Page 96 of Darkness Defined

“No one’s stopping you,” he quipped.

I ignored the invitation. He was right about the old book. Every scrap of it was in Latin. “Do you have any idea what this says?” I turned to the title. He looked a little put out, but produced another page. “Demon Wars: Volume Six 1100-1350.” I squinted at it, not sure if I was reading it right. “Demon Wars? The only demon wars I know about are the original Wars of Power, but that was way before any of this. And was demon against demon.”

“I know. Same here. I haven’t read of anything about people and demons fighting. There’s more, though. This book specifically references a war against darkness. This was how our kind almost became extinct.”

I suddenly felt like I was holding the Holy Grail of Shadow Demons. “Why does no one know about this?” This was definitely something that should have been covered in Demon History.

“I don’t know. I thought the same thing. But, Alex, there’s another thing.”

“How can there possibly be more?” I looked around at his pages full of notes now scattered everywhere.

“The missing pages.”

My head snapped up. “You found them?”

“No, I found something else.” He drew my attention back to the page with the two names. There was a line connecting them and another that went down to make a ‘T’. “They had a child, Alex.”

The page swam before me and I feared I might have fainted. “This, this… it’s incredible. How did you ever…?” I looked up at him. Per usual, he was watching me. “This is what you were doing for four days.” I didn’t even need his nod of confirmation. “And…”

“I got snatched on my way back to show you. They wouldn’t let me leave without going at least one round. I tried to anyway, but… you saw how that worked out.”

I searched his face. I was the reason he’d gotten beaten to a pulp. He didn’t have to say it, I knew it. “I’m sorry.”

He averted his eyes, his shoulders hunched inward as he studied the carpet.

“Matt, there’s one condition to us trying this dating thing.” He looked back at me and I saw the fear in his eyes. “No more bruiser club. I can’t do this if I know you’re fighting all the time.”

“Done,” he replied faster than I would have expected. “I doubt they want me back anyway after my last performance.”

“Have you healed up alright?” Concern colored my words. I’d been so worried, even while I was beside myself with anger.

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you need to check?”

I laughed. Cheeky bastard. “Slow, remember?”

“I remember.” He swiped a kiss before I could react, then bounded off to the kitchen, leaving me speechless.

That little devil. Oh, this is going to be fun.

When Matt returned, he had an ice cream in each hand. He held out a carton of strawberry with a smile that warmed me despite the cold now suffusing my hand.

I popped the lid free to discover it was a fresh carton. “Just how much of this stuff did you buy?”

“Enough to be prepared.” He extended me a spoon. “You were really mad.”

“Who says I’m not anymore?”

He leveled a look at me.

“Alright, alright. I’m clearly not. No need to be smug about it.” I shifted to a more comfortable position on the couch. “Now, show me everything you’ve found. Walk me through this.”

He flashed me a dazzling smile and discarded his ice cream to reach for the pages. Then he folded his leg under him and joined me on the couch. He began by laying out each of the pages so he could straighten them and then sorted each into its own stack. The leather-bound monstrosity he left where it was at the edge of the coffee table. I didn’t know why, but that book made me nervous.

As Matt bustled about, I couldn’t help but think he was every inch his usual, carefree self. I’d known that finding out I was gay had affected him. I just hadn’t realized how much until now. Without thinking, I reached out and brushed his hair with my fingertips.

He turned to look at me, his gaze curious yet unconcerned. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry.”