19. Sierra and Dagon
CHAPTER 19
SIERRA AND DAGON
BILLIE
I ’m shocked. There’s no other way to describe it. My head is whirring, I’m listening to Sierra tell me all about how she met her demon mate, and I know I’m making all the appropriate responses—“A grimoire in your fan mail? Who sent you that?” and “See? That’s why I can’t leave you alone. Summoning demons while I’m away from the weekend… that’s so Sierra.”—but I’m trying to figure out what this means, why is she here, and how does this change things for me and Glaine.
Because I have to be real here. Sometime after coming to Nuit and moving into his house, I started to accept that I might never go home. And I wondered: would it be so bad if I had to stay? Maybe if I was still in the dungeon, but I have a male who worships the ground I walk on in shoes because I finally have shoes , who loves me, and who—damn it—is the perfect guy for me.
He likes that I’m a ballbuster. That I need to have some kind of control. It took a while for him to realize that we get along better when he does, and as a soldier who is trained to be commanded, the two of us enjoy the other’s company when we’re not butting heads.
The sex is amazing. I’m not just saying that to boost his ego because he was an inexperienced virgin with seven centuries of pent-up need. To him, a good session is when he gets me off repeatedly, and if he has the chance to nut, he gets this expression on his face like he wants to thank me.
Glaine is fascinating . I think I like that more than his dick, though I’m definitely not complaining there. Not only does he have seven hundred years’ life experiences, but he’s the rare Sombra demon who got to leave his plane and visit countless others.
I thought I had him beat, having spent most of my life traveling all over the world. That’s just one . Glaine’s seen so many, and he tells me all about them. He doesn’t make me feel stupid, either, or that he’s humoring me when I get excited and ask him questions. Though I know he’d rather me rely on his essence—and I have been lately because, well, why not—Glaine enjoys teaching me about all the worlds he’s been to, with the unsaid promise that, one day, maybe he can bring me.
Who knows what forever will bring, right? We’re on Duke Haures’s shit list now, but if I bond myself to Glaine and become immortal… who knows if he’ll change his mind?
Because, honestly? I’ve been thinking about changing mine.
It was a slow process. And I’m sure people would think I was nuts when I said that me spending, like, a month debating whether I wanted to give Glaine forever was a slow process. But in a realm where demons and demonesses usually are bonded the same night they recognize that they’re one true mates, keeping Glaine on my hook this long without giving him the mate’s promise is unusual.
I just… it’s not that I don’t want to. I do. The more I’ve involved myself in village life, the more I’ve said my goodbyes to my old life. I mourned Sierra. I’ve regretted that, after being my father figure for so long, Roy won’t have any idea what happened to me. And Three… I miss my fluffy boy. But I could deal. I have Glaine. I’ve forgiven him for stealing me, and I’m actually kind of glad he did.
For the first time in years, I’m living my life for me. Not to get out of poverty, not because I signed a contract, and not because I was responsible for Sierra’s. There are no calls on my time. I still get distracted sometimes and reach for my phone, as though I want to jot a note or snap a picture, but it’s been a while since I’ve even thought of my former lord and ruler, the almighty schedule.
Which is why, after Sierra tells me the Cliff’s Notes version of her story, and I go into autopilot to tell her mine—“I knew that guard demon had to take you! You never would’ve left your phone of your own free will!”—I gloss over much of it, feeling like I spend more time defending Glaine’s actions than explaining to Sierra that, if she’s happy with her mate, then so am I.
But then she asks, “How long have you been here with him,” and I realize that I… I don’t know. Not really.
Ah, jeez. That’s a good question. In New York, I lived my life by that calendar on my phone. Every single minute or every single day was planned down to the second, with every appointment marked down in my app. Ninety-nine percent of it had to do with my career as Whiskey Rose’s manager where I couldn’t risk screwing up because Sierra depended on me.
It honestly took days before I stopped automatically reaching for the phone I left behind when Glaine grabbed me. Even now, I still feel a little naked without it. I don’t think I’ll ever stop the habit of looking for my phone when I want to know something as simple as the time, and when Sierra asks me about how long I’ve been here, it rankles that I have no clue at all.
The village counts by cycles of the gold moon. We have another one coming up soon, but it seems a little longer than thirty days since the last one. I just… I guess I got so wrapped up with learning about life in Sombra—and living with Glaine—that I never bothered keeping track.
“A month, I guess. Give or take.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
I shake my head. “I wish I was. I’m sorry,” I say, the first time I apologize. But I need to. “You were probably so worried about me. I said I was coming home, I left my purse and my phone behind, but I was gone with no way to contact you. I had no idea that you had a demon in the apartment”—and I pointedly forget to mention that I thought the door was closed because of Jared—“or that you’d know I was here… but I have been every seen Glaine grabbed me.”
