Page 48 of Mortis

Arlo often complained that business had become unusually slow because, in his words, “The old bastards were being selfish and refusing to die.” Even so, I had delivered more souls to Mammon in the past fortnight than I’d managed in an entire month while hiding within Barrowfell Woods.

I could only hope it was enough to stop him searching for me.

“Kael, lad.”

Teddy’s grandad, Maurice, appeared around the embalming room door, smiling exactly as he always did.

I had never known a man capable of smiling so often. Yet nothing about it felt false. Kindness seemed as natural to Maurice as breathing.

Whenever he looked at Teddy, his expression softened with unmistakable affection. It didn’t matter whether they were discussing funeral arrangements, the weather, or whose turn it was to buy milk.

Maurice looked at his grandson as though he were the brightest thing in the room.

The same warmth extended to Arlo. Though they shared no blood, Maurice had welcomed him as another grandson without hesitation.

The three of them belonged to one another in a way I had never witnessed before. For the first few days, I feared my presence would disrupt that. That I’d remain what I had always been.

The outsider.

But Maurice shattered that fear on my very first day at Adler & Sons.

It was early evening. Teddy was finishing Mr Cartwright’s embalming while I stood nearby, trying very hard not to hand him the wrong instrument. Again.

The embalming room door burst open, and Maurice and Arlo swept inside wearing surgical masks and aprons. They were talking over one another about a woman named Sandra Burnham, who, from their description, sounded remarkably similar to several lesser demons I’d met.

Maurice stopped the moment he noticed me, and I braced myself to be told to leave.

Instead, he looked me up and down, adjusted his half-moon spectacles, and smiled.

“Well then. Who’s this strapping fella?”

“That’s Kael the Vegetable,” Arlo replied with a grin.

I opened my mouth to explain, once again, that I was not a vegetable. I was a vegetarian. But Arlo continued before I could correct him.

“He’s a stray Teddy picked up after the alarm call last night.”

“Is he now?”

Maurice raised his eyebrows at his grandson. Teddy placed the scalpel and forceps he’d been using onto the instrument tray and cleared his throat.

“I found him sleeping in the alley behind the pound shop,” he said, repeating the same lie he’d told Arlo. “He looked cold, so I brought him home.”

“Like a lost little puppy,” Arlo cooed, nudging my arm.

I wasn’t especially fond of being compared to a stray animal. Even so, I found myself smiling.

Nobody had ever teased me before. The other demons traded insults as casually as breathing. Their words were cruel by design, sharpened to humiliate whoever stood before them.

Arlo’s teasing carried no malice.

It felt warm.

“Don’t worry, Kael,” he said, his icy blue eyes glittering. “I’m a stray too. Looks like we’ve both been adopted by the Adler boys.”

Maurice stepped up beside me. The top of his head barely reached my shoulder. He rested a broad hand there and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“And just like Arlo,” he said. “You’re more than welcome to stay, lad.”