Nicodemus
Decimus chose our old bookstore to return to, which was the last place on Earth I wanted to be, but I had freedom to traverse the Realms freely and didn’t want to rob him of his slice of fresh air. We walked side by side down the bustling streets leading to the store, which stood as a private beacon of hope. The neon OPEN sign flickered from a faulty bulb that had needed to be replaced since I put the damn thing up, but we all collectively refused to do so.
Petra texted me saying that the place was ours for the evening, and since I had a key, I let us in. Decimus flicked his intriguing crimson eyes around the entryway, which now held tables for guests to enjoy espressos that Petra whipped up at the main counter. I let him gather his bearings and set to work fishing our hot dogs and bottle of whiskey from the bag we had collected on our way here. It was a meal we shared often during our timeon Earth and made me smile a little when I plucked a coleslaw-covered french fry off my own hot dog.
I popped the plastic tab on the whiskey bottle and poured a full glass, not a quarter, not even a reasonable half, which I then threw back immediately. Decimus watched me do this with a solemn frown, and once I was done, I slammed the glass down and heaved on the burn cascading through my chest. “Fuck, that might be better than sex,” I huffed out.
“How could anything be better than sex with the God of Life?” he joked as he pulled a chair out for himself and plopped into it, kicking his long legs up on the table. “Or does Goldie-eyes got a shrimp for a dick?”
“Hardly,” I laughed as I sat across from him, “but that’s a conversation for another time.”
“I could use a good dick right about now.” He poured himself a tall glass as well but chose to sip it sensibly. “It’s been, oh, Gods knows how long since I got some. Whatever a year for you is in our years: that amount of time.”
“Does time work different for each Layer?” I asked as I plucked more fries up and stuffed them into my mouth greedily.
“More on a case-to-case basis. Your Dad’s cell is set to its own time limit, programmed by the almighty king of douches.” He bit into the end of his hot dog and hummed happily at the familiar taste. “For us, one week you time is usually a year in our Realm.”
“I see.” I nodded to the bar across the street, where a pack of young girls had emerged after a drinking party. “Go find yourself a nice hookup while you’re topside.”
“Ain’t no one gonna be as pretty as Nicodemus Crawford,” he lightly chuckled, though his comment was lackluster. I didn’t say anything back, so he redirected himself. “Besides, I’m looking for something a bit more concrete.”
“You? Concrete? Settling down? Are those words that even form in your dictionary?”
“Har, har, jackass.” He kicked my arm in the middle of me taking a bite, which made me nearly miss the bun and spill everything all over myself. My glare made him snort a good laugh. “As a matter of fact, I am looking to settle down, officially, but it’s hard to meet people down in Gehenna. We’re not allowed to mess with the souls, as I’m sure you know all too well, and the only non-soul people are the other rulers and Demon Hunters that come and go.”
“Why don’t you try your luck with one of the Demon Hunters?” I prompted.
He rolled his red eyes. “Been there, done that. None of them exactly want to stay locked up in Gehenna for eternity.”
“Ah, yeah, probably not a great dating profile.” I slid my elbow onto the table and cupped my face in the palm of my hand. “You know, there is a certain someone who has been quite distraught over your death.”
“Who the Gehenna would that be?” he snorted.
“Emmeline.”
I had obviously hit a tender spot, because the moment I said her name, he tensed up immediately. His face contorted into deep-seeded pain, and he moved to hide it in the collar of his shirt. “Emmie, eh?” he murmured.
“She blames herself for you dying. Called herself a ‘bad omen’ because she’s lost so many people in her life. I honestly feel awful for her.”
He flicked his gaze back to me, worry deep in his face. “She can’t blame herself! How was she supposed to stop Pandora?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I snorted with a shrug.
He slid back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling, watching the fan above us whip in a circle. The blades were going so fast that they were near invisible, and that mesmerized us both for a minute. “She has no business being in Gehenna,” he finally said.
I poured my second glass of whiskey, this time only half. “She’s going to be my second-in-command Demon Hunter, actually, so she’ll be down there a lot.”
Decimus burst forward, so fast that I nearly dropped my glass. “What? No way!”
“She classified as a Demon Hunter, and she’s a damn good one at that. She led her class right into the middle of that fight with the Horsemen, so she’s definitely solidified a spot. You two will be working together more often than not.” I sipped my drink obnoxiously. “That means you could attempt to make things work?”
He shrugged me off. “She’s never going to want to date a demon, a literal demon, by the way. Besides, I played way too many games with her…” He shrunk under my heavy glare. “I guess I’m known for doing that, though, eh?”
“Among other things.”
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Enough about me. Are you doing ok, after what happened downstairs? That had to be rough, dude.”
When he brought Dad back up, the pain I’d been suppressing crawled right back to the surface. It was a pain I had felt many times in life, and one that consumed me when I lived on Earth. It was as familiar to me as my own voice, and when I felt it latch onto me, I did the only thing I could do to satisfy it: I drank.
