The quiet coffee shop smelled of roasted beans and cinnamon, a stark contrast to the tension crackling in the air. Aidan barely noticed the warmth of the mug in his hands as he focused on Damon, ignoring Penn's piercing gaze from across the table.
"Where were you, Damon?" Aidan's voice was calm but firm, each word measured.
Damon exhaled, fingers curling into his palm. "I was with her," he said simply, nodding toward Penn.
Aidan's eyes narrowed. "Where with her?"
Before Damon could answer, Penn leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "New York City," she supplied, her tone clipped. "He left Grandpa behind at the first inconvenience."
Damon's jaw clenched. "I didn't know what was going on!" he snapped, the frustration in his voice clear. "He asked to go to you because my presence was attracting the evil spirit to Aidan."
"You should have stayed by him!" Penn hissed, leaning forward, her voice barely above a whisper but laced with fury. "And not be led by your dick."
Damon opened his mouth to argue, but Aidan cut in before another screaming match erupted.
"What exactly is haunting me?" he asked, his stomach knotting at the words.
Penn's expression darkened. "Koschei the Immortal," she said flatly. "An evil spirit sent by Vittal."
Aidan's brows furrowed. "Vittal... Your grandfather's brother?"
Penn nodded, her lips pressed into a tight line.
"You know about him?" she asked, her gaze sharpening.
"Yeah. Mr. Albu told me about him," Aidan said. "But why the hell is he after me?"
Penn exhaled sharply, as if she were holding back an entire storm of emotions. "He's after this demon," she said, jerking her chin toward Damon. "He sent the evil spirit to track him down. But the entity tracks Damon's energy source, and out of everyone around Damon, you had the most traces of consumption."
Aidan's face heated but at the time the implication made his blood run cold.
"That's why it was following you around," Penn continued. "You led the spirit to my grandfather."
Aidan felt his stomach plummet.
I led it to Mr. Albu?
His breath hitched as his fingers tightened around his coffee cup.
"It wasn't your fault, Aidan," Damon said, his voice low, reassuring. "You couldn't have known. You were a victim in all of this. The old man dragged you into it."
"Don't you dare fault him!" Penn snapped, her eyes blazing. "He wanted you, Damon. And my grandfather died trying to save you."
Damon's entire body tensed. His fingers curled into fists, and he ground his teeth together. "Then why the hell are you saving me if you think I am bad one here?" he gritted out.
Penn's expression twisted into something bitter. "Because I made him a promise," she spat. "Or I would have handed you over to Vittal a long time ago."
Damon let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "And I would've killed that bastard if your grandfather hadn't begged me to spare his his life." His voice was colder now, edged with something dangerous. "A year ago, when he got me from him."
Penn scoffed, shaking her head. "Grandpa always had a tendency to see the good in people," she muttered. "If it were up to me, I would've killed you and ended this whole fucking fiasco."
Aidan, who had been clenching his jaw through their exchange, slammed his cup onto the table.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you are extremely annoying?" he snapped, pulling their attention back to him. "Now, do you actually have any idea what you're dealing with?"
Penn smirked but said nothing.
Aidan turned back to Damon. "So... Her grandfather's brother wants you," he said, then looked at Penn. "But he's coming after me. Why?"
"Because you're an easier prey," Penn answered matter-of-factly. "If he gets hold of you, Damon will come automatically."
Aidan narrowed his eyes at Damon, searching his face.
Damon looked... guilty. His gaze shifted to the table, avoiding Aidan's eyes.
"So Vittal is after me because..." Aidan's voice trailed off, realization sinking in. "Because Damon cares about me?"
Penn opened her mouth, but Damon's hand shot out, covering her mouth before she could answer.
"Yes," Damon said quickly, cutting her off. "That's it. That's why I came back. We need to keep you safe."
Penn pulled Damon's hand away, rolling her eyes. "And catch the entity haunting you," she added.
Aidan nodded, but another question was already burning in his mind.
"But why did the spirit possess Mrs. Barik, of all people?" he asked.
Penn sighed, rubbing her temple. "Because it can only possess those who already have an empty soul," she explained. "A soul devoid of empathy. And love. Mrs. Barik must've been a lonely woman filled with bitterness. It matched the evil entity's resonance." She shrugged. "She was easier to possess than someone like you or me."
For the first time in days, Aidan felt a pang of pity for Mrs. Barik. She had been cruel, but... she hadn't deserved that.
"What are you going to do with Vittal once you catch the entity?" Aidan asked. He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice in case Penn planned to say something... violent.
