Layla woke to a soft knock on her door and looked up just as Hunter stuck his head in. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course.” Layla sat up, pulling the blankets with her.

“I’ve just finished my watch,” Hunter explained. “Cord has everything in hand. How are you feeling about tomorrow?”

“Nervous,” Layla admitted. “I wish you could come with me.”

Hunter nodded. “Me, too, but Sophie seems pretty adamant.”

“I don’t understand why. I know demons and witches have a history, but they should know you well enough by now to know that you’re good people. Why is Sophie still so against this?”

“You’ve got to understand that these prejudices took generations to create. They’re not going to go away overnight, Layla, and that’s if they go away at all.”

“Maybe it would be better just to talk to her. Tell her we’re together. I may belong to her coven, but she doesn’t own my life. She can’t tell me who I can and can’t date.”

“That’s your choice. I’ll support you in whatever you decide.”

Layla didn’t know what made sense. Telling Sophie could set everything straight and mean she and Hunter didn’t have to hide anymore. It could also mean disaster. What if Sophie told Layla she had to choose between Hunter and the coven? Layla couldn’t imagine leaving Hunter, but the coven had already come to mean so much to her. She’d be devastated to lose them.

“Let’s just see how things go for now,” she said slowly. She knew they couldn’t hide their relationship forever, but maybe now wasn’t the best time to address it. Perhaps once they’d caught the witch killer, she’d take it up with her high priestess. For now, she was just happy being with Hunter.

“I think there’s hope,” Hunter said unexpectedly. “You don’t know quite how unusual it was for Sophie even to make this agreement with us. Most witches wouldn’t trust a demon to be around while they sleep. Most everyone, actually, wouldn’t trust us that much. Sophie’s quite progressive, for a witch.”

If this was progressive, Layla thought she’d hate to see what conservative looked like. “What on earth happened between witches and demons that caused this level of distrust?”

“I can tell you some of the history, if you’d like…”

“Please.” Layla pulled aside the blankets and gestured for Hunter to snuggle into bed with her. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened.

“Immortals aren’t that different from humans in nature. Like humans, we have a history littered with wars and power struggles. Since we don’t die of old age, there are enough of us left who have been through the violent times firsthand to be highly motivated to stop our kind from repeating their mistakes.

“That’s where humans have a disadvantage. The ones who have seen the horrors of war die, eventually, and those who follow forget the stories. Those of us who have been through it never forget. There has been peace between us for quite some time now, but it wasn’t always like that.

“There’ve been too many conflicts to tell all in one night. One of the most famous was the rift between the fairies and vampires. The vampires were turning more and more humans every year. Their numbers were increasing dramatically. The fairies didn’t want their territories encroached upon by ‘beings of darkness’, as they called the vampires, but the vampires were spreading out more and more.

“Fairies have magic of their own, and they started an aggressive movement against the vampires, who responded. At first, the rest of the supernatural community tried to ignore it, but it started affecting everyone, and people started to take sides.

“The demons and succubae sided with the vampires. The witches sided with the fairies. Since witches are the most powerful of all of us, your side won. There was an uneasy peace, but as you can imagine, a lot of grudges were held. People who had had family killed in the war wanted those responsible to suffer.”

Layla stroked the back of Hunter’s hand, listening intently. She’d never been a huge fan of history classes in school, but if they’d been anywhere near this fascinating, or told so simply, history would have been her favorite subject.

“One of the demon commanders was killed by one of the most powerful witches,” Hunter continued. “He was loved by his people, and the demons resented the witch for taking him out. They planned an assassination attempt. It succeeded, which, of course, reignited the conflict.

“Having just witnessed the power of the witches firsthand, other immortals didn’t want to be on the losing side again. Everyone else stood with them, and the demons were alone. If we wanted to survive, we needed to go to extreme measures. Things got pretty nasty on both sides. Demon leaders publicly tortured any enemy combatant they found. Witches sent sickness spells down to the underworld, killing many innocent women and children. Vampires tried to turn demons. Demons laced human water supplies with a substance poisonous to vampires, killing them when they fed.

