“I’m your biggest fan,” he says seriously.
He strolls through the front door without bothering to knock. Not that he would need to, I guess. No one lives in this home.
There is a group of other people I assume are demons sitting around a circular wooden table. They greet Kit happily when heenters and takes one of the last two open seats. All appear human at first glance, but two seem to be in bodies that are…their own, I suppose. Humanoid. Scales and horns where a standard human does not have scales and horns.
“Gentlemen,” Kit says, settling in. “Who is ready to get their ass kicked?”
The majority roll their eyes at that. One demon, a redhead with light green, scaly skin that I at first thought was a weird effect of the lighting, says, “You are all talk, Tonkitgrol.”
“My mouth is my most powerful weapon,” he says aloud. Then in my void he adds, “Wink, wink.”
My cheeks flush. “Kit,” I say wearily.
Kit moves on. “Hallett, the green guy, is a pretty good friend of mine. He’s a good guy. Or as good as a demon can be. Not big on the murder and torture, more so on the organized crime. He’s been a demon since civilization poked its head out.”
That’s a wild thing to think about, that this demon person—Hallett—is as old as civilization. No way. He looks forty.
“So,” Kit says aloud when I don’t respond. “We all here?”
“Almost,” a woman, or I suppose female-presenting demon, with dark hair in a high ponytail says. “Waiting on just one.”
“In the meantime,” cuts in a demon with horns. They’re short, like a baby goat’s, sticking up only inches above his purple spiky hair. “The loot.” He brings a tote bag to the table and dumps its contents. Gold coins—yes,goldcoins—pour out on the table, clanging and clattering until the table is covered.
Hallett waves his hand, a quick swipe in the air over the coins, and they stack themselves.
“Holy shit,” I say, witnessing my first taste of actual magic.Kit’s strength and teleportation is one thing, but this is something else. I eye the coins. “Are you literally playing for gold doubloons?”
Kit snickers in my head. “No, they’re just gold coins. Though…” He picks one up and examines it closely before dropping it carefully back on the pile. “I do think these were found in an actual treasure chest on some remote island off the coast of Spain about sixty years ago, so I suppose we are.”
I roll my eyes. “You can’t play for normal US currency, or literally any other legal tenner?”
The other demons continue a conversation while Kit and I have one in my head.
“Where’s the fun in that? Also, these coins are probably cursed so, bonus.”
“In what world is that abonus?”
“In my world, babe. Plus, this isn’t the only thing we’re playing for. We’re also playing for a bone of an ancient witch. They were a part of some coven that died out centuries ago, but they specialized in power stealing or something. Like, they could take other people’s magic by killing them. Hot commodity. If I win it, I can take it back to the Black Market, sell it, earn a pretty penny, and buy you a thermal energy camera. That one you’ve had your eye on. Huh?”
For my sanity, I choose to ignore everything he said, aside from one part. “You don’t need to buy me anything.”
“But you won’t let me steal it.”
I bite the corner of my lip. “Fine. Thank you. I’ll take the thermal camera. I need it, anyways.”
“I know.”
He goes back to his friends, and I tune out the conversation as soon as I hear the wordentrails. Nope. That’s enough for me.
I decide to go back to my bed, no desire to hear anything questionable come out of anyone’s mouth, when Kit stands so quickly, I’m knocked to the ground.
“Balores,” I hear him say. “Sir. I wasn’t expecting you.”
I push myself back to my feet and run to the window, desperate to know who this guy is. He’s tall with blond hair. Looks like a smarmy finance bro. I already don’t like him.
“Tonkitgrol.” The man says Kit’s full name like it tastes sour on his tongue. He assesses Kit fully. “Your new suit is pretty. She looks quite familiar.”
“How strange,” Kit says stiffly. “I found her in Virginia. Have you ever been to Virginia? They all look like this in Virginia.”
