Prologue

PROLOGUE

Nix

N ix stretched out on the sandy cave floor, briefly bemoaning the rock grit that was going to end up in his gorgeous hair.

The Void was the worst .

Absolutely no creature comforts to be found, and wasn't that just a kick in the pants for the four creatures trapped here? Nix's bed was made of dried leaves , for fuck's sake. They couldn't even summon changes of clothes—they were all stuck in whatever clothes they'd been wearing when last completing a contract.

How exactly was he supposed to uphold a sense of fabulousness with these kinds of constraints?

And true, none of them exactly needed creature comforts. They didn't need to eat or bathe or even sleep when in limbo—but what fun was there in only getting what one needed ?

Life was about want.

And Nix wanted back in the human realm pronto.

"I'm bored," their little chaos demon lamented, echoing Nix's own sentiments. He was perched on a rock across the cave from Nix, the viewing portal between them, resting his chin on clenched fists. "So, so bored."

"I know, baby," Nix soothed, turning his gaze from the cave ceiling to give him a sympathetic look. "You wanna change the channel?"

They could turn the viewing portal to whatever part of the human realm they wanted, one of the few actual benefits of the Void. Nix was personally a fan of peeking into porn shoots (and wasn't that a fun aspect of modern times?), while Chaos's tastes were a little more…varied. Last week (Or was it last month? Time moved so strangely here.) he'd been all about forest fires.

"No." Chaos's lower lip pushed into a pout. "I'm sick of watching. Always watching ."

So was Nix, for that matter. Real sick of it. How long had it been since he'd had a contract? He would have thought their Book was lost forever, if not for the fact that Kai had been summoned a few days ago. Which was ridiculously unfair, since he'd been the last one summoned before that, but whatever.

At least it meant there was hope for the rest of them.

Although, it might have been a refreshing change of pace to give in to despair. They'd been in the Void long enough for it to be warranted. But the others were gloomy enough. If Nix gave in too, who would bring up the vibes? Certainly not Kai, if he returned—he acted like they were all the banes of his existence. And their nightmare demon was a bit too creepy to be the life of the party. And sweet Chaos was slowly losing his marbles out of boredom.

So it was up to Nix to be his usual charming self.

"Why don't you take a nap?" he suggested. Just because they didn't need to sleep in the Void didn't mean it wasn't the easiest way to pass the time.

So much time .

Chaos's gold eyes flashed at him petulantly, the flames reflecting in them there and gone in an instant. "I'm tired of naps."

"Maybe if you ask nicely, Nightmare will give you bad dreams."

Chaos's dour expression took on a hopeful cast. "You think?" He didn't wait for an answer, hopping off his rock, presumably to find their fourth.

A very suggestible thing, wasn't he?

Nix debated taking a nap himself but ultimately stayed right where he was. He'd stare at the portal a little while longer.

Not many demons in their original set of one hundred had watched the human world all that often. But humans were Nix's bread and fucking butter—why wouldn't he watch them every chance he got? One needed to understand someone to seduce them, and Nix understood humans. They were glorious, really—weak and greedy and flawed.

Just the way Nix liked them.

The others treated their contracts like chores, but Nix was happy to be bound to the Book. Happy to be bound to the human realm. Happy to be at a human's service again and again and again.

He slid his hands down his body slowly, imagining it was some human's touch. It didn't matter who—man, woman, neither of the above.

All lust was equally delicious.

And yet.

Nix dropped his hands and sat up quickly, glancing around to make sure Chaos hadn't crept back in during the last minute. Once assured of his privacy, he waved a hand, turning the portal's gaze to follow one human in particular.

Nix had begun watching Kai as soon as he'd realized Kai had been summoned, unable to resist his curiosity. He'd seen the little cutie pie who'd called their warrior demon out of the Void. He'd listened in on a phone call with a harsh, cold, commanding voice. Mm .

Nix had followed the voice to its origin—New York City and an office building the owner of said voice rarely seemed to leave.

The summoner's brother. Ivan.

In the past few days, Nix had gotten addicted to watching him. There was something about him, beyond just his mighty fine good looks. A tight air of control Nix would have loved to mess with given the chance.

And maybe he should have felt bad for spying on one particular human—it was more of an invasion of privacy than his normal haphazard viewings—but they'd never meet, so what did it hurt?

And if it gave Nix ideas—images of specific hands on his body, a cold voice murmuring filth in his ear—so what? He was trapped for the time being. Who could fault him for making the most of it?

He let out a happy sigh as the portal focused in on a familiar light-haired head bent over what appeared to be paperwork. It wasn't the most stimulating of activities to spy on, but it would do for now.

Anything to pass the time.