Ro followed me down to Janelle's apartment for my daily training. Feeding me breakfast and teaching me magic seemed to go hand in hand for Janelle, so the lesson always took care of both. I wasn't sure Ro was invited, but I didn't dare suggest he find his own meal. He'd barely let me out of arm's reach since we got out of bed.
At Janelle's eggplant-colored door, I paused to knock, Ro crowding close at my back.
"You're late," Janelle called by way of greeting, and we entered to find her seated on the couch, dressed in yoga pants and a fuchsia blouse. She'd laid a black cloth over the low table, and was busy spreading a large deck of cards in a wide arc. "Now, I wouldn't mind, but–"
She looked up as she spoke and cut herself off as her eyes darted between me and Ro, whose hand rested on my lower back. Then her face split in a wide, gap-toothed grin, and she clapped her hands, making me jump.
"Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit!" she exclaimed, cackling, and turned her head to shout. "Ky! Come an' look!"
Kyrie came in from the kitchen bearing a tray laden with a coffeepot and a plate of savory scones, both of which smelled delicious.
"Jani, our apartment is not large," Kyrie said with a long-suffering air. "You need not shout so—"
She stopped short, and her eyes went wide as she caught sight of me. The tray tilted in her hands, and she barely managed to straighten it before the coffeepot slid off the side, rattling the cups.
"Oh... my," she whispered.
"I win," Janelle said, holding out a hand, palm up.
Recovering herself, Kyrie carefully set the tray on the coffee table and shook her head. "You said a week."
"And you said a month. I'm closer, so I win."
Sighing, Kyrie pulled a thin wallet from her pocket, removed a ten-dollar bill, and placed it in Janelle's outstretched hand. Still cackling, Janelle tucked it in her blouse.
Confused, I shifted my weight awkwardly from side to side. "Um... what's going on?"
I felt vaguely uncomfortable, like I'd failed to understand a joke because I was the butt of it. As if he sensed my unease, Ro slid his hand from my back to my waist, pulled me a little closer to his side, and—to my surprise—growled at our friends.
Janelle pursed her lips at him. "Don't you growl at me, 'Rozimbrel. I'll send your ass straight to hell." To me, she said, "You're bonded, obviously. Seemed bound to happen, so Kyrie and I had a little bet going as to when. Neither of us expected it so soon, though."
I blinked. "You can tell just by looking? And... you know his name?"
"Mm-hmm." Janelle shoved her long braids over her shoulder and nodded at Ro. "That's a strongly bonded familiar, right there—good luck getting a moment alone for the next week or so—and I've known Ro's name for years."
Ro huffed, his hot breath tickling my ear and sending a shiver up my spine.
"A necessary evil," he said. "I trusted your father about as far as I could throw him, which... Well, now that I think about it would have been quite far. But you get the point. If he'd ever found something better, or simply tired of me, you can bet he'd have banished me in an instant. In which case, Janelle would have been able to summon me back."
"But... I thought you wanted to go home," I said, trying—and failing—to extricate myself from his arms while intensely aware of Janelle and Kyrie's gaze. From how hot it felt, I was fairly certain my face looked like a cooked lobster.
"I wanted to be free, yes," Ro replied. "Free of your father, and free of..." He stopped and took a breath, gentling his tone and his hold on me. "Home is hardly a pleasant place, and no welcome awaits me there. Besides, there's no guarantee your father would have sent me back to my own realm. He might have banished me to a real hell—worse than Florida."
"Hey—I got relatives in Florida," Janelle said.
"I have relatives in hell," Kyrie added drily.
"My condolences to you both," Ro drawled. "The point is, I trust Janelle, and have trusted her for a long time. I trusted her with you, after all."
Another shiver raced up my spine as he nuzzled the side of my neck, which was something no one had ever done before, and also something I felt I might have enjoyed more without an audience.
"But... isn't it dangerous... for people to know your name?" I asked, once more attempting to squirm free of his hold.
"Mm-hmm," he hummed near my ear. "Which is why only three people in the whole world know it—of which you are one."
"Alright, that's enough of the possessive demon shit, or whatever this is," Janelle said, waving a hand at Ro. "Congratulations to you both. Now, Ellie's got a lesson to get to, and if you can't keep your hands to yourself, you'll have to wait outside."
"Not happening," Ro said.
"Then behave," Janelle returned with a note of sternness that told me she'd gone into teacher-mode again.
I yelped as Ro licked the side of my face, stuck his tongue out at Janelle, and shifted to cat form. He leaped up to my shoulders and curled around the back of my neck before I'd processed what he'd done.
Janelle shook her head, but smiled fondly. "I expected you two to work out some kinda deal—Ro's a jealous creature, at heart, and not one to share once he's got his claws in—but I never expected this."
"This?"
She gestured for me to take a seat on the other side of the table, and I obeyed. Ro purred and kneaded my shoulder, his whiskers tickling my ear.
"A mutual bond. Most times, the witch binds the daemon with a contract, and it's a one-way deal. How did you word the spell?"
"What spell?" I repeated, feeling lost.
"The contract is a spell, and as I've told you, words are the bones of magic. The words you choose, along with your intention, make all the difference. So, how'd it go?"
"Um... I just sort of agreed to be his witch. And then he pricked my finger, and..." I blushed.
Janelle's brows rose, and she gave Ro a pointed look. "His witch, hmm? If I didn't know better, I'd say someone took advantage of your innocence, Ellie." To Ro, she said, "You better treat him right. 'Cause I know your name, if you don't."
