Page 21 of Demon's Obsession

“Who’s this pretty?” Luka questioned talking over Merihem, his gaze directly on Silas, looking at him in a way Dakata had to resist punching him, which would waylay the conversation. They needed help, and fighting would not make a good impression on his blissful one, he was pretty sure.

“My blissful one, that’s not why I summoned you.”

“Well, that’s sad, he seems like he’d be fun to get to know,” replied Benra, adding a purr to his voice that worked to wind up Dakata like it always did. His brother was pretty. Even his demon looked prettier than most.

Christa slapped him around the back of his enormous head. “Give over. A blissful one, if I got my demon school teaching right, is a sacred gift and I won’t intervene if Daks decides to rip out your intestines and tie them in a bow for being a dick.”

“You’re all making a great fucking impression,” Dakata snapped, angry at how badly his family was behaving. “Shall we get to the damn reason I need your help? We don’t have the time to sit around and fucking chat about Silas. Silas’s sister, Wanda, was taken by two demons. Dougal said—”

“Dougal? Who’s Dougal?” Luka asked, frowning at everyone.

“It doesn’t matter who Dougal is,” Dakata growled. “We need to find who took Wanda and fast because she’ll not survive away from her tree.”

“From the forest,” Silas added quietly, his concern making Dakata do something he’d never have believed himself capable of. He draped his arm over his blissful one’s shoulders and gave Silas a big hug. Then, because it was so out of character for him, and his family knew it, he patted Silas’s back awkwardly, pretending he didn’t hear the gasps of surprise or Luka saying, “Who are you and what did you do with my non-touchy, cynical asshole, brother?”

He raised his free hand and made a rude gesture behind Silas’s back. Who could blame him?

There was the sound of another slap as he released Silas, who sniffed and gave him a watery smile that touched Dakata’s heart.

“I’m just worried about Wanda. Please?”

“I’ll do all the proper formal introductions later, for now. Christa, my sister,” Dakata pointed at Luka, “Loud mouth Luka, and big gob Benra next to him.”

“Hello,” Silas murmured, looking at the last man in the room.

“And that’s Merihem, my childhood friend.”

“Yo.” Merihem jerked his chin. “So, shall we get back to the matter at hand if it’s so urgent?”

“It is,” Silas said, lifting the bow he had as if to make his point. “We have to find her. She’ll be so stressed it will use her energy up quickly.”

“Do we know why they took her?” Merihem asked, looking at Dakata.

“They took her thinking she was my blissful one…” Dakata had heard the words back in the forest, but as he repeated them to his family, it was as if the implications of the words he was saying finally penetrated his brain and his demon emerged and roared his fury.

Silas laid a hand on his arm. That was all it took. The comparison between them was huge, and his demon cared and, with iron will, reigned back his fury that Silas had to be in their realm at all, and that someone might’ve been stupid enough to want to take him.

War… he was ready to go on a rampage the likes the realm had never seen before. Rip the numbskulls a new asshole so they’d be shitting out of their mouths.

Nice!

We need to find the threat and eliminate it, now!

“How lovely,” Christa murmured, pissing off Dakata’s human side while he tried to find a happy medium, when Silas was watching him with keen interest and shimmery eyes.

“Merihem, can you feel any new soul down here?” That would be the quickest way to find Wanda, rather than running round, letting Silas track her energy, or whatever it was he could do to find her. The less time Silas spent roaming around Dakata’s home realm, the better.

Merihem’s hands came together, palms flat against each other as his eyes shut, his lips moving as he used his demon half.

“What’s he doing?” Silas whispered.

“He’s a ‘controller’ of souls in this realm and yours. He’ll find her, I promise, and everything will be fine.”

The half of Dakata that was human wasn’t sure he was hearing correctly.You can’t say that.

Dakata’s demon snubbed his nose at him.Of course I can. We trust Merihem.

They did.

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