Chapter 32
Dante
PERSEUS HAD BEEN A WRECK during Harper’s darkest moments when she refused to leave her room, eat, or converse.
I’d watched this strong, charismatic, untouchable demon fall apart piece by piece right alongside her.
At the time, I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand why watching her made him equally miserable.
I got it now, and I wished I didn’t. I wished I was still oblivious to this kind of agony.
Serenity had gone comatose. She wouldn’t speak, she wouldn’t get out of bed, and even when she looked at me, she might as well have been looking right through me.
When I’d shadow-walked to her apartment two nights ago, I thanked all that was unholy that I came when I did. The glass glinted in the moonlight as she’d brought it to her wrist, and a bolt of icy terror had shot through me.
Death wasn’t final for me, but it would be for her. It nearly had been. In that instant, a demon like me feared death. The idea that I could truly lose her with no way of ever getting her back …
The mere thought made me sick to my stomach.
I’d been a shaken-up mess since she passed out in my arms. I’d immediately taken her back to my house where I could watch over her, which I’d been doing for the past two days.
And in that time, all she’d done was sleep.
It was like her body had shut down, exhausted from all the emotional and mental turmoil that had been burdening her, and now, it begged for true rest, which it had previously been denied.
The few moments when she woke up, I tried getting her to eat, but it was like she couldn’t hear me.
No matter what I said or did, she just stared right through me before eventually closing her eyes again.
My heart ripped through my chest every time her eyes shut. Alarm had me questioning if that moment would be the last I got to see those gray eyes I loved so much.
I felt useless.
What could I do for her when she was hurting so deeply?
I didn’t fucking know.
Thankfully, Perseus would know.
The phone rang far longer than I would’ve liked before the fellow Incubus picked up. “Hello?”
“Perseus,” I sighed, rubbing at my forehead. “I need your advice.”
“Well, this should be good.” The smile was plain as day in his voice. “Is this you finally admitting that I’m better than you in bed? Need tips from the pro that I am?”
I wasn’t in the mood to fight with him over whose skills were superior. “What did you do for Harper when she was struggling?” I swallowed hard and stared at a slumbering Serenity. “What will make her better?”
Perseus was quiet for a long time. I wasn’t sure if it was because the question took him back to those painful months where he’d suffered alongside his ballerina or if it was because he was trying to figure out how to answer. Eventually, he said, “I don’t think I’m the person you should ask.”
I frowned. “Why? You—”
“Followed the advice I was given by someone else,” he finished for me. His tone carried a pointed weight, and I knew who he was talking about, even without him saying. After all, I’d been there when she’d given him the advice.
“I heard what she said,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, but clearly, you need to hear it again. Call her.”
“But—”
The phone call ended, and I growled as I ran my clawed hand over my short hair along my horns. This was a conversation I didn’t want to have but knew was necessary for a multitude of reasons, the biggest one being getting her perspective on what I needed to do for Serenity.
With a painful sigh, I videocalled Zagan. He answered even slower than Perseus.
His handsome face filled the screen. “What’s up?”
I pursed my lips and averted my gaze from the screen. “Can—Can I talk to your girl, please?”
Zagan’s pierced brow nearly rose into his black hairline. Before he could answer, the camera moved, and Iyla’s face filled the screen with Zagan. The two were in his bed, and from the way Iyla held the sheets up to her chin, I’d say I called right after the two had been busy.
“Hi,” she said hesitantly. “Is—Is everything okay?”
I shook my head. “No. I need your advice.”
Iyla and Zagan shared a look. Zagan pulled the phone back and said, “Be there in a sec.”
Before I could tell them that wasn’t necessary, they ended the call.
True to their word, the two appeared within a plume of shadows near my bedroom door.
They’d thankfully thrown some clothes on, and with one last look at Serenity, I stood from my chair beside the bed and joined them in the doorway.
“You didn’t have to come,” I mumbled under my breath.
“No, no,” Zagan replied softly with a fleeting glance in Serenity’s direction. He shifted farther out into the hallway and lowered his voice as his smirk widened. “I wanted to watch this show.” He passed a finger between me and Iyla.
I glared at him and reluctantly looked down at Iyla, who stared at me with hesitant apprehension. I squared my shoulders and decided to rip off this band aid. “I know I’ve never been overly friendly toward you.”
Zagan scoffed and rolled his eyes.
Iyla merely smiled softly. “That’s true.
But I get why you’ve been grumpy around me.
You didn’t trust me, and I don’t blame you for that.
Zagan told me what Incubi deal with when bound to the wrong people.
You didn’t know me or the reality behind how Zagan and I ended up bonded, and that meant being skeptical of me.
You were worried about your friend. No one can blame you for that. ”
My eyes had to be bugging out of my head right now, but I couldn’t help it.
I’d been an asshole to her, constantly looking down on her, not giving her any room to share the same space as me, ignoring her, and yet …
she wasn’t angry. She wasn’t the evil seductress who wanted to harm my friend that I’d built her up to be.
I shook my head. “Okay. I was wrong about you.” I paused and added, “I’m sorry.”
“No apology necessary. You helped me, remember? I wouldn’t have been able to get Zagan back without you.” She straightened and crossed her arms. “Now I’m sure you didn’t want to chat just to apologize. You said you needed my advice?”
I nodded and looked back into the bedroom where Serenity still slept.
“She … she’s struggling. I’m sure you’ve noticed and witnessed some of that since you guys have become friends.
I need to know what I can do for her. I need to know how to help her get through what she’s struggling with.
You told Perseus that he didn’t need to do anything.
He just needed to be there for Harper. But, that’s not really enough, is it? ”
Iyla joined me in the doorway and peered into the room at Serenity.
Sadness filled her eyes. “People underestimate how much it means to have someone on your side. Life is a challenge, and personally, I don’t think we’re meant to face that battle alone.
So, yes. Even though it sounds like no big deal, being there for her in whatever way she needs is all you have to do. ”
I leaned my head back against the doorframe, stress heavy on my shoulders. “I want to be there. I want to give her what she needs. But I’ve fucked up so much. I’m a demon, for Hell’s sake. What good is someone like me for her?”
Zagan drew closer, a small smile tugging at his pierced lips.
“I was once told that while yes, I’m a demon, I’m first and foremost Zagan.
” He placed his tattooed hand on my shoulder.
“So now I’m telling you the same thing. You’re Dante.
That’s who Serenity has always seen, and that’s who she needs right now. ”
My gaze bounced between the human girl and her demon lover as their words of comfort, support, and advice danced around my skull.
I worried that my presence with its dark history and damage would only serve to make Serenty’s life harder.
But I wanted to try. I wanted to try being that support for her.
I wanted to be that strength she could take up when she needed a hand. I wanted to be hers.
Iyla said all I had to do was be there for Serenity. So I’d make sure I never left again.