“It was one word at a time when we met just last night. You’re putting three and four in a row together now.”
“Want to… speak to you,” he said, drawing Nicolas closer and brushing his claws across his cheek. “Do all things with you.”
Nicolas smiled, but his brow furrowed with confusion. “Why? Why me?”
“Don’t know.” He sighed, wishing he could put intowords how grand his feelings were for Nicolas. But the only one he knew for sure was, “Mine.”
“Am I?” Nicolas whispered.
“Yes.” Ashmedai lifted Nicolas’s hand and pressed it to his own chest. “And yours.”
Nicolas’s throat bobbed. “This is going to really complicate things, isn’t it?”
“Maybe.”
Nicolas cleared his throat. “Has this ever happened to you before? Have you ever felt like this?”
“No.”
A strange, earthy smell filled the air from the burbling machine beside them.
“You’ve never wanted a human like this before?”
“No. Only you. No humans in Hell.”
“Wait, what?” Nicolas shook his head.
“Humansouls. Not humans. Different.”
“Haven’t you been to Earth before? I was under the impression a lot of demons spent time on Earth.”
“Not me. In Hell. Eating sins. Damned souls, lots of sin.” He’d never had a reason to come to the surface when everything he needed was in Hell.
“Why did you come here, then?”
Ashmedai sighed, casting about for the right words. “Invited. By Valac.”
Nicolas’s eyes widened. “Holy shit. It’s true. The Sentinelssiccedyou on the paladins.”
Ashmedai chuffed out a laugh. “Only evil ones. Weeding them out.”
“That’s why you’ve only been killing some and leaving some alive,” he guessed.
Ashmedai stroked his jaw. “Like you.”
Nicolas mouth quirked. “You didn’t push any others against a wall and shove your tongue in their mouths, did you?”
He chuffed again. The idea of doing that with any other human made his skin crawl. “No. Gross.”
Nicolas laughed brightly. “Coffee’s done.” He moved away, pouring it into a silver cup with a clear lid and adding sugar and something called creamer.
After he took a sip, Ashmedai guided his head toward him and kissed him, slipping his tongue into his mouth to taste the sweet flavor. When they parted, Nicolas looked dazed.
Ashmedai flicked his tongue against his lips one last time. “Coffee good.”
Chapter 7
Nicolas
