Andras stared at his phone, checking it every couple of minutes while the person who kept him company kept blabbing about. And he wasn't normally very patient, but today, waiting on two beings didn't bode well for him.
"Bloody hell, Rudee" he interrupted him "Do you ever shut up?"
Rudee looked him up and down, "You know the answer to that, boss"
Rudee looked different every time he saw him. He was a demon with an identity crisis. Ever since the fall, he started questioning everything, even the very air he breathed. So sometimes he showed up as a woman, sometimes as a man, child, old person, or animal, and surprisingly one time he showed up as a ball of hellfire.
But today was just plain old Rudee, how he was before the fateful day. "Summarize Marchosias, summarize"
"Do not call me that in public, I'm trying the more human approach" he said casually.
"When are you not trying something?" he rolled his eyes.
"Okay, okay. Someone is in a bad mood," he quipped with a teasing smile. "Do you want me to tell you what I know or should we address your attitude first?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Andras said as he stared at his phone again.
"Fine, let's get to the point then," Rudee smiled "A member of the royal family skedaddled out of hell" he rolled his eyes once more at his choice of words but placed his phone down.
"Who?"
"Asmo--" fucking hell, this was going to be complicated.
"Why?" he interrupted as he went over his plans and started creating new ones.
"I do not know but Lulu is pissed," he said with a smirk.
"I would love for him to hear you calling him that" Andras replied as he added "And of course, he's pissed, he has a thing for her."
"Ya think?" he laughed "Poor Lily, man" he leaned back on his chair as he continued sipping his coffee.
Andras rolled his eyes - apparently, a common occurrence when Rudee was around - at the mention of the female, he disliked that woman. Besides, he was a demon, so he didn't pretend he wasn't glad she was most probably suffering. But she should have known better, there is no one her man -- if he could even be called that -- loves more than himself.
"Is that all?" Andras asked.
"Yeah, for now," silence surrounded them for a few seconds but then the son of a bitch had to ruin his peace once more "So what is wro--"
He didn't even let him finish, he conveyed away so fast he forgot to take his coffee with him.
_____
"Wow that was quick," Violette teased, she was sitting on his couch drinking his most expensive whiskey.
Of course, she was.
"That is the first time I've ever heard that from a woman's lips," he said with a cocky smile and a laugh, knowing it would irk her.
Now it was her turn to roll her eyes but didn't object to it, she could attest to that. "How did your hunt go?" he asked, hoping to hear something that would distract him from looking at his phone.
But then, her demeanor changed completely, her muscles tensed and she looked away from him.
"What?" he walked over to his fridge for some ice but she stood up and was in front of him in milliseconds.
"Don't open the fridge" she warned, her voice thick with concern and guilt.
It wasn't hard for him to guess what happened. He sighed "How many?" he said without judgment, he would never judge her, not for this.
"Just one" she almost whispered, trying desperately not to ruin her calm facade.
He placed one hand on her shoulder and the other went to her chin, forcing her to look at him "That's good" he said softly as well.
She shrugged off his touch and said irritably "It is not good Andras, it's never good."
He walked over to the fridge and opened it, making Violette completely turn away from him as he beheld what she had done. He stared at the body with an almost bored expression, it wasn't as bad as he'd pictured it.
He'd seen worse things in his life, but he did not live a very normal one, so he couldn't remain objective as he looked at the male stuffed in his fridge with his throat ripped out.
It could have been worse. It was quick, it seemed. Maybe even painless.
Andras sighed again as he closed the door "I know you feel bad, Vi, but I can assure you, this is good." She turned around, about to protest when he held his finger up and said "Remember when I met you? You could never kill just one, you went through dozens a day. Just one is good, just one is better."
"Andras, I'm over 500 hundred years old, I should be able to control it by now" she chastised herself.
Violette had always been like this, she had a big heart no matter how much she tried to hide it, and killing, even though she momentarily enjoyed it, destroyed her from the inside out.
He walked over to her and motioned for her to sit down. She didn't but he did, "If it makes you feel any better," his couch had a perfect view of the city, they were so high up that they could see it all, especially with their supernatural eyes. "He's in hell."
She sat down looking at the city beyond as well. It was easier, to be honest and open when you didn't have to look at the other person.
Violette knew that if he was in hell, it was because he did horrible things. "One day so will I," she said nonetheless.
He smiled and said, "Then don't die."
She seemed shocked by his statement but said "You can be such a jerk sometimes."
He barked a laugh out of sheer surprise and looked at her "Here I was, thinking I was being kind"
She looked back at him "You were."
"Then what was that comment about?"
"I didn't get to finish my thought," she said, her icy gaze locking him in place "You can be such a jerk sometimes," she repeated "But, then you do things like this and make it hard to hate you."
"You should hate me, I tried to kill you" he reminded her, bringing his arms behind his head to support it as he laid back, flashing her a playful smile designed to put people at ease.
But he could remember it easily, she was so scared it almost pissed him off more.
"And you kidnapped me," she added.
"Yeah, that too," it was her turn to smile, but that faltered with his next words, "I was so fucking mad at you."
"Because I tried to break the deal" Violette tried to finish his thought.
"Because you decided to die," he corrected her "Yeah, the deal part was irritating but I was honestly deeply offended you didn't think your life was worth living anymore."
She thought for a moment. He had a feeling she wondered if he was serious, but when she decided he was, she finally offered something that made things click into place for him.
"You knew what happened to Arthur, you were there," her eyes clouded as she held back her tears.
He didn't know what to say to that, he wasn't good at comforting people. So he offered a simple "I'm sorry" he had been there, had watched as the light in Violette's eyes died with the man she loved.
After a few beats of silence, Andras added, "I wasn't going to kill you." He didn't know why he was admitting this, it was better if she saw him as a bad guy, it was easier if she hated him.
"Oh please," she sniffed, laughing through her pain "You would have to. You made a deal with him."
"I'm offended once more," he said with feigned outrage "Did you think your father would have made a deal with me after Mary?" he smiled. "Did you think I would ever accept a deal with that motherfucker?" he smiled at the unintended joke.
"You fucking lied to me" she gasped hitting him in the arm.
"I needed to convince you to help me quickly and I thought you valued your life" he then said bitterly "I was clearly wrong, but you made the deal nonetheless, why?"
She trained her gaze on the floor "Because I couldn't die without helping Callum and the rest,"
She left out his name on purpose.
Blaze. The wolf he'd heard hadn't stopped looking for her since the moment she vanished.
He wasn't sure why he felt the need to say this but he did "You do know it is okay to love again Violette, it doesn't make you a horrible person." she didn't say anything "I would know, I'm the world's biggest prick."
She was still looking down as he added "Please continue living, not for him though" he didn't want to tell her how he knew living for someone else was painful and soul-crushing "Live for yourself, princess" he used that name in the endearing way and also in the literal one, she was a princess after all.
"You're not a horrible person, Andras," she said as she finally gazed into his eyes "You're not a person at all."
Her mischievous smile made him laugh again and they talked for a while.
He only stopped when his phone buzzed.
It was a 'Hi' from Arella.