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)
There was a clear round of murmured agreements and nods.
“Very well. I have two suggestions. First, if Luke is going to remain a resident of our house, he has to live with us as we are in our natural state. There’s no point in sharing a house with someone we must hide ourselves from.”
“Do you think he’ll agree to it?” Annod asked. He was the one who this affected the most. While the rest of them could maintain a human form for hours on end, Annod struggled and could usually only manage for a few minutes.
“I do if he wants to continue to live here,” Azroth grumbled.
“He won’t have a problem with it,” Mullmag reassured Annod, patting the skeletal demon with one of his spidery limbs.
“Second, we work as a team to help Luke with his love life. We discuss strategies together. We succeed or fail as a team.”
There were some indistinct murmurs, and he could hear the doubt in their voices. Getting demons to work together for anything was unheard of, but he was more afraid of them giving Luke conflicting advice, resulting in Luke abandoning them completely. If they were going to help Luke, they had to be working together.
“Okay!” Tog practically shouted.
That was enough to get the rest of them nodding.
“Very well. It’s decided.” Azroth clapped his hands together and shifted to the edge of his chair. There was a new lightness in his chest that he preferred to ignore. “I will have a chat with Luke tomorrow about whether he would be comfortable living with demons who stopped wearing their human disguises. If he is fine with it, he will stay.”
“What about Matteo? And the love advice?” Bath’tuk asked.
“Assuming Luke agrees to our new terms, we will start with reconnaissance regarding the target of Luke’s affections. I will get my crows to follow Matteo. Mullmag and I will also spend some time spying on him. Ogos will chat Luke up to get more information about Matteo and Luke’s feelings. Once we have that information, we will make plans for stirring up romance.”
Yes, this was an excellent plan. Azroth smiled to himself and rubbed his palms together. This would give him a front-row seat in determining whether this Matteo was worthy of Luke.
Making romance would also be an interesting adventure. It couldn’t be that difficult.
Chapter 13
Your New Dating Advisors
LUKE
Luke sat on the edge of his bed, his fist wrapped around the strap of his backpack, trying to work up the courage to leave his room. He wasn’t sure how he’d slept last night after that frightening encounter with Azroth. The only thing he could think of was that he’d passed out from exhaustion. It had been a long day, and then he’d been worn out from shock.
Demons.
He was living in a house full of demons.
His brain didn’t want to believe it. Prior to now, he wasn’t sure he’d even believed in God, let alone demons, Heaven, and Hell.
But…demons.
He’d seen the red eyes, talons, horns, and wings. Azroth’s wings had been enormous, spanning the entire width of the library. Did the others look like him? Or were all the demons different?
Luke dug his elbow into his knee and dropped his forehead into his hand. Why was he even wondering about something like that? What did it matter how they appeared? He needed to get out of there, right?
Right?
Except what he’d said to Azroth was the truth. They had been nice to him. They were the best roommates he’d ever had. Each of them had been thoughtful and funny. No one had threatened him or made him feel unsafe. Azroth even sent those crows to watch over him. Did leaving the house mean he would never see Atticus and the rest of the murder again?
Okay, the crows had been spying on him for the demons, but that didn’t mean they’d had to protect him.
What should he do now?
Well, the important thing was leaving his room and going to school. His first class of the day wasn’t for nearly two hours, but he was afraid to leave his room because that meant he could encounter one of the demons. It was a long walk from the top of the house to the front door. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he’d checked out his window to see if there was a way to climb to the ground using the different roofs, but with his luck, he’d break his neck climbing out his window.
No, he had to be brave.
They hadn’t tried to kill him, and he’d been living in the house for several weeks. It wasn’t likely they’d try now. Besides, if he moved quickly and quietly, he might be able to escape without anyone noticing him. Demons were like vampires, right? They probably slept during the day and were awake at night.