Page 13 of Sweet Vengeance

Her throat bobbed with a swallow. “So, how did the whole deals with humans thing come about?” She frowned. “Wait, how did you even know blood could be “nourishing”?”

Malachi couldn’t quite help his tiny smile. How was she so fucking cute? Like a little tiger.

“The deals have existed since time immemorial.Nicquiris like myself are tasked with bringing the souls and emotions of humans back to hell.”

“What was that you just called yourself? Ni …?”

“Nicquiri. It means “sensitive to the Veil”. Humans able to manipulate the aether or see through to “the other side” are also sensitive to the Veil, except, in the mortal realm, they are called witches or native doctors or magicians.”

“So, only people—demons—like you, can go through the Veil?”

Malachi nodded. “It is what I was born to do.” He tried not to sound too bitter.

“Oh.” The expression on her face made Malachi feel strange. Her eyebrows were furrowed, like a frown, but her eyes—the purse of her lips—

Malachi sneered when he realised what it was. He didn’t want her pity.

She looked like she wanted to ask more about his birth, but noticed his expression and swiftly changed the subject.

“And you take human souls for …?”

“Human souls give demons unnameable power. There are demons who’ve fed on souls for thousands of years, equalling their might and power to that of a Sovereign’s.”

“Sovereign? You mean—a God?”

“Yes.”

Joy looked like Malachi had just turned her entire world upside down.

She shook her head quickly. “You know what? No. I’m going to make my Indomie, and I’m not going to think about any of this at all.”

Malachi’s lips twitched. So fucking cute.

He watched her move around the kitchen as she cooked. She put the noodles when the water was brought to boil, then began chopping vegetables. Onions, peppers, green beans, and carrots. It smelled really good. The whole thing took about six minutes to make.

She walked into the sitting room with her plate, hesitating at the sight of him. He was currently on the only piece of furniture meant for sitting in the entire flat.

She came to stand in front of him. When he still didn’t move, she glared. He grinned, revealing his fangs.

Her breath caught, and he scented an exquisite mix of fear and arousal.Interesting.

“Move over,” she commanded.

Malachi’s dick stiffened. “Yes, ma’am.”

He smelled her blush, though her expression didn’t change. “Shut up.”

There was nowhere for his wing to go unless he literally sat on it, so he left it where it was, slightly draped across the back of the sofa, the other one resting over the armrest and sweeping the floor on his right. She pretended not to see it as she sat, leaving barely two inches of space between them. His feathers brushed her back, and they both shivered. The space between them felt as infinite as it did finite, too much and not enough, making Malachi feel like he was going to vibrate out of his skin.

Resolutely ignoring his presence, she grabbed the remote of the ancient looking television from the floor at her feet, and turned it on.

“Cartoon Network, thank God,” she muttered, and dug in.

The cartoon was about a blue cat and an orange fish. There was a hotdog and a robot and a floating eyeball—humans were so fucking mystifying. In all the time he’d spent on earth, with nothing left to do,hehad consumed a lot of media; one thing he had never understood, much as he loved them,were some of the cartoons designed for children. Why were they so fucking random?

When the hotdog said “delicious”, with a strangely familiar cadence, it took everything in him not to glance incredulously at the woman sitting beside him, even as his chest warmed with something he refused to name.

Seriously?That’swhere she got her catchphrase? Too fucking cute.

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