Home for Horny Monsters - Book 9
Copyright© 2026 by Annabelle Hawthorne
Chapter 4: Out with the Old
Action/Adventure Sex Story: Chapter 4: Out with the Old - When a mysterious sleeping sickness begins to spread across the country, Mike and the household get caught in the middle. Yet turning to magic might rouse worse entities than the slumbering victims...Will Mike and the powerful women by his side only awaken more nocturnal terrors than they can conquer? Welcome to your worst nightmare. Expect the Unexpected.
Caution: This Action/Adventure Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Mult Consensual Romantic BiSexual Heterosexual Fiction Fairy Tale Horror Humor Paranormal Ghost Magic Vampires Demons Harem Polygamy/Polyamory Anal Sex Cream Pie Exhibitionism Masturbation Oral Sex Sex Toys Size Violence
It was just after eight in the morning, and Mike had been up for half an hour. He sat on the eastern turret of his home with Abella and a young gargoyle named Bedrock. The youth had just turned five earlier in the week, which meant he was considered an adult within the clan.
Gargoyles, as long-lived as they were, had remarkably short childhoods. Mike hadn’t known this, but they emerged from their eggs in a quasi-adult form. Gargoyle children looked like shrunken down rock gremlins until they hit roughly five years of age. This is when secondary sexual characteristics emerged and they could be considered adults.
This particular young adult had become smitten with Abella. Now capable of breeding age, he had been quite upset that Abella had no interest in him. To make matters worse, Bedrock had been lurking on the roof when Mike had come home from his date, only to overhear Abella wistfully mention that she wished she could go on a proper date. This had apparently been the last straw for the youth and he had challenged Mike over the matter the moment he stepped outside to check on Cecilia.
While Mike hadn’t been keen to even acknowledge the adolescent gargoyle’s challenge, Abella had asked him to acquiesce. The gargoyles from Avalon were old-fashioned, and declining would be seen as a weakness on Mike’s part. None of the adults in their right mind would even consider such a thing, but this adult was new and obviously not yet in their right mind.
Bedrock seemed like an immature idiot. Up above, Slade clung to the turret as Bedrock’s second.
“You can do this, little brother,” he shouted, then looked at Mike. The gargoyle put his hands together in a pleading gesture and mouthed the words, “Please don’t kill him too much.”
“This is your last chance,” Mike replied, trying not to roll his eyes in annoyance. A regular human had no chance against a gargoyle, after all, which made this duel, challenge, whatever the fuck it was, even more petty.
Human and gargoyle relations in Avalon had been fairly one-sided. They never came into conflict with one another, so even the clan thought Bedrock was out of line.
Still, this was apparently the honorable thing for Mike to do.
“I do not know the meaning of the word defeat,” Bedrock declared, then flexed his muscles. He looked over at Abella to see if she noticed him. She rolled her eyes and shook her head in annoyance.
“Even if you win, I have no interest in you.” Her French accent made her sound ten times more annoyed. “I don’t know why you won’t get that through your thick skull.”
“That’s because my skull is ten times as thick as his!” Bedrock pointed at Mike, then flexed again.
Mike really hoped Callisto didn’t go through a phase like this. “Okay,” he replied. “If you really think this is necessary, then I accept your challenge.”
“Then choose.” Bedrock grinned, then looked at Abella again. “Shall it be a test of strength? Flight? Fire?”
“Combat,” Mike replied, which caught Bedrock off-guard. Slade had briefed him earlier on the clan’s rules. There was a limit to the challenges a gargoyle could make. With their declining numbers and slow population growth, they didn’t want clan members accidentally killing each other.
However, combat was the secret option. If a problem really couldn’t be solved without two gargoyles punching each other in the face, this was it.
“C ... combat?” Bedrock looked at his brother, then Abella. “You know you can’t use weapons, right?”
“Actually, you get to choose the weapons.” Mike looked at his fingers as if inspecting his nails. “Hammers? Swords? Guns? It’s a modern world, after all. And then I get to choose the terms of the battle. I will be choosing death.”
Bedrock actually paled, the dark lines of obsidian running across his body standing out. “Death?” he whispered.
“Sure. I’m the Caretaker, but I’m also the Conqueror and the King of the Fae. Abella is a special member of my family, and you failed to heed her words. I will absolutely use you as an example that I don’t like being challenged.” He grinned wickedly, then summoned a ball of lightning into his hand. “I intend to crush your corpse and use it to landscape some bushes in the maze as a reminder.”
