Page 57 of Unholy

Eventually, he peeled his eyes open. Malachi’s living room was alight, suggesting it was still daylight, but he was facing away from the windows. The dark kitchen was empty, and the apartment was quiet. A blanket covered his body.

Luke moved slowly, expecting pain, but there was none. Wait, why was he expecting pain? He didn’t remember precisely what happened, only that something terriblehad. He’d gotten dangerously hurt somehow. Malachi’s raw scream echoed through his memory, and a bolt of fear cut through him. Malachi had been in danger. Where was he now? Was he hurt?

“Mal?” he croaked.

Arms tightened around him. “I’m right here, treasure.”

His eyes filled with tears, which alarmed him more than anything else. His body was reacting viscerally to something he couldn’t yet remember. “What happened?” His breath hitched. He found Malachi’s hands under the blanket, tangling their fingers together and clinging tightly.

Lips pressed against his neck. “Oh, baby, it’s okay. We’re both safe. What do you remember?”

He shook his head. “I should be hurt. I know that, but I don’t remember why.”

Malachi helped him sit up—he was weak, why was he soweak? Soft blankets were layered both under them and over them, though they appeared to be naked. Malachi’s bare chest was a reassuring warmth against his back, and he turned, nuzzling closer.

“Did you undress us or did we do something I forgot about?”

Malachi snorted. “I undressed us. We were… covered in blood.”

A thousand questions crowded up his throat, but he swallowed them back down. Malachi would explain. He could wait long enough to give him the chance to.

“You were leaving to go to the guild to give them your resignation. Do you remember that?”

Laying in bed with Malachi, exchanging declarations of love and Malachi asking him to move in with him. “Yeah, I remember that.”

“I walked you down the stairwell. And at the doorway, you were attacked.”

Pain in his abdomen. Blood dripping from metal.‘You are hereby banished.’

“It was paladins. They stabbed me in the back.” Heshould definitely feel something about that, but numbness spread through him instead. It would take a while to process what had happened.

“They did,” Malachi said through gritted teeth.

“What happened after that?”

Malachi didn’t respond right away, his fingers tickling the back of Luke’s hand. “You went down. I… killed them, and called Talon and Alex for help because I didn’t know how to help you. They told me to feed you my blood.”

Luke’s throat bobbed, embarrassment flooding him for some reason. Drinking his blood sounded strangely intimate. “Why?”

“Apparently, it has healing properties. Among other—things.”

Luke tilted his head back to peer up at him. “What things?”

“Um. I’ve never exchanged blood with a human before, so I didn’t know any of this until Talon told me. But apparently, if you have a steady diet of a few drops of my blood every month or so, you would be functionally immortal.”

Luke blinked. “What?”

Malachi pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah. Stronger, faster, better healing, and… you would stop aging. As long as you have demon blood in your system, you don’t age. It heals yousofast that your cells regenerate or something.” He shrugged dismissively. “Talon tried to explain it, but I was distracted.” He kissed Luke’s shoulder.

“That’s… crazy.”

“Mm-hm. Apparently, Talon and Alex have been exchanging blood for a few months now. He even has this little ring that has a blade in it so they can—you know what? That’s TMI. Anyway. How are you feeling?”

Luke spared him a smile. “Surprisingly good, considering I was just stabbed in the back a few… hours ago?” he asked.

Malachi nodded. “About four, I think.”

That was shocking. “Your blood really healed me that fast?”

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