Page 134 of Mortis

Then he looked at Teddy. “Do try not to die.”

Teddy frowned. “I thought that was literally the deal.”

Mammon shrugged. “Force of habit.”

He turned and walked towards the altar. Dark smoke began curling around his legs, gradually swallowing him from the ground up. But before it could consume him completely, Mammon glanced over his shoulder. Not at me or Teddy.

At Arlo.

“Bye,” Arlo said simply.

Mammon’s mouth curled into a slow smirk. “Until next time.”

Arlo’s mouth fell open. “There better not be a next time.”

But my master was already gone. Returned to Hell, where he could palm his responsibilities off onto his subordinates and complain bitterly about having been forced to do some actual work. Teddy and I both looked at Arlo, who was still staring at the empty space Mammon had occupied for slightly longer than necessary.

When he noticed us, his eyes narrowed. “Don’t.”

Teddy raised his hands in surrender, though the smile spreading across his face somewhat ruined the effect. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Your face did it for you.”

With Mammon gone, the cemetery fell strangely quiet. No screaming. No explosions. Just the three of us standing beneath the moonlight, surrounded by what remained of the cult.

For several seconds, none of us moved. Then Teddy released a long breath and seemed to deflate against me. The adrenaline that had kept him upright was finally wearing off. His shoulders slumped, and when I tightened my arm around his waist, he let me take more of his weight without complaint.

Arlo didn’t look much better. His earlier fire had disappeared, replaced by heavy eyes and a slight tremble in his hands. He dragged both palms down his face, succeeding only in smearing more blood across his cheeks. “I’m so fucking tired.”

Teddy gave a weak hum of agreement, then his gaze drifted past me towards the cemetery. Corpses didn’t litter the grass, but what Mammon had left behind was arguably worse. Blood soaked into the earth. Pieces of red cloak were scattered amongst the remains. Something I suspected had once been part of a mortal’s organs clung to the edge of the altar.

Teddy stared at it all for a long moment, then said, “What do we do about this?”

Arlo followed his gaze. He blinked, then shrugged. “Leave it.”

Teddy slowly turned his head. “We can’t just leave it, Lo.”

“Why not?”

“Because there are bits of approximately fifty people scattered across a public cemetery!”

Arlo planted his hands on his hips. “Teds, I love you dearly, but I’m exhausted as fuck. In the last few hours, you’ve been kidnapped by a cult, I’ve watched said cult explode, we’ve met a Prince of Hell, and I found out the stray you brought home is actually a flesh-eating demon.”

Teddy winced. “Yeah.”

“With hooves and horns.”

“I know,” Teddy whispered, shoulders creeping towards his ears.

“You let me think he was homeless.”

“I’m sorry, Lo.” Teddy looked genuinely miserable. He dropped his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. “I wanted to tell you. I did. I just . . .” His eyes flicked towards me. “It wasn’t exactly my secret to tell.”

I looked at Arlo. “The fault is mine as well.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

I bowed my head in apology. “I was afraid.”