Page 13 of The Succubi's Choice

“I know, right?” Miri calls after, really really hardcore not wanting to deal with possible Archdemons.

Her phone dings, and she quickly flips it to vibrate before opening the text.

GABE (8:42 AM): So. Noise complaint? That’s new.

She hears the familiar beeps of Katya’s computer booting up, so she takes another steeling breath.

MIRI (8:42 AM): Banshees, if you’d believe it or not. My ears are still ringing.

GABE (8:43 AM): AND THERE WAS A STUDENT DOWN THERE? I mean, what?

Miri smiles at her phone, cause he’s nothing if not predictable.

MIRI (8:43 AM): She had headphones, she was chill. She’s in comparative literature.

GABE (8:44 AM): Comparative literature is so far away from physics I don’t know what to tell you. Should I report something to student special services?

MIRI (8:44 AM): Well we have her signed consent that she knows what she’s doing so probably not.

GABE (8:44 AM): What even is your job.

With a familiar beep and loading sound, Katya accesses her emails, and in the other room Miri hears her clear her throat.

“Hey Miri,” she starts, her voice light, because she ultimately enjoys her job and enjoys doing work and is a nerd like that, “how do you feel like driving all the way to Silverlake?”

Miri shuts her eyes briefly against the glow of the monitor, before opening them and grabbing at her purse, confirming the tiny bronze knife is still clipped in her makeup pouch. “If we have to.”

She should really tell Katya. The email says nothing about the possible danger of this, and nothing of the very real possibility of severe bodily harm. As far as she knows, Katya’s never dealt with demons before, and the email gives nothing, no actual warning. Just like the banshees.

If Lundy hadn’t called the night before, she’d have no clue this is anything different, and that’s just fucking unfair.

* * *

It’sone of the thousands of small apartment buildings that cluster around Silverlake, with no elevator and no easy access, an old house that’s been torn to pieces and new walls built up so more people can rent it and make money off of it.

It’s also the last place that Miri would expect an Archdemon to reside. Or any demon, really. They’re usually all rich and usually all way fancier than they have any right to be, according to rumors.

Katya peers at the old building, raising her eyebrows. “That building is at least eighty years old,” she says, rubbing her shoulder. “So whatever it is, it likes old things.”

“How about I go in, you stay in the car?” Miri blurts out, completely deserving the raised eyebrow that Katya gives her. “I don’t know. Something suspicious about this. Something. I think.”

Katya’s deadpan would be hilarious in any other situation. “You don’t have supernatural gut instincts,” she says, and the disapproving is just so obvious. “Your instincts are exactly the same as mine.”

“Yeah well,” Miri starts without knowing where she’s going with it. “I just...”

Katya peers at her, and Miri endures her suspicious gaze somehow without squirming,. “Go ahead?” She says, her voice softer than Miri would’ve thought.

“That easily?” Miri asks, putting the car into park but leaving the engine running, because Katya definitely needs the air conditioning even if she doesn’t. “I’d expect some sort of defense, something about readiness and —"

Katya throws the clipboard at her, which Miri easily catches. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you babying me!” She calls out as Miri climbs out of the car. “Keep your phone on you and we’re cool.”

Miri salutes her through the driver’s side window, and Katya just rolls her eyes before pulling out her phone and settling into the chair.

The apartment they were assigned to is in the back, much more of a sublet room than a whole apartment, but it has its own entrance so she can’t really judge. The whole building is rundown, the sort of aging bricks that look like they’re one mild earthquake away from crumbling. Ivy, half-dead from the heat, covers every surface, including a long-abandoned garden bench tucked away into a corner. A long patch of stucco peels off one of the walls.

Again, not the place she’d expect to find an ultra-rich demon from Europe.

A lizard scatters from its sunning location on the cracked pavers as Miri steps around the weeds and the pebbles and up to the back door. The door itself is the exact same security door on her own apartment, which means that Katya can pick the locks in under a minute if it comes to that.

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