“Geez, brother, I feel so loved.” Barion turned to Jon, offering him his hand, only to pull it back when he seemed to remember what Dre had told him about the zombie’s aversion to touching. “Hi, Jon. I’m so sorry you only had my brother as a role model for demons so far. I can assure you that we weren’t all born with a stick up our asses. Some of us are actually fun to be around.”
Jon grinned broadly. “Hi, Barion. I like you. You’re funny. Who do you think should end up on the Iron Throne?”
Barion’s eyes started to gleam. “A man after my heart. Daenerys, of course, with Jon as her loving husband and Drogon and Rhaegal to protect their children. Tell me, what do you think about Lagertha?”
“I love her. A strong woman, who knows what she wants and who has no qualms taking it. Though I do have a weak spot for Aslaug. I think she was misrepresented in the series.”
Barion smiled broadly and gestured toward one of the couches. “Shall we sit? I can feel a longer discussion in our immediate future.”
Jon nodded shyly before sitting down next to Barion. The two started chatting like they’d known each other forever. Dre turned to Sammy with raised brows. All he got was a shrug.
When Sammy was done making everybody’s favorite beverage, the others started trickling in, as if they had smelled it. Mavis and Maribell were the first, followed by Amber and Emilia, who had indeed brought an assortment of Japanese sweets, which made Dre grateful for the pastries he had secured. Last were Troy and Declan, who immediately snatched two of the green mochi ice creams, happily munching on them while they settled next to Amber. Once everybody was seated, Sammy cleared his throat. “Welcome, everybody, to our book club meeting. Over there is Barion, Dre’s little brother, who has joined us today to see if the book club is for him.”
Barion waved, meeting the gaze of everybody. Declan and Troy waved back, Emilia and Amber gave a nod, and Mavis and Maribell just stared. Their purses were too small to host a lot of curses, so Dre allowed himself to relax slightly. Sammy went on, recapitulating what they had done during the last meeting before introducing the new topic. “Now what were your impressions of the Cthulhu Cycle by H. P. Lovecraft?” He looked around.
Both of Barion’s brows arched up. “I’ve meant to ask this before, brother. Wasn’t Lovecraft that human Aunt Corrallione hooked up with for some time?”
Dre rolled his eyes. Leave it to Barion to ruin his big surprise. “Yes, Barion. She was. And thank you. I’ve meant to mention this little tidbit casually during discussion. Thanks to you, my grand entrance is ruined.”
“Wait, Lovecraft actually knew a demon?” Amber’s eyebrows almost reached her hairline and she looked at lot more elegant doing it than Barion.
“‘Knew’ is one way of putting it,” Barion huffed. “They were fucking like bunnies in the spring.”
“Barion! Watch your language.” Dre threw his brother an angry look.
“Don’t mind the language. We’ve all heard worse.” Emilia grinned. “But knowing that Lovecraft actually had a reliable source for his stories sheds a different light on it all. Now, Dre, Barion, help us find out what is true and what is fiction in the Cthulhu Cycle.”
“This is so cool! I’ve always wondered how Lovecraft managed such great details.” Jon sounded so excited that it had Dre smiling. He truly liked the zombie and seeing him happy woke warm feelings in Dre’s chest.
“Well, I guess it’s time to share some stories, don’t you think, Barion?” He winked at his brother, who returned the gesture.
“Don’t you dare fool us, boys!” Mavis gazed at them sternly. “This is too good to be just a tall tale.”
“We would never dare, ma’am.” Dre bowed, took a sip from his tea and leaned back in his seat, an arm over Sammy’s shoulder. “Where do we start?”
“How about Nyarlathotep? I always wondered what Lovecraft had to smoke in order to make him up.” Declan stole the last mochi ice cream.
“Yes, Nyarl. He actually has a real counterpart in the demon realm, though he’s imprisoned for life—which in our case means forever. Bastard deserves no less. As for his role in the Cthulhu Cycle…”
The evening just flew by and before Dre knew it, he and Sammy were closing the shop behind their friends while Barion insisted on accompanying Jon down to the cellar. His brother had made it clear that he would go directly home afterward, which left Dre and Sammy in blissful solitude.
“What do you say, mate of mine? Shall we go upstairs and deal with the dishes tomorrow?” Dre kissed Sammy’s cheek.
Sammy only hesitated for a second before he abandoned the dishes and went into his arms. “I think Mavis and Maribell have decided I can do the cleaning up now that I have help.”
“They helped you before?”
Sammy made a vaguely magical gesture with his hands. “They cheated. It drove Declan and Troy nuts with jealousy.”
“I can imagine! But they’re right. You have me now, your strong demon warrior, and the mess I can’t handle has yet to be made.”
“Oh, I’d love to make a mess, my love.” Sammy waggled his eyebrows. Dre felt his cock taking an immediate interest.
“I can help you with that, mo grah thu.” He whisked Sammy in his arms and didn’t bother with the stairs. One swipe of his claw and they were in Sammy’s—their—bedroom, ready to create the mess of messes after a wonderful evening spent with their friends.
Life couldn’t get much better.
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Wanted: Demon Familiar
Bellora Quinn and Sadie Rose Bermingham
Excerpt
Neil set the bushel of summer squash into the panel van with the rest of the produce ready to go to market tomorrow morning and jumped down. Mr. Yaetz patted him on the back. “That’s the last one. Good job, Neil. You best head home now. Don’t want to get caught outside the wards after nightfall, ’specially not in that fancy car.”
Neil stifled a wince and forced himself not to look around to see who might have overheard the mention of his ‘fancy car’. Mr. Yaetz didn’t mean anything by it, but the car was a sore point with his co-workers at the small greenhouse and urban farm lot. None of them had their own vehicle, much less a sleek convertible sports car. Explaining that it was his mother’s, not his, hadn’t stopped the digs about his ‘slumming with the common folk’ or brought him any closer to the camaraderie the rest of them shared.
“Thanks, Mr. Yaetz. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Neil told him and turned toward the front lot. He glanced at the horizon automatically, judging how much time he had. About forty-five minutes, maybe an hour. More than enough for the short drive home. He wasn’t likely to come across any shadow beasts here on the outskirts of the city but a pack hunting farther afield was always a possibility. Of course, if he did run across shadow beasts, they would have to catch him first and the Maserati was both fast and agile.
Neil slid behind the wheel and the powerful engine purred to life. With the sun slowly sinking behind him, he swung the car out onto the road and headed for home.