“That ... uh...” Bedrock looked at his brother, who just shook his head.
“I can’t help you with this,” Slade said. “You flew into this mountain on purpose, even after we warned you.”
Mike had no intention of killing Bedrock. Slade and Abella both knew this. However, he absolutely didn’t want to deal with something like this again.
“Is there a problem?” Mike asked. “I have accepted your challenge and await the terms of weaponry.”
“You ... um...” Bedrock’s skull may have been ten times thicker than Mike’s, but even he saw the potential problem here. If he killed Mike, everything that had been built had a huge chance of falling apart. The boulder-brained idiot had essentially Kobayashi Maru’ed himself.
“A point of clarification. Does unarmed combat include magic?” Mike made the sky rumble overhead. “If not, then you can’t choose unarmed. My body is altered by magic, you see, so much so that I don’t know where the defining line is. Can I use lightning? Ice? What about my touch of death?”
“Touch ... of ... death?”
Mike nodded solemnly. “That one definitely counts as unarmed. It’s just a touch, after all.”
Abella hid her face behind her wings before Bedrock could see her smile. Slade just shook his head.
“If we don’t do unarmed, I would prefer swords. You’ll just have to wait while I go grab Excalibur.”
The gargoyle swallowed hard, making a sound like crunching gravel. Yeah, Bedrock had no idea what to do with himself. If he rescinded the challenge, he would lose a massive amount of honor, or whatever the clan called it.
Mike let the gargoyle sweat it out for a minute, then sighed. “Look, I really don’t have all day. If you don’t want to do combat to the death, perhaps I can choose something else.”
Bedrock almost looked relieved. “That ... I believe it would be in everyone’s best interest if nobody died here today.”
“But in exchange, I get to choose the conditions of victory.” Mike made the stern face he gave Grace whenever he caught her eating cookies on the ceiling. “Also, you’ll find a gargoyle girl your own age to pester. Somebody who is unattached.”
“That, um...” It was very clear to Mike that Bedrock realized this was also a trap, but he couldn’t figure out what or how. Mike couldn’t fly, and he definitely couldn’t breathe fire, so that left strength. The gargoyle made a face, his jaw flexing as if he were chewing on something.
Slade hopped down and smacked his brother on the back of his head. “Spit it out, rocks for brains.”
Bedrock glared at his brother. Mike wondered what the gargoyle version of testosterone was. “Okay, then. You may choose the challenge and the conditions.”
“Fantastic.” Mike held up a hand and Abella tossed him a piece of chalk. Bedrock grunted as Mike drew a five-foot circle on the roof and then jammed the chalk back into his pocket. “I choose a test of strength.”
Bedrock grinned. “The terms?”
“It’s rather simple. You will use only the strength of your body to move me out of this circle. Tail, arms, legs, I don’t care. In return, I will only use the strength of my body to remain inside the circle. If you can move me in twenty seconds, then you have beaten me.”
The gargoyle scoffed, his tail whipping back and forth. “I can do it in three.”
“Twenty will be fine. You will start three steps back from the edge of the circle. Your second will time us. If I am still in the circle, you take Abella at her word that she isn’t interested and piss off.” Mike looked past Bedrock at Slade. “Should I add that he has to leave the clan, too?”
“You could,” Slade admitted.
Bedrock whipped around. “I’m not going to lose,” he snarled.
All three of the grown-ups rolled their eyes together. Mike had no intention of banning Bedrock from his property. He was just a hard-headed youth struggling to adjust to this new world. “Then you have no problem if I assign you to a thirty-year security rotation on the tower.”
The rotation was something that the gargoyles had volunteered to do. Those who felt like Earth was far bigger than they were comfortable with now occupied Yuki’s former tower in the pocket world with the old centaur tribe. Those gargoyles had been happy enough to take up the rotation, because they could fly to their heart’s content and were quite happy with the tower itself.
It also meant that Mike always had eyes and ears on a particular mountain in that area. Though the gargoyles didn’t know exactly what they were supposed to be guarding, they did know it was extremely important.
Thirty years would have been cruel for a human, but Abella had assured him that this term wasn’t long for a gargoyle at all, and Bedrock would grow out of his rebellious phase by then.
