I followed Derek and Orion down the hallway.“Here I thought you were special,” I murmured to the tall demon in front of me.“But does every demon lord keep an incubus as a pet?”
Both he and his pretty incubus ignored me.
We entered what proved to be a massive, ornately decorated study or office.The first thing I noticed was the pair of fair-skinned, fair-haired teenagers sitting side by side on the tasteful antique sofa.Asa’s long white hair was swept up into a bun and he wore a tasteful tang suit.While Kana’s short bob was pulled back on the sides with ornate wooden combs, and she wore a pretty qipao.I was itching to get my hands on the cream and turquoise silk of Kana’s dress, and inspect what I suspected were hand-crafted knot buttons on Asa’s shirt.But fashion would have to wait.I was pretty sure this demon, North, had only dressed them up like this to stake his claim on them.
My children looked cowed.Which was honestly a shocking state, coming from these two.My eyes darted to the center of the room, where a demon sat behind a massive carved wooden desk.He wasn’t nearly as imposing as Derek.And while red hairwasfar superior to any other color, his was a bit on the carroty side.I sniffed, unimpressed.
“This is the powerful demon lord who has been holding my family captive?”I drawled, pacing over to inspect a carved dragon that rested on the corner of his desk.Placing myself between the demon and my children.Hisashi and Kai followed suit, though they didn’t even make anattemptto hide what they were doing.Amateurs.
The demon ignored us entirely and focused on Derek.“Mr.White,” he said, standing and gesturing at a chair opposite his desk.“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.I’ve heard quite a few tales of your growing empire in the states.And your involvement in containing the damage from the great reveal.”
Derek took the chair, but looked unimpressed at the man’s words.“Mr.North.Thank you for seeing us.”
Asa and Kana nervously shifted around on their seat, but they didn’t stand or come running to their parents.Either they were embarrassed, or… I narrowed my eyes at the demon before me.Either that or they were scared.And the twins didn’t scare easily.
“Clearly you two have important business to discuss,” I said in a bored tone.“We’ll just take our erstwhile offspring and leave you to it.Nice meeting you, Mr.North.”I turned and walked toward the kids, but the demon’s amused voice made my shoulders tense.
“As happy as I am to reunite your family,” he said easily.“I’m sure a fae such as yourself wouldn’t dream of insulting a demon by failing to execute a proper bargain, would you, King Silverleaf?”
Damn it.I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.I turned back around to face the demon, my most charming smile in place.“Of course not.How silly of me.I was just so happy to see the little miscreants that I almost forgot all about bargains and business deals.”I waved a hand flippantly.“Do go on.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the twins exchange looks of dread.As well they should.Having six parents was all fun and games, until you were in trouble with six different adults.
“I will be the one making the deals today,” Derek said evenly.And on any other occasion, I’d tell him to shut the hell up.But if anyone could out-bargain a fae, it was a demon.He could have right at it.
Hisashi and Kai listened in quietly, well aware of the games demons played.
“It seems I’ve done you a favor by locating the lost children of yourfriendsbefore they got themselves into trouble in foreign territory,” North drawled.“Such a great favor surely warrants something in exchange.”He shrugged, as if he wasn’t really interested in bargaining at all.“Though… two powerful young hybrids—with nine-tail magic nonetheless—would make an excellent addition to my collection.”
Hisashi growled faintly and his own nine-tail power swelled around him, dropping the temperature in the room by a few degrees and bringing with it the eerie feeling of being watched by unseen eyes.“My children are notthingsto be bartered for, or possessions for you to hoard, demon.”
Kai laid a hand on his shoulder, but her own energy signature indicated she was about one second away from sprouting tentacles.I sighed and prepared to summon my fae blades.My poor suit was probably going to end up ruined with blood stains and magic burns.
But Derek stepped in before we could get ourselves killed.“I hear there is a certain magical item you’ve been searching for,” he said evenly, as if he was discussing the weather, not rescuing children or preventing a bloodbath.
The corners of North’s lips twitched upward.“Oh?”
Demons.Whatever Derek had, North already knew he had it and he wanted it.This whole song and dance was probably just their convoluted way of making friends.I’d rather just get on with the stabbing and be done with it.But I was no stranger to mincing words and silly games.It was in my blood.So, I went and took a seat on the couch with the children while the big bad demons played their game, tuning out their inane chatter.
“Are you well?”I whispered to the twins.“Have a nice day skipping school?You certainly look like you’ve been enjoying the shops.”
Asa huffed.Kana hissed at me.“As if we were out shopping.They forced us to dress up so we’d fit in.They taught us all about their customs while we ate lunch, and they wouldn’t let us leave.Said soon we’d be part of the North family.”She shuddered.“Daddy, these people areinsane.”
I grinned.They only ever called medaddywhen they knew they were in deep, deep shit.“Of course they’re insane, darling,” I informed her.“They’re demons.”
“Told you,” Asa muttered.“I knew what they were immediately.But Kana justhadto ask to use their phone.”
The evil girl child just shrugged.“I knew what they were too, idiot.I just assumed they all knew each other and they’d contact Uncle Derek so he could tell us why we couldn’t get back home.”
I gritted my teeth together but kept a bland smile on my face.“You two have so much to learn.And you are in so much trouble when you get home,” I told them happily.
“I thought we were in troublenow,” Kana snarked at me.Ever the saucy one, just like her mother.
I arched a brow at her.“I could just ask good old Uncle Derek to leave you here.”
Asa shuddered.“Don’t even joke, dad.He really does want to keep us.Asked us if we’d rather stay and work for him.He wants to be able to talk to ghosts whenever he feels like it.So, he can chat with ‘old friends.’I’m pretty sure that’s code for ‘all the people I’ve murdered.’”
Kana nudged him.“Don’t be such a baby.It could be cool.”