“And I have a thing or two to say to him about that,” Sierra says darkly. “But that’s now what I meant. Me and Dagon, We were only back home for two days, finishing up…” Sierra’s eyes dart to the left where her demon is still holding onto the clear bubble carrier that’s holding a very sleepy Three. “Stuff. Had to get Three ready,” she adds hurriedly before I can call her out on obviously hiding something from me, “and then Dagon took us to Caol to start our search for you.”
“I wanted to show Sierra off the my clan,” the demon says.
“And the tattoo that Duke Haures arranged for you to get before he let us leave the throne room,” Sierra adds.
As if I could pretend my best friend isn’t bonded to the red-eyed demon. The proof is in the pudding—or, in this case, the shimmering silver runes tattooed to the middle of his bare chest that spell out her name.
S-I-E-R-R-A .
“Anyway, when no one in Caol heard of a rogue guard and his human captive, er, mate,” Sierra amends at my sudden look, “we visited two nearby villages. Nothing. Duke Haures told us that some kind of magic was keeping you hidden the first time I met him, but I went back to more intel. That was this morning. We left our suitcase and Three’s food at the palace, then hitched a ride with that purple-eyed wiz to Nuit to see if the rumors were true and you were here. I swear, it couldn’t have been more than a week for us.”
Really? Huh. And I spent so long thinking that days were passing and people were freaking out over me once I started missing appointments, and while Sierra obviously came searching for me… it’s been a week?
“I told you, my mate,” rumbles Dagon, finally cutting into the conversation. “Time runs differently in Sombra depending on the duke’s whims. The only constant is the gold moon.”
“It’s fine. I doesn’t really matter now that we found you. We can go back, get our stuff, and be in the apartment in no time.”
I stumble a few steps back, my curls falling forward in my face. “What?”
Sierra frowns. “I know that ‘what’. B… you are coming home with us, aren’t you? The duke said you weren’t a mate. That you didn’t get bonded to the demon who took you. He wanted you to have a little mindwipe, but his mate suggested you can come home with us and, because you’re my bestie, you’ll keep the secret of Dagon and Sombra for my sake.” She reaches over, patting Dagon’s middle. “My mate’s got connections. He asked the duke’s mate, she asked him, and everything’s good now.”
No. Everything’s not good. “Sierra, I’m so glad to see you. I mean it. I love you. But… a lot can change in a month.”
A sly look crosses her pretty face. “Let me guess. Could it be that you figured out that you are a mate?”
I shrug. “Maybe.”
“Jeez, B. Really? And, what, you’re gonna stay? Fuck it. Bring him back with us. The more the merrier.”
“I wish I could. I don't know if the duke told you, but Glaine is not allowed to go to the human world anymore. And since he has to stay here, I think I'm going to, too.”
And there it is. What I've been thinking of doing these last couple of weeks… I've said it out loud. Now that I have? I know it was only a matter of time until I admitted to myself that I’m looking forward to sticking around and being Glaine’s mate. Especially now that I know Sierra is bonded to Dagon and can come see me any time.
Instead of trying to convince me to change my mind—because my lifelong friend knows that's impossible—Sierra wrinkles her nose. “You actually like that grumpy guard?”
“I love him,” I say simply. Hey. Wait. “You know Glaine?”
She taps her temple. “You forget that I got Dagon’s download. My demon worked in the capital city for, like, three decades. He had more than a couple of run-ins with Glaine in that time. So even if I’ve never met the guy, I feel like I know him… and I know that you don’t get to pick your fated mate or anything, but you seem to actually like that sourpuss.”
That’s because I do.
“Honestly? He kinda reminds me of you, Sierra.”
Dagon makes a sound like a choke.
Sierra raises her eyebrows at me.
“It’s pretty easy to get along with him once you realize you can’t let him steamroll over you. He may think he knows what’s best, but sometimes I do, too. And”—here I grin—“he’s learned that it can be pretty fun to let me take control.”
Sierra matches my smile, a devious edge to it that is purely my best friend without a single hint of the pop star. “That’s my Billie. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to find someone worthy of you.” Her face hardens. “It wasn’t Trev for you.”
She doesn’t know the half of it. I don’t want to ruin our reunion by mentioning that fateful weekend and his confession to me, so I don’t—though I do take her hand. “It wasn’t Jared for you, either, Sierra.”
Dagon growls under his breath.
