Chapter 20
Ashmedai
As promised, Ashmedai stayed in Nicolas’s apartment while he was gone—although he didn’t stay naked the whole time.
He was unaccustomed to baring his body for extended lengths of time, and with nothing better to do, he’d dressed and wandered from room to room, inspecting knickknacks and peering at framed photos.
There was only one photograph of Nicolas’s parents in the apartment.
Hanging on the wall in his living room, tucked in the corner beside the window.
His mother, unsmiling and with a mass of dark curls cascading around her face and past her shoulders, sat in a high-backed chair.
Young Daniel stood beside her, his youthful face rounded.
Nicolas stood behind Daniel, shoulder to shoulder with his stern-faced father.
The symbol of the Paladin Guild hung on the wall behind them, a red curtain with a white cross in the center.
None of them were smiling. None of them looked happy to be there.
Nicolas’s jaw had a sharp set to it, angled up and slightly away from his father as though he could barely stomach standing beside him.
There were far more pictures on the walls of Nicolas and Daniel together.
Their arms around each other, smiling at the camera under a halo of string lights.
Nicolas and Daniel surrounded by six other men, Julian amongst them, sword hilts visible on their backs.
Nicolas and Daniel as children, wearing matching suits with stained glass behind them.
After that, he sat down on the sofa and pressed the ‘power’ button on the remote control.
The black screen on the wall came to life, and he spent the next hour figuring out what all the buttons did, switching from channel to channel, adjusting the volume.
He finally stopped on a news channel, listening to the human woman behind the desk drone on about current events.
They didn’t mention anything about demons, the guild, Hell, or Heaven.
How strange that the majority of the world had no idea he and his kind actually existed.
When the door finally opened, Ashmedai stood as Nicolas stepped inside. He turned to close the door, flipped the lock into place, and then slid to the floor, covering his face with his hands.
Ashmedai crossed the room to him in an instant, kneeling in front of him and tugging his hands away. Nicolas breathed deep at the touch, his brow furrowing as he opened his eyes and smiled.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“What happened, my light? Tell me who to kill.”
Nicolas barked out a laugh. “No killing—yet. Come here.” His legs parted as he pulled Ashmedai closer, sealing their mouths together. He sighed into it, slipping his hands under Ashmedai’s hood to cup his face. “This is all I’ve wanted all day.”
Ashmedai wrapped his arms around Nicolas and stood. “Then that’s what you shall have.”
Nicolas groaned. “Believe me, I wish we could. But I need you to put me down. We have to go to the Rink.”
Ashmedai growled, pressing Nicolas against the door. His legs wrapped around Ashmedai’s waist instinctively, but his head fell back against the door in despair.
“I’m serious,” he whined. “The paladins are planning something. They’re not safe. Sex later. Rink first.”
Ashmedai sighed. “Fine.” He licked into Nicolas’s mouth, needing one quick taste before they focused on their responsibilities. Nicolas moaned into it, his hips rocking like he couldn’t help himself.
When he set Nicolas on his feet, his human took a deep, fortifying breath.
“Non-sexy thoughts,” Nicolas said, closing his eyes.
“Bugs. Punching Danny in the face. Dad giving us extra drills. Okay, we can go.” He blinked his eyes open and cast Ashmedai a small, happy smile.
“I’m really glad you stayed here today. I hope it wasn’t too boring. ”
“Not boring. I discovered television.”
“Oh, anything good?”
“No. Current events. Boring.”
Nicolas chuckled. “Yeah, the news usually is. Okay, let’s go.”
Ashmedai hummed, tilting his head. “They are nocturnal. The Rink may be empty.”
Nicolas’s face fell. “Oh, yeah. Shit.” He pulled his phone out and looked down at it as though debating who to call first.
“Tell me what happened.”
“They want to attack the Sentinels. They blame Danny for killing that asshole who tried to kill Alex. Somebody even followed me home to make sure I didn’t go looking for my brother to warn him.”
That was worrying. “Do they suspect? Are you in danger?”
“No, I don’t think so. They’re not being secretive about it, because they do trust me. I think they’d be hiding it better if they actually thought I was going to betray them.”
