Page 53 of Higher Demon

“That washim?” she hisses, understanding immediately.

“Yes. And obviously we met—kind of—then, when I tried to beat him up and he decided it would be safer to leave.”

Marc chuckles.

“Shut up,” I tell him. “I was fierce.”

“Ian.” Gayle’s tone is a warning to get on with it.

“Yeah, so you can imagine the drama when Marc showed up at Mannix Estate six years ago and Connor saw him. But it turns out, he never wanted to kill Con. He was searching the house for information about who the traitors in the Collective were. When Connor found him, Marc didn’t know if he was involved, so he couldn’t tell him what he was doing”—not that he would have anyway. Marc’s not the trusting type—“and he knew if he just left, Con would be suspicious.”

“So he was going to kill Connor to cover his tracks,” she says flatly. “But then you bursting in gave him the semblance of an excuse to leave?” She exhales. “We always wondered why he didn’t kill you both.”

“Because he didn’t want to,” I insist. “Marc’s been on our side for longer than we knew therewasa side.” For once, I’m grateful for Marc’s excellent poker face. He’s always maintained that he doesn’t give a shit about humans, he was just interested in taking down Cato. But Gayle doesn’t need to know that.

“How sure are you that this is all true?”

“It was Marc’s searches back then that got us the list of traitors,” I tell her. “And he came to us, helped us. We would likely have lost the Battle for the Barrier without him.” It still burns my chest to say that, even though things are different between us now. I guess I just hate knowing how vulnerable we humans are, no matter how hard we try.

She still seems doubting, so I add, “And he hates being here.”

Her gaze finally leaves him and swings to me. “What?”

“Hates humans,” I add cheerfully. “Though I think I’m starting to win him over. He got assigned to be ambassador because he already had relationships with us that he could leverage. Otherwise, he would have killed Cato and happily gone home. Instead, he has to put up with me and my ‘complete lack of style.’” I make air quotes, and her lips twitch.

“I did notice what a snazzy dresser he is,” she says solemnly, and Marc sighs.

“Snazzy. Lovely.” He looks her up and down, taking in the modified jeans and cotton top she wears with boots. “At least your idea of casual and comfortable is clean and tidy.”

“I amnotgrubby,” I grumble, and that gets a laugh from Gayle.

“Oh, Ian. You are.”

Marc’s victorious chuckle and the conspiratorial glance he shares with Gayle are worth the ribbing.

“Whatever. The point is, he’s an asshole, but we’re all on the same side.”

“Thank you,” Marc says dryly.

“Going back to what we were talking about before,” Gayle says slowly, “do you really think this can work long-term?”

She’s not asking me, and I bite my lip to keep from jumping in.

“I hope so,” Marc says. “We’re committed to it—our leadership is committed. That’s why I’m here. Our hope is that with the Collective working to prevent humans from summoning, and us policing demons with bad intentions, we can one day reach a place where some of the more intelligent species of demons are able to peacefully visit Earth.”

This is news to me, but I can’t say it’s really surprising. Not after everything else he’s told me.

“Demon tourism?” Gayle sounds… intrigued? “Really? You think that’s achievable?”

“Probably not in your lifetime,” he admits. “I don’t want to be offensive”—hah! Since when?—“but your generation is too eager to kill every demon it comes across.”

From the look on Gayle’s face, she took offense. “With good reason. And not every demon—you’re still here.”

Marc’s expression says louder than words that he doesn’t think we could kill him if we tried, and I jump in before he opens his mouth and the situation becomes irretrievable.

“Things haven’t been easy for Marc on Earth,” I say as gently as possible. “Tonight’s a good example. He was still here for you to talk to because he can’t leave without me. Just in case someone thinks jumping him is a good idea and he’s forced to defend himself.”

She frowns. “Why would you being there make a difference? He’s a higher d—” Her mouth snaps shut as she realizes, and I nod.

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