“I accept these terms.” Bedrock immediately took up his position, his tail swishing from side-to-side. Mike frowned at the shingles that got ripped up in the process, but said nothing about it.
“Then I am ready when your second is.” He looked past Bedrock. Abella had already jammed a pair of noise-cancelling headphones over her ears. Slade was forced to make do with just clasping his palms over his own. Mike took a deep breath.
“Now!” he declared.
Mike released the banshee’s cry. Bedrock had only taken a single step forward when he cried out in pain and clutched at his head, now fully disoriented. Gasping, he tried to cover his head with his wings and crawl forward, but Mike simply sang louder. A couple of gargoyles who had been lurking nearby covered their heads in agony and hopped across the roof to get away.
Bedrock, out of a sense of preservation, crawled away. Slade signaled that the time was up, so Mike stopped singing. Almost immediately, Bedrock came stomping back over.
“You—” was all he managed to say before Slade tackled his brother from behind.
“Don’t you dare accuse him of cheating,” the gargoyle hissed. “As your second, even I agree that you have lost.”
Mike held up a hand to get their attention. “Strength comes in many forms. Clearly, Bedrock assumed it would be just the strength of his muscles against mine, and that is where his failure lies. I only said I would use my body, which does include my voice.”
“That isn’t what strength means!” Bedrock snarled.
“Oh? What does it mean, then?”
“It ... means...” Bedrock flexed his claws in frustration. “IT’S HOW STRONG YOUR BODY IS!”
Mike shook his head. “Even by your definition, you have failed. How would you like to define your loss? Did I test the strength of your resolve? Or perhaps the strength of your pain tolerance? These are both features of your body, Bedrock. Clearly, you have failed in regards to the strength of your character.”
Bedrock shoved at his brother and stepped toward Mike. Abella stepped in and tried to hold Bedrock in place.
“Let him go,” Mike said. All three gargoyles looked up at him.
“Are you sure?” Abella asked.
Mike nodded. “I have nothing to fear from him.”
Slade and Abella stepped away from Bedrock, who flared his wings and snorted angrily. He snarled at Mike, his thick brow furrowing.
“You should be afraid,” Bedrock grunted. “Stone outlasts flesh, Caretaker.”
“Sit.” Mike pointed down, and Bedrock’s body immediately fell into a crouch, powered by the divine command. Much of Mike’s divinity had gone to creating his Fae King copy, but a third of it had already returned over the last year.
“What—”
“STAY.” This time, a ripple of power emanated out from Mike like a shockwave, then immediately coalesced around the troublesome gargoyle. A golden aura briefly appeared along his stony skin, then vanished.
The gargoyle’s mouth opened in shock as he found himself unable to move. His whole body locked up, but he could still speak stiffly. “How are you doing this?”
“You’re trying to weasel out of a bargain with the King of the Fae while on top of his house. This is a place of power, Bedrock, and that power is mine.” Mike spoke softly as he knelt to be on eye level with Bedrock. He hadn’t wanted to use his authority in this manner, but it was time. “You shall obey this command until you can honestly reflect on your life choices and correctly identify the one who is at fault for them. Once you have done this, you will be free to begin your penance.”
“He could be up here for years.” Slade slapped his brother in the back of his head. “Decades, even.”
“It’s a big roof.” Mike sighed. “Let your people know to give him his space. Some lessons are harder than others, and he doesn’t need others coming to tease him while he thinks on my words. We learn from our failures, but some lessons require extra grace and time before they can fully sink in.”
Bedrock looked like he was going to say something, but lowered his gaze when Mike looked at him. The Caretaker placed his hand on the youth’s shoulder.
“You have great potential, Bedrock. Don’t waste it on the pettiness of youth. As a gargoyle, your hearing is excellent. But it’s time you learn to truly listen.” He yawned and looked at Abella. “If we’re done here, I need breakfast.”
Abella launched herself into the sky, then circled wide and swooped down to grab Mike’s extended hand. She carried him over the edge of the roof and glided in an arc that allowed her to set him on the ground before she landed just up ahead.
“Thank you for handling that,” she said, waiting for him to catch up to her. “Slade offered to beat him up for me, but I think it would have just further encouraged him.”
“Probably, but I understand his desires, you’re an attractive woman.”