“Hm. We can go to the apartment. Danny can call them to assemble there.”
“Okay, great.”
They appeared there a heartbeat later. Daniel kept the closet light off and the door open for him.
The living room light was on, and since the apartment was mostly open, with only a partial wall that separated the bedroom, there was just enough light for Nicolas to see.
He glanced at the different sides of the closet, where Ashmedai and Daniel had split the space between them.
Daniel’s clothes hung on one side, Ashmedai’s on the other.
He would’ve been content leaving his things in boxes, but Daniel insisted on hanging everything up for him.
“You… Do you share this apartment with Danny?” Nicolas asked.
“Yes. The Sentinels had given it to me, but I don’t need most of what it offers. The bed, the bathroom, the kitchen. Daniel was living at the Rink, so I offered it to him. He suggested we split it.”
“You… live with my brother.”
That didn’t feel entirely correct, since he mostly just used it for storage space and occasionally a fallback place to wait when he couldn’t be with Nicolas. But Daniel had called them roommates, so he assumed Nicolas would consider it the same.
“In a sense,” he finally said. His fingers slipped under Nicolas’s shirt, claws trailing up his spine. “Is that okay?”
Nicolas went boneless against him, draping his arms around his neck. “Yeah, it’s okay. More than okay. I can’t believe I didn’t know you were rooming with my brother.”
And then, Daniel’s voice called out from within the apartment. “Is that my dear brother’s voice I hear? Come out of the closet, brother, I already know you’re gay!”
Nicolas snorted out a laugh, muffling it against Ashmedai’s shoulder. He took Ashmedai’s hand and led him from the closet, rounding the mirrored wall that separated the bedroom from the living room.
They found Daniel on the sofa, his bare feet propped up on the coffee table, wearing sweatpants and a ratty T-shirt with a bottle of cream soda resting on his knee.
“Nic! What’s up? Please tell me this is a social call,” he said, muting the television.
“Not so much. Can you call the others, arrange a meeting? I’ve got news.”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
“Sloan’s on the warpath. Again.”
Daniel grunted. “Say no more.” He sat up, grabbed his phone, and started typing. “You want to meet at the Rink or here?”
Nicolas shuffled from foot to foot. “I don’t know. Can they get here without letting anyone see them?”
Daniel blinked at him for a moment.
“I mean, I know some of them can,” he added, gesturing to Ashmedai, “but the halflings can’t teleport, right? Would it take much time for them to get here unseen? The paladins could already be watching the Rink. I’m not sure it’s safe to go there.”
“Oh, I see. Okay, hang on.” He typed another quick text, then tossed his phone down and sat back. “I must say, I like being the one with more insider info than you for a change.”
Nicolas scowled. “What?” He looked at Ashmedai. “What’s he talking about?”
Daniel scoffed playfully. “Don’t ask him. He won’t know. Are you kidding me? He’s too preoccupied with you to know this.”
“Then you tell me,” Nicolas said, and Ashmedai nodded earnestly, because now he wanted to know, too.
Daniel chuckled. “You’ll know in like two seconds.”
Nicolas braced his hands on his hips. “Danny, you pain in the ass.”
Daniel laughed—and then someone knocked on the door. “Come in!” he shouted.
Storm swanned in, dragging a sleepy Nathan by the hand. “What is this emergency meeting about? We were sleeping.”
Shadrach and Isaac appeared in front of the television. Shadrach’s eyes were flinty, and Isaac’s cheeks were flushed, his hair coming loose from its tie. “We were not sleeping,” Shadrach said icily. “What’s the big deal?”
“We need to wait for the others,” Daniel said. To Nicolas, he said, “The halflings and their partners have moved into this building. Temporarily. The paladins don’t know where it is, so it’s been a safe haven for a while now.”
“I still own the house that the guild has listed as my residence,” Nathan rasped, fighting a yawn, “but for appearance’s sake, it looks like we’ve abandoned both it and Storm’s apartment.
Moved all the furniture out, let the yard grow wild.
I hate it, but it’s temporary. We’ll move back in and fix it back up after all of this is over. ”
“Will it ever be over?” Nicolas murmured despondently.
Ashmedai drew him closer. “Yes. Soon.”
