Page 44 of The Music Demon

The demon looked shocked that he’d just been shushed. A few weeks before, if someone had suggested a hypothetical situation in which he might be shushed and allow the shusher to live, he would have said they were daft as can be. Add to that being called a tool? He knew she was a fast learner, but this was ridiculous.

“Go on, Gray. I want to hear your own thoughts on your own name.” Either Shivaun was oblivious to the shift of energy in the room or she felt it and was ignoring it.

“Darby,” Lyric said pointedly, “excuse us for a minute.”

He took Shivaun by the arm and a second later they were standing atop one of the two towers from which the Golden Gate Bridge cables drape. Had they been human, the wind that day would have blown them off their perch to an unpleasant death in navy-blue water.

Since they were not human, and since Shivaun was making a remarkable adjustment to being demon, she took it in stride, looked around, and said in an awestruck tone, “The view is incredible. ‘Tis one of your best date moments yet.”

“I didn’t bring you here on a date. I brought you here to castigate you for shushing me and calling me a tool. In front of my project! This sort of disrespect won’t do.”

She looked Lyric fully in the face, studied him for a moment, and then nodded slightly. “I hurt your feelin’s.”

After a heady length of silence, watching the silky strands of her hair fight against the gale, his temper subsided. “Yes. You hurt my feelings. And my pride.”

“I’m sorry, demon. ‘Twill no’ happen often I hope.” Thinking that was sufficient, he gave a single nod of acknowledgement and took hold of her arm, preparing to return, but she said, “No’ yet. Let’s compare your feelin’s to Gray’s.”

“Gray’s? You mean, Darby’s?”

Shivaun inhaled deeply for patience. “There are a million names that would do. Why no’ let the lad choose his own name? ‘Tis a tiny concession in the big picture. Is it no’?” She paused. “’Tis no’ about bein’ right or wrong. ‘Tis about how he feels about himself. He can no’ make wonderful music if he’s no’ happy.”

Lyric couldn’t be sure, but he suspected the alien feeling he was experiencing was the process of relenting. Something he’d never before considered, much less done.

“You want me to give in?”

She smiled in a way that almost hinted of affection. “I do.”

He sighed deeply. “I will do this for you.”

“Thank you. ‘Tis very nice.”

“And you will not humiliate me in front of others.”

“Deal.”

“Or when we’re alone.”

“How can I humiliate you when we’re alone?”

Lyric pressed his lips together. He’d revealed vulnerability that he hadn’t planned to reveal. He’d grown accustomed to hiding his sensitive side and liked having it under wraps. Of course, if people stopped and thought about it they would connect the dots and know that it would be impossible to be a music demon without sensitivity.

He was completely capable of being humiliated in the company of just Shivaun and no other. After all, he valued her opinion above all others combined. If they were mated, he might have told her so. As it was, he simply said, “Right.”

Gray was sitting at the little table next to the window in the room where they’d left him. When they reappeared, he looked up and said, “Where’d you go?”

With a smile, Shivaun said, “Put that aside for now. Let’s finish the bestowin’ of your new name. Before our side chat, I was askin’ what you’d like to be called?”

Gray glanced at Lyric with suspicion. “I get to choose?”

“I’ve decided it would be the best thing for the music,” Lyric answered.

With a momentary glance at Shivaun, Gray smirked at Lyric. “You decided,” he said drily.

If Lyric caught the sarcasm, he chose to ignore it. “Yes. I did. Who do you want to be? It can be something similar to your present name, but not exact.”

Gray didn’t have to ponder that for long. “Doo. Doo Darby.”

A pair of demons looked at him with blank faces for a couple of beats then Shivaun’s face broke into a huge smile. “Doo Darby. Your aura says ‘tis yourtruename.Andan excellent name for a musician.” She looked at Lyric. “Right?”

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