Mike fell in step beside Abella as they walked toward the front door of the house. The Moon Tribe was out in force this morning, doing maintenance on the yard as the flowers blossomed. Over by the hedge maze, the gnomish council had formed and were holding a meeting about this year’s summer landscaping. They were one of the many smaller fae communities that now occupied the land around the house.
“How was your date?” Abella asked.
“Great in a lot of ways.”
The gargoyle stopped and turned to face him. “Is something bothering you?”
“Yeah.” Mike looked up at his home and smiled. “Last night made me realize that I don’t have enough time anymore. Something as simple as a date has become a huge event for the whole house.”
“You think we don’t date?” Abella slid her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. “I would far prefer to find somewhere cozy and watch a movie together, or maybe watch the rain fall. When I spoke last night, it was more the whimsy of the fantasy itself. We all want different things.”
He looked at Abella. “That’s true,” he admitted. “Not everyone needs what Leilani and Quetzalli wanted. But others...” His mind went to Tink. “Their options are limited by their appearance. I can’t just take them out for a night on the town.”
“If you ask me, the city is overrated. But I see your point.” Abella cocked her head to the side, clearly listening to something he couldn’t hear. “Neighbors are watching us again.”
The neighbors on Mike’s street couldn’t see the truth of the property. The geas concealed the home in such a way that it was anybody’s guess how it was viewed. To further conceal himself, he had bought several of the homes on his block, but there were still some holdouts, like those who lived immediately next door. “What are they saying this time?”
“The wife brought out some old scrapbooks that belonged to her mother. They’re puzzling over some of the pictures from eighty years back, a bit in disbelief that they’ve been living next door to a castle this whole time and never thought twice about it.”
“Ah. Well...” Mike laughed. “Did I tell you that we’ve gotten over a thousand wedding requests this month?”
“A thousand?” Abella’s eyes widened.
“Yeah. Eulalie wasn’t able to suppress all the posts and blogs that popped up about our home, so created a website where people could book events. She claimed that we’re booked solid for the next ten years. Nobody is waiting ten years to get married, so that gets rid of most of them. She then put Paige, Reed, and Booker on taking phone calls for a while to train them on modern social norms and communication.”
“That must have been quite the culture shock.”
He nodded. “They can’t believe how rude modern people are. The good news is that they can’t get fired, so they are allowed to say whatever they want. Eulalie has an audio file of Paige getting some bride-zilla so worked up that she kept slipping into another language while ranting. This woman kept calling back, so they eventually called in the customer service specialist.”
“Oh? Who is that?”
“Tink. She apparently made the woman cry. We got a one-star review on numerous websites because of it. Eulalie has a bot army that is constantly manufacturing four- and five-star reviews to account for the fake events we hold here.”
Abella snorted. “That’s a lot of work when you could just ignore everybody.”
“Sometimes it’s better to hide in plain sight.” Mike caught movement from the corner of his eye and saw Death strolling up the driveway. He gave Mike and Abella a cheerful wave, and they waited for him.
“Good morning, Mike Radley. Abella Radley.” The Grim Reaper’s hood was pulled back, exposing the top of his skull to the bright sun.
“Hey, bud. Thanks for all that you did last night. The girls had a really good time.”
“You are quite welcome.” Death grinned. “I am just returning home, myself.”
“From the club?” Mike asked.
“Oh, goodness, no. I left the club shortly after you did with Ms. Racquel.”
This immediately had his full attention. “You did?”
“Of course. She told me that she was getting off soon, and wondered if I would like to go someplace else. Ms. Racquel has always been very kind to me, and I had nothing else going on, so I agreed. She took me to a club with a microphone for a poetry slam.”
“You spent all night at a poetry slam?” Abella asked.
“Would you let me finish my story?” Death cleared his throat. “We stayed at that club for a couple of hours. Racquel shared much of her poetry with me during the slam. A lot of it was about ravens. Eventually, the club shut down and she invited me back to her place.”
“You...” Mike had no idea what to say. “Death. Did you just go on a date?”
“Of course not.”
“What did you do at her place?” Abella asked.
“Well, she gave me a tour of her apartment, then showed me her bedroom. We sat on her bed while she showed me all her tattoos.”
“Death. This sounds like a date.”
“It wasn’t.” Death lifted his head indignantly. “I will have you know that nothing inappropriate happened. In fact, she was feeling quite tired and told me that it was probably easier if I just stayed the night. We sat on her balcony and spoke until the sun came up, and then she asked if I would lie with her in bed for a bit. Once she fell asleep, I snuck out and came home.”
