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"Honey, could you get me the butter?" Moxxie felt a sense of deja vu as Millie left the counter to head for the fridge. He turned to watch his wife cross the kitchen. Much as he loved to admire her from behind, that wasn't what he was focused on at the moment.

They had a full-size kitchen now, with lots of cabinets, a professional-grade stove, and racks upon racks of every piece of cookware one could think of. The separate dining room was right around the corner. It had been almost a year, and sometimes Moxxie still couldn't take in that he and his wife had a proper house now. Not just any house, but one in a respectable part of town. They had their promotions after the reorganization to thank for that. As comfortable as the imps were now, however, Moxxie couldn't shake a nagging feeling that it was coming at a cost.

Moxxie was brought back to reality when Millie opened the fridge and looked inside. She paused, as if surprised. After a moment, she reached in and fetched the butter. "Everything okay?" he asked as she came back.

"Oh! Yeah, everything's fine. Was kinda expectin' something in there that wasn't."

Moxxie was about to ask if they needed to add something to the grocery list when it hit him. Not something, someone. True, Blitzø usually only turned up in their fridge maybe two or three times a year, but he hadn't done it since they moved. Come to think of it, how often did they see Blitzø outside of work lately?

He shook his head and refocused on the salmon he was working on. Once the fish was in the oven and they'd finished cleaning up, he and Millie went to set the table. They set up two places for themselves, then a third just in case. When dinner was ready and on the table, the two imps sat down across from each other. The third spot at the table remained empty.

"What's eatin' ya, hun?" Millie asked. Their meal had been quiet up to this point.

Moxxie swallowed his latest bite and looked up at his wife. "Hmm? Uh, nothing! Just enjoying a nice peaceful dinner with you!"

Millie quirked a brow and regarded him skeptically. Moxxie shrank back under her gaze. "C'mon Mox, you're bad at lying," she said, "Somethin's bothering you. You've been like this for weeks."

She pushed her plate to one side and leaned forward. "Mox, whatever it is, you can tell me."

Moxxie felt his heart flutter as he looked into those concerned eyes. No, he couldn't lie to her. He set aside his own dinner and cleared his throat. "I've been feeling...off lately," he admitted. When Millie nodded, he continued. "I think it's because of how much has changed over the last year. We got promotions, the company is doing great, we bought a house. It's a little overwhelming, but in a good way!"

Millie smiled, but only briefly. "Keep going," she pressed.

A sigh escaped Moxxie's nostrils. Might as well. "I should be happy about all this, but it all just feels...wrong, know what I mean?"

His wife nodded again. This time, her eyes flicked over to the empty chair between them. Moxxie followed her gaze and snorted. "I'm not talking about Blitzø. That's the one part of all this that feels right. It's what we've - I've wanted for years!"

"Well, it's got me worried," Millie countered. "I've been feeling it too, that somethin' ain't right. It's not like Blitzø to not drop in on us from time to time, and we haven't seen him here since the housewarming party. I know you don't like it Mox, but it's part of who he is. He might be our boss, but he loves us."

Moxxie waved his hand. "Maybe he finally learned to respect boundaries?" A deadpan stare from Millie was all it took for him to discard that notion. "No, no, this is Blitzø we're talking about. Well, we are in a gated community."

"Moxxie," Millie said, "Blitzø broke into Stolas's palace, and he also managed to sneak into Harper's house. A gated community ain't gonna keep him out for long."

Harper. The mention of that name made the little imp tense. From how Millie straightened up, he knew she'd picked up on it. "Is that who this is about?" she asked.

"Who?" Moxxie asked.

"Harper," said Millie, "He's the one been driving all this change. Good changes at that."

Moxxie deflated. "I know, I know. It's just hard for me to trust him. You're worried about Blitzø. I'm worried about why Harper's so interested in him, and why in us?"

Millie set her jaw. "We've been workin' with him over a year, Mox," she said, but there wasn't any conviction behind her words.

"I know, it's just..." Moxxie ran his hands through his white hair as he scrambled to put his thoughts in order. "You remember Striker, right?"

Millie's eyes widened, then narrowed. "I thought you'd gotten over him," she said.

"I thought so too!" exclaimed Moxxie, "But we never did find out who hired him to assassinate Stolas. For Satan sake, he and his employer are still out there somewhere!" The imp hung his head. "It's got nothing to do with measuring up to him or impressing your family. That I'm over. But after the shock of having an Overlord invest in I.M.P. wore off, I started thinking.

"Harper is Stolas's arch-nemesis, and he's not above hiring others to do his dirty work. We've been doing it for him on the Living World for how long now? He's got the motive and the resources to equip an assassin to take out royalty. Maybe he decided Striker wasn't reliable? Maybe he's trying to play the long game now, to manipulate Blitzø or us into killing Stolas for him?"

Millie stood up and walked over to Moxxie's seat. "Mox, that's crazy talk. We have no proof Harper is the one who ordered the hit." Again, her words lacked conviction.

"But it makes sense, right?" Moxxie pleaded, "I hope to Satan I'm wrong. I really do. But I don't think Harper just wants to see I.M.P. grow. He wants something from us, and it feels like we're on a collision course with Stolas." As a final argument he added, "We never see Blitzø much on or off the job anymore. He's always out spending time with Harper. What are they talking about while they're together? I don't know!"

Millie lowered her eyes to the table. "You're right," she said, "This is kinda fishy. Dunno why we didn't see it sooner. Maybe having an Overlord's backing left me star struck. But why spend so much time and money on an entire business just to kill one demon? That's the part that doesn't make any sense."

Moxxie ran his fingers through his hair again. Millie seized one of his hands in both of hers and squeezed it, eliciting a half-smile from him.

"Tell ya what," she said, "Let's finish dinner, curl up in bed with a good book, then get a good night's sleep. Work's been stressful, and it might be gettin' to our heads. We're takin' that vacation in a few days. After that we can talk about this more once we're not so wound up."

"Yeah..." Moxxie sighed. He turned to his wife and softly touched his lips to hers. "Sounds like a plan."

Dinner concluded without any further discussion or incident. Blitzø never turned up then. Nor was he waiting for them in any of his potential hiding spots on the way upstairs, in the bathroom, or in the bedroom. By the time Millie and Moxxie had washed up and retired to bed for the evening, the larger imp was nowhere to be seen. There was no Blitzø when they settled in bed to read. There was no Blitzø when they finally turned out the light.

If he'd shown up some time in the night, Moxxie must have either slept through it, or just not seen him when he'd gotten up to go to the bathroom. Whatever was the case, he and Millie had another peaceful night to themselves.

And Moxxie could hardly stand it anymore.