Barion lifted his hand again, the claw making a clean slice in thin air before dragging Jon through without much fanfare. After a moment of intense disorientation, Jon found himself in a living room with a bright orange leather couch and a huge flatscreen on the wall.
Chapter Six
Jon felt Barion watching him closely as they stood in the middle of his living room. Here in the Carpathians, it was already late afternoon, and the sun was getting ready to set behind the mountains, painting them in a gorgeous violet hue. Now that he had Jon in his home, he suddenly seemed unsure what to do, which Jon could relate to. He, too, wasn’t sure what he was even doing here.
“Do you want a tour?”
Jon shook his head like a kitten that had gotten wet, his dark strands shivering around his face. “Yeah. Yeah. After you’ve explained to me what exactly is little about your home.”
Barion grinned. “Come on. It’s not that big.”
“Not that big? Your living room is bigger than my entire apartment. Why did you even agree to go there a second time when you have this at your disposal?”
“Because you aren’t here. Weren’t here.” The words came out so fast that Jon had problems understanding them. When he did, he must have looked at Barion funny, because the demon started babbling nervously. “I mean, we wanted to play together, and I think your apartment is really cool, especially your gaming set-up. Mine isn’t half as good, and you’ve got all the equipment and…”
Jon lifted his hand, trying and failing to suppress a grin. “I get it, Barion. I guess I’m just as smitten with your home as you apparently were with mine.”
“So, we do the tour?”
“I so want a tour. And don’t forget to show me the library, aka ‘halls of chaos’, if Sammy is to be believed.”
“They’re chaos now.” Barion made a sweeping gesture with his right hand. “Please follow me.” He first brought Jon to his dining room where a stag head encrusted with jewels hung on the wall. It was gorgeous and a bit creepy, though in a good way. Jon stared at it with big eyes.
“Are those real?”
“Yes. For a few centuries, I thought collecting gemstones was fun, and so I had a broad range to choose from.”
“It’s absolutely beautiful. I like the Damien Hirst vibe, and you definitely gave it your own spin. Aren’t you afraid of thieves?”
“Uhm, in case you haven’t noticed, Jon, I’m a demon. Any human or paranormal dumb enough to enter this place and try to steal something deserves what they have coming to them.”
“Which would be?” Jon lifted one of his brows, wanting to know, while not wanting to know what a demon would do to somebody who trespassed on their property. His imagination did provide some detailed ideas, which he wished he could un-think.
“I’m not at liberty to say, but rest assured, they would never ever think about stealing anything again.” Barion waggled his eyebrows, which had Jon giggling.
“Okay, no human or paranormal thieves for you. What about other demons?”
“A possibility, which is the reason this place is heavily warded, though any demon reckless enough to steal from one of the princes would find themselves in one of the dungeon dimensions.”
“They do exist?” Jon was honestly interested, and Barion seemed happy to be able to talk to somebody about these things without the person freaking out on him.
“There’s plenty, though not all of them are prisons. Some are actually quite nice, if you like rocks and the colors red and brown.” He winked to show he was joking. “In fact, a lot of the dungeon dimensions are colorful places where life is going crazy with experiments, which makes them a bit unsafe for non-demons. If a bee the size of a horse decides to attack, things can get dicey, though being bitten by a mouse with more poison than an Inland Taipan from Earth surely isn’t much better.” Barion looked totally serious while saying this.
“You’re making fun of me.” Jon grinned.
“A bit. Tell you what… I’m going to take you to one of the dungeon dimensions this weekend. How does that sound?”
Jon mulled that over. His initial reaction was a hell, yes, why don’t we go now? while his brain tried to remind him that he wasn’t the adventurous type and what did he think he was doing here anyway? Building a friendship? another inner voice suggested, leaving Jon torn.
“I’m sure you know I usually don’t go out much. I’m not good with people and it’s always disappointing,” he finally said, and even in his own ears it sounded lame.
“There are no people in the dungeon dimensions,” Barion replied. They wouldn’t survive long. He didn’t say that out loud, but Jon could read it clearly in his eyes. Strangely enough, the idea of going somewhere so dangerous with Barion was what tipped the scales in favor of this adventure. “I think I’d love to go.”
Barion’s eyes lit up in joy, which in turn made Jon feel infinitely better about this decision that was so out of character for him.
“Then it’s a deal. Come on. You haven’t seen my library yet.”
Barion led the way into his library, where they were greeted by stacks of books on every available surface while the shelves were mostly empty or only partly filled. Jon stared for a moment before he turned to Barion.
