“The minions will party until the wee hours of the morning, but we can leave if you want. The DJ is getting ready to restart the music,” I reply, suppressing the urge to kill every time my mate mentions his grandmother.
I understand she did the best she could under the circumstances, but if I could kill that woman, I would. She’s lucky she’s already dead. Her granddaughter lived long enough to learn that the Avatar of Evil has no forgiveness for anyone who mistreats his mate. I still haven’t forgiven her for how she treated Edovard, and I never will. She’s dead, at my pleasure by the hand of my assassin, and Edovard will never know that. I will never tell him, and neither will any of the people who know. He’stoo soft-hearted to understand my need for revenge for how he’s been treated by the people who were meant to love him, and I don’t need to ruin his heart more than I already have.
“I think it would be fun to dance for a while. You missed the dancing before. Gregory got a little grumpy with the minions I was dancing with, but he should be good now, right?” He looks at Gregory pointedly.
Gregory narrows his eyes at him. “If you think I’m ever going to be ok sharing you with the minions—”
Edovard leans over and interrupts him with a kiss. “It’s ok for me to dance with my friends, Gregory, but I also want to dance with you, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
I chuckle and lean over to kiss Gregory as well. “Hello, my love,” I greet him softly.
His grumpy expression gives way to a smirk that quirks his lips on the left side. “Hello, master. How was your retreat?”
“Oh yeah. Did you have fun in the mountains?” Edovard asks curiously.
“I did enjoy the skiing,” I admit. “The slopes of the Alps are lovely, and it turns out that having Romily there made things infinitely more interesting than years past. I’m sure he’ll be happy to tell you all about it when you see him tomorrow at brunch.”
“We’re still going to that?” Gregory grumps with a disgusted sneer.
Edovard gives our boyfriend an affectionate smile. “We’re having pancakes with blueberry syrup from the garden. You love those.”
Gregory’s grunt is drowned out by the DJ’s voice. “Welcome home, Master Santanos. Would you like to address your minions before we start the music back up?”
The minions cheer for a speech, and I extricate myself from Edovard, turning to face a roof full of my minions in variousstates of undress. They’re used to working with me in the nude, and my own lack of clothing doesn’t deter me from taking center stage.
“Hello, beloved friends and family!” I call to them, waving at a few of the excitable members of the crowd. There’s perhaps two hundred minions on the roof with us, which surely violates fire codes, but we’re evil, so of course we’re violating codes for this party. “Thank you for the warm welcome home. I missed you all, and I am happy to return ready for a new year full of success for the cause of evil. I’ve spent the last week meditating on all your success this past year, on the programs you’ve implemented, and on the potential for evil that you hold in your hands every day. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to take this year by storm, and that will start with each of you committing to one evil New Year’s Resolution, but that’s tomorrow’s project. Tonight, we party, dance, and fuck! Happy New Year, minions!”
A roar of applause, whistles, and shouting goes up from my minions, then the DJ starts the music again, and the night commences with us ringing in the New Year right.
4
EDOVARD
I thought we would get New Year’s Day off since it’s a holiday, but Gregory said that we’re evil, and evil never rests, so we have to work today. Santanos whispered to me that Gregory thinks we need to start off every year on the right note, so we don't give any of the minions New Year’s Day off, but they don’t mind since they get a winter break while Santanos is away recharging his ward.
I asked Hassan if everyone takes a break because Santanos worries about his minions when he can’t protect them, and Hassan didn’t say anything, but his aura flared with his love, so I’m pretty sure that’s why.
“Pupper, will you please get me some coffee?” Gregory grumbles before stalking into our shared office after we get off the elevator.
His assistant, Sharon, (I hired him a helper because he was always working too late and it wasn’t good for him) gives me a hug so we can start the work day off with the right attitude and follows him into the office. I really like her; she understands how important hugs are for some people.
Santanos’s love shines for me when he looks up at me. “I would like you to facilitate the minions’ New Year’s resolutions.Usually, they come up with resolutions to improve the spread of evil, but in years past, we’ve had to be careful because we didn’t want to tip the balance in the wrong direction. This year I want them to be a little extravagant in their resolutions because we’re trying to let go of some of the things that belong to Neutrality, so we need to focus on being extremely evil..”
I can look up “extravagant” in a minute. “You want me to talk to the minions about their resolutions for extra evit?” Sometimes I have to clarify what Santanos means, but it’s ok, because I like that he never talks differently to me than he talks to everyone else (except for how he loves me).
“Yes, please,” he says, and he pulls me down for a warm kiss.
I love kisses from Santanos; they always make me feel tingly down to my toes and give me goosebumps all the way to my hair.
After Santanos kisses me two more times, he finally lets me go and Hassan takes over, giving me twice the amount of kisses he usually does.
“Because Gregory didn’t,” he explains quietly, and then he follows Santanos into our office.
I probably grin all the way down to the breakroom where the best coffee is.
When I get there, a group of minions are hanging out together talking, but they all stop as soon as I walk in, and big smiles spread all over their faces. I really like seeing them light up like this. When I first got here, the minions were happy, but they’ve gotten more happy since then and their auras are all very pretty and easy to be around now. Of course, they all have lots of gray like Gregory, but it’s so happy it looks like clouds (not the kind that rains) just like Gregory’s.
“Edovard!” my friend, Karlesh, calls. He’s a lizard person and his mate, Dennis, is with him and waves to me too.
