Alex shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t wrap my head around how much things have changed there.”
The glass front door swung open to admit Nathan, Storm, Malachi, and Luke.
“Is everyone here?” Nathan asked, scanning the room. “We should probably get this over with.” His stormy blue eyes brightened when they landed on Ashmedai. “Oh, welcome back, Ashmedai. I like the new look.”
Ashmedai’s head tilted. All of these humans treated him like… one of them. Like a person. They spoke to him the same way they spoke to each other. He could only guess that was another reason why their souls were all so bright. They weregood.
They gathered around the table, and Nathan dialed Sloan’s number. Ashmedai stood apart from them until Daniel sidled over and glanced back at him, gesturing for him to come closer and stand beside him. He did so hesitantly, something fragile and sweet taking root in him at Daniel’s quick smile. He didn’t seem put off by Ashmedai’s presence or appearance at all. The human souls in the Pit quivered and shrieked in fear when they saw him. He’d never seen a human smile until he’d come to the surface. He hadn’t known they could.
The phone rang and rang. The longer it went on, the heavier the weight seemed to be on the group’s collective shoulders.
And finally, there was an answer.
“Mister Accardi, I take it,” Sloan drawled from the speaker.
“We did it, Commander Sloan,” Nathan said, his lip curling at the respectful title. He was trying to avoid angering him. Ashmedai hoped the tactic worked. “The demon is dead.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. I assume you haven’t had any more deaths.”
“When did you kill it?”
Nathan’s gaze flicked toward Luke. “Tuesday,” he answered. “We wanted to give you a few days to see for yourself that the killing had stopped.”
“What did the demon look like?”
Nathan’s stormy blue eyes found Ashmedai next. His throat bobbed, and then he said, “It wore a black cloak. Had orange, glowing eyes.”
“And how did you kill it?”
“With a sword, of course.” He looked at Valac. “It was very powerful, but we managed to bring it down with some help from our friends.”
Ashmedai smiled to himself. Yes, they would most likely require Valac’s help if they actually wanted to kill him.
Sloan made a noise of disgust.
“We had a deal,” Nathan prompted when the silence extended. “You said you’d release the kids. Their father is missing them. Their absence has been noted at school.”
“This kind of leverage doesn’t come around often,” Sloan mused. “I’m not sure it would be wise of me to give up something so useful.”
Ashmedai stiffened. No, he couldn’t do this. Nicolas wouldn’t be able to get away until the kids were safe.
Nathan paled. “What? You can’t be serious. They’re human beings, Sloan, not leverage.”
“They chose their side.”
Across the table, Luke brought his clenched fists to his mouth, and Malachi wrapped his arms around him.
“They’re children!”
“Children who play with demons are no better than demons themselves.”
“That isn’t true!”
“I think I’ll hold on to them for a while. I might findsome other uses for them. Maybe I could change their names, enroll them in the school here. The boy might make a good paladin, and I’m sure the girl could find a place, once we teach her to accept our ways.”
“They’ll never willingly go along with that,” Nathan said.
