Page 52 of My Demon Manny

Me: Anyone around? I'm bored.

Pythor: I'm annoyed

Grinning, I shot back a quick reply.

Me: When are you ever not annoyed?

Ryk: LOL. Lux's right. What's gotten your panties in a twist now?

Pythor: Fuck off, Ryk.

Pythor: It's my neighbor. He's a pain in the ass.

Me: What did he do?

Pythor: What doesn't he do? He plays loud music at all hours of the day, his lights are on all night, his yard is a mess—

Me: Wow, that sounds positively awful. However will you survive?

Pythor: Fuck you

Me: Why don't you go have a conversation with him?

Pythor: Yeah, that's not gonna happen

Ryk: Why not? I've never known you to shy away from a confrontation

Pythor: He doesn't talk to anybody. I've never even seen him, and I've been here for 2 months now

I blinked, surprised. It sounded like Pythor's neighbor was a bit of a recluse. Only Pythor could manage to get so annoyed by someone he'd never even met.

"Oh, did you lose your toy?" I asked when I felt a little hand patting my foot, and Gunner peered up at me, his lips pursed in a pout. Smiling, I held out one of his soft toys, and he grabbed it from me, then threw it across the room. For a little guy, he could throw pretty decently.

My phone buzzed, but I had to put it on the floor so I could give Gunner my whole attention. Had he sensed his dad was going to be gone for longer today? Or was he somehow sensing my feelings? Maybe he was just annoyed I wasn't giving him my full attention.

I'd read that babies took their cues from the adults around them, and that they'd be more disgruntled if we weren't feeling very positive, but surely it wasn't that accurate.

"Can you tell I miss your dad, Gunner?" I asked, then picked him up and plopped him into my lap. He grabbed a fistful of myt-shirt and gazed up at me with an expression that made him look like a carbon copy of his dad.

"Don't worry—he'll be back before we know it." I wasn't sure which one of us I was trying to reassure, but Gunner's lips quirked up in a smile, so I considered it a win.

My phone buzzed again, and I remembered the conversation I'd been having. Giving Gunner another look, I grabbed my phone and opened the text chain.

There were a few texts between Ryk and Pythor, more complaining about the neighbor, and some gushing from Ryk about his mates. Since it was almost time to feed Gunner, I sent a text apologizing for disappearing and then excused myself. I was sure I'd be able to pick the conversation right back up later. There was always someone around in the chat group, and one thing about living in a realm that only consisted of twenty-four people was that we were all pretty close. Even Mammon, the demon we were now supposed to be hunting, had been a good friend at one point, before he let the darkness swallow him.

Archer

I missed Gunner and Lux.

I'd thought I would be able to do this, that staying away for one night wouldn't be all that hard. I was wrong.

"Earth to Archer!" I blinked, then shook my head, pulling my thoughts together. Kat was staring at me with a wry smile on her face, while Jerry was outright grinning at me.

"What?"

"Nothing," Jerry said in a voice that implied there was definitely something.

I narrowed my eyes at him, then huffed, turning my attention back to the dinner that was well on its way to getting cold. Our meeting was early next morning, which was why we'd flown down tonight so we could grab some rest and not show up to the meeting half-asleep. Still, I wished I could've opted to fly in tomorrow morning, get the meeting over with, and then fly right back home.

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