Page 123 of Spit

“Rosie, my twin. She isn’t cursed.” I growled. “How can one of us be a demon and the other be a witch?”

“You are both part of me and part of your mother. You take after me. Dearest Rose takes after her mother.” Mr. Bub shrugged.

I gagged and pressed my hand to my throat. “You’re my—”

“Sire.” He supplied, just as I spat the word “Father.”

“So I’m not dead?”

“Death and darkness,no,” Beezlebub said emphatically, spluttering on his wine. “Do you really think I would allow you to die?”

I gave him a long look.

“I might be a demon, but I’m not heartless.” He waved away my glare like it was a bad smell. “You really should get back to your mates.” He chided, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I suspect they are starting to worry.”

“How do I—”

“It’s called lacing, Alexis.” The demon king gave me a look that made me feel an inch tall. “It might take some getting used to. You don’t want to accidentally get caught in the fabric of the universe, splintered into fifty billion pieces.”

My throat sucked itself dry of all moisture, and my eyes rounded. I couldn’t think of a single sarcastic response.

“Am I a part of Legion now?” I asked, rubbing my sternum. I thought of Legion’s face over mine as I gasped for air and felt my life draining away. “Did I become one of the stewards when I tried to save him?”

Mr. Bub rolled his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting in irritation as he flashed his rotting teeth. “You aren’t dead.” He stated plainly, the words slow and dragged out. “You’re a demon. You are my spawn. The daughter of a witch and a demon king. You are a cambion. How many more ways can I make this plain? You hold no debts to me; your shadow is your own. You can choose to be a steward if you wish.”

I blinked, digesting the words. “I need to get back to the Red City,” I told him.

Mr. Bub waved his hand towards the door. “No one is stopping you.”

I gave him a long look.

“Fine.” He sighed. “I suppose I have to do everything around here.” Mr. Bub let loose a put-upon sigh and cracked his fingers as he stood up. “I guess that’s what fathers do. They help their children.” He rolled his eyes. “For all the thanks I get.” He added with a mutter.

Before I could ask what he meant, my body flew backward. The world around me turned to a pinprick of light down the end of a long dark starlit corridor.

I hurtled towards it, flung through time and space back into my body.

Chapter Twenty-three

Iliked Busters. I liked the food. The company, and most of all, I liked the rooftop garden that allowed me an unobstructed view of the Red City walls stretching into the sky in the distance. A reminder of the human world beyond the Red City.

It had been a week since our rescue, and I hadn't done much with my time save for sleeping, eating my weight in blueberry muffins, and throwing sticks for Kiko in the yard.

Legion and the others were avoiding me, which was a feat considering I lived in his house.

The morning after I had been taken back to his estate, I woke to find a set of car keys on my bedside table and a Prius on the drive. I supposed that it was Legion’s way of comforting me after being kidnapped.

I had gone twenty-five years without intimacy, closeness, and physical touch. I shouldn’t have cared that my demons were avoiding me. I knew they were; I felt their thoughts hovering at the back of my skill.

I leaned on the railing, watching the sunset over the wall, casting the city in shadow.

I felt Arlo behind me before I saw or heard any sign of him. The quietest of the Seven had the loudest thoughts—often a roar of words I didn’t understand as he tried to solve some scientific problem.

His most recent pastime was studying the scepter Camio had pulled apart to use as a drug against demons. Arlo had locked himself away in his lab, and I didn’t need the bond to tell me that he was mourning Camio’s passing for the second time.

“Legion thinks you’re angry with him,” Arlo said, joining me on the railing. The red glow of the sunset reflected in his round glasses, obscuring my view of his soulful eyes. “I told him that you need time.”

I laughed, though it was a dark sound instead of a happy one. “And how much time do I have now that I’m a demon?”

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