“Demons.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that demons were shadow creatures ready to swallow me whole. Well, I didn’t actually know their intent, but I pictured myself enveloped in their darkness and dragged off to hell.
It didn’t happen that way, though. Actually, what happened was very undramatic, considering there were demons in my workshop. No possessions took place.
There seemed to be four of them. They hovered above the concrete in front of us.
“I think we should run before this turns into an exorcism.” I hated the movie. It scared the crap out of me. I knew that was the point, but I wasn’t into shadowy demon creatures.
Neither were reapers, for that matter, yet here we were.
“Stay where you are, Elliot.” Morgana stepped in front of us.
“Ezul. How are you, sir?” Well, that was... polite. Was she just going to hand me over with asorry for the trouble, sir?
The demon changed, taking on another form entirely. The darkness disappeared a little at a time until the shadow became a person. The only way to tell he wasn’t human was the horns peeking through his hair and his black eyes.
Presumably, Ezul was the demon’s name. It sounded atypical but not crazy abnormal. A barista wouldn’t have trouble calling that out when his coffee order was ready.
The demon had dark hair and pale skin and wore black clothing.
“I’m not here for you, Morgana.” Ezul might have gargled with gravel that morning.
“I speak for Grym.”
Ezul smiled. “Is that so? That is a very poor choice to make, Morgana.”
Morgana lifted her chin. “Yes, well, it’s the one I’m making.”
Ezul sighed. “I see. This is quite the problem, isn’t it?”
“It has implications.” Morgana shook her head as if the problem were creating a ton of stress and she were carrying it on her shoulders. “Souls are already lingering in the living realm. We all feel it.”
Ezul’s eyes burned with tiny flames, and his complexion turned a sickly gray. “Why are you doing this, then?”
There was a pregnant pause as Morgana didn’t answer him, and Ezul seethed with a rage that was the scariest shit I’d ever witnessed. I’d died once, so that was saying something.
She met Ezul’s gaze. “Grym and Elliot deserve a chance at love. The rest of the reapers and their beloveds do, too.” Her words made my chest ache, and I wanted to hug her.
Ezul scoffed. “You’re collapsing the system for love? It’s such a small reason, yet it carries big consequences for us all.”
“There is nothing small about love, Ezul.”
“Tell that to Donn when his majesty invokes his wrath.” Ezul threw the papers at Morgana. They floated to her feet. Sparks leaped from them. At first, I thought the papers had caught fire, but the sparks grew. It was as if the paper had been burned into existence. Before long, an entire stack lay at her feet, scattered across my workshop floor.
“You have three days to do the right thing.” With that, he turned back into a shadow. His human shape faded. The four shadows left the workshop, slipping into the dark corners of the room. I wasn’t sure whether they were still there, listening and watching like stalkers, or had been absorbed into the floor. I just hoped they’d left my workshop and property, and that they’d never come back.
Morgana turned and met our gaze with a smile. “Well, that went better than expected.”
A demon showed up in my workshop, threatening my life, and she thought that wasn’t terrible or terrifying? “It would be even better if they just left us alone.”
“Agreed, but that won’t happen.” Morgana addressed everyone. “We have three days to figure out what to do next. I’ll work on finding a witch. In the meantime, Ezul is right. There are souls to ferry, gentlemen. Things to do. Grym and Elliot. I suggest you complete the bond. We’ll need your abilities, Elliot, if we’re going to find people who are on our side. I have a feeling we’re going to need an army.”
“Fall in love, gentlemen,” she said, and with that, she left the workshop.
Everyone else filed out behind her.
I turned to face Grym. “Did she just demand that we fall in love with each other?”
Grym smiled and cupped my cheek. “Yes, she did.”
