Page 25 of Priest

OLIVER

His Demon was avoiding him.

And Oliver was tired of it.

He’d been in a bad mood all day after waking up alone. He was still sleeping more than normal, but he was surprised at how good he’d felt—especially considering all of the horror stories he’d heard about humans being fed on by Incubi and being left for dead.

Deciding to forgive being left alone in bed, he’d gone to search for Priest… and come up empty. He’d eaten breakfast by himself. And then lunch. It was nearly dinnertime before he found where Priest had been hiding all day.

“What is this place?” He was more than a little pleased at the way the Demon jumped and whirled around at his question.

“Oh. Uh. Hi.” Shoulders hunched a bit, Priest glanced around the strange and amazing room before carefully setting a pot holding a spiky plant with bulbous purple flowers on the waist-high table he was standing behind. “This is my library. And workshop.”

Oliver ran his eyes over the floor-to-ceiling shelves full of books and glass bottles with mysterious liquids and puzzle boxes—one of which was emitting a soft pink smoke. “Workshop, huh?”

Priest shrugged. “Not, like, officially. I just enjoy tinkering with things.”

Tinkering with things.

None of Oliver’s books had ever talked about a Demon like Priest. He would have been annoyed normally—he hated not knowing what to expect or feeling out of his element—but since the Incubus seemed to be just as off-balance, Oliver found he didn’t actually mind.

But he was still unhappy with being ignored all day.

“Why are you hiding in here?”

A week ago, he wouldn’t have had the nerve to flat out ask Priest something like that. If he had, they wouldn’t have been tiptoeing around each other for months. But nearly dying and having your life’s work destroyed had a way of convincing a person to just sayfuck it. Sleep with the sex Demon. Ask the hard questions. Eat all the donuts.

Priest’s face made a series of complicated expressions. “I’m not. I’ve just been busy.”

Oliver clenched his teeth. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“That!” He waved a hand at Priest, a ball of hurt sitting uncomfortably in his stomach. “Don’t lie to me, and don’t act like you aren’t still scared.”

For the first time since he’d entered the room, Priest’s gaze met his own, and blackness swallowed his eyes, turning them into the dark abyss of his Demon. “Oliver, it’s better if we?—”

“And don’t fucking make decisions for me!”

His chest heaved with his panting breaths, and he was more than a little surprised to find himself only a foot away from Priest. He didn’t remember crossing the room, his anger blotting it out.

The blackness seeped away, and Priest cocked his head, studying Oliver in a way he wasn’t completely comfortable with. “That was… peculiar.”

“What—shit.” He reached out blindly for the worktable, a wave of dizziness washing over him and nearly taking him out at the knees. Warm, strong hands gripped his arms, steadying him until he could refocus his eyesight. Priest’s worried face was only inches from his own. “I’m okay. I guess I’m not quite as recovered as I thought.”

Even as he said the words, he knew in his gut that wasn’t what was wrong. He tried to pull away, but Priest tightened his hold and tugged him closer. “Do you know what you just did,little human?”

Oliver licked his dry lips, a shiver rolling down his body at the emphasis the Demon put on those last two words. “I didn’t do anything.”

Priest hummed and cupped the side of Oliver’s face, tipping his head back and leaning closer. “Very peculiar.”

“Priest…” He breathed out the word, his lids lowering and lips parting without his permission.

“Yes, darling?”

“I’m still mad at you.” He definitely was. Even though goose bumps were rippling across his skin at the sinful sensation of that damn forked tongue tasting just inside his mouth. His anger was just somewhere else now.

“I’ll make it up to you.” The words were said directly against his lips, tearing free a moan from deep in his chest, but before Priest could do more than press their mouths together, someone cleared their throat behind Oliver.

---