“I don’t know who would do it,” Cass answered her. “But Kushiel and I aim to find out, and we’ll start looking for the ghosts as well. If the despair and pain I felt from one ghost was so obvious, I’d think we’ll be able to feel many ghosts. Paradise Falls isn’t huge, but there are plenty of forested areas and buildings in the vicinity to make it a pretty big area to search.”
“If they can be trapped, perhaps their despair can also be contained,” Kushiel ventured, and Cass nodded his head in response.
“Yes, that is possible, and that will only make things harder,” Cass sighed. “Aunt Ro, if you could check on the ghost at my house I’d appreciate it. Otherwise, if you can try to narrow down a specific area for us to search, that would definitely be helpful.”
She looked doubtful, but Aunt Ro gave him a nod before she disappeared.
“She’s gone,” Cass told Kushiel. “This does make our job harder. And in the meantime, I do have a shop to run,” he grumbled.
“How may I be of assistance?” Kushiel asked.
Cass almost told him not to worry about it, but he looked at Kushiel, and he knew the angel wouldn’t be able to sit and relax while Cass worked. Plus, having the help wouldn’t be unwelcome.
“How are you with numbers?” Cass asked, and Kushiel’s smile in response was answer enough. Perhaps getting payroll and scheduling done wouldn’t be as awful as usual.
Chapter 12
Kushiel
Kushiel stared at Cassius, whose head was bent over a schedule, checking the coverage for the next week. His brown hair was tousled as he continually ran his hand through it while he worked, and Kushiel found the habit rather endearing.
Kushiel’s hand still felt warm from where he’d touched Cass, although he knew that was in his head. He itched to touch the human again. Cass’s skin had been warm and soft, and Kushiel had felt a pulse of… something when he’d laid his hand on Cass’s bare skin.
Desire. He had felt a pulse of desire. He couldn’t lie to himself about that.
There was something amazingly attractive about knowing that someone saw you for who and what you were and still accepted you. Cass had only ever shown him acceptance and kindness, despite his shortcomings.
It was almost a relief knowing that he didn’t need to hide the darker parts of his job from the human. Cass hadn’t rejected Kushiel because of his fallen status or the darkness that surely resided within him. After all, Kushiel’s skin was gray and his hairand wings were black. He was no shining angel, yet Cass was so wonderful to him.
Yes, the demons treated him equally, but he was always conscious of a divide between them, even if they never acted like there was. He wasn’t a demon, although sometimes he thought his life would be easier if he was.
Seeing a lesser demon out front with a human had driven that point even further home, and Kushiel could admit the dark emotion of envy had entered his heart. The lesser demon apparently had a soulmate—surely that’s what Cass meant when he said they were “matched up”—and Kushiel couldn’t help the jealousy that burst through him.
He had no doubt that Paz was a wonderful lesser demon, and he knew he was not deserving of such a blessing as a soulmate, but he envied the demons who had one. He wished for such a connection, which was silly. Angels did not have soulmates. He didn’t know why, but they didn’t, and surely if one was going to get a soulmate, it wouldn’t be him. There were far purer souls than his.
Kushiel couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him, and Cass looked up at him.
“Almost done. Thank you so much for your help with payroll and the budget sheets. I guess you’re good at balancing things out,” Cass smiled.
Kushiel chuckled at that. “I suppose that is one way to look at it.”
Cass chuckled too, but then he sort of stared at Kushiel with a slight frown. “What is it?” Kushiel asked.
Cass looked like he was about to ask something, but at that moment, he suddenly reared back and looked over to Kushiel’s left, then he flinched like he was being yelled at. Kushiel wondered if his aunt was back.
“Whoa, slow down,” Cass said calmly, then he winced again. He nodded a few times, looked at Kushiel apologetically, then nodded some more at the apparent ghost.
“Yes, yes, I understand… Well of course I can see that it’s unfair… I don’t know that I’d use the word “murder”...” Cass replied to… whoever, because it didn’t sound like it was his aunt.
Cass flinched again after that, and Kushiel figured the ghost must have disagreed. It was almost comical watching the exchange, even though he only got one side of it. Cass had been really good about translating for Kushiel so far, but this seemed to be a high strung ghost from Cass’s constant flinching.
“No, no, I don’t think haunting someone is really the solution… Well, yes, I see how upsetting that would be… Butshewasn’t actually the one who killed you, was she?”
That last question was apparently the wrong thing to ask, because Cass flinched, then he looked at Kushiel and rolled his eyes. After about a minute he seemed to reach the end of his patience.
“Listen up. Nope! No interrupting. I understand you’re upset, but people move on with their lives, and as painful as it is that your best friend hooked up with your boyfriend, that doesnotmean that she orchestrated your death.”
The ghost must have done some more yelling then based on Cass’s long suffering sigh. After another minute he firmly stated, “Enough. You’re done. I will pass your concerns along to the appropriate channels, but if I hear about you harassing either your friend or your boyfriend over this, Iwillsend you to the afterlife. Are we clear? Good. Now you are hereby unwelcome from my shop,” Cass stated firmly.
