Almost four years ago, later.

~Lucifer

The necromancer was escaping me. That was a libido-crunching realization, especially after I had worked so hard to run into him again.

I walked into the warzone that was Trony and my home with a few boxes of pizzas in my arms. There were large paint buckets or something in the hallway, and I had to step over those. I made my way past the kitchen to where my alleged sex throne had stood on its humble pedestal. Trony had taken a sledgehammer to the pedestal which felt a little bit extreme, even for an angel.

“Trony! I brought food.”

I headed toward the thunking of her heavy work boots. It came from the rooms on the other end of the house—the walls there were coming down to create a wide-open area suitable for all kinds of fun, and finally, finally, there’d be room for an indoor Jacuzzi.

The angel met me in a plastic covered scenery that would make any forensic-minded serial killer salivate.

“What do you mean, you brought food?” she asked.

I lifted the warm pizzas. “These.”

Trony frowned in her pastel blue work onesie. She walked toward me, one hand on her hip, and lifted the lid of the topmost pie.

Frowning, she said, “Why would you think this is food? What even is this? Mold pretending to be mozzarella? Are you broken, Lucifer?”

I sighed. “I’m not forcing you to eat it, but you’ve been working so hard, burning my sex chair and taking down walls. I didn’t want you to have to cook on top of that.”

She let go of the lid, and it sank back toward the mold-slash-mozzarella. “It’s because of that thing you want, isn’t it. What even is your problem? Ask nicely for them to spread their legs and get this out of your system.” She wiggled her fingers at my face as if something were wrong with it.

“This?”

“If you were one of those human males, I’d call it midlife crisis.”

“I don’t have that, Trony.”

I had pent up everything though, she was right about that, and perhaps asking the pretty necromancer to spread his legs would help. But that scent of smoke about him—more like an aura than a smell—it made me…want to feed him pizza? That didn’t sound right.

“You,” Trony began, ready to insult me for buying her food. She didn’t get to follow through though because the doorbell rang.

Unless my magic and magical wards were failing me, I sensed necromancy out there.

“Hold these.”

I shoved the pizzas at Trony who wrinkled her nose as she took them, then made my way past paint brushes, hammers, ladders and all those other things the house apparently needed.

Before opening the door, I ran a hand through my hair, but it was fluffy and perfect.

Nelly, the necromancer who had trouble grasping the concept of a de-animated zombie, stood out there, backlit by the illumination of the yard lights. He held out his hand.

“Here, take it.”

I looked down. He was so adorable in those black clothes he vanished in. I yearned to strip them off him, explore whether he was more or less adorable with my cock in his mouth.

“Nelly. You want me to take your hand?” I leaned against the door frame, making sure my shirt rode up and revealed some skin. Would he want to lick it?

“What? No! The money, take the damn money! I’m not owing you like some pauper.”

I lifted a brow at him. “Pauper? Fancy word, that.”

“Just take the damn money. After all, there was a fire, and I stink, just like you said. Take it, and I’ll go and leave you alone to your…painting or whatever.”

“Renovations. Do you want to come inside and have a look?”

“No! I want you to take the money so I don’t owe you anymore.”

He was getting very agitated now. That probably wasn’t good for him, given his possibly compromised memory, but seeing humans, especially the pretty ones, getting worked up when confronted with someone as old, powerful, and supremely handsome as myself—

“Will you fucking just take this? My arm’s about to fall off. Fucking hell. The day was long enough without you behaving like a godsdamned circus clown.”

Well, feisty. “Very well,” I said and reached for the offered bills and coins. He’d counted it out exactly, nothing owed either way. A shame. “But—”

“No buts. Buts my ass. I’m so done with today. Don’t talk to me again, okay? I owe you nothing, and there’s no reason for us to ever talk again. Bye.”

With that, he stomped off toward some pitiable car, moving like a cartoon mouse running from an exceedingly smart and very good-looking cartoon cat.

I watched him pull away from the curb, not moving because the way I was leaning would let him see some skin if only he looked back at me in his rearview mirror as he pulled away from the curb.

Behind me, Trony’s work boots announced her approach.

“What was that?” she asked, chewing on a mouthful of the yucky mozzarella pizza.

“You said not to tell you, but I want him.”

She peered past me at Nelly’s rear lights. “In that case, he’s going the wrong way. Where did you mess up?”

Since Nelly was out of sight, I spun. “I didn’t. He came back here just to see me. He’ll be back to ask me to fuck him before long.”

The angel casually took another slice from the box and bit into it, saying, “Looks like he gave you money though. Did he give you that for looking all sexy?”

“What? No, of course not.” Although, had he? Come to think of the money, there had been no reason for him to rush here and present me with cash. He couldn’t have eaten, not unless he’d gulped down his food on the drive here.

There really was no hurry to settle what he owed me unless he wanted to use that as a way to get closer to me, but given that he had driven off without so much as even considering fellatio…

Trony snorted. “You are so not used to a human saying no to you.”

“Well, why would they?”

“Your taste in food. This pizza is really bad.”

I groaned. “Fine. The pizza won’t happen again. Want to share the rest of it in the outdoor Jacuzzi? I just have to get my e-reader. I have some research to do.”

Trony glared at me as if she’d swallowed lemons. “Are you going to read your smutty books again while I’m there? Out loud, like last time?”

I shrugged. “Only if I want your opinion, Trony.”

She threw the greasy crust at me. It bounced off my chest—my very appealing chest, I had no idea what Nelly’s problem was and why he hadn’t taken his time to look—then handed me the food.

“Fine. But only because I care. I got a new bikini, and I’m changing into that. And if you read me anything weird like the last time—”

“Shifted sex isn’t that weird.”

“If you read me anything that weird, I’m leaving you alone in that big Jacuzzi with subpar Italian food and no sex throne to get off on.”

It was easy to forget, but Trony was an angel after all, and she could be really, really mean sometimes.

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