Ezra looked handsome in his smart black trousers, a black shirt, and a black waistcoat with a radio attached to the left side of his chest. He stood with his arms linked in front of him, staring vacantly at the locals who couldn't stop pointing at him and whispering to each other.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Finn asked Declan, turning to look at Ezra as if he was coated in poison.

"More than sure," Declan replied. "Ez has saved many locals by always coming to help when there's trouble. The least he deserves is a bit of trust from you all."

Tom agreed and did his best not to stare. Though their breaks synced, and they met up by the side of the pub to hug whenever they could.

The pub was still busier than usual. Ezra was four hours into his shift when a demon entered. She wore a dark grey vest, showing how her demon mark didn't just stop at her neck, but coiled over one shoulder and down the top of her chest.

Of course, a demon would visit on his first shift, Tom thought, trying to stay hopeful.

Instead of hustling through the locals with a scowl, the demon double glanced in Ezra's direction. She approached him with surprise, examining his uniform. "You work here?" she asked, and Ezra nodded. "I heard tales but . . . I didn't expect this."

"What tales?" Ezra asked.

"I heard that a soul stripper was getting rid of demons on purpose. When I heard the soul stripper was you, I believed them."

Tom was clearly straining to listen, but he didn't care. Other demons seemed to have bad blood with Ezra, and he wanted to know why.

"Where did you hear the rumours?" Ezra asked.

"People talk when a large number of demons die in a small country pub."

"Then stop listening," Ezra muttered. "I'm in this village because of other reasons."

"Ah, because of history repeating itself?"

Ezra scowled darkly, so Tom shouted over the bar, "Hello, can I get you a drink?" She turned towards him, smirking. Tom flashed Ezra a look that made him remember where he was. "Hi, what can I get you?" he asked again when the demon approached the bar.

She wanted a double vodka and lemonade, with ice to the brim. Declan made it, so Tom could keep an eye on her. He glanced to her demon mark, wondering if Ezra's also went beyond the neckline of his tops.

She paid and sat next to Finn at the bar, who stared as if he had gulped sour milk.

"What?" she snapped.

"There are empty tables love, you could've sat at any of those."

"She can sit where she wants," Tom said calmly, despite his eyes warning Finn to shut up.

Finn muttered something and moved to sit at one of the empty tables instead. With nobody but Tom around her, she stared at him for long enough to make him uncomfortable.

"What brings you to Wileshire village?" Tom asked politely.

"Rumours." Judging by the cautious stare, she had not only heard about Ezra spending time in the pub, but about him too.

"Oh yeah?" Tom asked casually. "What are they about?"

"Fifteen demons had their souls stripped in your pub last week. And many more lost their lives before that. This pub is not demon friendly at all."

"What an odd thing to say when we have just hired a demon to work for us." Tom frowned. "Our pub nearly got shut down because of last week. We were told to ban demons, but we said no. I get that the amount of deaths are unusual here, but it's not demons who start the fighting. Humans are far more to blame. Maybe you should focus your energy on why that is."

She downed her drink and slammed it onto the bar. Tom refused to be intimidated. He took her glass and asked, "Same again?"

She nodded, watching him through narrow calculating eyes. Tom felt Ezra's eyes on him too, and knew that he had never been safer.

She downed the second drink and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.

"Gosh girl, you can put away a drink," a man old enough to be her grandfather said with a daft drunken grin on his round face. His eyes generously trailed her up and down.

She stared back blankly. "I'm not a girl."

"No," he replied, licking his lips. "Definitely not."

She rolled her eyes and said no when he asked if he could join her.

Still, he sat next to her, never taking his eyes from her chest.

"I said no!" she snapped.

"Why? You don't belong here anyway. Demon slut."

She leapt off her stool. Tom yelled, "Ez, quickly!" But he had already been watching. As the soul stripper stormed over, the other demon prepared to defend herself from being dragged out.

"I have a right to . . . be . . . " Her words faded when Ezra grabbed the man instead and yanked him across the ugly patterned carpet. Everyone watched him being told not to come back. The man, of course, yelled and demanded to be let back in, but Ezra closed the door in his face and held it shut until he left.

The other demon sat back down, stunned.

"See," Tom said, "You're not the problem." He caught Ezra's gaze and he subtly nodded, telling him that he was okay and calm.

"He was a creep," Declan said, scratching his bald head. "I actually think that was Phil's dad."

Phil, the man who had gambled his house away and started the fight that led to Ezra and Tom meeting. Tom shook his head, not knowing whether to smile or grimace at the mention of him.

"A bit?" the demon scoffed and downed another drink. "I came here wanting to prove that you were out to get us."

