Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
As the sun sank and evening deepened, Nyte realized that he had never in all his long existence spent a day with anyone.
Before seeking isolation in the Pit of Despair, he’d spent plenty of nights with company—often with Starling—but his days had always been times of quiet seclusion, awaiting the next sunset.
Though daytime was not the bane of nocturni, it was a mild hindrance. Everything required a little more effort for him during the day, a little more energy, and given that he had eternity stretching before him, he’d always chosen to spend his days in respite.
He never would’ve believed that a day, any day, could be enjoyable. Tedious? Absolutely. Taxing? Most definitely. Irritating? Without a doubt.
But the time he’d spent with Ember, the day he’d spent with her…
It…hasn’t been unpleasant.
From his place in the corner, leaning against the wall beside shelves that held an excessive number of handbags, he watched Ember chat to a patron who was purchasing garments.
Though the sign on the shop’s front door clearly stated it would close at six bells past noon, it was now a quarter past six, and the silver-haired proprietress was as warm and friendly as she’d been upon opening.
Ember adored this shop. Her passion was evident in her every interaction with her customers, and it was no less clear during the lulls, when she would lovingly tidy up the goods on display.
Nyte had found it fascinating. Shockingly so.
Mayhap it was because he’d been away from this world for so long. The mundane had become unfamiliar and wondrous after centuries of confinement, and there had ever been a part of him that sought out others, mortal and immortal alike. A part that had always taken comfort in being near other beings.
He didn’t need to interact with them—that was often draining and unnecessary. But he’d always enjoyed observing.
His gaze trailed over Ember, seizing on her smile. The dark lip paint made her straight white teeth all the more brilliant in comparison. Her smile was radiant.
Or mayhap it is all due to this little witch.
It was more than the way she ran her shop.
Whenever Nyte and Ember had been alone throughout the day, no matter what else she’d busied herself with, she’d taken the time to speak with him.
She’d asked him questions about himself with disarmingly unobtrusive gentleness, and more than once had asked if he needed anything.
She, a mortal who knew nothing of his world, had been considerate enough to ask a demon born of the night if he required anything for his comfort and wellbeing.
The first time, he’d been convinced it was some sort of trick. A means of stealing a bit of his trust, of getting him to lower his guard, to expose a vulnerability. Mortals and immortals were both well versed in such tactics of manipulation.
But he was beginning to understand the truth now, and he found that truth far more unsettling.
She was simply…kind. Genuine. Compassionate.
Those traits were almost as foreign to him as this modern human world.
Sarnessa had never been—
No. I will not allow my thoughts to follow that path.
When the sale was finalized, Ember bid the woman a good night, and the customer exited the store.
Nyte pushed away from the wall, moving toward Ember. She offered him a smile before crouching to retrieve her bag from the bottom drawer.
“So, is this how you spend your days?” he asked.
“Yep. Five days a week.” She stood and faced him, slipping the straps of her bag over her arm. “Now we can head home.”
Home.
Another mortal concept that meant nothing to him, like family. He didn’t have a home. Didn’t have a place he truly belonged.
He preceded Ember out of the shop, watching people walk along the street as she locked up behind him.
There’d been humans out in the morning, but it was much livelier and more crowded now.
There were what appeared to be mated couples of varying ages, some of them holding hands, families with rowdy children, and groups of mortals talking amongst themselves.
The smells on the air were stronger and more pungent, likely coming from nearby eateries, mixing with the briny scent of the ocean.
Ember and Nyte took the same route as they had that morning, their pace slower due to the abundant humans and the roads being packed with the conveyances she called cars.
“So what did you do before your time in the Pit of Despair?” she asked. “Did you have some unholy rites to perform, or did you possess people and make them vomit pea soup?”
Nyte jerked his head toward her, steps faltering. “What in the hells are you talking about, witch? What does pea soup have to do with anything?”
“It’s from an old movie. Guess you were away for that one.” She chuckled. “Sorry. You’ve been away for every movie. I’ll have to share some with you.”
He still wasn’t sure how to take her laughter, her interest, her smiles. Wasn’t sure how to take Ember herself. She was so nonchalant and natural around him, so comfortable.
