Page 33 of A Beginner's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Demons

“Ohmygod, Beel! You’re my Beel! You have tattoos like your frog form! I can’t believe I finally get to hug you!” Gabe blubbered.

Beel looked helplessly over at Az and Jon, who were both grinning broadly.

“Ummm, hi,” Beel said.

Fuck. Still with the awkward.

Gabe laughed tearfully, then he finally let go and moved back to look at Beel. “It’s you,” he gushed.

“Uh, yeah. It’s me,” Beel shrugged. “And you’re… you. Yup.”

Oh devils, Beel was ready for the ground to open up and swallow him into the pits. This was Gabe, for demon’s sake. Gabe, who he had nursed through his first heartache and who he had croaked grumpily at through his first hangover.

“Come on then,” Gabe said, and he pushed him over onto the couch, right next to the end table where he usually sat as a frog for movie night. “Do I still get to pet your back?” Gabe asked.

Beel burst out in laughter at that. “Um, sure, I guess?” he answered, looking over at Az and Jon. Those two were no help, though. They were grinning like loons, leaning against each other like they were two proud parents. Beel just rolled his eyes and sat down, Gabe scooching up next to him.

“Is this ok with you?” Gabe asked Jon, looking suddenly nervous. “We aren’t… I mean, Beel is like my brother.”

“Of course it’s fine. Besides, I know Az is your soulmate,” Jon assured him. That got Az looking back and forth between Jon and Beel, and then he was smiling even more broadly.

“Beel, you’ve gone and gotten your own soulmate! How in the afterlife did you manage that? I can almost see it if I squint. I probably didn’t notice sooner since you were afrogevery other time I’ve seen you,” he added sarcastically.

Beel just grinned. “I guess Gabe had the right idea after all about getting me paired up.”

There were congratulations all around, and the initial awkwardness, thank demons, seemed to pass.

Jon ended up on the floor on a cushion in front of Beel, his arm wrapped around Beel’s leg (and his head occasionally pressed into the side of that leg to miss the scary parts). Gabe sat next to Beel on the couch, and Az cuddled up on Gabe’s other side.

There was a bit of yelping (from Jon), a bit of commentary from Az (“Really, human? Don’t you recognize evil?”), and there were even some back scratches for Beel from Gabe (which wasn’t nearly as weird as Beel thought it would be). The popcorn was buttery, and Beel got to eat a lot more of it as a human, and the movie was suitably scary.

Beel wasn’t ready to give up his frog form totally, but it was kinda nice to hang out with his soulmate and his family in this form. Maybe he was still an awkward human, but it was amazing to know that they loved him no matter what.

He supposed that’s what family was all about.

Jon looked up at him and smiled, and Beel smiled back, leaning down for a quick kiss. Who knew that over twenty years ago a summoning to be a pet frog would lead to all this. Family and a soulmate.

Beel’s very own fairy tale come true.