PROLOGUE
Nix
Nix stretched out on the sandy cave floor, briefly bemoaning the rock grit that was going to end up in his gorgeous hair.
The Void was theworst.
Absolutely no creature comforts to be found, and wasn’t that just a kick in the pants for the four creatures trapped here? Nix’s bed was made of driedleaves, for fuck’s sake. They couldn’t even summon changes of clothes—they were all stuck in whatever clothes they’d been wearing when last completing a contract.
How exactly was he supposed to uphold a sense of fabulousness with these kinds of constraints?
And true, none of them exactly needed creature comforts. They didn’t need to eat or bathe or even sleep when in limbo—but what fun was there in only getting what oneneeded?
Life was about want.
And Nixwantedback in the human realm pronto.
“I’m bored,” their little chaos demon lamented, echoing Nix’sown sentiments. He was perched on a rock across the cave from Nix, the viewing portal between them, resting his chin on clenched fists. “So, so bored.”
“I know, baby,” Nix soothed, turning his gaze from the cave ceiling to give him a sympathetic look. “You wanna change the channel?”
They could turn the viewing portal to whatever part of the human realm they wanted, one of the few actual benefits of the Void. Nix was personally a fan of peeking into porn shoots (and wasn’t that a fun aspect of modern times?), while Chaos’s tastes were a little more…varied. Last week (Or was it last month? Time moved so strangely here.) he’d been all about forest fires.
“No.” Chaos’s lower lip pushed into a pout. “I’m sick of watching. Alwayswatching.”
So was Nix, for that matter. Real sick of it. How long had it been since he’d had a contract? He would have thought their Book was lost forever, if not for the fact that Kai had been summoned a few days ago. Which was ridiculously unfair, since he’d been the last one summoned before that, but whatever.
At least it meant there was hope for the rest of them.
Although, it might have been a refreshing change of pace to give in to despair. They’d been in the Void long enough for it to be warranted. But the others were gloomy enough. If Nix gave in too, who would bring up the vibes? Certainly not Kai, if he returned—he acted like they were all the banes of his existence. And their nightmare demon was a bit too creepy to be the life of the party. And sweet Chaos was slowly losing his marbles out of boredom.
So it was up to Nix to be his usual charming self.
“Why don’t you take a nap?” he suggested. Just because they didn’t need to sleep in the Void didn’t mean it wasn’t the easiest way to pass the time.
So much time.
Chaos’s gold eyes flashed at him petulantly, the flames reflecting in them there and gone in an instant. “I’m tired of naps.”
“Maybe if you ask nicely, Nightmare will give you bad dreams.”
Chaos’s dour expression took on a hopeful cast. “You think?” He didn’t wait for an answer, hopping off his rock, presumably to find their fourth.
A very suggestible thing, wasn’t he?
Nix debated taking a nap himself but ultimately stayed right where he was. He’d stare at the portal a little while longer.
Not many demons in their original set of one hundred had watched the human world all that often. But humans were Nix’s bread and fucking butter—why wouldn’t he watch them every chance he got? One needed to understand someone to seduce them, and Nix understood humans. They were glorious, really—weak and greedy and flawed.
Just the way Nix liked them.
The others treated their contracts like chores, but Nix was happy to be bound to the Book. Happy to be bound to the human realm. Happy to be at a human’s service again and again and again.
He slid his hands down his body slowly, imagining it was some human’s touch. It didn’t matter who—man, woman, neither of the above.
All lust was equally delicious.
And yet.
