“You’re one of the best I have, Dale. I don’t give a shit who you’re fucking. I need you.”
“He’s a demon.”
“I’m aware.”
“And I’ve been seeing him behind your back for a long time.”
“Again, bigger fucking problems right now.”
“I think I love him.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Listen, if we are going to live through whatever the fuck is coming, I think we all need something to live for. You found that. That’s good.”
“So, what now?” I asked, looking around. “Is it just you? In charge, I mean.”
“Marsh has been taking on responsibility. And now that you’re back, I will have you too.”
“You want… me to have a position of power?”
“You want to tell me you don’t deserve it?” he challenged. “I put all I had into you, kid. It’s time to step up and start acting like it.”
“So, what? Is it like a… new Council?”
“Maybe something less formal. But, essentially, we would be the ones making decisions.”
“You, me, and Marsh,” I clarified.
“Come on, slick,” Marsh’s voice said, making me turn to find him striding into the room. There was a slight stiffness to his gait, but he was otherwise his old self. While I looked like a human punching bag. “I vouched for you, and you’re still saying my name like that?”
“I didn’t need you to vouch for me.”
“Well, for some reason, you weren’t here to do it for yourself,” he said, brow raising.
“Right. Because I was getting more information on the damned demon who shouldn’t have had that kind of power.”
“What did you find out?” Gideon asked.
“Ah, didn’t you just say we had bigger things to worry about right now?” I asked.
“No matter what is going on, we were put here for one purpose. Taking out demons. If we stop doing that, we are going to appear weak. That is the last fucking thing we need right now. So what did you find out?”
“Well, I drew the sigil that Mag… we found,” I said, sharing a wince with Marsh who still clearly felt as guilty about that as I did. “And I showed it to Arick.”
“Arick the high warlock?” Marsh asked, voice a little awestruck. “How the fuck did you get in to see him? Last I heard, you had to be in the upper seven figures just to get him to take your call.”
“He’s a friend of Minos,” I said, lifting my chin, expecting some sort of outrage from him.
But I got none.
“What?” he asked, making me realize I must have been staring at him.
“Nothing snide to say about Minos?”
“He saved your life. And mine. Probably all the kids too. What could I have to say about that?”
“That it is unnatural for me to be with the enemy?” I suggested.
“Slick, I think you’re the only one who sees that group of demons as the enemy.”
“What? They’re demons. We are demonslayers.”
“Yeah, but in the grand scheme of things, aren’t we somewhat on the same side? Punishing the evil. Us, the lower demons. Them, the humans who chose to have evil in their hearts?
“Last I checked, they didn’t need to kill or feast on humans to survive. And aside from when it was warranted, they haven’t killed anyone for fun either.”
“The Council…”
“Was old,” Marsh said, shrugging. “And stuck in their ways. Too stubborn to see that the world isn’t as black and white as they wanted to believe. There’s a lot of gray matter. Like those demons. Besides, we don’t answer to anyone anymore,” he reminded me.
Gideon gave him a raised brow look, but shrugged. “That’s true,” he agreed. “But I want to think of us as our own team. If we are in the field or here alone, we can make executive decisions on the spot if they’re needed, but whenever possible, we need to talk it over.
“We each have our strengths. I think we would work well together.”
“What about the other demonslayers?” I asked. “You don’t think they’ll get pissy about it?”
“Everyone who lives here knows you two are the best we have. Anyone in the field somewhere else that is as good as you two weren’t here long enough to really know how to run shit. They won’t fight this. Besides, I don’t think they want that kind of responsibility. Especially with all these new students.”
“Where are we even fitting them all? I asked.
“We are doubling up everyone who is of the same age. But it looks like we are going to need to do some remodeling. Especially if all the full-fledged demonslayers are going to be here for a while. If we have to, there are the Council quarters to take over, so we can free up space for more students.”
“I can move most of my stuff out,” I offered. The two of them shared a look. “I will be here overnight when you need me to be. Crash on a couch or something. But when you have it covered, I have somewhere else to stay.”