I didn’t know if it was, but I didn’t want them to sit and feel sorry for me, so I coaxed more fight stories from them for the next half-hour or so as a way to distract them and make amends for not paying attention earlier.

I left shortly thereafter, wondering about whether it really was time to shake things up a little and move. Seth had already shaken my life up for the worse, and part of me wanted to rid myself of all those memories. Changing everything that I’d had while we’d been together—like my apartment—could be a way to do it. A clean cut. If I was really desperate, I could even consider switching jobs or cities. I didn’t know if I was ready to go that far. It all depressed me.

“Hey, succubus. You sure know how to keep a guy waiting.”

I’d been walking up to my building without really paying attention, too lost in my own thoughts. Now, in the faint glow of the light above the building’s entrance, I saw Dante sitting on the steps. His black hair was brushed away from his face, and he wore a light coat over his usual attire of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He probably had a watch on under there too but almost never wore any other ornamentation or jewelry. I mustered a smile for him.

“Sorry,” I said. “I called you earlier.”

“And I called you back.”

“Did you?” I pulled out my cell phone and saw three missed calls from him. “Oh, shit. I had the ringer off. Sorry.”

He shrugged and stood up. “It’s okay, just part of the endless torment I go through for you. One mysterious message saying you’re going to Vancouver indefinitely. Another saying you’re back but don’t know for how long. Then no answer.”

I realized I hadn’t even thought much about how this international travel would affect Dante. That kind of radio silence would have never happened with Seth. I wouldn’t have rested until we’d made contact and would have quickly noticed the ringer problem. With Dante, I’d left the voice-mail message and promptly put him out of my mind.

I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and unlocked the door. His face was scratchy and overdue for a shave. “Sorry,” I said again. “How’s it been going?”

“Same as it always does. Had a couple of drunk teens come in for palm readings last night, so that was a windfall. I could have taken you out someplace nice for a change.”

“It would have beat what I was doing instead.”

As we went upstairs to my apartment, I briefly gave him an overview of what was going on. As someone attuned to the paranormal world, there was little about demonic affairs that surprised him. I’d met Dante back in December, during the mess with Niphon. As part of his plan, Niphon had used a chaos entity named Nyx to suck energy from me in my sleep via realistic, emotionally charged dreams. Not knowing what was happening, I’d come to Dante for dream interpretation. He’d been abrasive, sarcastic, and infuriating throughout the entire process yet had steadily grown on me—until I learned the truth about his past. He’d done horrible things—hurt people, killed people, betrayed his own principles—in the name of selfish desires and a quest for power. Those atrocities had left him with an empty soul and bitter self-loathing. I’d loathed him too and swore I was done with him.