The air outsidewas cool but not freezing. Not that it would have mattered to Chaos if it was—he didn’t have a human’s sensitivity to heat or cold.
But still, it was nice to have a different flavor of air rushing through his lungs, something other than the stuffy, still air of the Void.
He breathed it in deeply, walking against the rush on the crowded sidewalk. The humans abounded, all different ages, shapes, and genders. Some dressed elegantly, some slovenly, most somewhere in between. A wonderful mix. Chaos could smell their different scents as well as food, and gasoline, and the not-so-faint scent of urine coming from an alleyway.
Delightful.
He was pleased to have been summoned into a city—there was an inherent chaos in the makeup of them, wherever they fell in humanity’s timeline. The modernity was a nice change, though, from the last time he’d been summoned. He could hear the beeping of a truck backing up to make a delivery, the buzz of one-sided conversation from people talking into their phones, the honking of cars and the drone of construction across the street.
It was much better than watching through the portal only. Chaos couldfeelit—the mess and disorder of it all, filling him up.
He walked through the crowd, bumping people on purpose just to see how they’d react. Most ignored him and continued on their way—boring—but a few cussed him out viciously as they walked by, which was fun.
He spent some time doing a sort of circuit, not going too far in any one direction. He didn’t want to stray too great a distance from the apartment where his puppy slumbered. Not just yet, at least.
But after a while, after the thrill of the hum and buzz of humanity wore off a little, there really wasn’t much for Chaos to do. The shops in the area seemed to center around food, and Chaos didn’t eat human fare. The rest were apartment buildings, and Chaos had already established those were quite boring.
Why wasn’t this more fun?
Perhaps because hehadseen it all through the portal before. And perhaps because he was doing it all alone. He had no one to talk to, no one to spill his twisty, bendy thoughts to. He’d been stuck with the same three demons for so long, and now he was finallyhere, but he didn’t even have those fuddy-duddies to chat with.
Maybe he should have brought his summoner with him. It would have required waiting for him to wake up, though, which would have been a drag. But then Chaos would have had him here, and he could ask his questions.
Questions such as, Why pee in the alley when buildings had toilets? Why have lights that told people when to walk across the street only for everyone to ignore them? Why did men yell come-hithers to the women walking by when not a single one so much as smiled back at them?
Yes, it would be nice to ask his questions.
Chaos sighed, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk with his hands on his hips and looking around. It made the people walking by him give him dirty looks, which was amusing. He threw his head back and cackled loudly, and the dirty looks were now given to him from a bit of a distance. Like he was a large rock in a river, and the water was rushing all around him, forced to part around his steady presence.
Did his puppy like to laugh? Cooper hadn’t looked very jovial. More timid, like if he laughed, it might be a quiet sort of giggle. Still, it could be nice to hear. He had a pleasant voice, to match his pleasant looks.
Maybe Chaos should go back and see if he was awake.
He could always set a building on fire to pass the time, but using his power like that might draw attention to himself sooner than he’d like. Nix was clearly in the area, which meant Kai might be as well, and Chaos didn’t want that big, old warrior raining on his parade just yet.
It would be a gamble: Kai might try to fight Chaos, which would be hilarious. But he also might try to lecture him (“Grr! Argh! We do not set human dwellings on fire for no reason!”), which would be decidedlylesshilarious.
Although…Chaos had felt Kai’s energy leave the Void completely not long before he himself had been summoned. Which meant either Kai had completed his contract and been sent back to the demon realm permanently, or he’d found a mate bond to keep him here in the human realm.
It was an interesting thought. This wasn’t Chaos’s last contract—not even close. Summoners were wary to call chaos demons because they were harder to control than most, which meant he had fewer summonings under his belt than the other demons.
So if Chaos completed this contract with Cooper, he’d maybe have to wait ages and ages for someone to brave the Book and call him again.
But if he had a mate…
Yes, yes, an intriguing thought. Chaos demons didn’t mate often. Apparently, from what Chaos had been told, they were, if one roughly translated the demon sentiments into human jargon, “annoying” and “too much for anyone with more than two brain cells to shackle themselves to.” Chaos would need to find someone desperate. Someone…lonely.
He brightened, cackling again for good measure. His puppy was desperate and lonely, wasn’t he? Maybehe’dbe willing to mate with Chaos.
It would probably be unwise to mate with the first human he saw—that was a long and binding arrangement to jump into—but acting wisely was boring.
Plus, Chaos liked the little soul piece he’d acquired. Its sadness had a heft to it. Like it grounded Chaos in some way, just by being in his chest. And while Chaos normally didn’t like being held down, this wasn’t some forceful holding back. It was more like…sinking under the weight of water in a warm bathing pool.
What would the entirety of Cooper’s soul feel like, if this little piece held such comfort?
“Christ on the cross. Go lose your mind somewhere you’re not in everyone’s way.”
Chaos focused in on the stern, bearded face frowning over him. Right. He was still standing in the middle of the sidewalk, laughing. Chaos quieted his cackling, grinning at the scowling man instead, then flashed back to his demon form, quick as a blink, flapping his wings and showing sharp teeth.