“Death.” Abella crossed her arms. “That sounds like a date.”
“It wasn’t a date.” Death scowled. “I have no interest in any relationships beyond friendship.”
“Does Racquel know that?” Mike asked.
The Grim Reaper lifted a finger to object, then paused. “Um ... I’m not entirely certain.” He scratched at the top of his bony pate which made a sound very similar to nails on a chalkboard. “I suppose I can’t say for certain.”
“What does she even see you as?” This was the question Mike was most curious about. People either avoided looking at Death entirely or mistook him for someone related to dying.
“I ... do not know that either.” Death sighed. “I am embarrassed to admit that I may have gone on a date without realizing it.”
“You wouldn’t be the first guy to miss signals.” Mike chuckled. “Next time you see her, maybe you should just ask.”
Death scratched at his skull, then nodded. “Yes. That would be appropriate. Even in a friendship, proper communication is key. Thank you, Mike Radley.”
Mike patted Death on the back, then bid Abella farewell. The gargoyle, not satisfied with a quick kiss, picked him up and wrapped her wings around him in a passionate display. She set him down with a grin, then flapped her wings and launched into the sky. He gave her a wave and walked inside the house.
Inside, at the breakfast table, Sofia was actually sitting in her oversized chair at the end. She smiled as Mike walked in, then gestured toward the food that was left over.
“Can I make you a plate?” she asked. “The kids, Tink, and Yuki already ate.”
“Is it just us?” he asked, taking the seat next to hers. “Oh, hey, breakfast burritos!”
“The ones on the yellow plate are sausage. Red plate is bacon.” She pointed at an empty platter nearby. “I had a bunch that were both, but Tink and the kids ate all of those first.”
“It’s okay.” He grabbed both a sausage and bacon burrito and set them on a clean plate he had grabbed. “Is there–”
“Coffee?” Sofia smiled and slid a cup toward him. “Poured it while you were coming in.”
“Thank you.” He grabbed some hot sauce and poured it into the corner of the plate. “Is today your day off from the Library?”
“It is,” she replied. “I know it’s a bit unscheduled, but I was hoping that maybe we could ... hang out.”
Mike nodded. “I think we can manage. Abella told me things are going well at the Library with your new trainees.”
“They are.” Sofia grabbed a burrito for herself. “I’m still finding a balance that works.”
“Good!” He gave her massive thigh an affectionate squeeze and turned toward his food. “Gentleman, I want you to know that it is an honor to eat you. And though my hand is forced and I must eat one of you first, know that this is a limitation of the human body alone and has nothing to do with my love for you.”
The cyclops hid her grin behind her own burrito. “You don’t think you could take two at once?”
“It wouldn’t be right,” he replied, then picked up the bacon burrito and took a big bite.
“You’d be the only adult in this house who couldn’t,” Sofia muttered. Mike immediately choked on his food, and grabbed for the glass of orange juice that was in front of Sofia.
“You did that on purpose,” he wheezed, the flavor of bacon now embedded in his sinuses.
“Me? No.” She traced his forearm with a finger. “But if you think I’ve been a bad girl–”
The dining room door slammed open and Lily slid in on stockinged feet, her tail acting to propel her the additional distance until she was able to casually spin in place and sit directly in Mike’s lap.
“Hello, Daddy,” she said in a sultry voice. She wiped some hot sauce off of his chin and licked her finger clean. “Did I hear somebody call me?”
The cyclops groaned. “I had him to myself for almost three minutes. Three whole minutes.”
Lily stuck her tongue out at Sofia. “Oh, please. I happen to know that three Tuesdays ago, you had him all to yourself for almost three hours.”
“That was for sex,” Sofia replied with a sniff. “We were satisfying some deep-seated carnal desires.”
“How scandalous!” Lily pressed her palm to her chest. “Next you’ll imply that women should read books and think for themselves!”
“Even the village cum dumpster knows how to read.” Sofia reached across the table and flicked Lily’s nipple through her shirt. “After all, you’re always advertising your services.”
Part of Mike wanted to tell them to stop fighting with each other. Another part of him definitely wanted to hear more. Lily was currently grinding on that part of him with her ass. The cyclops had an uncharacteristic smirk on her face, and it was clear she was enjoying herself as well.
