King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

King of the Underworld

476

Adrik

“Yes! I’m on fire!” he said quietly again, making me laugh. I was happy to make him some money, or whatever they were betting with, while we talked. “Viktor will come around. You’ll see. Kostya talks to him nightly. This last time that Stephen helped him worked much better than the first time. He’s going to need it one more time, but then he should be good. Sephie helped him understand how his actions have come across to everyone else. He feels much better about everything, which means he’ll be much more comfortable around everyone very soon.”

“What happened to his demon?” I asked, curious,

He sighed. “He doesn’t know this, so let’s keep this between us, shall we?” I nodded in agreement. “When he asked for it to be taken away, the only choices that Kostya had were to send it back to H ell, where it may or may not ever get the chance to escape again. Or it could go to a sort of purgatory, if you will. Purgatory in the traditional, religious sense, isn’t a real place, but there is a sort of in between Earth and H ell. Kostya sent Viktor’s demon there. If Viktor ever reaches the point that he’s ready to join the rest of you, then it’ll be your jobs to fetch his demon from that

purgatory.”

to be that demon? Are demons

a very old, very powerful demon with you. It had to be so. You’ve had the same demon over many lifetimes.

then how is it still working

addition to this lifetime. He’s so grateful to Viktor for helping him to clear

of Viktor’s demon.“

demon. “Is it safe wherever it is? Can

walk where it is, but Kostya keeps an eye on it. Viktor is fearful that he could tame the demon, which is why he asked for it to be taken away. Kostya is trying to help him have the confidence to be able to handle it, but it might not happen in this lifetime. His demon isn’t in so much danger that it can’t last a while. We help out when we can, but it’s really quite scrappy. It’s doing

fine. So far.”

demon. You’ve completely missed the part where your light is so strong that even your demon prefers to leave the shadows now. You’re worried for the safety of a demon just to be clear what we’re talking about here.” He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, “you’re all feeling the same way about your demons that you feel about each other

now, aren’t you?”

know Sephie is for sure, too. I’m almost positive Ivan is as well. I can feel the difference between Sephie’s demon and her now. Her demon got mad at me