Page 45 of Dead Air
“Hold on…” Niall sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, scowling at Cenn. “You offered to get rid of Andy the other night!”
I can’t catch a single break today.
“I can explain.” Cenn pressed his hands together, begging Niall to forgive him for one more whoopsie. “I had already made up my mind to break the deal because I knew you would never have a price, that you’d never part with your soul. I didn’t even want it. Like that,” he qualified quickly. “But I was…scared of losing everything so I asked, to prove to myself that I was right about you. That’s why I’ve been stalling!”
Niall’s lips twisted and his face pinched slightly. “I’m not sure if I want to be mad or touched.”
“Maybe both but lean towards touched?” Cenn suggested, then ducked onto the porch as soon as he saw a gap in the gawkers. “Pardon me,” he said but Shelby blocked the stairs.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’ve been in my office recently?” He crossed his arms over his chest and Cenn could hear Shelby’s inner beast roaring as he calmly waited for a denial.
“We’re going to laugh about this later,” Cenn said as he rested a hand on Shelby’s shoulder.
“Are you going to be in prison when we share this laugh? Because that’s the only place I can see us hanging out, once whatever this is, is over.”
Cenn pretended to be wounded. “I thought we had something special.”
“Fix everything you fucked up,” Shelby said through clenched teeth.
“Fine,” Cenn flailed a hand. “It will all be cleared up in a few days. But you do understand who I am, don’t you?”
Shelby didn’t seem at all concerned. “I don’t care if you’re the king of the killer hill fairies, or whatever Merlin called you. I’ll sell my soul to be the one who punches your ticket, so I can be there when your ass gets sucked back into Hell.”
“He’sjoking,” one of the twins stated firmly and pulled Shelby away.
“Who’s gonna tell him?” Cenn asked over his shoulder as he left them. “Niall doesn’t want to see me right now so I’m going to take a walk so he can clear his head.”
“Tell me what?” he heard Shelby ask as he headed into the woods and the other twin chuckled.
“There’s no such thing as Hell. It’s all around us, wherever men and demons decide to do their dirty work.”
Cenn couldn’t have put it any better so he went to kill time by the creek.
Nineteen
Giving Niall time and space was the right call. Niall was so mad and overwhelmed, he couldn’t even look at Cenn. The worst part was, Niall wasn’tthatupset that Cenn had been evasive and misleading aboutwhohe was and why he had come to Hawksbill Mountain. What else would you expect from a demon?
He was furious because Cenn had put himself in terrible danger and for getting Niall tangled in a feud with an evil warlock. It was one thing to accept a demon into your life and to house train him, but Niall hadn’t signed up for warlocks, soul pacts, demigods, hellhounds, and eternal damnation. That wasa lotto leave out!
Niall still believed that Cenn wouldn’t hurt him and that he could be trusted—with a massive grain of salt and several stipulations—but he also believed and trusted Professor MacIlwraith and Mr. Oglethorpe. He was also grateful to Agent Nelson and the rest of their friends for rushing to the park and up to the summit to help someone they had never met. They all seemed so good and decent that Niall was incredibly torn.
There was no way he could beagainstthem and he was obviously going to help if they were being targeted by said evil warlock.IfNiall could help. But he had a sinking feeling that helping them could hurt Cenn. Even worse, Niall had begun to suspect that Cenn considered the professor, Mr. Oglethorpe, and their friends his sworn enemies.
That was the overwhelming part.
He wanted to befriend these people and help them, not to deceive and hinder them the way Cenn was hoping he would. But Niall also wanted to protect Cenn and possibly prove he wasn’t the heartless demon everyone thought he was. Which was a big hurdle because it was safe to assume that Cenn didn’t want to be rehabilitated in their eyes and Niall barely understood what was going on.
Shelby seemed like a good place to start. An uncomfortable place to start, but Niall could trust Shelby to be clearheaded and totally fair in his assessment of the situation. He was on the porch, staring in the direction of the cliff and Niall’s “secret” salamander spot while the others were making themselves at home on the front lawn. Two large tents took up most of the cleared patch and Agent Nelson was setting up a fire pit. Niall had no idea where everything had come from but was impressed by how well-prepared they were and how safe their site already looked.
“Interesting morning?” Niall gave Shelby an apologetic grimace as he sidled up but received a glare and a hard snort.
“There was no way I’d let this bunch head up here without me, not if they were lookin’ for you.” He grumbled something under his breath about being a ‘damned fool’ before continuing. “I heard all kinds of crazy shit as we were hiking but I kept tellin’ myself I wasn’t hearin’ them right or it was all over my head because I’m not a scholar. Then we get up here and I find out he’s some kind of demon and the two of you have been—” Shelbyshook his head, unable to look at Niall. “How the fuck do I save you from a demon and a warlock?”
Suddenly, Niall was the monster. “Don’t!” He shook his head quickly and it took a strong shove to turn Shelby so he’d look at Niall. “I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance. Iwanted to,” he said heavily and pointedly. “But I came here to get away from something terrible in my past and I was afraid you’d find out.”
“You were hiding,” Shelby whispered and for a moment, his expression clouded with sympathy and regret before he sniffed hard and nodded. “I always wondered what it was, why you wouldn’t let me in. I kept hoping it was just you bein’ stubborn and that one day you’d decide you were ready.”
Niall laughed. “I was so ready, but I was scared of how much I’d like you and how hard it would be to lie to you and hide the truth.”
