Page 176 of The Demon's Pet

Mor laughed, putting her hands up. “Fine, fine, I’ve lost. I’ll let you two talk, I guess.” She saluted me. “Thanks for not killing me, Cleo. You’ve got some cool lasers.”

“First you don’t trust her. Then you’ve got a crush on her?” Sam sighed in utter exasperation.

“I didn’t say a crush,” Mor said. “I was just letting her know my type.” She shrugged. “I can’t help it if I’m attracted to power. But well, if she’s yours…”

“She’s mine,” Sam said.

Mor sighed. “I thought so.” She looked up at the sky. “At least I now know she deserves you.” She gave me a wave. “Thanks for the fight… and the entertainment. I’m sure we’ll train again later, when you get that new collar.” She blew me a kiss, and Sam caught it out of the air, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.

“Hmph,” she said. She disappeared into the cathedral, and Sam turned to me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For all of this. Mor has been like an older sister to me ever since my brother died. She worked with him. She’s a little overprotective.”

“She’s batshit crazy,” I said.

“No,” he said. “She’s a little weird and moody. Most void walkers are. But she knew what she was doing.” He looked at the place where the cross had been. “That illusion, kinky as it was, must have taken a lot of energy. Remember that, Cleo. Celestials love illusions, and the more power they have, the better illusions they can do.”

“Like when you put that illusion up so no one could know you’d been at Zadis’s house?”

“Yes,” Sam said. “Here, from now on, if there’s ever a question, just ask the illusion of me something I would know.” His eyes narrowed, and he put his hands on his hips. “Or actually, I’ll give you a code word. Halo.”

“What?”

“If you ever need to know that you’re talking to me for sure, just ask me the code word, and I’ll say halo.”

“What about you?” I asked. “Should I give you a code word?”

“No,” he said. “I know how to see through most illusions. I should be fine.” He smirked. “Plus, I can read your every expression. I’d know if it wasn’t you.” He frowned. “So what the fuck was up with you thinking that Mor could actually capture me and string me up like that? And what was with the lasers?”

It all seemed so stupid now that I’d ever believed he was in trouble.

My hands tightened into fists, and I turned to stride away from him, cheeks flaming. I’d just been in a fight where I found out I had literal lasers inside me. I didn’t need to feel stupid right now.

His hand on my shoulder stopped me gently. “Wait, Cleo. I didn’t mean it like that.”

I turned around with a sigh. “You want to make fun of me. Sorry, I didn’t see through it. Sorry, I thought she could take you. I guess you must think I’m stupid, because it never even occurred to me that it wouldn’t be possible or real. I just saw it, and I couldn’t… couldn’t—”

He looked around at the burn marks. “Couldn’t hold back?”

I nodded.

“We’ll need to get a stronger collar on you, then,” he said, grinning slightly. “Can’t have you destroying my brother’s house.” He looked down. “Oh, it broke.”

“I know,” I said sadly.

“If you think you can handle restraining yourself tonight, I’ll take it over to Betty and have her upgrade it. No lasers. Though, I guess we can say you’re definitely the Morningstar now.”

I frowned. “But what if I need my lasers?” It had been kind of cool to see light shoot out of my body.

“It’s not something you should use, even in a fight, right now, Cleo,” Sam said seriously. “If you couldn’t aim, if you lost control… you could hurt someone you aren’t meaning to.”

“Hm.” He was right. What if I’d tried to divert the laser and someone else had been in its path?

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Sam said. “You have powerful weapons inside you, and I know it would destroy you to hurt someone if you didn’t want to. You have a really soft heart.”

“Right,” I said, kind of wishing that wasn’t the case.

“More importantly, there will be opponents who can reflect that right back at you or direct it to your teammates or friends.”

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