Greyson’s POV:

Knocking at the bedroom door is what pulls me from my blissful sleep. Unfortunately for me, Elijah is the heaviest sleeper of anyone in this damn house, so I’m always the one waking us up and turning off the alarm. Or, in this case, getting up because someone is at the door. 

I have to get up and open the door, as the room is soundproof. Most of the other sins would have barged in, but Paxton is the rare exception. I guess that is why the rest of us regard him as our leader and have a different form of respect for him.

“Levi is awake,” Paxton says plainly. “And he is in a bit of a panicked state.”

I frown. “Why is that?” I ask, trying to control the unease that fills my gut. 

“He knows there is something off about us, but I have not told him directly that we are demons. I told him that he could not leave until he spoke with you and Elijah, and he seemed unsure but more annoyed than anything else. Not much from yesterday has carried over, but he does remember you and Elijah. He accidentally broke a coffee mug and seemed to have the beginnings of a meltdown, so I sent him with Lexi for new pants that are not covered in coffee.”

I sigh deeply, as I am pretty irritated with myself. I should have set an early alarm, just to make sure I would be there when Levi woke up, but yesterday was quite chaotic. Once he was asleep, my entire focus moved to Elijah’s distress, and the exhaustion caught up to me. It makes me feel more human than demon when exhaustion catches up to me like that, but feeling a little human while on earth is nothing horrible. 

Well, in my opinion it’s not bad. 

Paxton sees it in a very different way. He loves Kayden, and I know he will, in time, adore all of our soulmates. They could be human, shifter, or vampire, but I know Paxton will still treat them the same. Yet, he refuses to let himself feel like a human at all. He still does the bidding of Master Alastor, the lord of Hell. 

The rest of us will help by means of offering input, but Paxton still makes frequent trips to Hell. Winston is quite close with Paxton, and he has mentioned that he thinks Paxton tries to spend time away from earth so he doesn’t risk meeting his soulmate. 

I cannot for the life of me understand why; Paxton was gifted with a soulmate, the same as the rest of us. They truly are gifts; I learn more about my love for Elijah every single day, and I have no doubt that it will be the same for Levi. Not only that, but Paxton is such a caretaker and he would be a wonderful soulmate to whomever he is destined to be with. 

“Is he still with Lexi?” I ask, leaning against the doorframe. 

Paxton nods. “I just finished cleaning up in the kitchen and I was going to go see how he is.”

I glance back at Elijah and I can still see bags under his eyes. Crying and stress take a big toll on anyone, and Elijah had a complete breakdown yesterday. My poor little demon is going to need to keep sleeping in order to feel better. Plus, I have more control over my emotions than my lover does, so it may be better if just I approach Levi for now and bring Elijah in later in the morning. 

“I’ll go with you,” I insist, and Paxton seems to approve of my declaration because he doesn’t scold me. 

Every demon knows that Paxton will let them know if he does not approve of their choice. 

Lexi’s door is the only one that is not white; while the rest of us just went with standard doors, Lexi demanded a painted one. It’s cotton candy pink, the same color as his hair. If Elijah and I were not soulmates, Elijah would do the same, but because we are together he won’t because he does not want me to feel left out. According to him, having two colors on a door is ugly, so he puts up with the white door. 

Paxton knocks on the door and Lexi answers, tensing up when he sees me. 

“I promise that I didn’t mean to scare him! Plus, he’s okay now!” he exclaims, hiding behind Paxton once we enter the room. 

“Lexi was the one to startle him and caused him to drop the mug,” Paxton informs me. “Because he was screaming at the top of his lungs at six in the morning.”

Lexi looks at his feet. “Sorry,” he says sadly, and I can’t help but side hug him and pat his back. 

Even though he can be annoying at times, Lexi is a soft soul who tries to hide how much words can get to him. Even Elijah can annoy me at times; it’s not uncommon for any individual to be annoying every now and then. Plus, I know how upsetting it can be when Paxton is disappointed; since he’s seen as our leader, it’s embarrassing and hurts a lot worse when he scolds us. 

My eyes find Levi sitting in the hammock chair that hangs from the ceiling. He’s staring outside the window at the garden, swinging back and forth absentmindedly. This is the most relaxed that I have seen him. 

I walk over to Levi and sit down on the window sill. Contrary to my initial thought, he is actually looking through what appears to be a photo album. When I sit, his eyes flicker up to me, and they’re shiny but not puffy, so at least he has not been crying too much. 

“Hi,” I say, sounding like a complete idiot. 

Levi closes the album. “Hi,” he responds. “Greyson, right?”

“Yeah.” I hold my hand out and take the album from him. “Is this yours?”

“No,” Levi says. “Paxton said I’m a hostage until you and Elijah apparently ‘explain’ some things to me. Can we get on with it so I can go home and escape this nightmare?”

I turn to Paxton. “You told him that he’s a hostage?” 

“Well, I did not want to have to chase him through the woods.” Paxton doesn’t seem bothered by his actions, but it’s not surprising. His sin qualities come out when he makes decisions, and he rarely backs down because his pride is too much. 

Levi shrugs, and he doesn’t seem unbothered; he seems more defeated than anything else. 

“Are you alright?” I ask Levi, reaching out to touch him, but I quickly backtrack when I see him tense up. 

He nods. “Fine. I just want to go home.”

“He was much more lively earlier,” Paxton says, confusion in his tone. “Levi, why do you sound so upset? I told you that no one is upset that you broke a mug.”

“I’m fine,” Levi tries to insist, but his voice betrays him. 

I open the photo album to see if there is anything that could upset Levi, but the pages are filled with pictures of us sins. Whether we’re sitting on the back patio around a campfire, on vacation, in the mansion… All that’s here are pictures of us. There is nothing that should upset someone except Winston, since there are pictures of him sleeping with his mouth open in the ugliest way. 

“Alright… Let’s go wake up Elijah, and then all three of us can talk,” I say, and Levi gets up but he hangs back to put some distance between us. 

“I would prefer to wait in the living room,” he says. 

I can understand his hesitance, even if I don’t know what caused this trauma and struggle within him. Every part of him seems scared, despite none of us doing anything to hurt him. Elijah and I really need to figure out what happened to him. 

“Can you run some kind of background check on him?” I murmur to Paxton after Levi is out of earshot, him going to the living room and I toward mine and Elijah’s. 

Paxton furrows his eyebrows. “Do you want him to fill out an application to be your soulmate? Should I ask for his credit score?” he asks me, his voice completely deadpanned.  

“I just want to see if I can figure out what’s going on with him. There’s some kind of hesitance and trauma that has built up, and if Elijah and I are going to be with him and win him over, we need to know where we need to be sensitive and come up with a plan.”

“Or you could take him on a date, get to know him, and he will tell you when he feels comfortable as opposed to you invading his private life. That is more of a Simon thing to do. Even Winston would not go that far.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, he would.” I stop in front of my bedroom door. “Will you just do it?”

“Fine, but if he holds it against you someday, because you will tell him someday, do not come crying to me. I am only doing what you asked as a friend,” Paxton says, turning around and heading back toward the living room and kitchen.