Page 11 of Unholy

“No.” That wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. He’d just wanted answers.

But… hehadcome out to the middle of nowhere, to a cemetery he knew none of the squads would be near. Willingly going anywhere near a halfling after what happened with Hawk was asking for trouble, but this was worse. He’d not only sought Malachi out, he’d disobeyed Sloan’s direct order to kill him on sight. Summoning a demon, even a halfling, was forbidden. Summoning one for anything less than dire, apocalyptic reasons was against the rules, and any rituals like this had to be logged and approved by the guild beforehand.

And now this one was saying—what? That Lukebelongedto him? That was insane.

Malachi was smiling again, infuriatingly smug and knowing. “You know I’m right.”

“You can’t justclaima human being,” Luke insisted. “Don’t I get a say?”

“You do. Of course. If you turn me away, you’ll never have to know I’m there. I’ll be in the shadows or just out of sight, like I was at the hospital.”

Heat burned through Luke. He’d sworn he felt eyes on him at the hospital but chalked it up to nervous adrenaline about the coming fight.

“You were—at the hospital?” he asked haltingly.

“I’m never far from you these days,” Malachi said like itwas a foregone conclusion. “You don’t have to know it. I can watch over you from afar. Keep you safe.”

Luke’s heart thundered in his chest. He was never safe. That was the nature of his job. It was why his body was riddled with scars and ached when it rained. He was only thirty-four, but he felt like an old man. He’d given everything for the guild—almost given his life, too. All he did was fight for the cause. He’d lost friends and shield-brothers. He’d had so many failed relationships he stopped trying. He had nothing but his blades, a bottle of painkillers, and the stubborn will to keep going.

He scrambled for a response, something to drive home how ridiculous this all sounded. “Watch over me? Keep me safe? You talk like you’re some sort of… guardian angel.”

One corner of Malachi’s mouth quirked. “You might be the first person ever to compare a demon to an angel. I just protect what’s mine. That’s all.”

He was crazy. He was acrazy demon, and he’d somehow fixated on Luke. This was dangerous. But… he hadn’t tried to harm Luke in any way. Hadn’t harmed anyone at all, in fact. He’d actually helped Luke save a bunch of children by telling him about the sagdrannon. Maybe he’d done it for selfish reasons, but that didn’t make those kids any less safe.

But he was a demon. Every charitable thought he had circled back to that. No matter what he’d done or why, he was still a demon. Associating with him was forbidden. It put everything he’d worked for, his wholelife, in jeopardy. He couldn’t entertain this any longer.

“You’re not ready yet,” Malachi said, reading Luke’s thoughts eerily well. “That’s okay. I’ve got nothing but time.”

Luke struggled to cobble together a mask he hoped wascold and aloof. If Malachi’s amusement was any indication, he fell short of the mark. “I don’t need your help,” he declared. “I don’t needyou. I don’t know what game you’re playing or what you expect to come of this, but it’s over. So just stay away from me.” He backed out of arm’s reach and turned away.

Malachi clicked his tongue. “Don’t worry, Luke. When that stops being true, I won’t be far away.”

A shiver rolled down Luke’s spine, but he didn’t turn around.

Luke resolvedto forget about the captivating halfling. He wouldn’t jeopardize his career, his life as a paladin, just because Malachi unilaterally decided Luke should belong to him. That wasn’t how relationships worked—not that the demon was interested in a real, human relationship. Whatever was going on, Luke wasn’t falling for it, so he put the whole thing from his mind and threw himself into his work.

He finished his two weeks of archive duty without incident, and when he hadn’t heard from Malachi again by the time it was over, he began to hope the whole thing had blown over and life would go back to normal. It didn’t matter that Malachi was the most attractive man he’d ever seen or how easily he seemed to read Luke. He was a demon, and Luke wasn’t stupid.

A bright and sunny morning at HQ saw him in the cafeteria getting breakfast. A wide, rectangular room with stained glass windows on the far wall, it was filled with long tables and a laminate wood floor. At the front of the room, near the entrance to the kitchen, there was a lengthy buffetline, bright with warming bulbs and steam trays to keep the food warm. He went through the line, half awake, and fetched himself a generous cup of coffee before claiming a seat near the end of a table.

He preferred eating his meals here, all told, because the food wasalwaysbetter than anything he managed to make at home. Digging his fork into some perfectly scrambled eggs, sunny yellow and seasoned just right, he’d barely taken a bite when a tray sat down across from him.

“Mind if I sit here?” Nathan asked, casting him a cheery smile.

“Not at all.” He’d always liked Nathan. If he were going to join anyone else’s squad, it would’ve been Nathan Accardi’s. The man was a couple of years younger than Luke, and he’d always treated the paladins under him well, putting his squad’s needs first the way a good captain should. He cared about the guild, the cause, but primarily, his people. With his chestnut hair, stormy gray eyes, and angular jaw, he was classically handsome. Luke found himself envious more than once over the years, especially following the attack that scarred his face. Nathan had been a paladin almost as long as Luke, but he had a fraction of the scars to show for it. Luke felt grizzled, hardened by the invisible war they fought, and Nathan’s baby smooth face served as a harsh reminder that Luke alone had been dealt a particularly vicious hand. The trouble was that Nathan was just so frustratinglylikable.

“How’ve you been, Luke? I hardly see you around these days.”

“Busy. Killed something called a sagdrannon a couple of weeks ago.” That was how conversations usually went at the guild. Small talk consisted of what interesting kills one had recently had.

“I heard. Stealing kids from the hospital, right? Nasty.”

“Mm-hm. What’s new with you? Has Sloan talked to you about filling the empty slot in your squad?”

Nathan’s smile dimmed at the reminder, then brightened. “Yeah, he did, actually. I’ll be getting Judah. He’s very excited. He graduates next month, and then I’ll be taking him out on his first patrol.”

Luke chortled. “Good. Kid’s been gnawing at the bit to see some action. And I’m sure it’ll be nice having a full squad again.”

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