Malachi and Luke trailed in next, followed by Wolf and Ira.
“So you’ve all just been living here in the building?” Nicolas asked.
“The paladins used to watch us, following us to and from our homes wherever we went,” Nathan said.
“It didn’t seem wise to let them continue to do so, knowing they could attack us at any time.
After Talon bought this place, we realized we could furnish the other floors into penthouses like this one, and each one could be a backup living space for whoever might need it.
We all moved in and made our regular places look abandoned.
After seeing what they did to Julian, we realized it was safer to go somewhere we could be certain they hadn’t found yet. ”
Talon and Alex appeared beside Shadrach and Isaac. “What are we doing? Why are we here?” Talon asked.
Alex yawned widely, and Nathan and Isaac caught it, groaning as they both yawned. Shadrach shot Isaac a look of betrayal.
“You’re not sleeping when we get back home,” he muttered, and Isaac snickered.
“Waiting on Valac and Julian,” Daniel said.
They appeared a moment later, near the kitchen. Julian’s pale hair was also wild, and he looked a little wide-eyed when he realized everyone was staring at them.
“What took you so long?” Talon asked, smirking.
“We were—” Valac started.
“Sleeping,” Julian said quickly. “Sleeping very soundly. Didn’t hear our phones. What’s going on? I assume something’s happened?”
Everyone looked at Daniel, who looked at Nicolas, who said, “I taped the burner phone you guys gave me to the underside of Kyle Morris’s car.
The location’s turned on, so as long as it didn’t fall off, you should be able to see where he’s going.
I’d get eyes on him ASAP, though, because the duct tape I used may not last.”
“We’ll take it in shifts,” Talon said.
“Not it to start,” Shadrach said quickly, putting his index finger to the tip of his nose. Valac looked confused until Julian grabbed his hand and put his finger to his own nose.
Talon sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine, I will start. Eight hour shifts between the three of us, since we can teleport. Ashmedai could chip in, make it six hours.” He looked askance at the sin eater, who nodded.
“I can help, as long as my shift is at night.”
“Of course. Was that all?”
Nicolas sighed. “No. They’re pretty upset about Casey’s death.”
Daniel winced.
“They’re planning an attack of some kind. I don’t know how or when. Sloan went through my phone to make sure I haven’t been in contact with Danny, and someone followed me home. It’s good that they don’t know where you guys live right now. That’ll make it harder.”
“And our wards on the Rink keep it from being invaded,” Nathan said.
“Good, good. That’s something, then,” Nicolas said, passing a hand across his jaw.
“I suggest we all stay away from the Rink for the time being,” Talon said.
“But we have clients,” Alex protested.
“Your day job will have to wait, little bird,” Talon said gently. “Once we have the kids back, we can reassess. It helps that we know to expect an attack.” He offered Nicolas a nod of appreciation.
“Oh, shit,” Luke said suddenly, like something just occurred to him. He reached automatically for Malachi, who gripped his hand tightly.
“What, treasure?”
“The kids. Angie and Zach. If they can’t find us, they could try to draw us out. What better way than with the bargaining chips they already have?” He looked sick.
“All the more reason to hurry up and find them,” Ashmedai said. “Besides… I’m getting hungry.”
Shadrach grinned eagerly, and Nathan shivered.
Nicolas, if possible, sagged even more firmly against him, like the threat in his words was reassuring.
The golden light of his soul spilled from his very pores, and Ashmedai couldn’t resist leaning in, pressing his face into Nicolas’s unruly curls and inhaling deeply, his honey sweet scent filling Ashmedai’s lungs.
“Hey, why don’t you all come over tonight?” Julian suggested. “We can’t patrol, and we can’t go to the Rink. We might as well bide our time with steaks and beer. The paladins don’t know where our house is, so we’ll be safe there.”
“That sounds great,” Daniel said. “I could use the distraction.”
Talon jerked his chin at Ashmedai. “I’ll bring you a burner phone. You’ll need it to coordinate with us for our shifts. For now, I’ll take Alex back home and then go find the human.” He pointed sternly at Shadrach. “Be ready in six hours.”
Shadrach saluted drolly. “Yessir.”