Remiel inclines his head gracefully and he realizes, belatedly, that they have never even been properly introduced. But then why would they be? He mustn’t forget the fact that this creature has been torturing Liv for weeks now, regardless of this truce or whatever it is they have going on.
“Why the summons?” Remiel asks.
“I can’t get to Liv. Can you check on her?” he asks bluntly.
“You are worried about her? She is fine,” he says dismissively.
“How do you know?” Lincoln asks.
He shrugs and says, “I checked on her myself not a few moments ago.”
“Oh.” Now this is really creeping him out. A few days ago, he was trying to kill her and now he is checking on her well-being?
“Ask your question,” Remiel snaps at him.
“Err, no question,” he says, caught off guard.
“You want to know what has changed, don’t you? You and all the rest of them,” Remiel says.
Lincoln shrugs and says, “Maybe. It just seems a sudden change from the two of you being at each other’s throats, to you helping her.”
“Aefre and I have spoken about it. If she chooses to tell you then so be it. I am sure she will, what with you being her little secret-keeper and all,” he adds slyly.
He raises his eyebrow at that, how does Remiel know about that?
Remiel answers his unspoken question, “I, too, have been inside her head.” He sighs. “What a catastrophe. How she manages even basic functions with those racing thoughts is beyond me.”
Lincoln snickers despite himself. “I was just thinking the same thing myself.”
They smile at each other. He wants to say it’s sinister, but it’s not quite all there.
“Could you just check on her again, please?” he asks after a few awkward moments.
Remiel narrows his eyes at him and says, “I will do you one better and show you, for a price.”
“Why is everything a sale to you?” Lincoln asks, irritated.
“I have long since lost the ability to do favors.” He shrugs as if it is no big deal.
“Well, maybe you should learn again if you are going to be hanging around here. It seems pretty clear that Liv is not going to kill you, so I can only assume, knowing her as I do, that she is going to try and fix you.”
“I already told her, I don’t need fixing,” he says in a huff, and Lincoln grins smugly, having pinned the tail neatly in place on the donkey…err, Demon-Spirit thing.
“And yet, she will try. Whatever your issues were and now are not, if you hurt her again, I will find a way to do you in myself.”
“Indeed,” Remiel says dryly. “But I can assure you, Mr. Anderson, that my intentions are honorable.”
It comes as no surprise that this beast knows his last name. He would bet there are very few things he doesn’t know about anything. As for his intentions being honorable, Lincoln has his serious doubts about that.
“In that case, you should show me that Liv is okay out of the goodness of your heart. Err, if you still have one?” Lincoln asks, wrinkling his forehead. “I mean no offense,” he quickly adds as Remiel’s face goes thunderous, “but I am struggling to grasp just what exactly it is you are.”
Remiel’s face goes melancholy in a microsecond and he thinks he runs as hot and cold as the Vampires. “I sometimes wonder that too,” he says. “Very well, you have me convinced. I can see that you really care about her. The others…”
“The others what?” Lincoln presses, curious as to what he was going to say.
“Have ulterior motives,” Remiel says with a frown. “Not that you don’t have your own agenda, of course, but theirs are, hm, well…to put it nicely, not what she is looking for.”
“What do you mean?” he asks and sits forward, now intrigued.