Strike while the iron is hot, he thought to himself. “You know, there’s room in my heart for two bad girls,” he began. “I firmly believe that man evolved two hands for the sole purpose of spanking two bratty women at once.”
“Romeo!” Lily gasped and clasped her hands to her cheeks. “Everybody knows that the rule is one hand per buttcheek!”
“Now who is scandalous?” Sofia slid the sausage burritos toward Lily. “Made your favorite.”
“Hardly.” Lily scoffed as she slid off Mike’s lap and landed in the seat next to him. “If you had, these things would be stuffed with so much meat that they couldn’t close.”
Sofia leaned across the table and gave the burrito a squeeze. The end burst, causing sour cream and sausage to leak out. “Are you sure?”
The succubus snatched up the burrito and looked at Mike. “I take it back,” she said, licking cream out of the burrito. “Who can resist licking cream and sausage out of these delicate folds?”
“I would beg you not to lewd my food, but burritos are fairly bulletproof.” He turned back to his plate and gave his food an affectionate pat. “Don’t worry, guys, nobody could change how I feel about you.”
“What a nerd,” Lily stage-whispered to Sofia. “Dude needs to get laid.”
“So do I,” Sofia replied.
“Reeeeallly.” Lily grinned. “Did I ever tell you I have a thing for tall girls?”
“You’re always telling everyone that you’re the master debater.” Sofia leaned back in her seat. “Consider this your chance to persuade me.”
Lily immediately sat forward in her seat and began her speech with something about the Fall of Constantinople. Mike got another bite of his breakfast before his phone dinged several times one after another. Frowning, he decided to check real quick and make sure that it wasn’t an emergency.
It was a series of texts from Coach Terry. The man was clearly sending them one at a time.
Hey, Mr. Radley.
In loo of recent events
*loo
*lieu
Because of recent events
And information that has come to light, I’ve decided that it would be best for the team if Callisto did not play for the rest of the season.
I want everyone’s attention focused on the kids and their achievements.
Mike frowned at his phone. He looked over at Lily, who was now holding two burritos and making them kiss each other.
Is this about the fight?* Mike typed. I thought that was settled.
He watched as three dots appeared and disappeared from his text chat. Sensing a shift in the wind, he hastily gobbled down both of his burritos and started drinking his coffee. A quick glance at the women revealed that Lily was now wearing rock climbing gear. Sofia was leaning forward with both amusement and interest.
“And some say that it’s important to climb it because it’s there,” Lily said as Mike’s phone dinged again.
He looked down at his phone.
This is in regards to the lawsuit that has been filed between two parents, is what Coach Terry had texted. I spoke with the Program Director and she believed it would not be in the team’s best interest to allow Callisto to continue with the program especially with the attention it has already gotten.
“What lawsuit?” Mike said.
Lily immediately clammed up and Sofia turned toward him.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, then asked Coach Terry what he meant by a lawsuit. Again, a series of dots appeared, indicating that the man was typing for a very long time. When the text finally came through, he almost slammed his phone on the table.
I’ve been advised to discontinue contact regarding this matter. In loo of a refund, Callisto will be given a partial discount should he choose to enroll next season.
“What the fuck,” Mike whispered, then put his hands over his face and took a few deep breaths. Callisto had just gotten kicked off the soccer team. Why? What had happened?
“Mike?” Sofia gave him a gentle shake. “What’s wrong?”
“Callisto just got kicked off his soccer team.” Mike stared at his phone. “The Coach said something about a lawsuit creating a bunch of attention.” After a moment, he grabbed his phone.
“What are you doing?” Lily asked.
“If there’s a lawsuit, it has to be from that other kid’s family.” He shook his head in frustration. “I’m going to have Eulalie figure out where the guy lives and go talk to him man to man.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” Lily said as she took a step away from the table.
“Why not?”
“Well, once somebody sues you, I doubt a simple mano-a-mano bro chat is going to fix things. Unless he wants to watch you fuck his wife in front of him. That would probably work.”
He stood to leave the table. “I still have to try. He’s a dad, too. I won’t apologize for what Callisto did, the kid had it coming, but maybe I can talk some sense into him.”
“Oh, you really can’t,” Lily said with a grimace on her face.
“Why not?”
“Because you already spoke with him yesterday.” The succubus grinned nervously as her tail swished behind her. “He came here with bodyguards and everything.”
“What?”