Chapter 8
Dexter
I watched the car pull off into the night, puzzling over Toby’s friends. One of his friends smelled… odd. It wasn’t anything that had set my hellhound on edge, and when I’d checked, they’d both had pure souls, so I supposed I didn’t need to worry. Still, I hadn’t recognized the scent of one of them. It didn’t seem entirely mortal.
“So…” Toby said, rocking back and forth a bit on his heels.
I looked over and noticed that he was blushing prettily in the twilight. I resisted the urge to flex for him. It had felt nice having him and his friends admire me, although Toby’s admiration was all I needed. His possessiveness had also given me a thrill. I’d liked hearing him say that I was his, and it had turned me on when he’d said he wanted to lick my tattoos.
“What were you up to?” he asked, then he blushed even more darkly.
He was so cute.
“Work,” I replied, wondering how far the blush would spread against his pale skin. He was so soft and beautiful and I wanted to snuggle up to him and lick him all over.
“Without a shirt?” he asked.
“It got dirty, so I took it off after I was done working,” I replied. Not a lie, just not the entirety of the situation. “I can grab a shirt…” I said, motioning toward my house.
“No!” Toby insisted, then he blushed again.
So. Damn. Cute.
“I mean, no, that’s fine,” he chuckled nervously. “Not like I haven’t seen a shirtless guy before. I mean, I write about shirtless guys all the time. I mean, not all the time, just for sex scenes. Because I write sex scenes with guys. Obviously. Because guys have sex,” he blurted.
He wiped his hand across his face, and I could hear him mutter to himself, “Pull it together, Toby.”
“How’s the book coming?” I asked.
“Good! Great! I mean, it’s ok. Coming along,” he babbled, obviously still nervous. I thought about kissing him again, but I figured that would only make him more nervous. I was all for him “climbing me like a tree,” but I didn’t want to make Toby feel more awkward around me. The last thing I wanted was him avoiding me.
“I was thinking about that scene we talked about,” I said, hoping he’d relax if we talked about his writing.
“Oh yeah?” he asked, looking at me curiously.
“Yeah, the bloodbath one? Blood on the walls and floor and all that?” I reminded him.
“Yup,” he answered. “What were you thinking?”
“Well, it occurred to me that you should make sure the floor isn’t carpeted. That would totally soak up some of the blood and it wouldn’t pool near as well,” I told him. “Also, if you’re looking for blood spray, that would mainly be arteries, and your character would bleed out much quicker, so you’ll probably have a lot more of the blood dripping than actually spraying,” I added helpfully.
“Yeah, my character doesn’t die…” he trailed off, obviously thinking.
I waited, staring at him in the moonlight. He was so beautiful. I had the urge to show him my hellhound, which was a strange desire, and my eyes must have flashed red, because he glanced over at me. I schooled my expression and made sure everything was normal, and he just sort of shook his head at himself.
“Toby, your imagination,” he mumbled to himself softly. Then he looked up at me again. “Yeah, I don’t think I specified what the floor was, but I’ll have to check, and I think I’ll make sure I show that it’s concrete or something. I also liked the idea of the bad vampire smearing the blood around, so the villain does a lot of that, but I do think I have some spraying of blood. I’ll have to look at the scene again.”
“Sorry,” I murmured, feeling bad he’d have to go back and rewrite things.
He waved a hand at me, smiling. “Are you kidding? I’d rather rewrite it than have my readers crucify me for a bad scene.” He frowned a bit at that, then shook himself off.
“Let me know how it turns out,” I said, seeing that he was already halfway in his head about the book.
He looked at me and smiled. “Ok, I definitely will. I’ll just… I’ll go work on that now,” he muttered.
I had such an urge to kiss him again in the moonlight, but I only smiled instead. I was going to take things slow. I could definitely do that.
He smiled back, gave a little wave, and then turned to walk back up his porch. I watched until he was safely inside and I heard the door lock, then I turned and headed into my own home.
I stood looking out my window and watching as lights went on and off in Toby’s home. It seemed he was in his living room, probably sitting and writing on his couch. I hoped his scene turned out well. If only he’d left the curtain partly open…
My thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing in my pocket. I sighed. People didn’t usually call me, so this couldn’t be good.
I dug out my phone and saw Liam’s name on the screen. I scrubbed a hand across my face before answering.
“Took you long enough to answer,” he muttered before I even had a chance to say hello. I could hear the clacking of keys in the background, and I figured he was doing his computer magic. Liam embraced technology and was our go to person.
I just preferred to burn the shit up. Much easier that way.
“What?” I responded. I wasn’t in the mood for Liam. He had somewhere along the way decided he was the big brother of the pack, and it could be annoying. I loved him, but I wasn’t in the mood for a million questions or a lecture.
“Are you working?” he asked.
“Nope,” I answered.
“Can I guess that a small mansion going up in flames is your work?” he asked.
I made a noncommittal sound. How did he even know I was in this state, never mind near that city?
He obviously knew me well, because he answered that question before I could even ask. I’d think he could read minds, but Corbin was the one with witch blood, not Liam.
“Jude said you were in Paradise Falls, and that you described it as ‘nice.’ He was like a puppy in his excitement, and he spilled the details without meaning to,” Liam told me.
“Of course he did,” I mumbled.
“He also said you were asking about how to talk to a human,” Liam added.
I made another noncommittal sound. Liam was such a nosy fucker.
Liam sighed. “Dex,” he said simply.
I rolled my shoulders, letting go of my tension. Liam didn’t mean any harm, and he wouldn’t stop me from doing my work or pursuing Toby. And I did miss my pack.
