Page 20 of Calling Chaos (Demon Bound #3)

19

Chaos

I van’s apartment had a man protecting the front entrance. A man at the door. A door man.

So literal sometimes, these humans. Chaos giggled from his spot on the sidewalk, but no one walking by glanced his way. They were all too focused on staring straight ahead as they marched toward their various destinations.

No matter. Chaos had something more entertaining for them than a little quiet cackling. There were a few trees lining the edge of the sidewalk in front of the apartment. Their leaves were gone, but the branches were all spiny and twisty. Very pretty.

Chaos lit one ablaze.

One of the passersby let out a yelp, and the doorman looked up from where he’d been surreptitiously glancing at his phone. “Holy shit .”

Some cool-headed human who’d stopped at the flaming sight turned to snap at him. “Hey. You got a fire extinguisher in there?”

“Shit. Um, yes. Shit.”

The doorman ran inside the apartment building, and Chaos slipped in after him, keeping his giggles to himself now. He’d already put the fire out the moment the man’s back was turned. The doorman would come back out to nothing at all—a perfectly intact, leafless tree. Maybe he’d think he was losing his mind, if no one else stuck around to confirm what he’d seen.

Very funny, but not Chaos’s concern anymore.

He sneaked past the doorman fumbling with the fire extinguisher, down the hallway, around to the elevators. Once inside the little moving carriage, he hit the button for the very top floor, sticking his tongue out at his reflection.

At the top, the elevator opened directly into an apartment, and Chaos waltzed right in, calling out, “Helloooo?”

It probably wasn’t very burglar-y of him, but if Ivan and Nix were home, Chaos would just pretend he was here for a little visit and then sneak the Book out when they were distracted.

No one answered his call though. There was no sign of Ivan or Nix, other than their mingled scents threading through the apartment.

Well, goodness, that was easy.

A little disappointing, since Chaos might have liked to see his friend. But Nix would no doubt track Chaos down soon enough. He wouldn’t be able to help himself, all sentimental like he was.

Chaos poked around the place for a minute. It was much more modern than Cooper’s, all straight lines and boring noncolors. Although there were already little touches from Nix—throw pillows, art on the walls, a few pieces of furniture that weren’t beige or white. He could scent Nix’s demonic signature on them. Apparently, he was making himself right at home with his human. Should Chaos be doing the same for Cooper? He wasn’t really one for decorating though. Perhaps Chaos would ask Nix to help him pick out a…rug? Something soft that wouldn’t irritate Cooper’s knees if a situation were to occur where he might be on all fours. Perhaps with Chaos on top of him.

Just in case.

Chaos could scent the demonic signature of the Book as well. He followed it to what was clearly Ivan and Nix’s bedroom. Clear because of the giant bed and Nix’s magical signature but also because the place reeked of incubus sex magic, the kind that leaked out of Nix when he was all worked up. The whole apartment did, really, but this room in particular was stuffed full of it.

Nix and Ivan obviously hadn’t had any trouble consummating the bond and then some.

Chaos ignored the sex magic puddles and tracked the Book to a little bedside table. There was a lock on the drawer, which Chaos exploded with relish. He scooped the Book out with one of Cooper’s cloth bags he’d borrowed. Demons couldn’t touch a Book with their own contract page in it, but that was easy enough to work around. It was a stupid rule, anyway, to have such a simple solution.

Chaos peered down at the thing, secure at the bottom of his bag. He could feel the telltale magic of the bonding page, weighty and a teensy bit intimidating. He could feel the messy signature of his own contract page as well. Nix’s contract page was inactive now, bonded as he was. Same with Kai’s.

But that was it.

Huh. Chaos hadn’t noticed before—he hadn’t been thinking of it to notice—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. Feeding in the Void.

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 times pestering —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…like fate . 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, Nix had been 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 been hilarious . 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.

Chaos tapped at his chest, frowning down at his sternum. The piece was dormant in the way that usually meant Cooper was sleeping.

But why would Cooper be asleep?

“I said —” the doorman repeated, raising his voice and coming to stand directly in front of Chaos.

“Quiet,” Chaos commanded, slapping a hand to the man’s mouth. The doorman tried to pry him off, but he wasn’t nearly strong enough, and Chaos simply used his grip on the man’s jaw to lift him off the ground, removing some of his leverage.

Now the people passing by were giving Chaos looks, their attention no doubt drawn by the muffled, panicked yelling coming from the doorman as he thrashed his arms and legs around, trying to dislodge Chaos’s hand.

But Chaos couldn’t enjoy the attention. He was too focused inward. Yes, the soul piece was very, very quiet. Maybe Cooper had finished his task and was taking a nap?

But Chaos had felt pain there, for just a moment, hadn’t he? He hadn’t imagined that.

Something is wrong. Something has happened.

Something had happened to his puppy.

Icy fingers trailed down his spine, and the heaviness in Chaos’s chest was nothing like the comforting weight of Cooper’s soul. It wasn’t an anchor but an anvil, dragging him down, making it hard to gather his fuzzy thoughts.

Chaos had told Cooper he didn’t fear anything in this realm. But he’d have to come clean when he saw him next. Because this was fear, wasn’t it? Panic, even. Dread.

Chaos dropped the doorman on the ground, ignoring the man’s frantic gasps as he turned on his heel. He needed to find his puppy right now.

And if anything or anyone had hurt him in any way…

Then this realm would find out just how dangerous an unleashed chaos demon could be.