“Going into a full account would take all night, but believe me, there was plenty of fault on all sides. Over the years, demons have gotten a bad name with other immortals. To survive, we’ve had to become tough, ruthless at times. As time passed, we’ve started working jobs for other immortals, but that’s taken time.

“Many of us will take a job regardless of whether it’s an assassination or a rescue mission. Some are more selective. We’re very good at what we do, though there’s still a lot of distrust toward us. More so with witches than other races. Vampires and fairies have been known to hire demons regularly enough, but witches have typically steered clear of us. Until now.”

It boggled Layla’s brain to think of all the history between Hunter’s people and hers. No wonder her coven had had such a bad initial reaction when demons had turned up on their doorstep.

“What about you?” she asked. “What part did you play in all this?”

“I was born in a time of war and spent my childhood learning to fight. I was in a few minor skirmishes, but by the time I was fully trained, the war was almost over. A tense time came when no one was sure if the peace would hold. We were constantly on watch, guarding every entrance to the underworld, waiting for an attack. When the peace held and other immortals started outsourcing demons for their dirty work, I went along with it like everyone else. Running those jobs made me a better fighter, and for a time, things seemed pretty stable. Now, I’m not so sure.

“The underworld is disappearing, there’s a witch killer on the loose, unlikely alliances are being made… it’s a very uncertain time. We must all do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t tip over into a time of war. There hasn’t been a full-scale immortal war in hundreds of years. The devastation that occurs with something like that is staggering. Of course, humans don’t know what’s happening, but they still get caught in the crossfire. It’s madness.”

Layla didn’t know what to say. If it did come to that, to a time of war, what would she do? If she was called to fight against demons, how could she ever raise a hand against Hunter? How could he ever do the same against her?

“Don’t spend too much time worrying about it,” Hunter said, seeing her expression. “We all do the best we can. Wasting time on what-ifs won’t help anyone.”

She knew he was right, but not worrying was easier said than done.

Layla wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know the answer to her next question, but she asked it anyway.

“What kind of jobs did you do?”

Hunter grimaced. “The kinds you’d expect. There have been plenty of guard jobs, like this one. That’s pretty common.”

“And?”

His eyes came up to meet hers. “Don’t judge me, okay? I’ve changed over the years. There aren’t many demons who are picky about what jobs they choose. I just went with what my friends did, thinking it was all right. It was only when I started meeting demons who wouldn’t do anything for money that I began to realize that maybe some jobs should be out of bounds, at least for me. But I won’t lie to you.”

Layla waited, expecting the worst.

“Some of the jobs have been stealing—money, magical items, that kind of thing. Others have been intimidation, which usually involved some form of pain or violence.

“There have been three assassination jobs, too,” Hunter said quietly. “Two were fairies. One… one was a witch.”

“Who was it?” Layla’s voice was shaking, but she took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

“Her name was Stella. She was the leader of a British coven. She and her coven were making some controversial decisions, and the vampires wanted her removed, to be replaced with a leader who’d have different ideas. It was quick, Layla. She didn’t suffer.”

Layla nodded. She’d known, of course, that Hunter had done jobs before, and she’d even had an inkling of the kind of jobs he might have been involved in, but it was still shocking to hear. She opened her mouth to ask how he’d done it, how he’d snuffed out the life of another person, but then closed it again.

“It’s your past,” she said instead. “I don’t hold it against you. As you said, you’ve changed.” She still didn’t like the idea, but she did know that the Hunter she knew would never kill anyone unless it was a matter of his life being taken instead or the life of someone he cared about.

Hunter’s body relaxed beside her. He leaned over to kiss her, and Layla responded eagerly.

A noise from downstairs broke them apart and left them glancing anxiously toward the door.

“You should get your coven to teach you some privacy spells,” Hunter suggested. “Room silencers, extra door locks… they’d come in handy.”

“Yes, but what would I tell them when they asked why I wanted to learn those kinds of spells?” Layla said half-jokingly. “You don’t want me to tell them it’s so we can have wonderful sex, do you? Sophie’s suspicious enough as it is.”

“Well, I guess it’ll be easy enough to get time alone when we get our own place. What is it?”