"Why?" Tom asked.

"Because then we'd have someone to blame."

"For all the deaths?"

"For everything, the rise in violence, the deaths, the hate crimes. I used to walk the streets and be able to enter every shop. Now I'm shunned aside for being on the same bit of concrete."

Tom watched her confident scowl mould into hopeless sorrow. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I can't imagine how awful that is. I want things to change. I just wish I knew how to help."

She watched him in return, reading his expression, wondering whether to change her opinions. "The rumours are false. That's all I came here to see." She stood up and left, making sure to hold Ezra's gaze on the way out.

After their shifts ended, Ezra sat down on a bench outside, gulping a large glass of water. They sat together, and Tom's attention bore into the starry sky, catching distant streams of light from travelling angels. "That didn't go too badly," he said, "You know, for your first night."

"No," Ezra mumbled. He hadn't lifted a frown since the demon left.

"Are the rumours bothering you?"

"Yes."

Tom shifted closer until their legs touched. "Can I ask you something?"

Ezra nodded, turning his head to meet his gaze.

"Why do other demons not like you?"

"Demons don't like anyone, especially their own kind."

"No but this is different, isn't it?"

Ezra thinned his lips. "I don't want to talk about it." He stood up, searching for the moon. "I won't stay with you tonight."

Tom held his hand. "You don't have to go. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't." Ezra took his other hand, squeezing it. "I've been a wanderer for years now. This is one of those nights where I just need to walk. I won't sleep, I'll just be lying next to you, frustrated that I'm not outside."

Tom reminded himself that Ezra had lived a very long life so far, one that involved a lot of time alone. "Okay, just as long as you'll return to me when you're ready."

"I will."

They kissed, and Ezra disappeared, and Tom shivered when the cold wind snaked inside his hoodie. He went to bed that night with a spinning mind. He kept thinking of Ezra, and where he had gone, hoping that he would return any minute.

But he didn't, and Tom woke up alone. He got dressed and left for the library before anyone in his home woke to their alarms.

The village was quiet. Only farmers roamed with sheep dogs at their heels.

Tom sat by the water fountain, staring at the golden girl in the centre until Haisley hurried around the corner, clanking her keys and clicking her heeled boots on the cobbled road. The red sky reflected in her glasses when she looked up with a smile.

"Bright and early today, Thomas," she said unlocking the door and letting him enter first. "We have quite a lot of new books on the shelves, though you might have noticed that already." She sat at the reception desk and motioned for him to go ahead and do whatever he needed to do.

Tom wondered when she would hear rumours that he and a demon were together. He wondered if she'd still be so friendly to him then.

He looked around the shelves until he paused at the history section. The thick book with a painted dinosaur on the front cover was still on the floor. He grinned and picked it up, thinking of Ezra's hands on his face and his lips strong against his own.

Haisley would definitely ban him for that, and he chuckled at the absurdity. He put the book back and noticed that the book next to it was also new. It was a book about demons and their mischief.

Curiosity got the better of him. Tom was now dating a demon. The least he could do was get to know everything that made him who he was. He took the book to the table and flicked through its index.

He read for a while about their relationships with angels. While it was a complex existence, demons couldn't control their mischief, and their influence on humanity. They brought out a human's biggest desire simply by existing near them.

Tom flicked through a few more chapters, stopping on the power of summoning. He read with interest about how demons had once shared their names with powerful humans for riches, and how angels used to take advantage too by summoning them to keep them out of trouble.

Tom frowned, reading the paragraph again. It definitely said that angels could summon demons, yet they always came to Ezra when they needed him to do his job. "Odd," he mumbled.

Tom tried to find more information on soul strippers, until a voice startled him. He jumped and covered his mouth to muffle a yell.

"I apologise," Othrowan said quickly. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Tom glanced up at the old angel, holding a hand over his fast heartbeat. "It's okay."

"May I sit?"

Tom nodded. His frail body struggling to bend and dropped heavily into the chair. He wanted to ask how old he was and what he had seen throughout his long life. Had he met any historically famous people? Had he accomplished anything significant? But Tom also wanted to angrily question why he had condemned Ezra to be a soul stripper.

Instead, he asked, "This book says that angels can summon demons. Why do they never summon Ezra?"

"A nickname," Othrowan said. "It suits him."

Tom raised a brow, trying his hardest to ignore the oozing angelic serenity. He didn't want his peaceful aura any more than he wanted his company. "Is it a soul stripper thing?"

Othrowan smiled. "Dear boy, has he told you nothing?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked down at the book as though it was an extension of his own body. With a faraway gaze in his old sunken eyes, he said, "Angels can't summon other angels."