malachi’s face, and he eagerly sealed his lips around the plump head.
“Mal,” Luke moaned, curling his fingers around Malachi’s head.
Malachi groaned, wrapping his arms around Luke’s thighs and urging him to move his hips. He wanted to feel Luke filling him up, feel the press of his cock cutting off his air. Luke’s punched-out noise went straight to his dick, and Malachi palmed himself through his tight jeans as Luke began to thrust.
“God, Mal, you’re so good at that,” he breathed as he fucked himself deeper into Malachi’s throat.
Malachi flailed a hand behind him until he found the bottle of lube, squirting some onto his fingers and reaching between Luke’s legs to press two fingers inside him. A shiver wracked through Luke’s body, and he leaned hard on the back of the couch, his fist indenting the leather.
“Yeah, Mal, yeah, just like that,” he whined, circling his hips like he didn’t know whether to thrust forward or back.
Mal’s free hand unbuttoned his jeans, and he hastily wriggled them down his hips. He slicked up his cock as he pressed a third finger in with the first two, and Luke’s cry filled the air, masked beyond their little bubble by the music playing out in the rest of the club.
“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” Luke said, batting him away and reaching for his slick cock. “Don’t want to wait anymore, just want you. ”
“You have me, treasure. You always— oh fuck .” He broke off as Luke’s tight heat sucked him in. His fingers gripped Luke’s hips tightly as Luke took him inch after inch, not stopping until he was fully seated. Gasping for breath, Malachi finished, “You always have me. Fuck, you’re so tight.”
“You feel so good,” Luke groaned, leaning in and blanketing Malachi with his body. He rolled his hips, dragging his cock along Malachi’s abdomen, and they both moaned.
Malachi met his thrusts, letting Luke set the pace. His hands roamed Luke’s body, trailing through the hair on his thighs, meeting on his ass and spreading him wide so that Malachi could fuck deeper inside him. They moved at a slow, sinuous rhythm, like Luke had all the time in the world to luxuriate in the feel of them moving together.
“Fuck, baby,” Malachi murmured, heat tingling through him. He was getting close, loving the flex of Luke’s body under his hands.
“You almost there?” Luke asked, licking into his mouth.
“Yeah, fuck yeah.”
The blade dangled between them, and Luke lifted it now. “Where do you want it?”
“Oh, anywhere, treasure. Anywhere at all. It’s gonna feel so good. Can’t wait for you to have my blood inside you.” He hadn’t let himself think much about it while Luke was still considering it, but the idea of Luke drinking his blood made the possessive monster in him rear its head. It was no different than emptying himself inside of Luke. A part of him would be inside him, mingling their essences together forever.
He tangled his fingers with Luke’s around the knife and sank it into his collar. Pain sparked through his brain .
“Mal, that’s too deep,” Luke whined, his face gleaming with perspiration.
“No, no, it’s good, so good.” Black blood bloomed around the blade. “I’m so close.” He was shuddering, all hope of a rhythm lost, rutting up into Luke’s body with no finesse. When Luke drew the blade out and sealed his mouth over the wound, the drag of his teeth and the sharp suction of his hot mouth had Malachi’s vision whiting out, his cock jerking as he came inside Luke, filling him up from both ends.
He wrapped lube-slick fingers around Luke’s cock, letting the man piston his hips a handful more times, and then his cum splashed Malachi’s stomach, aftershocks trembling through him.
Malachi stared up at the black ceiling, his fingers lazily carding through Luke’s sweat-damp hair as his mouth gentled over the wound, his tongue lapping a few times, sending little sparks of pleasure through Malachi. When he finally lifted his head, he brushed a thumb across the cut and said, “It’s already healing.”
Malachi nodded. “As long as it’s not one of your holy weapons, we heal quite quickly. You’ll heal just as fast with my blood in you.”
“That’s amazing.”
He smiled. How far they’d come, from Luke thinking the worst of him to telling him he was amazing . He never wanted to take this for granted.
“ You’re amazing,” he said, wrapping his arms around Luke. “Thank you for the necklaces. Thank you for choosing me. I’ll make sure you never regret it.”
“Never,” Luke said, drawing him into a kiss. “I’ll never regret it. I love you so much. ”
“I love you, too, my precious human. My treasure. Turns out a demon can find heaven after all.”
Luke laughed as their mouths met, and Malachi swore it tasted sweet.