“It feels right here, yes. There are a lot of demons and angels about, but they don’t seem to bother us. I even dropped off a stray human with an oracle and an angel this evening, and they were quite helpful,” I answered.
“A stray human?” Liam asked. “Dex, are you still taking in strays?”
“I don’t actually take them in. I find them good homes,” I defended.
“They’re humans, not cats,” Liam declared.
“So?” I asked, having no idea why he said that. Of course they weren’t cats. Duh. Although this last human had been a snarling, hissing little thing that kind of reminded me of a cat.
“Dex, you can’t just take in stray humans like they’re pets. We’ve had this conversation,” Liam reminded me.
“I don’t take them in. I find them good homes. Besides, what should I have done? Left the guy locked in the wine cellar?” I asked.
“He was locked in the wine cellar?” Liam questioned.
“And I know how much you hate it when you have to go in and deal with the human databases and shit, so I found him a good home without involving the human police. It’ll be fine,” I reassured him.
“By all the nine hells,” Liam muttered. Then I heard some clacking again. “What’s his name?” he asked.
“Ummm…” I trailed off.
I thought I heard a light banging sound, and it didn’t take much to guess that Liam was probably knocking his head against his desk. It was a weird human habit he’d acquired.
“You don’t even know his name?” he asked, “For fuck’s sake, Dex.”
“What? It was busy, what with the torture and then the rescue and the dogs and the burning down of the house,” I defended.
“There were dogs?” Liam asked. “Did you keep those?”
“Nah, I gave those to the oracle too,” I added, hoping that would reassure him.
“Ok, what’s the oracle’s name then,” Liam asked, and I could hear the lack of faith in his voice.
“Cassius,” I said, proud to know the answer to one of his questions. The coffee shop owner had introduced himself to the other human, so I had caught his name.
“Cassius…” Liam trailed off.
“Yup. Cassius,” I answered back.
“For the love of demons, Dex,” Liam grunted. “Do you have a fucking last name?”
“Uh, no? I mean, how many Cassius’s can there be in Paradise Falls who own a coffee shop?” I asked. He was the technology wizard. Surely it couldn’t be that hard to find the answer to that.
“He owns a coffee shop?” Liam asked, fingers still typing away.
Had I not mentioned that? I was pretty sure I had mentioned that, but even if I had, when Liam was in this kind of mood, best not to rile him up.
“Yup,” I just answered, and then I tucked the phone into my shoulder and wandered into the kitchen. I was guessing Toby would be up writing for a while, and I was feeling rather hungry after the night’s activities. I opened the fridge and pulled out some steak. I thought I had some potatoes laying around, and that would be easy enough to throw together.
Liam was mumbling to himself, the clacking of keys still the background sound to our phone call. I started rummaging around in the pantry for the potatoes, then began the washing and cutting process. The steak wouldn’t take long, and I’d probably just fry up the potatoes too.
“Got it!” Liam cried out cheerfully.
“You found him?” I asked.
“Yup!” Liam proudly announced.
“Now what?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what the point of this all was.
Liam sighed. “Now I can keep an eye on him, of course. And hopefully find out some information about the other human as well.”
“Why?” I asked. “Cassius is an oracle, and he’s shacked up with an angel. I found the stray a nice, loving home, and I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“He’s not a cat, Dex,” Liam reminded me. “And he’s with an angel, too? I don’t know about leaving a human with an afterlifer.”
I knew he wasn’t a cat. I didn’t know why Liam felt the need to keep reminding me of that. “Obviously he isn’t a cat,” I answered. “And not all afterlifers are bad. I left the last stray I picked up with a couple of demons, and they’re all very happy together.”
“For fuck’s sake, Dex,” Liam mumbled, and I heard the tell-tale thumping again.
“What? I check in on them and stuff. They’re lesser demons and are good souls. They wouldn’t sacrifice him or anything,” I added helpfully.
“I’m not sure why I’m going to bother, but do you happen to know their names?” Liam grumbled.
Shit. I mean, I had known their names. I just… wasn’t very good with names. That was all. Such a pesky human detail to try and remember.
“I said that I check in with them. No need to do your computer check-ups on them,” I grumbled.
Liam muttered some more before he asked me for my address. I begrudgingly gave it to him.
“Hmmm, looks like only two houses nearby. You think either owner would sell? The area is backed up to protected forest land, so we wouldn’t have to worry about developments. It’s large property areas too. This could definitely work…” he trailed off, keys clicking away.
I was chopping potatoes and grabbing spices and answered without thinking. “I think the old lady might sell, but I don’t want Toby moving.”
“Toby?” Liam asked.
Shit.
“Yes, he’s the one neighbor,” I said, hoping Liam would leave it there.
“Would he happen to be the one you were asking Jude how to talk to?” Liam questioned.
“Hmmm,” I replied noncommittally. “Well, I gotta run. I’m starved, and steak is calling my name. I’ll be in touch if I need you.”
Liam did some grumbling, then muttered about looking into buying at least one of the houses, and then he thankfully got off the phone without any more questions. I would guess he would also be doing a background check on Toby, but I wasn’t worried about that. I didn’t even know why he bothered when we could see someone’s soul, but Liam liked doing background checks—it made him feel human. Eh, to each their own.
I threw the steak and thinly sliced potatoes on, thinking back to Toby. I wondered if there were any other details he needed for his book? I’d have to find my way outside next time he ordered a delivery so I could run into him and check.
Stalkerish? Maybe. But I didn’t think Toby would mind running into me again. And I was always happy to be helpful with research for his books.
A hellhound’s job was never done.