Page 4 of How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague (Falling for Demons #2)

WHAT ARE THOSE?

Kizros

W hat in the blazes had Kizros gotten himself into?

He’d specifically not gotten his hopes up. Check on the humans, reverse the protection runes in the bracelets to keep them inside Heck proper, and take some blood samples to ensure there weren’t any lasting sorcery effects. Simple in and out, but what had he done?

Said yes as fast as demonly possible to Argeth when he asked about sponsoring one of the humans.

Was now sitting in a hired cart taking that human back to his shop.

He was only meant to study them from a distance, not essentially adopt one and be responsible for acclimating her to their society. What was he supposed to do with a human ?

Fuck, she was interesting, though, even in the written interview questions. Great with numbers, attention to detail, and worked with small tools. Poor handwriting, but it’s not like his was great either. She was perfection on paper.

Then he’d seen her and lost his ability to function. Had made a fool of himself with his flicking tail and complete lack of finesse. But she was surprisingly… pretty. Brave. Bright.

For something without a tail, that is.

But even now, he couldn’t look away. There was her blue hair barely tickling her shoulders, and the way her wide eyes studied the city streets they rode down.

There were the dozens of piercings stuck through her rounded ears and one between the nostrils of that tiny, pale peach nose.

Her skin might not be the same shade as her hair, but that was another fascinating thing about seeing a human up close. Her skin was dotted with… darker skin?

“What are those?”

Aofe startled, then turned her tri-colored eyes toward him. So odd to see white, blue, and black blinking back at him like a target. “What are… what?”

“On your face.” He glanced below her chin, where the V of her tunic opened slightly. “And there.”

Her skin brightened to a pink, and she pulled the collar of her shirt tighter. “Uh, freckles?”

“Freckles,” Kizros said, cataloging the term in his brain, then focused on the back of her hand as it closed around the fabric. “The runes hurt you. ”

Confused, Aofe turned her wrist over and inspected the bruise creeping out from under the metal cuff he’d inscribed. “Runes? Oh, no, these were… they’re from the slavers.”

A snarl curled Kizros’s lip, making note of the others on her cheek, neck, and shoulder, but when Aofe flinched away, he dropped it. “And they did that to your legs?”

It was why Severath had made the decision to bring the women into the city. Some injuries, if not healed quickly, could set permanently. Perhaps they had not been in time to repair Aofe’s legs, which made an unsettling anger burn in Kizros’s chest.

She blinked, some emotion passing over her face too quickly for him to understand it.

“No. It’s a human thing. As far as our medicines and knowledge can guess, I probably had a brain bleed in the womb.

It mostly affects my lower half, hence the muscular atrophy.

My hips are prone to dislocating, and I have some balance issues.

” Her brows furrowed as she chewed her lip. “Do you know any of those terms?”

“Brains, muscular atrophy, dislocation, balance. We are not so different. A tail would help with the latter, but I’m not sure humans are capable of growing them.

” Kizros hummed, and something about that noise had her turning to face him more fully again.

“The sorcery used to keep you unconscious is making things more challenging?”

Aofe was slow to answer, but she eventually gave an unsteady, “Yes.”

He nodded, mostly to himself. “That is to be expected. With a little more of your blood, I could create a potion to counteract the effects of that sorcery. Though I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do about the freckles.”

“More of my bl—” Aofe began, then to his disappointment, stopped talking for several long seconds. The pink of her skin softened as she shook out her shoulders. “If you think it will affect my work… would this potion be safe?”

Kizros scoffed. “Of course it would be safe. I am no amateur alchemist, even with your unfamiliar human composition. But I would like more information on these freckles. I don’t understand how they might get in the way of your work?”

The human gaped at him, all blunt teeth and oddly expressive eyes for being so dizzyingly colored. It was… curious. Yes, curious. That was the word for it.

Aofe cleared her throat, squeezing her arms tighter around her middle. “Not the freckles. Those are harmless, just… some humans have them. It depends.”

“On what?”

Once again, she fell into silence as she stared at him, but then he could have sworn she almost smiled before turning to look back at the city. “That’s a long story about genetics I do not have the expertise to properly explain.” She huffed, wiggling in her oversized tunic. “What time is it?”

Kizros tried to recall what the clock had said as they were leaving the infirmary. “Half past two, maybe?”

The answer seemed to surprise her, her brows squishing down to make wrinkles in her forehead. “There are so many demons out. ”

Kizros didn’t understand her confusion as he looked around at the starlit street, then to the moon above.

Why wouldn’t demons be out? Did humans not normally function during the day?

All his research, and the information that had been retrieved on their habits, suggested they were diurnal creatures, but he supposed that could have changed.

He knew several demons who preferred staying up late over his desire to start the day early.

