He croaked out to Az that a family member could petsit him. Not that he really needed petsitting, mind you. He was a demon, and he did have a demon form. He could easily transform and take care of himself. Still, he didn’t like to remind Gabe of that fact. He still felt a bit self-conscious about Gabe knowing who he really was, and he didn’t want Gabe to treat him any differently.
Az, rather than translating, sighed. Uh oh.
“Well, Gabe doesn’t really feel comfortable asking a family member. Michael has been a bit weird lately, and Gabe thinks that maybe it’s best to not remind Grams that you’re a demon, and he also thinks Grams might have told Ser about your demonhood. So…” Az sort of trailed off and shrugged.
“I tried explaining you don’t need a petsitter,” Az continued, “but Gabe insists that if you don’t have a petsitter that you at least have a companion.”
Well great. Not only was his human going away without him, but now he’d be saddled with taking care of himselfandsome stupid “pet” that he would end up having to share rock space with.
Beel turned his back in displeasure again, but from the sounds ofsmooching he heard behind him, he guessed he was at least going to get a short reprieve from this absurd conversation.
Maybe Az could distract Gabe with enough sex that he’d forget about this whole ridiculous plan.
A lesser demon could hope, anyway. Well, not usually. Lesser demons didn’t hope for much, but being topside and being Gabe’s pet for so long had made him quite the optimist apparently.
Beel hunkered down on his rock, soaking up the warmth while he could. Maybe you couldn’t take the pessimist out of the demon after all, because he had the thought that he better enjoy his aquarium all to himself while he could.
Change was coming, and Beel was not looking forward to it.
Chapter
Four
DAY 7,602—AN OUTING (AND AZ SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE)
Beel stared at the travel aquarium with a vague sense of distaste. Usually he loved outings. Gabe liked to take him along on the occasional adventure; he’d once taken him to the movies, which had been tons of fun. Being snuck into the theater inside a travel aquarium in a backpack had been a bit of a thrill.
But for the last few days Gabe had been consistently stuck on this whole companion thing, and a trip for him in the travel aquarium right now did not bode well for his privacy and solitude in his actual aquarium.
He just knew Gabe was going to do something ridiculous. He loved his human, he really did, and he knew Gabe had the best of intentions, but he was a bit single-minded on occasion.
Az walked into the living room, saw the travel aquarium, then looked at Beel. “I really did try, my friend. I’m sure you know how Gabe is, though,” he whispered.
Beel sighed internally. Yes, he knew how Gabe was. And if an Infernal King of the Underworld couldn’t manage to change his mind, a few croaks and ribbits surely weren’t going to do any better.
Gabe probably sort of felt like he was a parent to Mr. Frog, andlike most parents, he thought he knew best. No amount of arguing was going to dissuade him of that notion. Beel supposed he was just going to have to suck it up for at least a weekend and deal with a companion. Maybe after that he could prove to Gabe that it wasnotin his best interest to have someone (or something) else sharing aquarium space with him.
Hopefully he could get his point across before Gabe grew attached to whatever pet he decided to adopt to keep Beel company. And Beel supposed it could be worse. At least Gabe was talking about something along his level. He couldn’t imagine having to compete for attention with a dog.
Not that Gabe would ever replace him. He knew that. But still, a dog would be fierce competition when it came to getting pets.
Gabe bustled in at that moment, and Az started to say something, but Gabe just shot him a look, and Az shut his mouth.
Well then. Apparently there was no help from that quarter.
“Mr. Frog! I thought we’d go on a little adventure!” Gabe declared, full of kindergarten teacher level cheeriness.
Oh boy. Beel croaked grumpily.
“Yup!” Gabe enthused, although Beel knew that Gabe could tell his grumpy croaks from his happy croaks. “It’ll be such fun!” he finished, still smiling broadly, utterly ignoring Beel’s sour mood.
Off came the aquarium top, and Gabe had the gall to soften him up with some lovely back petting. “You love going out, and this will be fun, I promise. You know I love you, Mr. Frog, and I always have your best interests in mind,” his human said.
Az mumbled behind him, something about “Mr. Frog” being a demon and not a damn pet, but Beel just ignored him. Az was just jealous that he was getting a nice back rub and some I-love-you’s.
Although really, Az wasn’t so bad. He had been good to Beel, and he did trust the upper level demon. After all, he had tried to talk Gabe out of this whole absurd notion.
Ah well. With a sense of resignation, Beel hopped into Gabe’s hand and let himself be placed in the travel aquarium. He couldat least meet his fate with his dignity intact, and he had no intention of being dragged… wherever they were going.
