Julian’s eyelids fluttered. His mouth opened like he might protest, but then his body surrendered, sagging, fingers curling around Valac’s shoulders.
“This isn’t what happened last night. Not entirely. This was… just a nightmare. A worst case scenario, I guess. Last night, I found the burning cross out in my front yard. They’d splashed blood on my porch and front door to attract monsters and set fire to the back deck. I was able to put the fires out and barricade myself inside.” His eyes filled with tears again, but he continued speaking despite them. “I spent all morning cleaning up the mess they made and reinforcing what I could, but the wards on my house are painted in holy water on the windows and doors right now. It never seemed like a big deal before, but it’s all too breakable right now. My squad knows how my wards are set up. It’s one of the easiest wards to put on a building. Lots of us use them. If the people targeting me are the same people who helped me paint them on, they know how to break them. They threw a brick through my window once already; that had to be why. I don’t have any holy weapons. I’m notsafehere, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t know what to do, Valac, I don’t know what to?—”
He was rambling, and Valac’s hands were busy holding him up, so he did the only thing he could think of. The only thing he’d wanted to do since the moment he laid eyes on him.
Julian whimpered as he sealed their mouths together, freezing in Valac’s grip. Valac didn’t move, so hungry hetrembled with the need for more. And finally, Julian raised his hands, cradling Valac’s face, and tilted his head to kiss him back.
Kissing Julian felt like hellfire in his veins, hot and wild and burning him up. He wanted to slip his tongue past those soft, plush lips, wrap his fingers around his throat and feel the vibration of those quiet sounds against his palm, but he had to focus first. He needed Julian to be safe. What could he do from Hell? How could he help?
He could dreamwalk.
Parting reluctantly, Valac said, “I will go into Talon’s mind and ask him for help.”
“But I told the guild I wouldn’t associate with the Sentinels.”
“They are escalating. You’re not safe. You know you’re not.”
Julian’s face twisted.
“At least let me ask him for better wards. We have methods of keeping out demons that you don’t, my jewel. I will get him to write down the instructions for the wards and leave it somewhere for you.”
“What if the paladins see him outside my house?”
“Leviathans can cloak themselves in shadow. No one will see him.” He growled, low and dangerous. “And if anyone is nearby to witness him, anyway, he will kill them.”
Julian looked shocked. “He will?”
“I will tell him to. They would deserve it, if they’re lurking around your home, violating your sense of safety.”
Julian’s mouth opened and shut a few times. “I don’t want to be responsible for him killing people.”
Valac gripped Julian’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet. “You won’t. I will. And would they show you the same courtesy?”
The human’s throat bobbed. “I don’t know.” He let out a shuddery sigh, his head falling back against the door.“Okay. Put me down, then. Go and ask him to drop off the instructions.”
“Will you be okay here without me? Your mind may wander without me here to keep you lucid.”
Julian nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. At least long enough for this. Enduring one nightmare is worth it if I can get access to better wards to protect myself.”
“All right.” Valac turned and gently deposited him on the sofa. “I will return as soon as possible, my jewel.”
And when he did, he planned to revisit the kiss they just shared.
The house around him faded away as he left Julian’s mind and reached out in search of another, less familiar one. There was a chance Talon wasn’t sleeping, since demons didn’t need to rest as often as humans, but odds were good that Talon was near to his human partner, Alex. Valac would go there.
Bright orange light greeted him as he slipped inside Alex Hawk’s mind. Valac squinted, turning away from it as the scene coalesced around him. It was a beach, with dark, sloshing waves. The sun was setting over the water, casting fiery color across the sky. Valac couldn’t remember the last time he saw a real sunset.
He found Alex and Talon sitting on the sandy beach some distance away. A tent was visible on the hilltop behind them, glowing from within.
Talon noticed him before Alex did, leaping to his feet and appearing in front of Valac with a furious snarl.
“What thefuckdo you think you’re doing here, behemoth?”
It would be more threatening if he didn’t have to lookupat Valac as he spoke. “Calm yourself, leviathan. I’m here to ask for your help.”
“Then come while we’re awake!”
Alex joined them belatedly, taking Talon’s hand and tugging him back. “It’s okay, Tal. What’s wrong, Valac?”
