“I’m sorry that we didn’t believe you. Zoey has been a positive part of this society for a long time. We wanted to hear your side before acting. Once her demeanor changed, I knew,” he said in a hard voice. The man is barely holding his anger in at this point.
“I understand, but I wasn’t going to let her put me or my new family in danger.” My voice is equally as angry and he simply nods in response.
“How did one reaper let in the demon leader? I never saw him.” One of the councilors who always opposes me speaks up with a sneer to match his tone. I simply flip him off and Sam coughs to cover his laughter.
“She explained that, and if you didn’t let your biased opinion of this girl get in the way, you would have heard,” the Head Councilor snaps at him. “She explained that he was stealing the essence of souls until it allowed him to slip through undetected.”
“Yes, he consumes their energy until they disappear. His demons share a connection to him, and I think that’s how he was able to get them through. It’s also the reason why they needed so many souls,” I elaborate. “We need a binding rune I can somehow brand onto him. If it can keep him from using portals, then they, in theory, should all be stuck there as well.” I explain our idea of how to handle the demons. The councilors start talking amongst themselves and I turn to Sam.
“Well handled,” he compliments with a soft kiss on my cheek. I smile up at him, but my body is still tense after dealing with Zoey.
“Councilman Brent will be working on this. He says Thea has already been on it as well. I suggest we work together to find such a rune and then discuss a tactic to get it onto him.” Just like that we’re dismissed. Sam and I hurry out of the chambers, refusing to get stopped by one of the councilors.
“Want to escape for a minute?” he asks with a conspiratorial wink, his voice full of mischief. I nod enthusiastically. He pulls me into an empty office and calls a portal. I step through after him without question. I could use a break after last night, even if we just got back from the beach.
We step out of the portal into a huge forest. I’m not sure where we are exactly, but huge pine trees surround us. The sound of nature fills the air and I take a deep breath of fresh, mountain air, letting it soothe my soul.
“I always pictured you as a lumberjack. Where’s your flannel shirt and ax?” I ask with a smirk. He snorts and rolls his eyes at me.
“Ha ha. Though I definitely can become one if you want me to. I just never knew you had a mountain man kink.” He stops talking and winks at me, my laughter filling the air. “I have a cabin here. Sometimes you just need somewhere to get away from it all.” He points between the trees and I spot a little wooden structure.
I take off at a run, ready to see a little piece of Sam. The small log cabin is adorable and looks like he took it straight out of a Christmas movie. The walls and floors are actual logs, everything from the railings to the window frames are raw wood. I don’t even bother to try the door, assuming it will be locked, even out here in the middle of a huge forest.
“You can go in. I don’t lock it in case someone gets lost in the woods,” he says. The fact he looks out for the humans lost in the woods makes me love him even more.Whoa, love?
“Did you make it yourself?” I ask as we step inside. The furniture is as raw as the building itself. The only refined pieces in the room are a refrigerator, wood stove, and the cushions on the couch.
“I did, though Liam and Mason eventually helped me,” he admits, looking self-conscious for a moment while I inspect everything.
“Do you all have things like this?” I ask, gesturing to the cabin. He shakes his head no.
“We choose to live a bit outside of the box. Kind of like the newest reaper in the city,” he says pointedly and I chuckle. He isn’t wrong. I couldn’t accept the pristine, white living space and just doing my job and nothing else. Even if it’s an afterlife, we deserve more. “I’m the only one with a permanent place, though.”
Sam steps towards me and pulls me toward him roughly. I stumble into him and he kisses me so thoroughly I can barely stand. Needing him, I jump up and wrap my legs around his hips so I don’t have to stretch so far to meet his lips.
He backs me towards a wall and pins my hands above my head. I moan as his lips meet my neck. Just when we start getting heavy into our make-out session his phone starts to ring. He lets out a low groan as my phone joins in, meaning we can’t just ignore them.
“Hello?” I say into it with a sigh. I hate to answer, but the others don’t know where we went.
“Hey, I know you guys stepped away, but you need to get back. The demons are going crazy in the human layer,” Liam’s voice is bordering on frantic, which has me springing into action.
“On our way,” I promise before disconnecting. “We have to go, demons have breached the human layer and are wreaking havoc on the humans.”
“Fuck, let’s go. Rain check,” he says with one final kiss before pulling me through a portal. We step out into the hall near the council chambers to find Liam and Mason waiting.
“There you are. Demons have been takingallof the souls. We have a zero soul count today. Luz we need you to go meet Thea and try and find some kind of binding spell. Sam, we need you in the council chambers to convince them to let us go with Luz to bind him,” Liam barks the orders out and despite a clenched jaw from Sam, we both listen.
I find Thea and Councilman Brent discussing something heatedly when I walk into the library. For once it has the cluttered look with books lining tables, and apparently Thea talked someone into comfortable chairs.
“What have you found?” I ask, interrupting their little spat. Thea looks at me and smiles.
“I found something, but Dad here thinks it won’t work.” She explains, hiding her laughter from Brent. I hold back a laugh at her nickname for him.
“I’m not your father! If I was, then maybe you would listen to me,” he rages. “This won’t work.” He throws his hands up in frustration and walks to his adjoining office.
“I wouldn’t listen to you even if you were my father. Luz, look at this,” she calls out before sliding an open book towards me.
I sit down on the fluffy couch and start reading. The chapter describes a special binding rune that can exile someone to a single realm. It shows an intricately drawn rune circle, more so than my own markings.