“Need I remind you who Death is? Why he has his reputation as literal death?” Dad asked. “I’ve known him much longer than you.”
Dad had been the vengeance demon representative on the Demon Council before I took over so he could focus on his vengeance business.
“She’s worth all that,” I mumbled before taking a deep breath. There was no need to hide my true feelings from him since he already knew anyway. “Can you tell me about the current case?”
I grabbed a red pen, wedged the cap between my teeth, and pulled it off before circling the location of our newest case. The target lived in the Demon Capital, but that was all I’d been told so far.
“We’re working a case for a woman whose husband cheated on her,” he explained before pausing. “He got her sister pregnant.”
“Shit.” I pulled the cap from between my lips and snapped it back on the marker before tossing it on the shelf below the map. “Not fated then?”
“Definitely not.” Disgust leaked from his voice. “She’s distraught, obviously.”
We’d worked countless cases of cheating, but never once had we come across a fated mate issue. Fated mates were too precious for that kind of betrayal. Plus, magically, once you’ve met your fated mate and a bond is established, no other being would be tempting.
“Cookie cutter scorned spouse case, then?” I went back to my desk and grabbed a notebook and pen before writing down the details he was giving me.
Cheating cases were quite common, but enacting vengeance on them varied between cases. Sometimes, murder was appropriate. Other times, ruining their reputation was.
“Not quite.” There was a beat of silence. “The victim wants us to enact vengeance for both the betrayal and murder.”
“Murder?” I frowned. “Whose murder?”
“The husband. Apparently, the sister killed him when he wouldn’t be with her the way he was with our victim,” he explained. “Shedecapitated the man and left his head on a stake in the victim’s front yard. She’s harassing her own sister to the point that the victim can’t sleep. She thinks she’s going to come after her next.”
“Not a baseless worry.” I finished writing the details out. “So the appropriate vengeance path would be murder, but she’s pregnant.”
“Exactly.” He sighed again. He sounded exhausted. “The victim wants the baby.”
“So what are you thinking? Wait until the woman gives birth, kill her, then we give the baby to the victim?” I frowned.
Woah, that was fucked up, even for us.
“All of our normal cases are turning into shit shows,” he groaned. “What is going on?”
My chest tightened as I clicked the pen and set it on top of the notepad. “The Demon Council has been dealing with an uprise in crime, too.”
“Nothing’s ever coincidental,” he muttered as another call split my tablet’s screen.
“That’s true. Death’s calling. I should probably take this.” I grabbed the tablet from the corner of my desk and slid it in front of me.
“You should also stop mooning over his daughter,” he cackled. “I’ll call you with updates after I discuss options with the victim. Talk to you later, son. Fates be with you.”
“Fates be with you,” I murmured our familysaying before clicking to Death’s call. “Death, is this business or personal?”
“Both,” he grunted. “Pandora?”
“She’s safely in her room,” I told him. “She’s rooming with a Dreadful.”
“How…dreadfulfor my sweet daughter.” His tone came across accusatory.
“She’s going to have to get used to the demon culture,” I told him softly. “Dreadful isn’t the worst demon she could’ve been roomed with. She’s probably one of the best attending this year. Maybe Pandora could teach her some empathy. Besides, I didn’t choose her room assignment.”
He snorted, but I knew he was scowling.
Ever since Pandora was found, Death had shown me a totally new side of him. He was more relatable now than he’d ever been before because my dad had constantly fussed over me through the years in a similar way that Death was fussing over Pandora. It was nice to see him have that. He’d been alone for so long. Pandora was as good for him as he was for her.
“Several demons were found in the streets of the Demon Capital, dead and rotted, in front of our council building.” He paused. “I’ve only seen that type of deterioration once before. In Kalista’s Second War when the dragons of Blezen attacked our capital. A wolf shifter had been infected with dark magic. He wielded it to the point where hecould transform into a dragon with dark magic. I saw it myself. He survived for a decent amount of time before the dark magic was taken from his body, and he died.”