Ro growled again, but in his cat form, and while simultaneously purring, it was more cute than menacing.
Janelle rolled her eyes. "Well, let's get on with the lesson, then. How much you know 'bout Tarot?"
❧
The answer was 'basically nothing,' but an hour later I knew quite a lot. Janelle had explained how the cards could be used as a guide to unlock knowledge we already possessed, even if we didn't understand how we knew it. She'd had me draw a simple spread of three cards, supposedly representing past, present, and future.
The first was the emperor, reversed, the second was the ace of cups, and the third was the lovers.
"Daddy issues," Janelle said, pointing to the first card. "Absent father, abuse of power, oppressive rule—that sort of thing. Lucky it's in the past." She pointed to the second card. "This one signals new beginnings—social, emotional... romantic, even. Makes sense for your present situation. And the last one..." She shrugged. "Well, I'll let you figure that one out for yourself."
She told me to contemplate the cards for the day, and think about what they might be telling me. I did my best, but beyond what she'd explained, my introspection didn't go very deep. Besides, I had other problems to think about.
On the way down to the shop, I passed Tobin in the hall. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at Janelle's door and nervously polishing his glasses with his shirt. When he saw me, he gave a very doglike yelp of excitement and relief.
"Oh my gods, Ellie! Thank goodness you're okay!" He bounded towards me up the stairs and clapped his hand on my upper arm. "When I got off my DJ shift, I didn't see you anywhere. Figured you'd gone up to bed. Then someone said you got kidnapped by a demon, and—ow!"
He jerked back as Ro hissed and swiped at his cheek with sharp claws.
"Hey, take it easy! What's with—"
He cut himself off as a low growl rumbled in Ro's chest—much lower and louder than a little cat should have been able to make.
"Oh, wow," Tobin breathed, his eyes wide as he rubbed the side of his face. "You guys are, like... Oh, wow."
"Is it really that obvious?" I asked, wincing.
Tobin nodded. "You guys are like... perfectly in tune, or something. You must have a really strong bond. But..." He squinted at Ro, confused. "I thought it was temporary."
I shrugged, making Ro grip my shoulder with his claws to hold on. "So did I."
"Well, it sure looks permanent now! You musta found a super powerful binding spell, to hold Ro. Even your dad couldn't control him without a bunch of collars, at first."
I winced and Ro growled again, but then Tobin's words sank in.
"Wait... you knew my dad?" I asked, and swatted at Ro to make him stop growling in my ear.
Tobin laughed guilelessly. "Lords, no. My witch did, though."
"What's your, um, ex-witch's name?"
"Allister Raine," Tobin said, and scoffed. On my shoulder, Ro shut up and went tense, his tail swishing across my nose as he lashed it. "Thinks he's so great," Tobin continued, a bitter edge to his tone, "just 'cause he's a vestiger and gets to work with Lucien Drake and has a first-class daemon now. Pfft."
He waved a hand dismissively, but I could tell it bothered him. After assuring him I wasn't angry about what happened in the club, I excused myself and continued down to the shop. It was almost time to open.
Inside, it was cool and dark, and I took a deep, calming breath of the incense-infused air.
As soon as I shut the door and moved to unlock the till, Ro hopped down and transformed. I imagined he wanted to talk about what we'd just learned, but instead he walked straight into me, shoved me against the counter, and kissed me.
"Mmh! Ro!" I pushed him away. "What the hell?"
"He touched you," he growled.
"Who? Tobin?"
He nodded, sliding his hand around my throat as he kissed me again. "Only I can touch you."
A zap of electric alarm shot along my nerves, followed by a hot wave of undeniable arousal. My breath caught, and I pushed him away again. "Ro, stop."
He obeyed reluctantly.
"Listen, if you're gonna be toxic, we need to—"
"I'm a demon, not a toad," he said.
"What?"
"I'm not toxic."
I squinted at him, unsure if he was serious. "I mean how you're acting. It's too much too fast."
"The period after the binding is the most intense," he said. "The... 'honeymoon,' if you will."
I swallowed the first thought that came to mind, but he read it anyway.
"And no, I certainly had no desire to kiss your father," he said wryly, his yellow eyes lit with a hungry gleam as they traveled my face. "That was torment. Imagine being pulled by something, drawn by something you loathe, but unable to tear yourself away from..." His expression clouded, as if something had just occurred to him "You don't dislike kissing me, do you?"
I blinked. "N-No, I... Can you just ask, first?"
He relaxed and tilted his head to the side.
"Alright. Can I kiss you?"
"No! I mean, not right now, but..."
"Later?"
"Maybe," I allowed, and bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling. Cat or demon, he was a handful. "We need to talk about this Allister dude."
Ro sighed and straightened, running an elegant hand through his long silky hair and frowning down at me.
"Yes. 'Al' keeps popping up like a bad penny," he said. "There's definitely something suspicious there. He works for Lucien, but now he's investigating—or at least pretending to investigate—his boss. Your father and Lucien were up to something, researching Angelic magic. Then Al gets a newer, better daemon, ditches Tobin, and shortly thereafter, your father dies. Coincidence?"
I studied Ro in the dim glow of the fairy lights hanging from the beams above. My eyes went to his mouth, drawn by the lingering sensation of his taste and touch, and I shook my head a little to clear it.
"I don't know," I said, "but I think we need to pay Al a visit."