Merry Ever After

I also laugh on these occasions. I laugh at them, but she says they’re laughing with each other.

Right.

Anyway, I’m down for Halloween. That’s like a shrine made into a whole night of worshiping me. Humans have no idea the root of some of their “customs.”

But Christmas…

My girlfriend, a lovely messenger. (That’s the term we use for those celestial beings up above. I refuse to use the A-word unless we’re calling them assholes, which I’m game for.) But back to my girlfriend, who is not an asshole. Shay loves Christmas.

She gets all glassy-eyed when it comes to Christmas.

That’s the day all demons go into hiding. Who wants to be around to celebrate that kid’s birthday? But I love Shay. She’s the whole reason I came topside and all that jazz. So yeah, if my girl wants to celebrate the prick’s birthday, I guess I’ll have to participate.

But a part of me is hoping to see some form of action. For Halloween, there was a thing with a coven of witches, so who knows. Maybe one came back as a demon, and even better, they want vengeance on me.

Now that’d be a great Christmas.

“Kellan.”

This holiday was off to a bad start already. I turned, seeing Shay’s half-brother coming toward me. Shay was in class, and I was waiting for her. Now I was questioning my demon sanity. Could I go soft? Would that make me go dumb too? I mean, waiting for her in this hallway—where her building attached to the main college campus center—was stupid of me.

Although, I did note the way the college students were moving past me, giving me a wide berth. Good humans. They could be trained.

“You waiting for Shay?” Damien asked, stopping to talk to me like we were friends.

He even looked like he believed this—not fazed, not in fear of me. He watched the humans, but not the way he should have. He was half-messenger, or a little less than half of a messenger. Yes, they’re all saintly and annoying—or at least he was—but he had power. These humans were nothing. They were ants for us to step on. Why didn’t he get that? Why didn’t other messengers?

I’d met a few full-blooded messengers. They weren’t as saintly as Shay and her brother. I was convinced something had gone wrong in their birth. The full-blooded messengers were dicks.

“What’s up?” I asked, before seeing who else was with him.

God.

I mean, not Him. Shit.

Devil.

No. That didn’t have the same effect.

I’ll stick with what I know—hell.

Damien wasn’t alone. I hadn’t noticed them. Why would I? They were ants, as I mentioned. But these were Damien’s fraternity brothers. He cared about them the way a human would care for a pet.

“What’s up with you?” Damien frowned at me.

I frowned back. Oh—I’d already been frowning. So, I glared.

Shay liked to call me on my look of death. I guess I was letting it fly now, but good for me.

Shay didn’t think I missed killing humans.

I did.

A dark, sensual pleasure came from crushing one of those ants. And the more, the merrier. It’d been too long since I’d wreaked havoc.

I eyed Damien’s frat brothers. They seemed like idiots who could be easily pulled a certain way. Maybe I could get them to sell their souls to a demon, have them go back on their deal, and I could be sent after them? Or hell, I’d just go after them. I’d turn vigilante for my kind, no problem.

No demon would care.

“Shay’s coming.”

Right. Fuck.

I slammed my shields in place. I’d kept them down, but I needed to fortify them now. Shay had been distracted. She’d been in class, but now all she’d need to do was walk toward me, and she’d be able to tell something was up.

I kept her out when I was feeling extra murder-y. That vibe tended to upset her, and who could blame her? That was the messenger side of her. Also, that was just Shay. I loved her. I couldn’t pick her apart. She accepted me, so I wasn’t a hypocrite. That’s something non-demons were, but not us. We demons were upfront and honest about our dark side.

“What’s going on?”

I bit down a curse because that was her—her voice in my head—and I could feel her concern. She’d connected to me, so she knew something was up.

I added a second and third layer of walls, keeping her out.

I could sense her internal gasp. “Why are you doing that? What’s going on?”

“It’s finals, sis.” Damien had picked up on our dialogue. “Brings out the evil side of all of us.”

Shay rounded the bend in the hallway, coming from her building to where we were standing. Damien and I both watched, waiting.

His friends looked between us, then down to where we were watching.

One’s eyebrows furrowed together. He’d been drunk the night of Halloween, but me appearing from the black mist in front of him must’ve stuck. He knew something was off, but he didn’t ask any questions today. Instead, he just paid attention. The other friends were ranking girls as they walked by.