Page 24 of Devil Bound
Before I could even tell Lucifer to fuck right off and only come back with coffee if he had to come back at all, he handed me the cursed white poodle with a determined shove.It occurred to me that I should really learn to make better use of my door chain.
“What the fuck is this?”I asked.
“What does it look like, Nelly?I’m returning this delight of a dog to you, and you owe me a favor in return.”
That news broke over me like a bucket of ice water.He had to be kidding.Granted, with a smile that made people urgently reach for fig leaves and worry about their pipes, he could get away with a lot, but I had given him the damn cursed poodle so he would be her forever home.
“I told you this place has a no pets rule.And why would I owe you anything?Explain that, Lucy.All logic-like.”
Lucifer shrugged.“Oh, it’s simple, really.Tiamat is dropping by for a visit, and I need you to be my human necromancer boyfriend.She likes it when wemingle.With humans.She says it keeps the immortal mind humble, and I don’t know a better human to keep me humble than you, Nelly.”
I was going to let the logic bit and the insult slide, because… “Tiamat?”
Some of the most ancient myths, tied to creation and power, were about her, and I’d never once read a direct account of a magic user interacting with her.This had the potential to be huge.
“The Dragon Mother, yes.Not mother of dragons.Do not ever call her that.She will not tolerate it.”Lucifer’s eyes roamed over me, and I was uncomfortably aware that I was wearing an off-yellow pajama shirt with dark green bottoms, because the corresponding and matching pieces were in the laundry.
The poodle, while growling, drooled on the sleeve of my mismatched pajama top, but fuck it, my interest was piqued.Not in Lucifer.There was no way I would get cozy with him, or any immortal for that matter.It was a bad idea, my metaphorical pipes were fine, and I didn’t need anyone who would wake me up in the middle of the morning, period.
Besides, most scholars agreed that to immortals, humans were no more than lap dogs might be to us.I deserved better than that.I knew I wasn’t a prize, considering how frequently corpse juices ruined my clothes, and the mud brown hair I only remembered to cut once every three months or so, and the unimpressive light brown eyes… But even still, I deserved better than being turned into an immortal’s pet, especially an immortal as self-absorbed, grandiose, entitled, and hot as the Devil.
I put the poodle down and stepped aside, holding the door open for Lucifer.The only way to get him to leave was to ignore him, that much I knew.
“I need coffee before I can agree to anything,” I said.
Meeting a primordial goddess with tons of magical knowledge did interest me, but I wouldn’t cozy up to Lucifer to meet Tiamat.I needed to find another way.
Lucifer walked past me.Gods, he smelled good.Spices and woodsmoke.I wouldn’t mind burying my nose in his hair and—no.Nooo.I couldn’t let my sleep-drunk mind go down that road.Running into him as often as I did was just another way in which the universe had decided to fuck with me, and there was no reason to encourage the fuckery or engage beyond the bare minimum.
I closed the door behind him and shambled to the kitchen.I usually made a point of making a pot of coffee at night so I only had to microwave it in the morning, but last night, Detective Rice had called me to the morgue with a warrant and consent from next of kin for a raising.It had taken a long time due to advanced decomp, and I’d just not bothered with the coffee once I got home after all that.I was a necromancer and not squeamish, but the lingering smell of death still made me queasy sometimes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in your apartment, Nelly,” Lucifer said.
He looked around the place.The furniture was mostly secondhand, and the floor needed cleaning.I’d given up on carpets long ago—my job made that impractical due to all the fluids I invariably came into contact with—so mildly scratched-up laminate it was.
Lucifer wrinkled his nose before he added, “It lacks both charm and style.”He turned toward me, and I focused on coffee.His gaze was boring into the back of my head, and it didn’t help my coordination any.I spilled half a tablespoon of coffee grounds on the counter.“What on earth are you trying to do with that brew, kill a nest of cockroaches?”
I gripped the tablespoon tighter.“I like my coffee strong, and you woke me before fucking noon to give me back a cursed poodle I can’t keep.”
The pet in question growled from some dark corner.I really didn’t care.I had trouble caring before coffee on a good day, and this was not shaping up to be one of those.
“Of course you’ll keep Soul.”
“Soul?”
“Yes, it’s what I named her.She’s no danger to you, and as your boyfriend, I should probably get you to go on a cleanse, especially if you drink that amount of coffee on a regular basis.Hmm.We should do a juice cleanse together.Yes.Tiamat will just love that.Do you need my help packing a bag?”
I dumped more coffee grounds on the counter and mumbled a curse, one involving both dicks and pipes.
“Do I what?”
“Do you want to go on a cleanse with me?”Lucifer said, speaking extra slow, as if once again he suspected some sort of brain injury.
He stood there, jeans sitting just perfectly on his hips, which he had angled in such a way that a sliver of pale skin just above his waistband peeked out at me from where his T-shirt and jacket had ridden up.He made it look accidental, but I’d stopped buying that Lucifer did anything without calculation years ago.I wondered what that slice of skin would taste like if I just knelt down and licked it.My cock gave a twitch, and I focused on his boots.
Yes.Those were just well-polished footwear.Nothing exciting about his boots.
“Not that.Why would I pack a bag?”I said as I tried to will my cock into ignoring how eminently fuckable the Devil appeared to be.
