âThereâs no way I can accept this,â I almost stuttered, adding, âDid you steal it?â because how else could he have gotten something that cost as much as several high-end cars?
Hints of darkness colored his laughter. âFormer demon prince, remember? I might have left all that behind me, but I didnât leave empty-handed.â
âYouâre not a demon, you were just raised by them,â I muttered.
He shrugged. âHonorary demon prince, then. Either way, I can afford it. Besides, you lost your other necklace because of me, so donât say you canât accept this one to replace it.â
The necklace was so beautiful, a shallow part of me wanted nothing more than to put it on and run to the nearest mirror. I couldnât, of course. For starters, I hadnât looked into a mirror since the night I found out the hard way that some demons use mirrors as portals into our world. Plus...
âThis feels like a bribe,â I said, holding the necklace out to him. âAnd you canât make up for everything thatâs happened with a shiny, expensive gift. Things arenât good between us, Adrian. Not even close, and if I accepted this, Iâd be implying that they were.â
He crossed his arms, his posture taking on a very familiar stubbornness. âIâm not trying to bribe you, Iâm giving you a birthday gift. Throw it into the surf if you want, but itâs yours, so I am not taking it back.â
My jaw clenched. He might have been raised in an environment where money was no object, but I could no more toss this diamond into the ocean than I could burn a stack of hundred-dollar bills for warmth, and from the challenging curl to his mouth, he knew that. Still, that didnât mean he was getting his way.
I folded the necklace into my hand and resumed walking. It didnât take my enhanced peripheral vision to see Adrianâs smirk as he followed. He thought heâd won this round. Think again, I silently told him.
âSo, if youâre rich, why did we only stay in crappy motels when we first met?â I asked as I kept walking toward Costaâs house.
He let out a laugh that managed to combine the lure of ecstasy along with the dangers of addiction.
âBecause I was doing everything I could to kill the mood, not that it worked. Even in the ugliest surroundings, I wanted you so much that it almost killed me not to take you in every dingy room those crappy motels had to offer.â
âStop it,â I muttered. Thankfully, Brutus picked that moment to fly past us and land in the tallest section of beach shrubs. I ran after the gargoyle, trying to soothe him as he attempted to cover himself with beach brush to avoid the sun.
âItâs okay,â I was saying when Adrian said, âCarparata!â loud enough to snap Brutusâs head up.
The Demonish word turned Brutus from a cringing creature into his usual, formidable self. The gargoyle might be my pet now, but to the bone, he still belonged to Adrian. After all, Adrian was the one whoâd given Brutus to me as my protector. The fact that heâd done so when Adrian had thought he was sacrificing his life to save mine was yet another reason why he was so hard to evict from my heart.
Still, I wasnât about to give up trying. âHere you go, my good Brutus,â I said, pulling out the necklace and latching it around his leathery wrist. Because of his size, it fit like a bracelet. âSomething shiny for you.â
The gargoyle held up his arm, looking at the diamond next to his grayish-blue skin. Then he chuffed as if in approval.
âSee?â I said, with a wide grin at Adrian. âHe loves it.â
The glare Adrian gave me was priceless. Then, with a smile that was far too confident for my liking, he waved in the direction of Costaâs house.
âYou can give my gift to Brutus and you can keep stomping off to Costaâs, but no matter what, Iâm coming with you. Realm cracks are appearing and demons and minions are on the move again. You might have killed Demetrius, giving me the vengeance Iâd wanted for years, but that didnât take me out of the fight. I still live to kick demon ass, so I wouldnât sit this out for the world, and if you know anything about me, you should know that. Besides, Zachâs probably aware of all this and waiting back at Costaâs for us. As you might recall, Archons may be nearly immortal, but theyâre not very patient.â
COSTAâS HOUSE WAS a former church, hence the hallowed ground it rested on that demons were unable to cross. The sight of its tall, slanted roof with the cross that Costa hadnât bothered to take down filled me with a mixture of relief and sadness. I couldnât say that Iâd been happy here, but Iâd felt safe, and that counted for a lot in this world. Now, it was time to leave, and I didnât know if Iâd ever see this place again.
Adrian was right; more people were at the house than when Iâd left it an hour ago. My sister, Jasmine, seemed startled to see Adrian, but it didnât escape my notice that Costa didnât look surprised. I stifled my snort as we came into the kitchen. Had Adrian been in contact with Costa this whole time, too? Was I literally the only person heâd avoided these past couple months?
As I approached the table, Adrian pulled a chair out for me, but I ignored that. âIâll stand.â
âAre you two fighting again?â Costa cast a knowing glance between us. âSituation normal, then.â
The other person I hadnât seen in the past two months was Zach, but as Adrian had predicated, the Archon now sat at the kitchen table as casually as if heâd dropped by for breakfast. As with minions and demons, at first glance, you wouldnât know there was anything unusual about Zach. His jeans and faded-blue hoodie matched his college-age appearance, and his dark brows, closely cropped hair and mocha-colored skin were a great frame for his deep, walnut-brown eyes.
One look into those eyes, however, and I couldnât imagine anyone not realizing that there was something otherworldly about Zach. His gaze seemed to reach right into your soul, and if he chose to reveal his true nature, the room would be filled with exploding light and deafeningly beautiful voices. The one time Zach had dropped his human disguise to show me that, Iâd unwittingly fallen to my knees with tears streaming down my face. You never realized how insignificant you were until confronted with a creature filled with the power and glories of eternity.
Archonsâangelsâwere such creatures, so youâd think Iâd be glad to see Zach. Instead, I felt a mildly growing sense of dread. Unlike their Hallmark Channel representations, Archons werenât cuddly beings who spent their time sprinkling happy dust onto humanity. Instead, they were fearsome warriors whoâd been relegated to the sidelines during the most important battle of the ages, so they were ready to fight no matter how that turned out for mankind. They were also our only allies against demons, so that made them indispensable to us regardless of their seeming indifference toward the fate of my race.
âIâm out of time, arenât I?â I said in lieu of a hello.
Zach