But alarmingly, he found himself liking that laughter and those smiles, liking the way her eyes often sought him out, liking her attention.
Liking her. It was certainly too early to judge, but she treated him as though he mattered.
As though she was interested in Nyte himself rather than what he could do for her or what he could give her.
He should’ve been raging against this situation, should’ve been seething at being trapped in the mortal realm, tethered to a witch…
Instead, he craved her. That was an ominous portent for the days to come. He knew better than to let his guard down, and yet he was already falling into these feelings. He was already slipping.
Nyte caught hold of his overexcited tail and clutched it as he walked.
“Before, I was largely an observer. A shadow in the night. I sewed fear and feasted upon it when the whim took me, but often I was content to merely watch. To exist as the world changed around me, and the mortals changed along with it.”
“Is that how you know so much about people?”
He couldn’t hold back a snicker. “I fear my knowledge of your kind might be a touch outdated.”
“Sure is,” she said with a grin. “So you don’t possess people?”
With a scoff, he gestured at himself. “Why would I trade this shape to wear mortal flesh?”
“Point taken.”
He didn’t miss the way her gaze darkened as it raked along his form.
Nor did he miss the way his body reacted to that heated look.
Nyte wound his tail around his fist to keep it still.
When they reached Ember’s home, she opened the door, letting him enter before stepping inside and locking it.
After she removed her hat and footwear, she made her way back to the kitchen with Nyte trailing her, where she set her handbag down on the counter and took out that thin black box.
She tapped on it, shaking her head with a laugh before tapping it again. It vibrated a moment later.
Tilting his head, Nyte watched her interact with it.
He’d seen many of the mortals who’d come to her store today using similar objects.
It seemed all humans possessed such items. By what magic did it glow from within?
The more he observed of this world, the more questions he had. “What is that thing?”
Ember looked up at him and smiled as she turned the box to show him.
The front was no longer black, but white with blocks of color.
There was a name at the top—Maggie. “It’s a cellphone.
It’s used…well, for a lot of things, but mostly to communicate with other people.
I was just texting my friend Maggie. Texting is when you send written messages back and forth to one another. ”
“With no need for a courier? How can such sorcery be mundane for you, yet you know nothing of inhuman creatures or your own magic?”
“It’s not sorcery. It’s technology. It’s…electronics and wireless signals and wavelengths in the air. But I guess to most of us, it might as well be magic.”
Technology… It seemed that even as humanity had regressed in their knowledge of the arcane, they’d greatly advanced in other ways.
“Hmm.” Nyte ran his eyes over the writing on the screen, which was far crisper and more uniform than anything he’d seen produced by humans in the past. “Which are your messages?”
When she indicated the right side, he pointed at a message on the left. “This is Maggie asking you how your date went?”
She nodded and set the phone on the counter. The screen was now black. “It is.”
“What does she mean by date?”
Ember stepped away from him and moved to a tall cabinet.
When she opened the doors, light spilled out, revealing shelves stocked with food and drink inside.
“A date is something people go on. Usually a couple looking to get to know each other romantically. Sometimes it can be an outing with a friend.”
“And which was yours?” he asked as she removed a package and some vegetables, cradling them in her arm.
She closed the doors and placed the items on the counter. “I went on a date with a guy hoping to make a romantic connection.”
Nyte froze. Something shifted in his gut, something thick and heavy and cold. He didn’t like her answer. Didn’t like it at all. He didn’t want to hear about her going on a date with another male, didn’t want to hear about her romantically connecting with anyone else.
The thought of another male putting his hands on her, kissing her, fucking her, enraged him to an unreasonable degree.
Fuck.
How had he gone from wanting nothing to do with her to feeling this in less than a day?
Nyte didn’t want to speak the next words that emerged from his mouth, but he couldn’t hold them back. “And did you find that connection?”
She scrunched her face and vigorously shook her head. “Hell no. He was an inconsiderate ass who kept calling me Amber. Amber.”
“Should he have called you mortal or witch instead? You seem to enjoy that.”