Page 19 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

After all, he was supposed to protect me.

He was bound to, right? That was part of the deal. “No fighting, you two.” I spun to face the dog. “Clark, I know he’s a dick, but he has to stay. At least for now.”

The demon gave me an incredulous look. “You named him Clark?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Sighing deeply, he stepped into my apartment. I didn't have the time to be embarrassed until right now. Between the showdown with the detective and my panicked rush here, I now realized that I had a stranger in my home.

“I, uh, come on in.”

Amber eyes crinkled, but his lips remained a flat line. “I’m already in.”

“Good, good. At least you’re not like a vampire or something, are you?” I hurried to close the door behind him then paused, “Oh shit. Vampires aren’t real, are they?”

“No,” he said dryly, moving into the room and dropping to a knee in front of Clark.

“Oh.” I made a face at his back. “Just demons, then. How silly of me.”

But he didn't answer. He was stroking the dog. I approached him carefully, still anxious about having another person in my apartment. It might not be much, but it was mine—for now—and having this larger-than-life person in here made it suddenly feel stifling, even with the temperamental heater in the corner out of order. I tugged at my uniform. “Are you going to attack me? Now that we’re alone, I mean.”

The man blinked slowly. “Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know you. I don’t really let people into my life very often.”

Silence fell between us, and I started to feel awkward. My mouth opened, and then suddenly he was speaking again.

“I promised to protect you. Why would I attack you now?” He stood, coming to a stop before me once again. My neck ached as I attempted to look him in the face. I felt the white-hot rush of a blush crawling over my skin as the beautiful demon peered down at me, curiosity in every inch of his expression.

“You don’t believe me.” He didn’t bother waiting for a response, his voice rumbling on. “I’m sorry. I should not have assumed you were ready for me to be here like this. How about this? If I attempt to hurt you, the dog will eat me.”

“Bite you,” I said quietly.

He regarded me closely, eyes narrowing as one edge of his lips lifted in the tiniest smile. I had the inexplicable urge to press my lips there, to capture that tiny bit of external joy.

“Sure, bite me.”

I swallowed a laugh because this was not the moment to get a case of the giggles, but something about this whole night was setting all my emotions off kilter. “Okay, got it. But how do you know that?”

“Simple” he said, a hand rising to brush a wild strand of my hair out of my eyes. “He’s my dog.”

Silence.

My mind scrambled. “You’re lying.”

“Not at all. Cerberus has been mine since my father created him.”

“Cerberus?” My chest ached, my lungs desperately pulling air into my body as I attempted to process this last little bit of information. “But…but…”

“Don’t worry. The stories are largely out of proportion. As you can see, he’s completely capable of being a normal dog. Most days.”

I started over at the dog, my mind growing fuzzy. There was a string of drool hanging from his lips as he watched me, black and tan head slowly tilting. This was the mythological guard dog of Hell? Because just yesterday, I’d fed him canned pasta, and the resulting gas had seemed real enough. That didn’t seem possible. But if it was…

“Was this a setup? Did he find me for a reason?”

The demon shrugged. “He does what he wants. But I’m sure he’s here for a reason.”

“That’s suspicious.”