He followed the shortest way to Beast’s apartment and let himself in, entering the familiar living room, with Laurent’s gaze—so dark and reminiscent of Elliot’s— greeting him from the sofa.
Laurent rose without a smile and walked up to a tall wood-framed mirror. “He’s here!” he yelled into the corridor. The glass surface had a dimmed quality to it, like all mirrors in the club, but now that Knight was about to face what was behind the discoloration, he was starting to feel uneasy.
Knight shifted his weight. “Pretty. Mid-nineteenth century or a fake?” he asked, rubbing the ornamental pattern along the frame. Despite his earlier thoughts, he had the sense of being watched by someone he could not see in return, and it was unnerving to say the least.
Somewhere deep in that darkness, somewhere beyond his reflection hid a creature none of them understood.
Laurent stood straighter. “Antique. Beast gifted it to me.”
Knight smirked. “Isn’t that sweet?”
“What took you so long?” Beast asked, walking out of the corridor leading to the other rooms within his apartment. His somber expression made the shadow of a smile drop from Knight’s face instantly.
“Nothing. Just needed to make sure Elliot was fine with me leaving.”
“Gray and Jake are with him, right? We need him supervised at all times,” Beast said as if Knight hadn’t heard that time and time again already.
“Yes, he is supervised. And he is in the straitjacket. And he will not hurt Laurent,” Knight said in a somewhat biting tone. This kind of constant suspicion against Elliot was really getting on his nerves at this point—one more reason to keep the breakup to himself for now. If Beast knew, he’d surely advocate simply shipping Elliot away somewhere.
Beast exhaled deeply. “Good. Now let’s establish what exactly we want to achieve. Do we want to ask about Fane’s soul? Ask if the demon could simply take him?”
As Beast spoke, movement caught Knight’s attention, though he was unsure whether it was his mind playing tricks on him, or if he did notice a dark shadow move behind his reflection in the mirror.
“We don’t want you hurting as well, Knight. There’s still time to think this through,” Laurent added.
“Hurting? Why would I be hurt?” Knight asked, forcing his eyes away from the looming presence that was invisible and yet made his body hair bristle.
“Because that creature might want something that will be bad for you. It doesn’t care about us. We are just a means to its ends, and the less we engage with it, the better.”
A murmur echoed through the walls at the end of Laurent’s words, sending a shudder up Knight’s spine. He didn’t move and stood tall, willing himself not to give in to intimidation. “No deal is better than a bad deal, right?” he asked, for the creature’s sake.
“True,” Beast said, facing the tall antique mirror.
Laurent looked back at them both once more, but then took a step closer to the frame. He put just his fingertips on the glass. “Could we speak, please?”
The moment he voiced his request, the smooth surface trembled beneath his touch, softly rippling toward the frame, like little waves in a pond.
Knight took a deep breath and crossed his arms on his chest, feet stable on the floor as he watched the tiny waves make metallic noises each time they dispersed. It was only then that he realized the room was deathly quiet. A single glance toward the windows had Knight almost stumbling when the nightly glow of the moon and the silhouettes of dark trees with the background of the sky were replaced by a matte black that seemed impenetrable. As if an invisible hand covered the glass with tar.
A dull sound resonated from the mirror when its surface also lost its natural glow, becoming gray as the low noises trembled over the walls and through the floor under Knight’s feet. The lamp above started a slow sway. And then the lights went off, and Knight barely kept in a yelp.
In the dark, the faint purplish shade of the mirror was the only source of illumination, casting a weak, livid shade on Laurent’s face and the hand that contrasted so sharply with the rippling glass. Knight’s brain pulsed as if it was about to explode within his skull, but with the silence becoming so complete it was causing Knight’s ears to ring, he was compelled to stay still and watch.
No sound was made when long claws pushed their way through the watery surface of the mirror. A long-fingered hand that was so black it sucked in all other color slid up Laurent’s forearm and grabbed it.
Laurent pulled back with a yelp, but only more of the creature appeared, making the room so warm Knight was sweating already. “Please, let go,” he whimpered, and Beast instantly wrapped his arms around him.