“Yes, we’ll be there,” James said.
They saluted and filed out of the room one by one. Nicolas’s mind raced as he lingered in the hallway with theothers. Would they become suspicious if he left immediately? He needed them to think he didn’t care about being followed, that he had nothing to hide.
As eager as he was to leave and get a warning to the Sentinels right away, he needed to hang around and act business-as-usual, so he followed the rest of them down to the cafeteria for breakfast while they waited for the nine AM ceremony. Maybe after that he would be able to slip away.
The ceremony for Casey involved a twenty minute sermon about the good works he’d done during his life. His remains, in a silver urn, were prayed over and placed within the mausoleum below the church. When it was over, they all hovered together outside the church. Nicolas prayed that someone else would be the first to leave, but luck wasn’t on his side.
“I don’t know about you all, but I’ve got some energy to burn,” Tony said. “Anybody up for a spar?”
Dammit, he thought. He couldn’t be the first to go without arousing suspicion, so he said, “Yeah, I could use a spar.”
The rest of the squad agreed, so they made their way out to the training yard.
His mind continued to work overtime as he picked out a practice sword and took position facing Tony. He’d told Ashmedai to stay in his apartment. It didn’t matter if someone followed him home. He wouldn’t invite them inside. They just wanted to make sure he didn’t go anywhere else. They had no idea he had a demon in his apartment who could teleport him wherever he wanted to go. He’d calmly go home, lock himself inside, and then ask Ashmedai to take him straight to the Rink. He’d warn them about the incoming attack. They used a spell to keep uninvitedhumans from getting in, so the paladins would have to attack a different way. Maybe by increasing their presence in the area and waiting for the Sentinels to poke their heads out.
Maybe it was a good thing they’d had a confrontation, then. It made Talon put his foot down on their patrols for a while. That would make it harder to find them. He’d need to make sure their homes weren’t being watched. At one time, the guild had known where all of them lived. That was especially dangerous now that they were planning some kind of strike.
The urge to rush home didn’t abate, but he forced himself to train for three hours with the squad. After that he was able to get away without joining them in the locker room for a shower, because he hadn’t brought any extra clothes with him.
On his way to his car, he inadvertently found himself walking side by side with Kyle, who offered him a sideways look that didn’t look entirely offended by his presence. That was a win in this squad.
“How’d you and Daniel wind up so different?” Kyle asked.
Lie, lie, lie.
“Danny was the youngest. Mom spoiled him. Dad did his best, but some of the lessons just didn’t stick, I guess.”
Kyle hummed. “Your father was a good man. A good paladin. I met him a few times when I was kid. It was like watching superheroes, y’know? Real life warriors fighting real life monsters.”
The words rang true. Nicolas had always looked up to the paladins he’d watched as a kid, his own father included. Their role in the world, in theory, was a good one. They weremeant to fight evil. It was only recently, in Sloan’s era, that that had begun to shift into something insidious and toxic. They’d stopped focusing on the true monsters and started jumping at shadows, seeing evil in human choices. Could humans be evil? Absolutely. But it wasn’t the guild’s job to play judge, jury, and executioner. That wasn’t the evil he’d signed up to fight.
They separated when they reached their cars. Nicolas didn’t look directly at Kyle as they both unlocked their cars and got in. Kyle pulled away first, and Nicolas glanced at the empty parking spot. The burner hadn’t fallen off. That was a good sign. He’d taped it underneath the back passenger side, near the wheel well. Kyle wouldn’t notice it unless he stuck his head under that side of the car.
When he pulled out into the long driveway, another car fell in behind him. They weren’t making a secret of the fact they were following him. He couldn’t tell who it was, but it didn’t matter. He took deep breaths to calm himself, keeping an eye on his speed.
Everything was fine.
Chapter 20
Ashmedai
As promised,Ashmedai stayed in Nicolas’s apartment while he was gone—although he didn’t stay naked the whole time. He was unaccustomed to baring his body for extended lengths of time, and with nothing better to do, he’d dressed and wandered from room to room, inspecting knickknacks and peering at framed photos.
There was only one photograph of Nicolas’s parents in the apartment. Hanging on the wall in his living room, tucked in the corner beside the window. His mother, unsmiling and with a mass of dark curls cascading around her face and past her shoulders, sat in a high-backed chair. Young Daniel stood beside her, his youthful face rounded. Nicolas stood behind Daniel, shoulder to shoulder with his stern-faced father. The symbol of the Paladin Guild hung on the wall behind them, a red curtain with a white cross in the center. None of them were smiling. None of them looked happy to be there. Nicolas’s jaw had a sharp set to it, angled up and slightly away from his father as though he could barely stomach standing beside him.
There were far more pictures on the walls of Nicolas and Daniel together. Their arms around each other, smiling at the camera under a halo of string lights. Nicolas and Daniel surrounded by six other men, Julian amongst them, sword hilts visible on their backs. Nicolas and Daniel as children, wearing matching suits with stained glass behind them.
After that, he sat down on the sofa and pressed the ‘power’ button on the remote control. The black screen on the wall came to life, and he spent the next hour figuring out what all the buttons did, switching from channel to channel, adjusting the volume. He finally stopped on a news channel, listening to the human woman behind the desk drone on about current events. They didn’t mention anything about demons, the guild, Hell, or Heaven. How strange that the majority of the world had no idea he and his kind actually existed.
When the door finally opened, Ashmedai stood as Nicolas stepped inside. He turned to close the door, flipped the lock into place, and then slid to the floor, covering his face with his hands.
Ashmedai crossed the room to him in an instant, kneeling in front of him and tugging his hands away. Nicolas breathed deep at the touch, his brow furrowing as he opened his eyes and smiled.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
“What happened, my light? Tell me who to kill.”
Nicolas barked out a laugh. “No killing—yet. Come here.” His legs parted as he pulled Ashmedai closer, sealing their mouths together. He sighed into it, slipping his hands under Ashmedai’s hood to cup his face. “This is all I’ve wanted all day.”
