His brother grinned. “Remember that time you blurted out my dirty little secret to everyone?”
He did remember. Meph had been hiding that he was having panic attacks, and Raum had told Belial. In his defense, he’d been worried about Meph at the time. He hadn’t known where he was sneaking off to and was worried he was on a self-destructive track. But he should have known Meph would eventually strike back.
“We’re good now,” Meph said, still giving him that evil grin.
And they were. That was always how it was with them. Retribution struck hard and fast, but after, it was forgotten. At least Raum could take solace in that.
Except…he couldn’t. Because shit wasn’t the same as before, and they both knew it. It was always Meph and Raum in the past. They would fuck up, get even, move on—together.
But now, Meph had Iris, and Raum was alone. It was a pathetic mindset, but it was how he felt. He wanted to brush it off, but the truth was, it made him feel fucking depressed.
“What are you doing at an animal shelter?” Belial demanded.
Raum spun around.Might as well just spit it out.“I got a job.”
“Doing what?”
“Helping animals.”
“You—” Bel rubbed his eyes. “You’re helping the fucking animals. At a fucking shelter. Jesus Christ. Why don’t you go join a goddamn church mission while you’re at it? You can go to poor countries and blackmail people into joining your religion if they want clean water.”
“What the fuck?” Meph said, laughing.
Bel threw up his hands. “I don’t know. Isn’t that what volunteers do?”
“Only the ones that go to Hell after someone murders them for being closet pedophiles.”
“What is with you and pedophiles right now?”
“They’re creepy! There’s an entire wing in the Nine Rings for torturing them—it doesn’t get much worse than that.”
“Can I go now?” Raum interjected darkly. “Is the interrogation over?”
Bel shot him a look. “Why do you want a human job?”
“Because.”
“Because why.”
Raum narrowed his eyes. Bel narrowed his right back.
“Because I like it.”
“Why?”
He wasn’t interested in answering that, and all of a sudden, he’d reached his limit for conversation. Turning, he crossed the room, opened the patio door, and leapt off the edge of the balcony.
“We’re not done talking about this!” he heard Bel shout as he fell.
This was his favorite part about shifting. His body tumbled through the air, defying the laws of self-preservation that told him plummeting rapidly towards the ground was bad for his health.
Halfway down, he shifted.
In crow form, he spread his wings, feathers catching the wind and launching him upward. He rose until he was higher than the tops of the buildings and then soared, head tilting around as he studied his surroundings through a sharp avian gaze.
He liked being in crow form. It was fun to fly around with other crows and caw at humans. The other day he’d joined a murder of crows perched in a neighborhood alley, and they’d screeched for hours until all the humans around them were losing their minds.
It was the simple pleasures in life that brought the most enjoyment.
