Page 57 of Sleep With Us

He turned, casually cocking a hip and added, “Yup. You slayed Copernicus in combat, so you’re the general.”

I was the what now? “But I didn’t mean to do that.”

Zee rolled his eyes. “Not this again. Okay, sure. He just happened to trip and fall into the mincer with you right there?” Zee mock-gasped, and put on a dramatic voice. “Oh no, it was another terrible accident, that the sweet, innocent Adam Vex had nothing to do with.”

“Uh, yes. That’s exactly what happened.”

He snorted. “I was there, Kitten. I saw it. You ninja-kicked his ass into that machine. You knew exactly what you were doing, and you executed it perfectly. But sure, it was an accident.” He air-quoted. “It’s fucking strange how all these accidents”—air quotes—“seem to happen around you, huh?”

“Strange? No, I don’t think so. Accidents happen all the time.” Oh dear.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. All the time around you.” He poked me in the chest. I looked down, and he flicked my nose. “So cute, so bloodthirsty. So fuckin’ hot.”

A strained laugh tumbled out of me. “Oh, Zee. You’re so silly.” I shifted my gaze sideways. Nobody had heard him, which was good. It turned out, I really wasn’t very good at being a plain, boring human. Who knew it was so difficult?

My cover-up chuckling faded. “What does that mean, if I’m your general?”

He shrugged. “It’s just symbolic.”

“Oh, well,” I sighed. “I suppose that’s alright, then.”

“Probably.”

“Probably?” My voice cracked.

Zee snorted. “Nothing is going to happen unless we’re called up for war, and since there’s no war here, you’re good.”

Reynard chose that moment to emerge from the bar and grace us with his lordly presence. “What has you so alarmed, Adam?”

“He’s a demon general now. General Vex,” Zee emphasized, sweeping a hand through the air while tasting the title on his lips. “He sounds like a badass motherfucker. What do you think, Your Lordship?”

Reynard’s cool silver-eyed gaze settled on me. “Remarkable, Adam.”

“I’m really not.” This was getting out of hand. Somehow, I needed to be more boring and less remarkable. “This is just a misunderstanding. How do I unbecome a general? Can’t I make you the general?” I asked Zee. “It’s more your thing.”

“The next general kills you,” Reynard explained. “It’s the demon way.”

“Daddy Vampire’s right,” Zee agreed, standing next to him.

“Well, that’s silly,” I huffed, frowning at them both. “I can’t be a demon general when I’m just a boring human.”

Zee smirked at Reynard, whose eyes glittered with sly satisfaction, and whose thin lips ticked up at one corner.

Almost as though they no longer believed me.

To be continued . . .