But that was it.
Huh. Chaos hadn’t noticed before—he hadn’t been thinking of ittonotice—but Nightmare’s page just…wasn’t there. Where could it have gone? The Book was supposed to be indestructible.
Chaos clucked his tongue. Ohh, tricky, tricky, Nightmare. Had he found a way to get himself summoned, to arrange it even from inside the Void? Chaos wouldn’t put it past him. Once he’d seen Nightmare sitting in his cave, eyes closed, shadows swirling around him. Chaos had crept in to see if he could give him a scare, but when Nightmare had opened his eyes, they’d been a swirling, cloudy gray instead of his usual glowing white. Chaos knew what that color meant—Nightmare had been feeding somehow. FeedingintheVoid.
But when Chaos had asked him about it—maybe pestered him a bit, if one considered asking the same question over and over a hundred timespestering—Nightmare had sicced his shadows on Chaos, chasing him out of the cave.
Funny but a little rude.
So maybe Nightmare had already been summoned into this realm, even with Ivan hoarding the Book. Maybe he’d even found himself a bondmate. Wouldn’t that be hilarious? All four of them stuck together again, not in the Void but in the human realm. They could have dinner parties. Nix would host.
It would be like…likefate. That was what the vampire kind thought about their own mates. That fate chose them, the perfect humans to anchor their vampiric souls and stop their demonic corruption.
What would Cooper think about that? Fate throwing him and Chaos together. Too practical for it?
No, Chaos decided immediately.Too hurt. By what had happened with his parents, by the loneliness of his life so far.
Still, it was a fun idea to play with. It made Chaos feel positively smug, to think that Cooper had been waiting just for him. It was a self-centered idea maybe, but Chaos had never claimed to be anything else. What was better to center his thoughts on than his own self?
Only Chaos’s self now included Cooper. His soul piece was in Chaos’s chest, and soon enough their souls would be locked together in a more permanent bond.
Who would Nightmare end up with, if he were fated to be with a human? A gothic crypt keeper, perhaps? Or a serial killer, one who used paralytics on his victims? Chaos smirked, wrapping the bag around the Book and placing the little bundle in his sweatshirt pocket. Yeah, a gothic, crypt-keeping serial killer. They would stare moodily into each other’s eyes, reliving their glorious torments together.
Chaos cackled out loud at the thought, jumping onto Ivan and Nix’s bed and bouncing around until their neatly made covers were mussed. Then he wandered around the apartment again, just for a minute. He couldn’t leave without messing with the place at least a little bit. Nix would scent that he’d been there, and he’d think Chaos hadn’t cared enough to cause mischief.
It would be so terribly rude.
So Chaos headed to the kitchen and mixed up the drawers and cabinets until nothing was where it had started. He switched around the art on the wall. He tossed the extra linens around, arranging them artfully on the floor. All of it was silly, impish stuff—beneath him, really, considering his powers. But anything bigger—an apartment fire, flooding the place entirely—would ruin the home Nix was making with his human. And wouldn’t that be beneath Chaos in a different way, to be so mean to his friend?
Plus, this way, Chaos could tell Cooper about his restraint, and then Cooper would be all quietly proud of him.
And really, Nixhadbeen a very good friend. He was deserving of a little bit of consideration. Once Cooper and Chaos were fully bonded to each other, Chaos would go searching Nix out himself, let the other demon dish about his relationship, as Nix was no doubt dying to do.
Nix had always wanted to stay in the human realm, after all. Humans were his food, like any other demon, but also his passion. He liked them, really and truly. Chaos had been more…diffident about it, he supposed—staying in the human realm. He’d wanted out of the Void, sure, but the demon realm would have been fine too. Stirring up trouble between demons was easy, hot-blooded as they were. There was plenty of mayhem to go around.
And with his contracts completed, Chaos would have returned all powerful and revered. That would have beenhilarious. Other demons were already a little bit wary of his kind, unpredictable as they could be.
Would Chaos have found himself a demon mate, someone to make hatchlings with for real? He wrinkled his nose at the thought. Whoever it would have been, their hatchlings wouldn’t have been nearly as adorable as his imaginary ones with Cooper. Chaos pictured them coming out of their shells with little glasses already on their tiny faces.
Cute. Cute, cute, cute.
Chaos wouldn’t have stayed with his hatchlings, anyway. He and this stranger demon would have raised them to self-sufficiency, and then they’d have been on their own. It was the demon way.
Cooper would raise his own hatchlings though. Chaos was sure of it. He wouldn’t be able to help himself. He’d care about their thoughts and feelings, and he’d lecture them too mildly about following the rules. Chaos would have to be the disciplinarian.
That seemed unlikely, actually. Maybe they’d just have to be spoiled, like Chaos.
Just thinking about it was making Chaos restless. He needed to get back to Cooper. To tell him all about their imaginary future with their imaginary, bespectacled hatchlings. His puppy would get all horrified but also red and pleasantly embarrassed. It would be wonderful.
Chaos saluted the empty apartment, went back down the elevator, and walked outside, nodding to the doorman. The man gave Chaos a confused stare, looking back to the apartment Chaos had just walked out of.
Chaos grinned at him. “Lovely day, isn’t it?”
“Whose guest—”
Chaos didn’t get a chance to hear the rest of the question. Because Cooper’s soul piece, which had been thrumming with nerves and worry in a steady, reassuring way that meant he was overthinking but not in danger, suddenly gave a strange, painful clench inside Chaos’s chest.
And then it went quiet.
