Mist nodded.
“But your track record is infallible. You’ve never not succeeded. You’ve never bent a rule. You think they’ll buy it?”
“They will buy it because of my infallible record. And eventually, before suspicion can arise, I will tire of my pet and other Earth experiences, and then I can return to hunting. That is my true calling, and my only purpose.”
“And then you’ll just sell us out?” Ash asked, cocking a brow.
“No. We can formulate a nondisclosure contract.” Mist seemed unconcerned. “I will report my first ever failure and say that the great Belial was powerful enough to outsmart me. No one will ever learn that I actually found you within a week of your escape.”
Bel grimaced. Silence reigned for a few tense moments.
Surprisingly, it was Raum who spoke first. “He just wants what we do—a chance to live a little without the rules hanging over his head. I don’t see why we can’t help him out.”
“He could have already sold us out if he intended to,” Meph pointed out.
“But the minute he gets bored, he could change his mind,” Ash said. He glanced briefly at Eva. “There’s more to consider than our own safety.”
“We’ll do a blood contract, then,” Raum suggested. “We’ll make it so he’s incapable of betraying us or Eva even after he returns to his duty.”
Ash held up a hand. “This is Eva’s decision. She’s the one put most at risk by this.” He looked at her. “What do you think?”
She had to smile at him. She’d definitely caught the good brother.Phew. The rest of them were still figuring out the difference between a pet and a girlfriend, for god’s sake.
Then, she looked at Mist. Not long ago, she would have taken one look at him and run screaming from the room. In fact, that was literally what had occurred.
But her eyes had been opened now. Really opened. As in, her eyelids had been peeled off with torture-clamp thingies and held forcibly wide so she couldn’t blink no matter how badly she wanted to.
She’d learned that not only were demons real, but not all of them fit the mold. Some were evolving and didn’t want to be evil anymore. In her mind, that meant that as a compassionate human, it was her duty to support them in those efforts.
If Mist was serious about living in the human world, then he deserved a chance. He was going to have to work on his perception of humans before she let him near any women, however.
Not to mention, Mist had the upper hand here. At any time, he could mist out the window and disappear and then tell the world what she was. It seemed to her that agreeing to his bargain and binding him in a contract was by far the safest option.
“If we do this,” she told the gray-skinned demon, “we’re going to have to set some ground rules.”
Mist smiled and nodded, flashing two rows of sharklike teeth.
She winced. “First, you’re going to need a human form like Ash and his brothers.”
His smile disappeared. “I’ve never had a human form before.”
“Well, you’re going to have to get one.” She looked at Ash. “Can he do that? Make himself a human form?”
“We all have one. He just hasn’t used it before.”
She turned back to Mist. “Well, let’s see it, then.”
Mist shifted on his feet. “I don’t know how.”
“It’s easy,” Meph said. “Just imagine yourself as a squishy human with stubby hands, and it’ll happen.”
“I’ll try.” Mist closed his eyes and focused. Nothing happened.
And then it did.
“It’s working!” Eva whispered, caught up in the excitement despite herself.
First, he shrank about a foot, ending up several inches over six feet instead of his former giant size. Then his skin changed from ashy gray to a golden tan, darker than Ash but not as dark as her or Raum.
