“And she’s done a wonderful job of not actively betraying us for a third time,” Cass adds, “so the not-trusting thing is getting less and less prominent every day.”
Ez smacks his arm. “We can trust her, okay? I promise.”
Cass rubs his arm, grumbling out a reply. Obie keeps his eyes fixed on JJ and Roma playing with Desi, a tinge of nostalgia curling through him.
He remembers running around with a gaggle of little kids, too. Just Ada’s son at first, and then the rest of the tribe’s children. Kites hadn’t been invented yet, but he took them flying with him and taught them how to paint faces on rocks.
But that was a long time ago. “To be fair, I don’t entirely trust JJ yet, either,” Obie admits. “And I’ve been in his head. When you’re as old as I am, trust doesn’t come easily.”
Ez arches an eyebrow. “And how old are you, exactly?”
It’s an old joke between them. Obie gives it his usual response. “It’s impolite to ask.”
Cass rolls his eyes, but neither of them presses him for details. Obie is glad. That’s one of the many reasons why he likes Cass and Ez so much—they’re very content to let the past stay in the past.
Too much darkness there.
Besides, they already know he’s one of the oldest demons on Earth. There’s really no reason to specify that he’stheoldest demon on Earth. It’s just a matter of semantics, really.
Even if he precedes the rest of this dimension’s demons by thousands of years.
“In any case,” Ez says, pulling Obie back to the present, “we basically have to trust them at this point. Besides the fact that Cass and I are living with them and having sex with them and such?—”
“Dating,Esmeralda,” Cass says, exasperated. “The term isdating.”
“—whatever—besides that, they’re both heavily involved in our other subplot.” She raises her eyebrows. “You know. The Sanctum–Chain subplot. The conspiracy subplot.”
“We know which subplot you’re referring to, Ez,” Obie says wearily, resting his forehead on his palm. Damn it, he just wanted to enjoy their lunch by the lake. He didn’t want to rehash the altogether distressing fact that the demons’ worldwide governing body is collaborating with hunters around the globe for reasons unknown—and leaving a trail of demonandhuman bodies in their wake. “But I trust the main actors in the conspiracy subplot even less than I trust JJ and Roma.”
Cass hesitates. “Even Micah and Gregorio?”
Unease coils through Obie. Usually, if a demon survives for more than a few millennia—like Gregorio has—Obie considers them an ally and friend by default.
Not so much anymore, though. “Especially Micah and Gregorio,” he says quietly. “Their intentions may have been good, but they hid the fact that the Sanctum and the Chain are working together for six years—six years that they also spent cozying up with the Redwater Sanctum’s most notorious dissidents. Hell, they were exchanging information with Sawyer and Naomi evenbeforethey defected.”
Ez’s shoulders hunch. “Well, I swapped intel with Roma before she defected, too. Technically, so did Cass.”
Obie shakes his head. “That’s different. You and Roma had extenuating circumstances—the mega-rift epidemicwasan emergency, even if it was Roma’s own damn fault—and Cass and JJ had Desi, who literally wouldn’t stop crying until she got her stupid hunter back.”
“Watch it,” Cass says. “That stupid hunter is my boyfriend.”
“And he’s also stupid,” Obie says. “As humans tend to be. But, to be fair, you’re stupid, too. You’re perfect for each other.”
Cass’s lips twitch. “In any case,” he says, dropping his voice even lower, “we’ll hopefully be able to resolve the, ah, conspiracy subplot sooner rather than later. The Conspiracy Fam has pretty strong circumstantial evidence already, and investigating the Sanctum–Chain link is basically their full-time job—especially now that Micah and Gregorio have embraced the fugitive life. We should have concrete evidence soon.”
Obie almost scoffs. “‘Soon’ is averyrelative term, Chin. I’ve seen empires rise and fall. They take time both ways. We’re probably going to have to measure this in years, not months. Maybe even decades.”
Ez presses her lips together. She doesn’t look happy. “I really hope not. I know that we think JJ might live longer than a regular human now that he has half of Cass’s soul, but—but Roma only has another eighty years. And that’s only if luck, genetics,andlifestyle are on her side. Considering how much takeout we eat, lifestyle is already a gray area.”
“Simple solution,” Cass says. “We just have to seduce another Sanctum hunter and get them to turn double agent for us.” He raises his eyebrows at Obie. “And I believe it’syourturn, dear Obadiah.”
“I won’t be doing any seducing of hunters, thank you very much,” Obie says.
“Aw, come on,” Ez wheedles, nudging him in the ribs with a grin. “Can’t you take one for the team?”
Vividly, Obie remembers the day when the first hunters came for him, remembers the day when they bound him with a spell that left him powerless to do anything but watch andscreamwhile they slaughtered his family around him?—
He forces the memories away. It may have been fifteen thousand years ago, but that’s the problem with being the Memory-Keeper: forgetting isn’t an option. “No,” he says shortly. “I can’t.” He nods at JJ and Roma. “Have one of them pull a spare hunter for you. JJ might have been a social outcast, but Roma had at least some status as a mixed-breed hunter, right?”
