“I possessed him. A couple of times, actually. Hudson was the first one I hit once I was out of Hell. I thought, you know, lawyers are scummy. I’m a scummy demon. Might as well. Though being a lawyer is a lot of work, so it was not fun—I spent most of my days opening sketchy porn sites to give the computers viruses. And Hudson is a really cool guy, so my bad. Works as a human rights defense lawyer now.”
“Uh, good for Hudson? But, Kit. I don’t… I still don’t get it. Why me?”
“You have a nice smile, beautiful eyes, and a great laugh. You were the first person who had been nice to me in a long time. I had a crush on you.”
My lips press together before I admit, “I suppose I had a crush on you, too.”
He smiles softly then wrinkles his nose. “Remember Mr. Blanc?”
“Yeah?”
“That was Balores.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“Not the entire time. He came to check up on me. I think it was your last day. The day…” He trails off. The day August died. “He possessed him at some point during the day, and after that, I could tell he…liked you. So, to make sure he was staying away, I checked on you every now and then. Think of it as my form of social media stalking. He seemed to mostly let you be, but I caught him a few times. Watching you.”
I think about the video of me at the mini golf course. The shadow with horns. “Why wait? If he’s been watching me for years, why was last week the trigger?”
“I was wondering that, too, but I figured it out. You reached one hundred and fifty thousand subscribers on YouTube.”
“And that matters because…?”
Kit shrugs. “He likes his vessels to hold a certain modicum of success. Normally, he goes after people like Blanc or the finance bro he’s in now, but with you, you didn’t have that success when he met you, so he’s been waiting patiently for you to get there.”
I squirm in my seat, the idea that he’s beenwatchingme for this long too much to handle. “That’s really fucking weird.”
“I agree. I’m not some demonic profiler—I don’t know why this is his, like, fetish, or whatever, but it is.”
“So, all this time, you’ve been watching him watch me?”
“Yes.”
My hands wring together. “What incredibly unnerving information.”
He frowns. “I know, sweetness. I’m sorry.”
“Is he still watching me? Even with you here?”
“Tonight is the first time I’ve seen him, but that doesn’t mean much. He’s been alive for so long he might just be waiting me out. A year, ten years, is nothing to him. He’s been alive for a millennium.”
I swallow, taking a pause. I whisper, “Ten years?”
“We’ll find a solution before then. I promise.”
I should keep my focus on the mid-level demonic stalker I’ve apparently had for four years, but to prevent myself from spiraling, I have to ask, “You acted like you didn’t know about August. Why did you lie?”
He tugs lightly at my pant leg. “I didn’t want you to think I knew everything about you, which I don’t yet, but I also wanted you to tell me about her yourself.”
“Oh.”
“Balores seemed to leave you be for a while, but I kept checking on you. And I’m glad I did, because I happened to catch when he started poking around again. Something, I can’t even remember what, made me think of you about a week ago, and I stopped in to check, and there was Balores. Watching you. I overheard him tell another demon that it was time for him to take you.” He closes his eyes. “I just want to keep you safe.”
I reach out, tracing along his face until I’m holding his cheek in my hand. He leans into my touch. God, I wish I could actually feel his skin, the stubble under my palm. “And yet you insist you have no morals, no soul. I know I am not the expert, but normal demons don’t get crushes. They don’t pick random women to…to protect out of nothing more than kindness. Torture, maybe. Terrorize, but not…not tocareabout.”
He looks up at me again. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Please. I just… This is a lot to take in.” I drop my hand. “Isn’t there any other way to keep him from possessing me?”
