Lydia was back to normal, no longer keeping her distance by this point. I thought she had gotten used to whatever divine aura Minerva was leaving on me, but she said her influence had simply faded over a few days, as I took my teacher off her pedestal and started treating her like a friend.
I greeted her with a smile and tossed her my apple as I walked back in, smelling like pine needles, cinnamon, poinsettias, and hot coca.
“Merry Christmas,” I said sheepishly. “I lifted a bunch of heavy shit and got dissed by Santa Claus, but as far as Kovak Christmases go, this was definitely top ten. Turns out you’re not just a succubus, by the way. You’re actually my Battle Buddy. Could have saved a lot of time if you had led with that the night we met.”
Lydia sighed. “I presume this is some kind of joke at my expense?”
“Yeah,” I smiled, “but it’s not a mean one. I also spent some time with a real wizard last night and got some tips on how to do my job.”
Lydia just glared at me, enduring my good mood. “And was this before or after you spent the night with your witch?”
“Will you stop calling her ‘my witch?’ She is not my witch; she is not my anything. She’s not even my partner anymore. And I didn’t spend the night with her, I slept on the floor in front of her fireplace, alone, with her mom in the next room!”
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“I’m glad to hear that,” Lydia said. “I know this holiday is difficult for you. I’m glad you were able to spend it with a family.”
“Nice,” I said. “That hardly sounds jealous at all.”
“Timothy, I am not in competition with this woman, and she is not my enemy. If I was human, we would already have an arrangement, but I’m a demon, so you can’t open your heart to her until you’re ready to send me away.”
“Will you stop that?” I snapped. “I am not going to send you away! I haven’t figured out what to do yet, but I would never send you away. When you finally walk out my door, it’ll be because you’re headed for something better, even if I can’t imagine what that is yet.”
“I am prepared to hide somewhere on Earth, if it comes to that,” Lydia said.
“You’ve been loyal to me and my family for generations. I am not going to let you live under a fucking bridge!”
“Timothy, this girl is not going to wait forever, and I cannot put my personal comfort above the continuation of this bloodline. Your concerns about poverty would not apply to me, and wandering the Earth would still be infinitely better than returning to Hell.”
“Stop trying to sacrifice yourself!” I shouted, louder than I intended. “This isn’t about whether you could survive or not. This is about what I can live with, as a wizard, and a man. You seriously expect me to take a wife and live happily ever after, knowing that I’ve abandoned you? Fuck that. We will figure something out.”
* * *
I promised Lydia we would do something special after the holiday, so we spent the “weekend” back in Providence. We couldn’t afford the Dante Suite again, but we still fucked up the curtains in a much cheaper room.