Page 1 of Little Music of Night

BARISTA

It had beena long time since I’d hated myself as much as I did right now. Everything in my life was upside down. I’d hurt my daughter, my partners, my family, and yes—it was to protect them. But at what cost?

At what cost?

I leaned against the shelves in the walk-in cooler and stared at the two phantoms in front of me. They were trapped inside the giant mirror I’d carted back here from the front of the cafe. I didn’t know who they were, and that was uncommon. I was familiar with most monsters in our world—perks of living for so fucking long. But ghosts, wraiths, and phantoms sometimes fell through the cracks with their murky souls. I couldn’t see the glowing soul strings as clearly.

But whatever I could do to run interference and prevent Layla from matching monsters and humans, I had to do. She wouldn’t speak to me, so I couldn’t explain the reason that went beyond me wanting her to take her powers slowly. It even went beyond beckoning Death back to our doorstep.

I was playing with fate.

I’d been playing with fate for years. It was what Lucifer and I used to fight about so much before Trixie, before the war, beforeeverything.And gods, maybe he’d been right. Maybe he’d been right all along that I shouldn’t interfere with helping monsters find love. But it was my calling. At the end of the day, I believed that love made the world better.

One of the phantoms cleared his throat. Of the two, I liked him more.

The other one—the dark haired one—was malicious. There was a cruelty in his onyx eyes, and it already made me wonder if he should have a human mate. But there was an oath I’d made to myself.

Even the worst monsters deserved the chance to find love.

Even the dark phantom before me.

But not Death. Absolutely not Death. And certainly not with my daughter. Severing their fated mate bond had been terrible of me to do, but it was to save Layla from a fate worse than . . . well, death.

“What are your names?” I finally asked.

“You can call me Ray,” the nicer one answered. “This is Erik.”

Ray and Erik. Both of them were tall and looked human, except for their masks. The right side of Ray’s face was covered by a white mask. The left side of Erik’s was covered by a black mask. It was as if they were one soul that had been split down the middle, divided into two phantoms.

“And you are . . . brothers?”Please, not again.

“No,” Erik scoffed. “Lovers. Mates.”

“Sometimes friends,” Ray added.

That made Erik snort, but he crossed his arms, still staring at me.

He did know I could kill him, right? Even through this stupid mirror. I could reap their fucking souls through the glass.

I wasn’t exactly in the best of moods after the last two months of fuck ups. Smiting a smug phantom would probably make me feel a little bit better.

“And so, you’re here for your mate,” I said. “And what do you want? What are you searching for in a mate, exactly?”

“We already know our mate,” Erik said. “But she cannot see us. We want you to bring her to us.”

“Erik,” Ray muttered under his breath. “We do not know?—”

“We do know. She is the only one we want.” Erik glowered at Ray. “Do not pretend in this room that you have not been watching her every moment you get.”

“It’s wrong of us,” Ray whispered.

“It is notwrong!” Erik growled. “Watching her, protecting her—it is not wrong.”

I narrowed my eyes on both of them. “Are you stalking someone?”

Erik hissed at me, his face morphing in a horrifying way. Ah, yeah. I’d forgotten just howmonstrousphantoms could be. But even though his skin turned gray and his mouth became fanged and his form stretched, I simply crossed my arms.

“I am in a mood today,” I said calmly. “And I am being kind by hearing you out right now. But after the week I’ve had, killing you would be fun. So either put those fucking fangs away andanswer me, or get the fuck out of my cafe.”