21. Bast

T he door slams against the wall hard enough that I almost fall off the stool at the sudden sound. I hadn't spoken to Talian since early this morning, mostly because I was more likely to kill him than speak to him if we were left alone. If I'm being honest, I didn't expect him to come back here tonight, not after Asta told him Aeri was off-limits.

Talian doesn't take kindly to being told he can't have something, and I'm not sure he's ever been told he can't have someone, or that they don't want him. They always want him, whether it be mortals or demons. Hell, even some angels fall victim to his charm. He loves it—anything to do with him being wanted and lusted after, even if it's not his face.

It didn't start that way, though. Once upon a time, he was as lost in the books he guarded as I am in the human trinkets they all like to tease me about. But after a few eons of the same thing, things were bound to change. At this point, we might as well just trade, not that I would ever dare ask for anything from him.

I'm half tempted to head to my room and ignore him until I smell it—fear, strong and potent, and… Aeri's.

This time, I'm out of my chair by choice, damn near tripping over my own feet as I rush toward Talian and what appears to be an unconscious Aeri in his arms.

"What did you do?" I can feel the heat radiating off of me and hear the venom dripping from my words, but I can't bring myself to care, not with her like that, not while I can taste her fear hanging in the air like a weight.

I'm reaching for her even before I've made it all the way to them, but the second I get near him, he turns away from me.

"Dantalian," I growl, my temper flaring beyond reason.

No, that's not true. I'm pretty sure I know why I'm upset, even if it makes no damn sense.

Still, he doesn't release her. If anything, it almost appears as if he grips her tighter against his chest as he slowly turns back around to face me.

I devour her the second she's in my sight, checking her over for any kind of injury or reason why she might be unconscious in Talians' of all people's arms but finding nothing. Knowing she's uninjured should make me feel better, but it only worries me more. There's no reason for her to be unconscious; she seemed fine before she left for work.

"What did you do to her?" I repeat my earlier question, knowing he had something to do with this. He had to.

"I didn't do anything," Talian hisses, sounding much more serious than I expected him to.

Talian never takes anything seriously, but one look at his face is all it takes for me to be sure he's not only serious, but very upset.

His human form flickers, jumping to the demon form I know him best in before that flickers as well. His features cycle, moving through his typical faces to those I haven't seen him use in years, before everything starts to scramble as if he has no control over himself.

"Tal…."

"She ran…" His words are quiet, but the confusion in his tone is impossible to miss. "I didn't know why, but I felt like I needed to follow her. She looked so out of it, so afraid."

For the first time in years, I'm kicking myself for not being at the club.

If I was there, I could have… Honestly, I'm not sure I could have done anything, not with how shaken Talian seems about this whole thing. It's giving me a bad feeling, like a pit in my stomach with a weight settling over me. What the hell could have Talian this on edge?

"What was she running from?" I can't help but ask. The urge to understand and protect her is so strong it feels as though it's suffocating me.

Talian looks up, and I can tell whatever he's about to say, I'm not going to like it. Not that I like any of the rest of this either, but something tells me it's about to get a lot worse.

The ding of the elevator in the hall stops me from pressing him again for an answer, at least for the moment. Not many people outside of Kai and Asta ever really come up here, but that doesn't mean it never happens, and I would rather wait until I know we're alone in case anything unexplainable might happen.

With the way Talian is acting, it doesn't seem that far out of the question.

"Kai," Talian says with a sigh, and I realize the sound had put him on high alert. Not because he was worried about someone hearing us and getting in trouble with Asta. No, he seemed genuinely worried about who might be coming off of that elevator.

"Who are you so–" I cut myself off despite my need to know eating at me when I sense more than just Kai outside the door.

"You've got to be shitting me."

Talian's head snaps up just as the door beeps and swings open, and in walks not only Kai but Ruin. Talian could have sensed him the same way I had if he'd been paying attention, but the second he sets eyes on him, it's clear he wasn't.

His face twists, and while his appearance isn't what it usually is, there's no denying the disgust that's clear on his…well, one of his many faces.

"What in the seven rings of hell is he doing here?" Talian steps back into the living room, away from the door. And while I might not care for Ruin, I don't feel cowering is the best bet. Regardless of what I feel for any of them, I follow Talian because he's still holding Aeri.

Shit, speaking of. "Talian, calm down. She's mortal." I move to reach for her but think better of it at the last second and instead choose to wait until he has a moment to breathe. I might not be Talian's biggest fan the last few weeks, but there's no doubt tonight seems to be putting him through the wringer. As if he wasn't on edge enough already, he and Ruin get along like, well…angels and demons.

"What happened?" Ruin demands, moving into the apartment as if he has any right, and I find myself annoyed, just like Talian. I don't hate him as much, but I also don't like him, and I definitely don't want him in our house or around Aeri.

Ruin only makes it a few steps before Kai reaches out, grabbing his arm and stopping him in his tracks. It's impossible to hide the aura of an angel. It's like slime, seeping into your pores until you end up carrying it around with you. I knew they were still friends; even if Kai had tried to hide it from us, Asta outranks both of them and would know it. Not to mention our past, and the fact that Kai doesn't have friends is a great clue. For me, it's as simple as being able to smell him. Being a demon of lust sometimes has its perks, and my nose is one of them.

Everything has a scent—human, demon, angel, hellhound, or soul—you name it, and it smells different. I can identify species with my eyes closed, so long as I can smell them. Demons have a bit of a spicy hint despite each demon's personal scent being specific only to them. Angels smell floral, and humans are a wide range of scents, but they're all tinged with musk. I assume it's a nod to the universe that one day they will die, though I can't be sure.

My brothers are the most noticeable to me because we have been close for eons, which is also the reason I know Ruin's scent. Once, we were all close, but that was before we fell, or most of us did. Honestly, it was so long ago, and it feels as though it was a different lifetime. To be fair, it kind of was. Back then, we all still had our grace intact, but seeing him again, even in his human form, is all it takes to make it feel fresh again.

"None of your damn business," Talian snaps before turning his glare toward Kai. Usually, Talian and I default to Kai and Asta. Both of them have spent far more time on the surface, and with Asta being one of the highest ranking devils, only a few places lower than Satan himself, well, it's easy to understand why we might listen to him.

"Get Asta here, we need to talk about something, and he needs to be here for it." No sooner does Talian finish his sentence do I hear the ding of the elevator.

Talian instantly tenses, but it only takes me a moment to know it's Asta as his scent flows into the apartment.

"No need." My words seem to calm Talian, and I'm not sure who the hell he thought might be out there, but I'm glad they aren't. Talian and I are about the same power level, so anyone who has him that worried, well, they would be bad news for me, too.

The door beeps a moment before swinging open hard enough that it slams off the wall, much like it did earlier when Talian came flying in.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long night judging by his face.

"We have a problem."

Yup, don't need to see the future to know that.