Early hours had annoyed Tholvich to no end, which was detrimental to some of their work.

Certain plants needed to be soothed or watered or harvested at early hours.

He continued to study Aofe’s hunched form—the way she ducked her head, how she clung to herself as if she were trying to appear smaller, and the shivers she tried to hide by shaking out her shoulders.

Her eyes were still wide as they darted around, taking in all the details of the street—two-story shops, the reflections off the puddles from the latest storm, one of Kizros’s favorite bakeries.

Demons openly gawked as they passed. As far as he knew, Aofe was the first of the humans to have left the infirmary, and even Kiz could tell the qapian pulling their cart was unsteady with her presence.

Or smell. The Dreadmoor stench lingered.

“You’re staring,” Aofe muttered.

Kiz cocked his head. “Yes.”

That pinkish color returned to her cheeks, and this time he could see the muscles around her mouth tensing as she fought a smile. “At least you admit it.”

“Is that not appropriate in human cultures?”

A soft snort left her nose, and he felt an odd sort of pride at getting that smile to surface again. What would he need to do to make her laugh like she’d done in the infirmary? That time, he’d apparently insulted her. Maybe he could do it again.

“No, it’s quite rude. So is insulting someone by calling them fragile.”

Oh. So maybe informing her she still reeked of death and animal shit wasn’t the best way to draw out a laugh.

“But,” Aofe continued, “it’s different with you. It’s somewhat refreshing, I guess.”

Kizros hesitated. “I’m confused. Am I insulting or refreshing?”

There it was again: the laugh. He felt so honored to listen to the soft lilt that she tried to muffle with her hand, to watch her shoulders shake, he didn’t notice until she pulled back that her eyes were leaking.

Oh, blazes, he’d broken her. He was equipped for many things, but a wet human was not one of them.

Except she was smiling, not distressed or angry like that larger human he’d seen, and his confusion only intensified.

“Refreshing is a good thing , Kizros,” Aofe clarified as she wiped the liquid off her cheeks.

She gestured to her eyes. “Sorry about this. I think I just haven’t had a proper freak-out about the whole situation—the kidnapping, waking up here, coming to terms with the fact that demons aren’t these terrifying monsters we’ve grown up fearing. ”

She obviously hadn’t seen the state of Ozirax when they’d returned from rescuing the women. Their entire squadron had proudly worn the blood of those slavers after?—

He couldn’t think on that. Not when she’d said he was refreshing .

Sure, he had charm. Too much charm, oftentimes. He knew his understanding of demon social cues was shaky at best, and he had a tendency to speak before thinking. But no one told Kizros his presence was refreshing .

Aofe pulled a strand of blue hair away from where it had tangled in her earrings, then tucked it behind the blunt tip before wiping her eyes again.

Curiously, the freckles didn’t disappear or smudge, but her breathing sounded labored.

“I’m so overwhelmed. I’m just now realizing I have no money, no clothes, no place to sleep, and I accepted a ride and a job from a demon I’ve known for less than an hour. You’re not going to kill me, right?”

He placed a hand over his chest. “Of course not. I abhor violence.”

Despite her prior realization that they didn’t know one another, his statement seemed to soften her breathing. “Yeah, uh, same.”

“As for the rest,” Kiz said, gesturing to the stack of papers he’d set between them. “All of the documentation is here, and I was required to read and sign everything before taking you from the infirmary.”

Aofe sniffed, the ring through her nostril shifting as she wiggled her nose and stared at the pile. “Will you read it to me? Or just give a summary? I like listening to your voice.”

He blinked.

At his silence, she went stiff and jerked her head up.

“I mean, it’ll be faster, right? If you’ve already read it, you know?

I’ll review it, of course, not that I think you’d lie to me.

I guess I don’t actually know that, but I don’t get the impression you’re going to make me sleep on the streets?—”

“Aofe.”

She snapped her mouth shut, cheeks still a rosy pink as she fell silent. He hadn’t intended to move, but his hands now rested on her shoulders, squeezing gently.

“You’re not sleeping on the streets,” Kizros reassured her, feeling her soften further under his touch. “No harm will come to you, understand? And I can’t lie to you.”

Her blue eyes widened. “Demons can’t lie?”

He huffed. “We can. I’m just absolutely terrible at it. Makes me queasy, and my eye twitches and gives me away.”

Apparently he was getting the hang of this human interaction thing because her lips wobbled slightly before stretching into a grin. Slowly he removed his hands from her shoulders and adjusted his glasses. “I’ll happily explain everything in that document, starting with your new job…”

Kizros hopped out of the cart so he could gesture to the building they’d stopped in front of with his whole spirit.

“Welcome, new assistant, to Perennial Bloom Apothecary. My shop.”