Page 8 of Indecent

Surreptitiously, he glanced at Chaol as they walked. His black jeans clung to his long, lean legs. His waist was trim, shoulders rounded but not overly broad. His back was impressively muscled, which made sense, since he had wings. Daniel wondered how the transformation worked. Was it more physical, with skin stretching and bones realigning—like some of the old werewolf movies he watched as a teen—or was it a magical transformation that didn’t remotely obey the laws of physics?

“Is there some reason why we aren’t just flying straight where we need to go?” Daniel asked, mindful to keep his voice low. He could barely see Chaol in front of him. Daytime in Hell looked a lot more like the dusky moments right before the last rays of sunlight disappeared at the end of the day. Anything could be lurking in the darkness around them, and he’d rather not call attention to himself if he could help it.

Chaol drifted closer, shoulder brushing Daniel’s. “Yeah. The sky is dangerous here. I’m not the only thing that can fly.”

Daniel looked up, but only slivers of the dim, greenish sky were visible through the reaching branches. “Great.”

“Don’t worry, human, I’ll get you there.”

“Daniel. Or Danny.”

“You don’t like that I call you human?” Chaol glanced over at him with a teasing smile.

“I just don’t understand the aversion to using my actual name.”

Chaol’s head tilted in consideration. “It’s such an ordinary name.”

“Am I… not ordinary?” He’d always considered himself so.

“A former paladin trekking through Hell to become a demon? No, I can’t say anything like that has ever happened before.”

“Well, I don’t see how ‘human’ is any better.”

“Hm, you’re right. You’re far too unique for something so plain.”

Could he blush without a physical body? His face definitely felt like it was burning.

“You’ve got a dark streak, that’s for sure. Turned away from the light of Heaven on a crazy quest to get back to the physical world. You’re willing to damn yourself to get what you want. No one in history has done this, as far as I know.”

Daniel fidgeted. He didn’t embrace the idea of damning his soul and becoming a demon, but if it was the only way to get back to Earth, so be it. “No one? What about all the other halflings?”

“They were sent here. No, I’ve never heard of a human soul choosing to come to Hell to become a demon. That’s the kind of thing people would talk about.”

Would people talk about him, Daniel wondered? Would little demons one day tell the story of the human who chose to come to Hell? Probably not if he got eaten by something along the way. The thought made his stomach turn. He just wanted to get back to his family. He didn’t care what anyone said about him, as long as this crazy plan worked.

Daniel’s boot scuffed across an uneven block of stone. How could these trees even grow up through the stone? It didn’t make sense. Nothing about this place made sense. Maybe that was part of what made it so awful. The logistics alone were making his head hurt.

“Being a demon doesn’t seem so bad. You get to live forever. Some of you even find love.”

“Love?” Chaol laughed. “If you say so.”

Daniel shot him a scowl. “I’ve seen it. Ashmedai is totally devoted to my brother. Watching them circle each other was wild, but they worked it out. Nic seemed really happy the last time I saw him—at least where things with Ash were concerned.” He didn’t actually remember the last time he saw Nicolas, but what little he could recall seemed good. Nicolas and Ashmedai standing together, leaning against one another. The abject contentment on Nicolas’s face had sent an unusual, momentary shot of envy coursing through him, though it didn’t lessen how genuinely glad he’d been to see his big brother so happy.

Chaol spun to a stop, looking at Daniel like he’d just heard something scandalous. “Are you telling me a sin eater is living on the surface in a romantic relationship with a human?”

“Yes? And he’s not the only one. Several halflings have found humans, a couple of leviathans, and a behemoth, too. Valac, remember? I mentioned him. He’s with my best friend, Julian.”

Chaol’s ink black eyes were wide. “I thought you were joking.”

Daniel frowned. “Well, I wasn’t.” He stomped away—in the direction they’d been walking, at least. It was annoying that Chaol wouldn’t believe him about the relationships between the demons and humans in the Sentinels’ group. He’d never seen anyone so devoted as those demons were to their humans. It was an enviable kind of love, but he didn’t know why it rubbed him the wrong way that Chaol didn’t believe it. He didn’t have anything to prove to Chaol. So what if this demon thought he was full of it? He was just a demon—but the words rang hollow as he thought them. He wasn’t just a demon; they’d been getting along. And for some reason it bothered him that Chaol thought demons couldn’t find love.

Why did he care? He shouldn’t care.

A strong hand snagged his arm and whirled him around. Daniel glared up at him—he wasn’t a short man, but most demons, it seemed, were taller than him.

“I’ve offended you,” Chaol said.

“No,” Daniel snapped.