My door clicked open. The only person who had open door privilege was my assistant and human best friend, Cassandra. She waltzed in, wearing her regular blouse and pencil skirt attire with her brown hair wrapped up tightly in a top bun and her handy dandy clipboard in hand.
Not looking up, she started to give me the rundown. “Now that you are off the phone, I have a list of things for you to sign, contracts to seal, and employees to hire. Samuel is also demanding a raise again and won't stop flooding my inbox,” she huffed.
She acted like she really disliked the seer demon and was exasperated by having to deal with his incessant demands, but I thought she had a secret crush on him. She had a file on her computer with all of his silly little demanding emails, and I’d caught her sometimes looking through them if he hadn’t sent her one that day.
“You have your monthly let-out-my-aggression match on Wednesday night, a gala event at the new casino, The Fire Pit, on Friday, and now that you signed this huge deal—congratulations, by the way—”
I smiled as I cheers-ed her with my drink and slammed down the rest in seconds.
“I'm sure he’s going to want you to meet with his lawyer to figure out the logistics, and I can only fit that in on Thursday.” Her practical eyes scanned my face, making sure that I understood my obligations.
“Great! A packed week means I won’t be able to get into much mischief, which is good news for you.” I pointed and smiled at her. She was usually the one who had to clean up any of my messes, so it was always a little bit of a break for her if I had a packed schedule.Idle at play and all that nonsense.
I looked down and noticed that her knee was bouncing, which meant she was feeling anxious about something she had to tell me. With her being human, that usually meant it was something about my nature she was uncomfortable with, something that was extra demon-y.
I huffed and waved my hand in a circle. “Out with it, Cass.”
She took a breath and straightened her back. “With your packed schedule, it means you need to feed —preferably a good amount—so I took the liberty to set up your regular table at Vex for happy hour tomorrow night, and I booked you a room for your… afteractivities.”
I couldn't help myself, I cracked up laughing. After activities! She talked like she was a sixty-year-old woman when she was only twenty-seven.
“Oh, Cass!” I tried to keep the laughing down as I noticed her glaring at me, so I added, “What would I do without you here to mother me?”
I covered my snicker by putting the glass up to my lips to take another drink, but I’d forgotten that I’d drunk it all. Oops. She frowned as I walked over to my desk and sat down, motioning to the seats in front of me.
She came closer but didn't sit as she scowled down at me. It was adorable. Her face was slightly pinched, and her skin was flushed. It made me want to pinch her cheeks and tell her everything was going to be fine.
I must have misjudged her earlier tone, because she blurted, “You really are the worst demon, Lil.” She covered her mouth and looked at me with wide eyes, scared that I’d take offense. Normal demons don't handle criticism well, but I was the product of Lucifer. I can pretty much handle anything.
I opened my mouth and gave a mocking gasp, then mimed stabbing my heart with a knife. A small smile peeked out from behind her fingers, so I slammed my hands on either side of me, making her jump.
“I'm the best demon!” I argued. I lifted my finger and ticked off all the reasons. “I'm one of the best at making deals, I always win, I'm sexy as sin, I'm confident to the point of being full of myself, and I’m fucking incredible in the sack.”
I hated that I only had five reasons, so I tapped my chin, narrowing my eyes in concentration, trying to think of the sixth.I got it!I pointed my finger up. “Oh, and I’m the worst cook in the world. That has to be a demon thing.”
I mean, it might not, but I think it should if everything you cooked looks like a Hell demon pooped it out and served it.
She doesn't skip a beat as she blinks. “Yes, you are all of those, and you get magic from doing those things, but you also use all those skills and get all of those deals for others. Demons usually do that for the betterment of themselves.”
“Hey, the sex part is very selfish!” I whined.Is she trying to make me look like a softy in my moment of triumph! How dare she!
I tried to defend myself, hard, but she wasn't buying it. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as she pointed her fancy Cross pen—her most prized possession—at me.
“You know what I mean. When you made my deal to help my mom with her cancer, your deal consisted of a high paying job with adequate living expenses and enough money to take care of my whole family.”
I leaned back into my high-back chair, bit the inside of my mouth, and feigned indifference. “I don't know what you're talking about. You work twenty-four-seven and are constantly at my beck and call. You have to deal with demons, humans, and all the magical mumbo jumbo that comes with working in the shadows of both worlds. You signed your life over to this job. I would say that was very selfish of me.”
She rolled her eyes, mocking me with her disbelieving face as she continued. “Most demons would've bargained for my soul, my youth, my first-born child, something of mine to be taken and used for themselves.”Ya, and?I almost said but I kept a blank face.
When I kept looking at her like I didn’t know what she was talking about, she threw up her hands and looked at the ceiling, grumbling about how I was being an idiot.
I puffed out my breath angrily because she didn't get it.
“What the hell would I have done with all that when what Ineededwas a loyal, determined, organized, and sharp assistant, who had the balls to stand up to a hunger demon when he messed up my catering order for a client event?” I winked at the end, reminding her of that time when she, a human, had the cojones to stand toe-to-toe with a scary horned demon three times her size, and won.
She blushed, and I finally got a smile to crack that frown. She looked at the floor and crossed her ankles in embarrassment.
“That was just because of your protection seal,” she mumbled, but we both knew better.
