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)
“Ah, true.” It was an excellent point, and it actually enlightened Luke about some interesting workings of the demon world. If you didn’t arrange a payment that didn’t steal your own life away, any job you got the demons to do for you would kill you and probably take your soul.
But it triggered another, darker and scarier thought.
“Um…one small question: the time I asked Tog to grab me a soft drink from the fridge…”
A noise escaped Azroth, and his lips twitched as if he were fighting a smile. “No, that isn’t the kind of request that would result in you selling your soul or losing your life.”
Luke released a tremendous sigh of relief and doubled over, his head suddenly lighter and dizzy. “Oh, thank God.”
Azroth sniffed. “He had nothing to do with that. If you had a request that required a more substantial payment, such as your soul, you would be offered a proper contract to sign so that the agreement was binding. In the past several years, we’ve been modeling our contracts after Apple’s service contracts.”
“Holy shit! No one reads those.”
Azroth’s grin turned positively wicked. “I know.”
A shiver ran through Luke. Good reminder—never underestimate Azroth or the others, no matter how nice they seem.
“We’ve gotten a bit off topic. The point is that we were bored and decided that we would have a contest. We wanted to see which of us could scare you first. As I’m sure you guessed, I won.”
Luke nodded. Azroth had most definitely won that contest.
“We figured after the contest was over, you’d be dead or have left the house. It never occurred to us that you might want to stay.”
“It’s a nice house,” Luke said meekly.
Azroth stared at him with unblinking red eyes for a moment, then nodded. “True. This is a lovely house, and it appears to like you as well, since it hasn’t attempted to eat you.”
Luke shivered. “That’s a possibility?”
“Very much. The house is alive and has a mind of its own. It’s just that the rest of us are stronger than the house, so it obeys our wishes…mostly.”
“Good to know,” Luke choked out. The house…could eat him. Lovely. Not something he wanted to think about when he tried to fall asleep. But as long as the house liked him, there were no problems.
“After some discussion, we’ve come to the agreement that we enjoy having you here as well.”
“What?” That single question came out as a squeak. Some strange things had left Azroth’s mouth, but that had to be the most shocking. “You enjoy having me here?”
“Yes. You’re an interesting human with a fun sense of humor, patience, and a very nice brain. You’re smarter than most of the humans we’ve encountered. That’s…pleasant.” Azroth finished with a little sigh, making Luke feel as if he were a breath of fresh air in a stale room.
“Oh. I…thank you.” His cheeks heated with unexpected embarrassment. He hadn’t expected the demon to say something like that. “I’ve liked living here with you. All of you are fun. Every day here has been an adventure. Except for the scaring part. I mean, it was kind of fun now that I know you weren’t going to kill me, but it wasn’t much fun at the time.”
“So, here is our proposal. You may live here as long as you like, but we want the freedom to walk around in our natural forms. No more hiding as humans. This is our home, and we should have the freedom to be ourselves in our home.”
“Of course! That’s only fair!”
The words were barely out of Luke’s mouth when the human facade on Azroth melted away. The horns grew out of his head, and his massive wings wrapped his body like a cloak. His fingers were now tipped with long black talons, and his eyes turned an even deeper shade of red.
Now that Luke knew what to expect, he could take in Azroth. He was stunning in a scary way, but also beautiful and interesting.
“Do all the others look like you?” he whispered.
“No, we differ greatly. The rest of them will try to give some warning prior to you seeing them for the first time. Humans take their appearance as something of a shock.”
Luke nodded. That made sense. Azroth was a nightmare come to life. He couldn’t imagine how the others looked.
“The other thing is our new contest.”
Muscles throughout Luke’s body tensed. “Are you going to scare me again?”
Azroth waved a dismissive hand at the notion. “No. No. We did that already. We want to try something much more difficult. We want to help you win the heart of the boy you like. Matteo.”
Luke slid off the edge of the mattress and fell to the floor without blinking an eye. He wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the impact hurting his tailbone. “I’m sorry. What?” he choked out.