Page 14 of Her Demon Mate
Am I seriously humoring this?I rub my eyes one more time before turning around and standing up.
Vylco is standing behind me with a shit-eating grin, his eyes burning crimson. He’s got bags and bags full of pastries from the bakery, and at every moment, he struggles not to drop the massive load in his arms.
“Go away. I need to sleep,” I tell him, stretching my arms as I head up the stairs.
“No, you don’t.”
He shadows me closely, and I realize that even if I wanted to lose him, I probably couldn’t. Short of physically harming him, that is.
Opening the door, we pass through the hallway, up to a larger flight of stairs. The steps creak under my feet.
“Yes, I do. I need to sleep. I haven’t even been to bed yet.”
“And you’re not going to. I got these for you, and we’re going to eat them together.”
I groan in response.
“As is tradition,” he adds.
“Tradition? Around what are we basing this ‘tradition’? You show up with bags of goddess hearts, we chat, and you go home. And speaking of which, since when did we make my place your new hangout? I’ve got a schedule to uphold, too. You don’t just get to crash whenever you like.”
We reach the top of the stairs, and I take the key and unlock my apartment.
“I’m only here because you like keeping me around,” Vylco says. “If you ever said you didn’t want me around, I’d be gone in a heartbeat.”
“And I’m telling you now. Go away.”
He looks at me seriously, standing erect. His eyes burn with something almost like anger, but not quite. I’m too tired to put a name to it. I can already imagine the snakes that decorate his head springing to life and snapping in the air.
“You know, I won’t be in the city forever. I’ve got duties out there. Commitments and the like. So maybe appreciate me while I’m still around?”
I shrug before struggling to contain laughter.
Vylco makes an uncannily serious face, then shifts his right eye to the left until he’s gone cross-eyed.
“Nah, man,” Vylco says. “I’m fucking with you.”
We both burst out laughing.
My window offers a painstakingly detailed view of the insufferable crimson sky. If you want a room without a view, it costs you a premium.
“Beyond that, though, why were you out so late? You said you haven’t been to bed?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” I grumble, looking into my bedroom and the soft, appealing sheets that are calling my name.
He shakes his head in disbelief. “I see many things in this city,” he says. “And still, you puzzle me.”
“It’s not as though I wanted to be out until well after sunrise. I just kind of got held up.”
“What, like by criminals or something?” He has a look of concern on his face. I’m not sure whether or not he’s joking.
“No, not by criminals. Do you really think I couldn’t take common criminals in a fight?”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”
I sigh in frustration.
My stomach growls. Staying awake this late does give me quite the appetite. But every moment I feel myself nodding off, I ponder what kind of horrible pranks Vylco might perform, should I close my eyes for too long.