“It’s okay, demon,” she murmurs even as she releases me. “Remember? She’s my sister.”
My heart swells because… well, I am, aren’t I? And that won’t change. In fact, with the two of us both having our own demon mates, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get any closer.
“Forgive me, Sierra. But it is not your kin touching your hand that rouses my instincts. It is hearing the names of the males unworthy of either my mate or her kin.” Another grumble, softer than the growl from before. “Trevor should’ve been left to the shadows. It’s not too late for the pale-haired male to take his place.”
“Huh. I guess he has your download if he knows about Trevor,” I say. Hang on… “Assuming you mean Jared when you say ‘pale-haired male’, I’m all for tossing him to the shadows. But why Trevor?”
I mean, I know why, but?—
“Yeah. About that. I’ve been meaning to ask… when you told me that it might be a good idea to busy myself with my fan mail… you didn’t, uh… I mean?—”
“I didn’t know there was a spell book in there, if that’s what you mean,” I say, teasingly.
“No, no. I was more worried that you knew Trevor was writing me love letters that might’ve been in that bag.”
I swallow roughly. “I didn’t.” I say that as plainly as I can. I don’t know how Sierra knows… “I only found out he wasn’t who I thought he was on the night I disappeared with Glaine. That’s why I was heading home from Connecticut. He told me… ah, shit, Sierra. He told me he was in love with you.”
Her expression tells me that she already knew that. “Not me. Whiskey.” She lets out a small laugh. “We had a lot of traffic that night. You. Glaine. Trevor.”
“He— what ?”
As I gape at her, Sierra tells me how Dagon sensed Glaine in the apartment. He was already gone—and so was I—when the demon went looking for him, and when Sierra went tip-toeing after her mate, but they both found Trevor waiting on the settee in the living room. Dagon disappeared, Sierra confronted him, and my expression goes from surprise to horror to furious as she adds that, like Patrick Ridgefield, Trevor pulled a gun on her to convince her to leave with him.
“I’ll kill him!”
“Dagon wanted to.” She beams at her demon. “Almost did. Brained Trevor in with one of my Grammys. Luckily, that creep didn’t see my demon, but he’s locked-up now, Billie. We don’t have to worry about him.”
If Sierra comes to stay with me and Glaine in Sombra, she won’t have to worry about obsessed fans ever again…
Of course, I don’t say that, though I wouldn’t be surprised if she was thinking the same thing.
Sierra has thrown herself all in with her mate. I’ve done something similar with Glaine. We both know that she can’t stay in the human world forever. She’s immortal now. Eventually her public will notice she’s stopped aging, and there’s only so much she can blame on ‘plastic surgery’ in the future. Sooner or later she’ll have to relocate here like Kennedy did with Loki, or, well, like I also did with Glaine.
But that’s the future. I’m more than happy living in the now, and with my best friend here for the moment, I’m going to enjoy it—and that begins with bringing her to meet Glaine so that she can get a chance to form her own first impression on him without relying on Dagon’s.
I should’ve invited him to join us when I dragged Sierra and Dagon over the fire pits for privacy. Like I said, I was in shock. I wasn’t thinking straight, and the only thing I was thinking was that the house I share with Glaine is ours . It didn’t sit right with me to invite Sierra and her demon inside. Kinda like how we kept the apartment at the Dorado closed off because it was our personal space… that’s how I think of the home I made with my mate.
I guess I expected he’d follow like always. That he didn’t exasperates me at the same time as it charms me. He doesn’t like going too far—a trade all Sombra demons share when it comes to their mates—but to give me time for my reunion with Sierra, he also gave me some distance.
Silly demon.
I gesture at Sierra. “Come on. I want to introduce you to Glaine. Three, too.” We start heading back toward my home. “No matter how many times I try to explain the concept of cats and pets, he keeps thinking that Three is an ungez like Freya.”
“Freya?” echoes Sierra.
“Kennedy’s shadowy squirrel-cat.” Seriously. That’s the best way to describe Kennedy’s pet. “Oh, right. You don’t know Kennedy yet. You have to meet her. She’s human, too.”
And a huge Whiskey Rose fan, but that little reveal can wait. First, I need to find?—
“Where’s Glaine?” Weird. Our front door is open, Apollyon is still standing near the entryway, but there’s no sign of my mate. That purple-eyed demon, either, though Lilith has joined Apollyon.
At my question, Apollyon glances at Lilith.
The motherly demoness turns her smile on me, and my heart sinks.
“Didn’t he tell you?”
Um. No. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
“I’m sorry, Billie. But he returned to Mavro with Erebus.”