“I’m just worried,” Layla said, the moment of levity gone with Hunter’s mention of serious decisions to come. “I want to be alone with you—more than you can imagine. When we move out, though, we’ll certainly have to tell Sophie. She’ll want to know where I’ve gone, and I won’t lie to her. I don’t want them to hate me, though. For the first time in my life, I feel as if I fit in somewhere. It’s wonderful.”

Hunter smiled gently. “That’s how I felt when I found Phoenix and the others. They were the first demons I’d met who took more than payment into account when choosing jobs. They showed me that we can be heroes, in our own way, by choosing to do things that protect and preserve, rather than destroy.

“Over time, they came to trust me more and more. It turns out I’m good at this kind of work—much better at it than the previous things I did, in fact. A few years ago, they made me their leader. I was the one who suggested we come up to the surface, though I didn’t order them. We all chose for ourselves.”

“So, what kinds of jobs do you do now?”

“Well, protection jobs are our main revenue. Before we came to you, we spent a few weeks trailing the daughter of a high-ranking fairy, a friend of their queen. A rejected suitor had turned into a dangerous stalker, and she was in danger. We protected her much as we are you, and we laid traps for the stalker.

“Eventually, we caught him and handed him over to the fairy authorities, but not before he tried to burn the house we were staying in to the ground. The fairies don’t have the death penalty, but their laws for violence against their own are harsh. He’s probably not going to get out of prison until he’s an old man.”

“So, immortals have separate prisons from humans?”

“Mostly. If an immortal breaks a human law and is caught by the authorities, most races will ensure that they cooperate and go to human prison—usually by threatening to throw them in an immortal prison if they use their powers to escape, and most immortal prisons are a lot harsher than human ones.

“I’m not sure how it works with witches, but with demons, there’s a loose set of laws, and if anyone breaks them, they’re brought before the Council of Twelve. Members of the council are elected every year, and they pass judgment on many criminals. Our prisons are deep in the underworld, in the most unpleasant areas.

“Vampires have a different system altogether. If one of them breaks their laws, their feeding rights are restricted and monitored. If that fails to bring them back into line, they’re turned back into humans.”

“I didn’t even know that was possible.”

“You also didn’t know vampires existed till not long ago,” Hunter joked back, nudging her shoulder with the reminder, and she nodded—it was funny how quickly all this had become her world.

“In any case, it’s difficult to change them back, so it’s not often done, but it’s considered a hideous punishment. It’s basically killing them, because all humans die, but allowing them the gift of a normal lifespan before they go. Many vampires elect instant death rather than living as a human.”

“What about succubae?” Layla asked, her mind racing with all of the information.

“I’m not sure how their laws work. Your coven might know. Demons typically don’t have strong bonds with other races of immortals, so my knowledge is somewhat limited.”

Layla was already making a mental note to ask Sophie in the morning. She wondered how witches were disciplined. Would her relationship with Hunter be enough to earn her some kind of punishment?

“They…they won’t try to throw us in jail or anything, when we tell them, right?” she asked hesitantly.

Hunter didn’t speak for a moment, but pulled her closer to his body. “I don’t know. They have no jurisdiction over demons, so they can’t do anything to me, but I doubt my own people would be too happy to hear about us. Phoenix and the others don’t mind, but they’re not really typical demons.

“You’d be subject to coven law, but I wouldn’t worry too much. Covens are close and are fiercely protective of their members. I don’t imagine disciplinary action would be used for anything but the most severe cases, ones that hurt the coven, and we clearly aren’t hurting them.”

Layla nodded, trying not to worry. As Hunter said, worrying would do no good. And she was tired of talking. She leaned in to kiss him again.

Hunter moved, pulling her even closer so that their bodies were entwined. His hands were on her back in another moment, his mouth gently pushing hers open. Layla lost herself in the kiss, and nothing existed except her and Hunter. For a long perfect moment.

When they finally broke apart, they were both out of breath and flushed.

“We should probably get some sleep,” Hunter said. “You’ll need your rest for tomorrow.”

Layla’s stomach lurched at the reminder. She didn’t want to leave Hunter. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, though.

“You’re mine,” Hunter told her, seeing the thought run past her eyes. “We’ll always find our way back to each other.”

Layla liked the sound of that, at least. She snuggled up into Hunter’s arms, holding onto the immediate feeling that everything was right with the world.