"Nothing," Penn said simply. "He's already dead."
Aidan blinked. "What?" he asked, more confused than ever. "Then why the hell are we worried?"
Penn exhaled through her nose. "Because he's free from his mortal body."
Aidan stared at her. "What does that even mean?"
Penn groaned, throwing her head back as if she couldn't believe she had to explain this. "He had cancer, okay?" she said, irritated. "And he didn't want to die. So, before the disease could take him, he performed a ritual that separated his soul from his body."
Aidan's stomach twisted.
"He's hunting Damon because he needs his heart to become immortal," Penn continued. "We just need to make sure he doesn't get Damon before Saturn aligns with Earth two months from now. If we can hold him off until then, we can make sure his soul is forced out of this realm and sent to Hell."
Aidan turned to Damon, his chest tightening.
"You shouldn't have come," he said, voice barely above a whisper.
Damon exhaled, like he'd been holding his breath this entire time. "How could I not?" he murmured. "I could sense the stress you were in." His voice softened. "I could almost hear your heart thumping with fear every night." His hand slid across the table, finding Aidan's. "I wanted to come back sooner, but I needed time. I was waiting for Vittal to die so his powers became weaker and I would come back and save you."
The moment their hands touched, Aidan felt alive.
Like he had been living under a dull, gray sky for so long, only to be suddenly drenched in warm, golden sunlight.
His nerve endings tingled. His breathing became unsteady. A heat curled low in his stomach, traveling down his spine. His body reacted before his mind could catch up.
"For fuck's sake, you Incubus—DO NOT glamour him!"
Penn yanked Damon's hand off Aidan's, breaking the trance.
Aidan gasped, his entire body still buzzing with awareness.
For the first time in days, he saw an actual emotion on Penn's face.
Anger.
"I told you not to touch him!" she snapped. "This is exactly what I was afraid of. And look at you—glamouring him the first chance you get."
Damon blinked, shaking his head. "Sorry," he murmured, eyes still fixed on Aidan, dark with something unreadable. As if seeing him for the first time.
"I will keep you safe," Damon said, his voice low and steady, his fingers tightening around Aidan's wrist as if grounding him. "You don't have to live in constant fear anymore."
Aidan wanted to believe him—wanted to let those words settle deep into his bones and offer him peace. But before he could even react, Penn scoffed.
"You're the reason he's in this mess," she snapped, crossing her arms. "So stop trying to act like some noble savior now. You're nothing but a—"
"Enough, woman," Damon growled, his voice dropping to a chilling depth, resonating with something dark and ancient. The temperature in the air seemed to shift, an invisible force pressing against Aidan's chest. Damon's eyes darkened, the pupils swallowing the color whole, his presence becoming heavier, almost suffocating. "I've had enough of your taunts. You're here to help him, so do your damn job. That's what your grandfather would have wanted." His tone was sharp as a blade. "Stop acting like a brat before I have to remind you of your place."
Penn's lips parted in defiance, her fists clenching. "Don't you dare—"
But before she could finish, her entire body seized up. Her back arched unnaturally, her fingers trembling mid-air as if she had been struck by an invisible force. The blood drained from her face, leaving her pale as death, her wide, unseeing eyes rolling back into her skull.
"Damon!" Aidan shot up from his seat, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. "What the hell did you just do?"
"Stay put." Damon's voice was a sharp command, his gaze locked on Penn's rigid form. "Her soul has gone to hell for a small trip. I'll bring her back in a second."
Hell?
Aidan shivered. The weight of those words settled like ice in his stomach. His fingers dug into the edge of the table, but he didn't move. He wasn't sure if it was fear or something else that kept him rooted in place.
Then, with a deep gasp, Penn snapped back into herself, her body jerking as if she had just surfaced from drowning. Her chest heaved, her hands shaking violently as she gripped the edge of the table like a lifeline. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she gasped for breath.
"Why... did you do that?" she choked out, her voice raw, eyes still unfocused as though remnants of the vision clung to her mind.
Damon leaned back, his expression impassive. "So you'd know," he said slowly, each word deliberate, "that I act good because I choose to. Not because I'm afraid of you."
Penn's lips trembled, her face a mix of fury and something dangerously close to fear.
They left the coffee shop when it started filling with students, their chattering voices a stark contrast to the weight lingering in the air.
Damon had sent Penn to hell to scare her—but Aidan?
Aidan didn't need a demonstration to know exactly what Damon was capable of.
He already knew.
***
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