Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Tog threw Azroth a grumpy look as he dropped onto the sofa again. The piece of furniture groaned loudly, and there was a muffled snapping of wood as something gave way under Tog’s massive weight.
The peanut gallery silenced for now, Azroth pressed on. “The agreement before we started the game was to take in a renter for the purpose of scaring him. The game is complete. We have scared Luke. Now, we are left with the question of what the devil are we supposed to do with him now?” Azroth dropped his hands to his lap and looked around the room at the rest of the occupants. “Shall we kick him out and find fresh prey? Should we begin a fresh round of attempts to scare him?”
“But…but can’t we simply keep him?” Bath’tuk inquired. The cyclops twisted his chubby fingers together, reminding Azroth more of a lost child than a frightening demon from Hell.
Keeping Luke felt like a dangerous prospect. It was turning all of them—himself included—soft. And not in a completely boneless way like Ogos, but more of a fluffy kitten and flowers kind of way.
And yet, he didn’t want to get rid of Luke, either. He was a bright spot in their long, boring days. He offered interesting, intellectual conversations. Not to mention, he appreciated Azroth’s crows and kept them well fed.
Tog puffed up his chest and took a stomping step forward. “Yeah, I think we should just keep him.”
Azroth blinked slowly at him. “Why?”
Tog deflated slightly, his face scrunched up in heavy thought. “Because…because he needs us.”
Oh, that wasn’t an argument he’d been expecting any of them to make. “He does?”
Tog nodded. “Yes, and isn’t it our job to help the humans when they ask for it?”
“He asked for your help?” Azroth repeated, raising one thin eyebrow at him. This was the first he was hearing of it. As far as he knew, Luke was the one constantly asking them if he could assist them in some way.
“He did. He had a bad day at school once, and he asked me to watch a horror movie with him to lift his spirits,” Tog said. The demon smiled, looking so very proud of himself.
It wasn’t the same as a summoning. That had very specific requirements and offerings to be made. There were contracts to be signed in blood.
“He asked me to open a jar of pickles for him,” Annod chimed in. Azroth barely stifled his pained groan. Really, this was the very worst assembly of demons. It was no wonder no one had come from Hell to pull them back. No one missed them.
Ogos finally got the atlas removed from his body and rolled his eyes. “We have all heard about how he has a crush on this human he attends school with.”
“Matteo,” Mullmag supplied with a dreamy sigh. Azroth couldn’t tell if the demon was being genuine or sarcastic, but he was leaning toward the former.
“What if we kept Luke, and we started a new contest?” Ogos suggested. “We could see who could give Luke the best dating advice. The winner would be the person who got Matteo to date Luke.”
“You want to see which of us can get Luke laid?” Azroth had to pinch the bridge of his nose again as pressure seemed to build in his brain. Who were these demons? What was going on with this house?
He’d expected them to want to keep Luke because they’d all grown fond of the adorable, bumbling human, but he’d thought they’d argue to adopt him like a pet or a houseplant. They’d water him, feed him, and protect him from the cold.
But no. They wanted to give him dating advice.
“Get over yourself,” Ogos scoffed, drawing Azroth’s eyes to him. “Scaring a human isn’t a challenge for a demon. Luke might have been a rare one where it took a few tries, but it’s not like you actually exerted yourself to succeed.” Ogos paused and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “But giving good dating advice to a human? Can you do it? Or are you afraid that your advice will destroy all the hard work Luke has put in?”
As much as he hated to admit it, Ogos had a good point. Scaring humans was easy. Giving them good advice about their love life was much harder. He’d watched humans fuck up their relationships for centuries. Could they do any better?
Well, they had an excellent shot at it, considering they had such a great catch to work with. Luke was cute, intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and funny. Those were all qualities humans enjoyed in a mate.
Of course, that raised the question of why this Matteo hadn’t fallen for Luke already. Maybe there was something deficient in this Matteo, and he wasn’t worthy of their Luke.
“Is this what you are all interested in doing? We keep Luke and help him date this other human?” Azroth inquired, his eyes skimming over the other occupants of the room.