“Well, keep going,” Storm said. “These boxes aren’t going to unpack themselves.”
“Blame Shadrach,” Julian said. “He’s the one who bought most of it.”
“You’re welcome.” Shadrach breezed by with an arch look, and Julian chuckled.
When they finished bringing everything in, Julian ordered a stack of pizzas, and they all sat around the living room floor—since they didn’t have enough seating for everyone—and gorged themselves. A warm breeze blew through the house, carrying the scent of grass and pine. The property was outside the city, a little over an hour from the Rink. That wasn’t a big deal for someone like Valac, who could teleport, and Julian figured it was a good idea to have a place more removed from the rest of the city and its dangers. Surrounded by trees and at the end of a long driveway, their house was remote enough to be a good hideaway from the guild, should the need ever arise, and Julian had made sure when they bought it that the Sentinels all knew they were welcome to crash there whenever they needed.
“What does Ashmedai think of the surface so far?” Julian asked. He hadn’t been at the Rink quite as frequently in the last few days while they closed on the house, so he’d missed some of the sin eater’s first days with them.
Thoughtful glances passed from person to person. Talon said, “He’s adjusting. He hasn’t actually been around much, although I did take him to the apartment and let him know he could rest there whenever he wanted. He wants to hunt, so that’s what he’s doing. I showed him where the guild is located and told him he can kill anyone who comes out of there whose soul looks dark. Time will tell how it goes.”
“They’ll know they’re being targeted,” Julian said. “They’ll retaliate.”
“And we’ll be ready,” Talon said. “I’ve informed the halflings that we’re declaring war. Plenty of them have come forward and said they’d be willing to help fight. They don’t like the paladins any better than we do. They’ve been attacking halflings on sight for months now.”
He knew war between the guild and the demons was inevitable, but it didn’t make it any easier to stomach. He dropped his half-eaten pizza on the open box lid and sighed. “Things are about to get hard, aren’t they? Harder than they already were.”
As always, they looked toward Ira, who licked the grease from his thumb and calmly said, “Yes. But it’ll be worth it.”
Julian leaned against Valac, who wrapped an arm around him. “Promise?”
Ira smiled. “Yeah. I may not know everything, but I know that.”
“Do you know who Ashmedai meets?” he asked. “I’m so curious.”
Ira pressed his smiling lips together and didn’t respond.
“He always keeps the good stuff a secret,” Shadrach said, shooting Isaac a fond look.
Ira said slowly, as though testing each word, “Ashmedai and his…personwill have some difficulties ahead of them.”
“No shit,” Storm said. “The sin eater barely talks, doesn’t understand the surface world, and any paladin with half a brain will take one look at him and run the other way.”
Malachi pointed at him. “Okay, there we go. Things we know about Ashmedai’s human: paladin, brain dead,” he cocked his head thoughtfully, “wildly kinky.”
Alex nearly spat his pizza out. “Wait, what?”
“Oh, come on,” Malachi said. “Anybody willing to bone a sin eater has some hidden kinks. I mean—” he squinted, “—do you think he even has aface? What does it look like under there?How does he suck the sin out of people? Maybe it’s just a round… hole.” He raised his brows. “Which I can get behind.”
“No you cannot,” Luke quipped matter-of-factly.
“He doesn’t just have a hole for a face,” Julian said. He felt strangely protective of the monster that said his soul was bright. “We can see he has two eyes.”
“How do you know for sure those are eyes?” Malachi teased.
Julian threw a spicy pepper at him, and Malachi laughed, plucking it off the box and eating it.
Two by two, the humans and their demons said their goodbyes. Julian couldn’t muster enough energy to walk anyone to the door. Laying on the floor with his head in Valac’s lap, he waved at each of them as they went, some walking through the front door and some disappearing in place, leaving Julian and Valac alone in their own house for the very first time.
The clock, which they hadn’t hung yet, ticked quietly on a stack of boxes, unseen but accounted for.
“Moving is exhausting,” Julian said. “I think all I have the energy for is putting the sheets on the bed and collapsing. And maybe we could skip the sheets.”
Valac chuckled, combing his fingers through Julian’s hair. “I can handle the sheets. Wait here.” He slipped away, lowering Julian’s head gently to the floor.
Julian was left staring up at the ceiling. “I’m really starting to feel spoiled, you know!” he called. An ancient demon was down the hall wrestling a fitted sheet onto a mattress because Julian said he was tired. How was this his life? And how had he functioned pre-Valac?
Valac appeared beside him a moment later, scooping him off the floor and into his arms. Julian yelped, flinging his arms around Valac’s neck as he rose into the air. He blinked, and then they were in the downstairs hallway, standing between the bathroom and bedroom doorways.
