Page 9 of Unholy

“What’s happening?”

“I’m—” He cut off. The meathook was tearing through him now. His hands clenched into fists, and a cry spilled from him as the club disappeared entirely. He squeezed his eyes shut as streaks of color flew past him, and when it all came to a whirling stop, he collapsed to his hands and knees on scratchy grass, heaving in the cool night air.

His body trembled in the aftermath as he pushed himself upright, feeling like a wrung-out dishtowel. He was sitting on his heels in the middle of a cemetery. The city lights were distant, and around him was only comforting darkness.

“What the fuck?” he croaked.

“Malachi.”

He turned his head. Luke stood before him, holding a creased piece of copy paper in hand and looking contemplative.

“You know, I wasn’t sure it was possible to summon a halfling. Good to know.” He folded up the paper and stuck it in his back pocket.

“You did what?” Malachi asked. The words didn’t compute. Luke hadsummonedhim? He glanced around, realizing he was kneeling inside a ring of salt—which he wouldn’t be able to cross until Luke let him. This had never happened to him before. “Why?”

Luke stopped just outside the salt line, his hands on his hips. “That’s what I want to know. Why did you tell me about that demon? Why help me save those kids?”

Malachi stood, dusting himself off. The pain was fading rapidly now that the summoning itself was over. “Because I wanted to. And I’m used to doing whatever I want.”

Luke studied him for a long, inscrutable moment. “That’s it? You wanted to? You ratted out another demon for me to kill just… because?”

Malachi eased closer. The salt line might prevent him from touching, but this was even better than being separated by the hospital wall. He couldseeLuke now. Rake his eyes up and down his body. Smell his scent on the breeze, like cedar wood and citrus. He’d come here to speak to Malachi? Out to a cemetery in the middle of nowhere to summon Malachi and tell him he’d followed his lead? Malachi hoped so. He hoped Luke had been so eager to tell him the good news that he couldn’t wait to see him again.

“I may be a demon,” Malachi said, “but even I don’t like those things. They’re nothing more than mindless beasts that crawled out of the pit.”

“And you’re not?”

He shrugged. “I was human once. Those monsters you kill in the dark places, they’re like… animals. I’m no more like them than you are like a wolf.”

Luke’s gaze trailed down his face, as though cataloging his features, and Malachi fought the urge to preen under his perusal.

“Then why me?” Luke asked.

Malachi smiled. “Because I like you.”

Confusion crossed his face. “Why?”

“I would be happy to tell you,” Malachi said softly, enticing Luke to lean in to hear him properly, “but you’ll have to let me out of here first. It’s not nice to hold someone hostage.”

“How do I know you won’t attack me? Or just leave?”

“I just told you, I like you. I won’t attack you, and answering your questions is more entertaining than wasting another night at the club—although the abrupt summoning wasn’t very nice. You made me break a glass.” He affected a pout.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Luke deadpanned.

“It’s okay. You can make it up to me.” He looked down pointedly at the line of salt between their shoes. Luke wore sand-colored tactical boots under his cargo khakis, a stark contrast from Malachi’s scuffed Chuck Taylors.

Luke took a long, slow breath. His chest expanded with it, and Malachi could feel the heat of his body, not quite close enough to touch. It was such exquisite torture.

Luke’s boot slid through the salt, fitting into the gap between Malachi’s sneakers for a moment before moving away.

His body thrummed with need. It would be so easy toreach out, drag Luke in. But Luke wasn’t ready yet. He would fight back. Malachi couldn’t screw this up by being too hasty.

Unable to resist entirely, he curled a hand around Luke’s muscular shoulder and guided him from the circle. Luke’s body buzzed with tension under his palm. “All right. I promised you answers. What do you want to know?”

“Why do youlike me?” Luke asked, like it was the craziest thing he’d ever heard. “How do you even know me? That night at the warehouse was the first time I’d ever even seen you.”

“Ah, but it wasn’t the first time I’d seen you.” Malachi pulled himself up to sit on a headstone.

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