Chapter13
Gabriel
Sure enough, he could hear Ser and Mike exchanging insults as soon he opened the door. The door tohisapartment.
“You know,” he groused as he walked into the kitchen, “those keys are foremergencies only.”
They were both sitting at the table, and Ser looked at him and then pointed at Mike, completely blaming him.
Mike just scowled. “Thiswasan emergency. A demon clearly used your phone to send a message. We didn’t know what was going on. I haven’t even seen you since the summoning.”
Az was partly behind him, and Mike craned his neck to look around Gabe to see the demon. Gabe had the irrational and childish urge to move his body to block Mike’s view.
“Hmph,” Mike snorted. “I guess he can pass for a lust demon.”
Az put his hands on Gabe’s shoulders, gave them a quick squeeze, then moved around him to pull out a third chair at the table.
“Don’t worry, boring, bothersome brother, I’ll not be giving you any lustful thoughts. If you’re even capable of such fun,” Az smirked, sitting down next to Seraphina.
She held up her hand, and Az high fived her as Gabe watched. He was a little bit amused and a little bit exasperated.
“Seriously, you two?” Gabe asked.
Seraphina just giggled, and Az smirked. Michael rolled his eyes, then pulled out a yellow legal pad, at which point both Gabe and Seraphina groaned. Gabe knew if the yellow legal pad was coming out, it was going to be a long night.
“Oh, gosh, look at the time!” Ser mock exclaimed. “I think I need to go wash my hair. Better get going!”
She got up and gave Gabe a kiss on the cheek, whispering to him, “Text me if youreallyneed rescuing, but otherwise you’re on your own.” Then she waved and was gone.
“So, what exactly is our situation here?” Mike asked, pen poised to write.
Gabe sat down in Ser’s vacated chair, replying, “Grams told me to pour out a ‘dud’ potion, and this one appeared inside the circle. I can’t revoke him. He figured he needs to… help me out, or something, and then he’ll be gone.” Although he felt a little sad thinking about Az being gone. He pushed it out of his head. You didn’t get to keep demons.
Only he’d kept Mr. Frog, hadn’t he? For about twenty years now, with no one the wiser, apparently. He wasn’t sure if that would work for someone like Az, though, who seemed pretty important and all.
But it was nice to have someone to cuddle, and Az didn’t look at him like a circus freak for not wanting sex. Only he’d kind of gotten sex, hadn’t he? Gabe wondered if it would happen again, but then he figured he shouldn’t think about that too much. He wasn’t sure if the idea made him horny or nervous, and now was not the time to be either.
But the point was, maybe Az didn’t need to rush back to hell. Besides, it would be kind of fun to watch him try to teach teenagers about human sexuality. He almost snorted thinking about it, but Mike’s snapping fingers in front of his face jerked him out of this train of thought.
“Hello, are you even listening to me?” Mike asked, disgruntled and grumpy.
“Erm… No?” Gabe mumbled.
He heard Az chuckle beside him. “Your brother was just explaining some fancy revocation spell he apparently read about in some archaic text he probably shouldn’t have.”
“It should work…” Mike started, but Az cut him off.
“It won’t.”
“Yes, it will.”
“No, it won’t.”
Gabe rolled his eyes as the two went back and forth a few more times. He thought Az was actually having fun, but he decided to cut in before Mike got really aggravated. No one wanted that to happen.
“Okchildren, maybe Az can explain why it won’t work. And Mike, it’s really fine with me if Az stays,” Gabe reassured him.
Mike frowned. “You can’t keep a demon.”
