“Don’t growl at me, you little shit!” snapped Zeph, his green eyes blazing and sparks igniting around the palms of his hands.
Sam swallowed, was he really about to witness a demon fight? Were two incubi really about to brawl in his bar? Sam had to stifle his nervous giggle at that thought. If only he could sell tickets.
He was assuming the Prince of Hell was an incubus, he was certainly stunning enough and he was Jinx’s brother, but Sam admitted he knew nothing about how demon families worked.
The front door opened, and Sam winced, but the two demons effortlessly returned to looking human. So much so that Sam’s overwhelmed mind wondered if he had been imagining the sparks and the growls.
Joseph walked in and came to an abrupt halt, his jaw hanging open and eyes nearly popping out. “It’s you!” he gasped.
Zeph turned to look at him. “Joseph?” he spluttered and blushed.
Sam could not believe what he was hearing. He was astonished at the turn of events and shocked he hadn’t recognized Zephaniah from Joseph’s description.
“This is your mystery man that you have been here every night for ten years looking for?” Sam exclaimed.
Suddenly, green eyes were boring into his as Zeph turned to him. “What?” demanded the Prince of Hell, but before Sam could form an answer, Zeph had turned back to Joseph. “Really?” asked the demon.
Joseph swallowed audibly and nodded, his face turning bright crimson. Sam didn’t think it was anything to be embarrassed about, he thought it was terribly romantic and something to be proud of.
Zeph stared at Joseph, seemingly lost for words.
“You came here ten years ago?” asked Tally indignantly.
Zeph waved his hand dismissively, without tearing his gaze away from Joseph. “I wanted to see what all your moping was about.”
Tally huffed out a breath angrily, but Zeph ignored him, his gaze still caught on Joseph’s. Sam’s mind whirled. Demons had been stalking him for years? It was a wildly unsettling thought.
“Let’s talk,” said Zeph suddenly, striding forward and grabbing Joseph’s arm before pulling him towards the front door. The demon looked back over his shoulder, “I will deal with you lot later,” he said, and then he was gone.
Sam stared after him helplessly. A thousand thoughts tumbled through his mind, but one seemed to dominate all the others. He knew it wasn’t the most important one, but he couldn’t shake it off.
“Poor Joseph, imagine finding out that the person you have been pining for is married to the devil,” said Sam.
Tally snorted in amusement, no doubt bemused that despite all their problems, that was where Sam’s mind went.
“Wait, shit, is he going to be in trouble?” asked Sam, as the possible implications suddenly dawned on him.
Tally gave him a confused look, like he didn’t understand what on earth he was talking about. Then he seemed to puzzle out Sam’s train of thought.
“Luci won’t care about the sex. Zeph is an incubus after all, and Hell is a pansexual polyamorous playground.” explained Tally.
Sam tried to digest that piece of information. Even though he was neither of those things, it sounded quite good to him, which was confusing because he thought Hell was supposed to be terrible and awful. He guessed he had a lot to learn.
“But the emotions might cause problems,” added Tally, as he chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Joseph must be the human Zeph talks about.”
Sam stared at him in alarm, he really didn’t want anything bad to happen to Joseph. Tally caught his look and smiled, “I meant that Zeph and Luci might split up, that’s all.”
Sam did not know what to say to that. He felt like he was floundering, a whole world, dimension, whatever it was, that he didn’t know. Customs and people he was oblivious of. He really needed Tally to give him a crash course on it all. Sam wanted to know about the place that had been his lover’s home for thousands of years.
“This is good for us. I think it’s going to take a while to sort, judging by the way those two were looking at each other. So I think Zeph is going to forget about us for a while.” said Tally.
Deirdre called out from the bottom of the stairs, “Is the coast clear, it’s past opening time?”
“Yes!” answered Sam gratefully. The thought of getting back to normal stuff was very alluring.
The coast was clear for now, it seemed. Thank heavens for romantic distractions and whatever temporary reprieve they could give.
Hopefully, it would buy them enough time to come up with a permanent solution. If there was a permanent solution. Sam pushed his doubts away. There had to be a way, there just had to. Tally was clever and resourceful. Sam needed to trust that everything was going to be okay. He sighed and turned his attention to work.
