Page 20 of How to Accidentally Become the Devil

His eyes flare and he kisses my nose. “I love when you’re possessive,” he growls in my ear. Straightening, he looks down at me. “And as far as I know, you’re the third. Your mother and grandmother did the same thing every time they came here, which was at least once a day. Luc made the room for Serafina. It was her favorite place in Hell. Zo, of course, followed in her mother’s footsteps, opting to spend most of her time here. I don’t know if she’s been back since Sera passed…” he trails off.

“They were close?”God, do I sound jealous? Do I seriously envy the connection my mother had with her mom? I mean… Yeah, I wish I was close to my mom. I wish we had something in common. A special place we shared. But we can still have that. She’ll never see her mom again, while I just found mine. That’s nothing to be jealous about.

“You okay, Princess?” His arms tighten around me.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just… thinking.”

“You know I’m here if you ever wanna talk…”

It’s a sweet gesture, even more so because I know he means it. Back home guys would say that just to get nonexistent “points” with a girl. But the moment she let her guard down and opened up, they’d run.

I turn in his arms, wrapping mine around his waist and running my hands up his back. “Thank you. I knew you were a teddy bear,” I wink at him as Belz hollers for us to come over.

ten

Belzar

Istill remember helping Luc set up the library for Serafina. The room wasn’t a quarter of the size it is now, but she had the same reaction then as Maddy has now. Luc’s always had a thing for books. He’s been collecting them for as long as they’ve existed. When he met Sera, he finally had someone to share that love with. It’s been hard for him to come in here since she died.

Hell, I don’t know if he’d even recognize the place if he came in here now. The collection grows and expands more and more every day, thanks to the magic powering it. Every time a new book is written, it appears in these stacks. At least half of the books here have never been published and aren’t available anywhere but Luc’s.

Maddy makes a beeline for the rolling ladder and we laugh, knowing from experience that would be the first thing she’d do in Luc’s Library. Safe in the knowledge that she has two other overprotective mates not taking their eyes off of her, I force myself to get to work. As much as I would rather soak up her exuberance, we don’t have time to waste.

Walking to the long black island, I press my hand to the counter and a map of the library spreads out across it. The image zooms out as more and more of the library is added until finally it’s so small I can’t make out any details. Serafina would love knowing the library has expanded so much that the complete map can’t be read at once even on this giant slab of obsidiline.

I press the search bar and type indemonology. Maybe there have been other demons whose powers have gone wonky and we can learn something from them. It’s the best I can think of. To be honest, I’m not certain anything here will be able to help us. But I sure as hell don’t know where else to start. Maybe something we read will lead to an epiphany. Either way, I write down the directions to thedemonsection.

When I look back at Maddy, Oz has joined her as she gets off the ladder on the other side of the room. Walking over to Zeph who’s standing where I left him, staring at the two demons embracing by the ladder, I yell for them to join us.

“You find anything? Zeph asks hopefully.

“Maybe.” I shrug, not wanting to get his hopes up. Oz and Maddy reach us and I wish more than anything that her first time here could have been all about having fun and exploring the stacks. At least I was able to give her time for the ladder ritual the women of this family seem to have.

“Have fun, love?” I ask with a smile. Her eyes light up even more and she nods with a huge smile. “Good. Ready to check out some books?”

“Yes! Oh my god, I’m so ready! It looks like he has every book ever published here. It’s amazing.”

“Not just published. Every book ever written,” I correct with a smirk.

Her eyes widen for a whole different reason and she stammers, “Even the one I started when I was twelve?”

I share a look with Oz who chuckles darkly. “You know, I can search by author… We can find this book… you know, for research purposes.”

Her eyes narrow and I grab her around the waist. “Kidding.” I kiss the tip of her nose before shooting a wink at Oz and Zeph. We’re finding that book.

“Don’t worry, love, we’ll be in the magical section, far away from the unfinished childhood books section.”

“I hate you,” she mutters as she glares at me.

“Love you too.” I kiss her before grabbing her hand. “Come on. I know you’ve been dying to go up that spiral staircase. It just so happens to lead to Magical Nonfiction.”

“I’m gonna love it here,” she sighs as she happily follows me.

Once we’re upstairs, we pass under a sign that saysMagical Nonfictionin Serafina’s script. It was her way of helping with the organization. Luc didn’t believe in signs before she made one. Said he could find his way through his library without them. Sera argued it made things easier and the library looked better with her signs. Luc couldn’t argue with that and like usual when it came to anything Sera wanted, he gave in quickly.

I envied their relationship for a long time. They were just too perfect together. I wanted that for myself. But no female ever caught my attention like Sera did Luc’s until Maddy. Now, having a perfect mate of my own, I look back at those memories of Luc and Sera differently. I understand completely how Luc could give in to her every whim. There’s nothing Maddy could ask for that I wouldn’t give her.

Maddy reads other signs as we pass them. “Abominable snowman? Angels? Banshee? Cyclops? You’re saying all of these mythical creatures arereal?”

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