Page 122 of I Accidentally Summoned A Demon
“What the fuck?” Poena spat. “In the name of all that’s unholy—”
“It’s not what’sunholy, Poena.”
Nex and Poena turned to the source of the voice.
He stood in stark white robes. Despite the underworld being an unclean place, the dim lighting did nothing to diminish the faint glow around Melchizedek as he stepped into the cell with his hands tucked behind his back. He inclined his head to the door. “You may go, Poena.”
“None of this is angel business.” Poena stalked toward him. “Get the fuck out of my dungeon!”
“I said,” Melchizedek tilted his head, and Poena stiffened, the hold on her dagger loosening without permission and slipping from her hand, clattering to the ground, “you may go.”
“You have no authority here! He’s mine to deal with.”
“My authority is not limited to one realm.” Melchizedek stepped aside so Poena could leave. “This is no longer your concern. You may go.”
“I’m not leav—” Poena’s vocal cords failed.
Melchizedek shook his head. “Poena, I’m afraid you misunderstand. When I say you may go, I mean that Nex is no longer your concern, and I need you to leave. I’m giving you the option to do it without force.” He clasped his hands together and smiled. “Please, don’t make me call Lilith to set you straight about whose authority you’re required to submit to. I don’t want to do that. I prefer to let you leave peacefully.”
Poena tried to growl, but no sound came out. She bared her teeth and lunged at Melchizedek, but her knife stopped centimeters from where she tried to jam the blade between his eyes.
“That was quite unwise.” Melchizedek pushed the dagger and Poena’s hand aside. “Didn’t Nex get punished for killing an angel? You think coming after me is a good idea?” He gestured to her frozen state. “See, you have made this more complicated. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you aren’t giving me many options.” A bright light sparked from his eyes, and Poena stepped back before her whole body was paralyzed. “Poena,leave. Go to Lilith.”
Poena’s body moved despite the protest of her mind, her legs walking her out, leaving Melchizedek alone with Nex and the hounds. Nex eyed Melchizedek’s approach.
“What are you doing here?” Nex asked. “Isn’t it your duty to protect humans from demons? They’re threatening to go after Katherine. If you want to abide by your precious duties, you should be watching her.”
“Katherine is safe.” Melchizedek paused in front of Nex. “I made her untouchable. The highest-ranked demon couldn’t hurt her if they wanted to.”
Untouchable.They rarely made humans untouchable by demons. The last time was over a century ago. Nex opened his mouth but gritted his teeth when Melchizedek crouched and set his hand on Venandi’s head. The deep cuts and scrapes, the bruises that were undoubtedly hidden under her fur, all disappeared. Venandi perked up, lifting her head toward Melchizedek, who patted her affectionately before doing the same for Sicarius.
“What are you doing here?” Nex repeated, gaze fixed on every movement Melchizedek made toward the hounds.
“I’m not allowed to lie.” White threads formed in Melchizedek’s hand—separate strands that wove together and became longer until he had a full sheet. “Nor would I want to.”
The chains holding Nex vanished. He nearly collapsed, but Melchizedek caught him, gently pushing him to sit up as he draped the sheet around Nex’s cold, naked body.
“I said you could trust me, and you can.” Melchizedek set his hand on Nex’s shoulder. All the pain, the bruises and gashes, the lashes from the whip, the cuts around his wrists, faded to nothing.
“Why are you doing this?” Nex huddled under the sheet. Despite it being thin, it banished the chill. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to right a wrong that happened years ago. Tell me, what would you do to get back to her? Anything?”
“I’m not in the mood for your fucking tests.” Nex glared. “Lucian died while you were doing whatever the fuck it was you were doing.”
“I heard.” Melchizedek squeezed Nex’s shoulder. “I am sorry about that. I’ll see what I can do for him, but I need you to let go of that anger because I want to help you, but I can’t if you won’t tone down the animosity.”
“Help me how?”
“Katherine came to me. She drove to—”
“She drove?” Nex’s eyes bugged, and he almost dropped his sheet. His Katherinedrove?
Melchizedek smiled. “It wasn’t easy for her, but she thought of you. She thought of you and drove to the church, looking for me. She wanted to talk. To ask me to bring you back, or at the very least to keep you from getting hurt.”
“I thought that was against your rules.”
“Perhaps, but things are phrased certain ways, are they not? And humans have done quite an awful job interpreting the Bible. They’ve twisted it, turned it into something it was never meant to be, used it out of context to justify bias and treating each other poorly.” His face contorted. “The ridiculous thing is they think they know everything, enough to justify terrible behavior, to justify killing and harming under the name of religion while conveniently forgetting that love is at the center of it. Love perseveres. Isn’t that right? I don’t think there’s much you wouldn’t do for love.”
