Minnie sets down the plate, and Leaf starts feasting, snapping and slurping his food.
“Since cats are common witch familiars,” I explain, “there are quite a few documents in the library that detail them: sneaky, conniving creatures that strike fear into men.”
“Must be a pretty old text,” Minnie remarks as she leans against the counter. “Familiars and cats aren’t really the same thing, anyhow. Familiars follow a witch’s will. You can’t command a cat to do anything.”
I chuckle. “I’ve noticed.”
“That’s what I like about them,” she says, and I quirk a brow. “They’re independent, have an attitude about them.” She bends down and pats Leaf’s backside. “Plus they’ve got cute toe beans.”
“Toe beans?”
Minnie picks up Leaf, who lets out a roaring meow, upset he’s being pulled away from his dinner. Minnie lifts up one of his paws.
“Toe beans!”
She squeezes a little brown pad on the bottom of Leaf’s paw. I fail to see what’s so charming about them, unlike Minnie who has an amused smile as she paws at Leaf. She releases him, and he swiftly returns to his meal.
I clear my throat. “I’m glad you’re no longer angry with me.”
“Oh I am,” she says with a casual air as she walks past me. “I don’t like being associated with a brute.”
“You were the one who summoned a devil. Did you expect me to be gentle? Charitable?”
“I expected you to make a contract with me. Didn’t really think about your manners, or lack thereof.” She goes to the couch and picks up a book left abandoned on the table.
I join her, though she doesn’t look up from her page. “Perhaps… you could teach me manners.” She tilts her head and rolls her eyes. “I’m serious! I can at least try. I haven't had much of a chance to act properly. In the Hells, we thrive on insults and threats. Cruelty is expected, revered. To show kindness is to show weakness.”
“I’d like to see your weak side.” She says it in a light and casual voice that makes me shiver.
I hold her wrist, careful not to grab it. “How? I don’t know how,” I admit.
“You did apologize to Kas… I guess for you, that’s a pretty big step.”
“Those words have never once left my lips.”
“First time for everything.” She shrugs and sets her book down.“But you do know how to be kind. You’re nice to me.”
I blink, feeling like I’ve been tossed into the deepest, coldest pit in Hell. Tightening my hand around her wrist I pin her down on her back. Keeping one hand above her head, her free hand reaches up to touch my chest. Pressing right against my sternum, against my heart.
“Rude,” she breathes like she’s reached a mountain’s peak.
“You like it,” I growl. “You enjoy it so much, you mistake it for kindness.”
She looks up at me with those big green eyes. I could only compare them to emeralds when we first met, the only shade of green I have ever known. Now I look at them and see the deep green of leaves, of budding flowers, of life. It’s a good reminder of what she is–mortal. With limited time.
She pushes up on my chest and slides out from under me, sitting on the floor a moment before standing up, her hands on her hips. “I like manners,” she scolds.
“I don’t know what those are!”
Her eyes dance around in their sockets. “I’m sure you’ve seen devils beg for mercy. How about we start there?”
“Mercy? From you?”
Her head tilts, her big eyes looking almost innocent. “I could send you back. Kick you out. Run to Amber and have a whole witch coven on your tail.” She bends at the hip so we’re eye level. “Maybe I’ll ignore you, since you’re so desperate for attention.”
“I am not.”
She snorts and shakes her head before standing upright again.
