Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (10 page)

“
Do you want me to get rid
of him?” He wrapped both his hands around mine.

“
That won’t be necessary. I
can handle it.” I paused, searching his eyes. “Where are you going
with Quinton?”

He shrugged. “It’s some vampire
meeting. I don’t want to go.”

“
I know you don’t, but it's
best if you do. It's part of your life now and I think you should
try to make the most of it.”

“
I know you’re right. I’ll
go, but I still don't feel comfortable leaving you alone. There’s
no telling what kind of lunatic this guy is.”

Well, he had a point. I did tend to
attract the lunatics. Had Lily placed a sign out front advertising
an insane asylum? “You go and do what you have to do. I’ll be
fine.”

“
I’ll go if you promise to
get rid of that guy, Cole, or whatever his name is.” He gestured
toward my office with a tilt of his head.

“
Okay, I’ll get rid of him.
If I find Jennifer, everything will be fine.”

“
I can stay here if you need
me to help find her.” He took my face in his hands.

“
She’ll show up in a couple
hours and everything will be fine.” I met his gaze.

He grinned and touched my chin with
his finger. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

I nodded. “I’m positive. Now don’t let
Quinton do anything too crazy. He tends to find trouble.” I was one
to talk.

“
Yeah, that’s what I’m
afraid of.” He rolled his eyes.

Jack pressed his body against mine as
he gave me a kiss goodbye. I didn’t want to see him go, but I know
he had to do this. When I stepped back to my office, Quinton was
standing in the foyer with a sly smile on his face. What had he
done to Cole Palmer? I watched Quinton and Jack as they moved out
the door. When the door closed, I stepped back in my office and
looked at my guest. He was still sitting in the chair in my office.
At least Quinton hadn’t killed him. What did this guy really
want?

“
Where are your bodyguards?”
he asked.

I narrowed my gaze. “I don’t need
bodyguards.”

He gave a condescending
smile.

I moved back to my desk. “I’m not sure
where we go from here. You can’t tell me who this so-called demon
is or anything about him? Why don’t you know these things if you
are a demon hunter?”

“
I hunt them. If I knew
everything about them, it would make my job pretty darn easy and
let me tell you, it isn’t easy,” he said in an even
tone.

“
So what can I do?” My
stomach churned.

“
You know where Neil lives,
so take me to him.” He looked me up and down.

I couldn’t actually give him the
address, but I had the address, and I could go there. If Cole
happened to follow me, well, it wouldn’t be my fault. After all, I
was looking for Jennifer and I needed to find her. I had to find
her. I had to go with this guy even though I didn't know him. I
knew Jack wouldn’t want me to, and I’d told him I’d get rid of him,
but I could hold my own. I was a werewolf, for heaven’s sake. I
could take care of myself.

“
Okay, I’ll take you to find
Neil, but on the way, you’ll tell me all about this demonic
possession kind of stuff and exactly why you have to find Jennifer.
I have to know what you think is wrong with her. Who is this demon
she’s with?”

He nodded with a smile. “It’s a
deal.”

Why did I feel as if he had his
fingers crossed behind his back?

I grabbed the file and looked at the
address while I knew Cole was watching me. His smell still lingered
in the air and smelled so good. I turned to him. “Okay, I’m ready.
Let’s go.” I grabbed my purse. “We can walk,” I said.

What if Neil had given me the wrong
address? All I’d done was confirm that it was a real address, not
that he actually lived there. Maybe I wasn’t so good at my job
after all. I’d set my Jennifer up with a freak. What a thoughtful
friend I was.

We made our way out the door and onto
the sidewalk. The smell of café au lait wafted out from a café and
tickled my nostrils as we hurried past. A river of changing faces
passed us, but none of them were Jennifer.

Luckily, Neil’s address was only a
couple blocks down the street. As we rushed by the old buildings
and tourists, I didn’t know what to say to Cole. The silence was
awkward, hanging in the air like a low dark cloud.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#10

The devil really is in the
details.

As we hurried down the sidewalk toward
the address, I couldn’t help but think about a million different
things. Where was Jennifer and was she okay? Who was this guy that
I was taking to the address of a client?

If he worked with Neil and had been
following him, then why didn’t he know where Neil lived already?
That was completely weird. Beyond all those questions, where was
Jack going with Quinton? I knew he’d said there was a vampire
meeting, but could I really trust Quinton? They didn’t even know
each other all that well. And they’d shown more than a little
contempt for each other.

And another question, what would Neil
do when we showed up at his door? Lastly, why was Lily following
not so subtly a mere hundred feet behind us? I chose to ignore her
as usual.

“
While we walk, why don’t
you share with me how you know about what happened to Jennifer last
night?” It was more of a demand than a question.

“
Like I said, this was
Neil’s case, but as you can see, he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
He was required to file an incident report,” Cole said
matter-of-factly.

“
Okay, then how did Neil
know this demon attacked Jennifer?”

“
It was pretty obvious to a
demon hunter. Even if that demon hunter sucks at his
job.”

“
But that still doesn’t tell
me how you know Jennifer was attacked. Did some magical misty soul
slip into her body? How does this process work?”

“
It’s too complicated to go
into right now. But there was a sighting of her today with the
demon.”

“
You what? When did this
happen? Why are you just now telling me?” I demanded.

“
It didn’t seem relevant to
the conversation. Look, we knew your friend isn’t a demon, so don’t
think we are trying to hunt her.”

“
Well, I hadn’t thought of
that, but thank you for putting another fear into my already
overcrowded head. You don’t know what the demon wants with
her?”

“
That’s what we want to find
out. It’s part of our job as the demon-hunting task
force.”

“
Well, your task force isn’t
very good at their job. Maybe you all should consider a career
change.”

We reached the address that Neil had
listed. I made a mental note to confirm that clients provided their
correct addresses in the future. How did I even know he was who he
said he was? He could have lived in some dungeon for all I knew.
Although that was why I never allowed my clients to meet anyone
unless it was in a very public place.

His home looked nice enough though. It
was red brick and looked to have been built in the 1700s. Yellow
chrysanthemums were nestled in containers sitting close by the
front door. There must have been a female around somewhere. The
steps were clean and tidy too, as if the dirt had been freshly
swept away. Maybe he had a mother or sister who came around
often.

Cole pounded on the door.

“
Is it really necessary to
use that much force?” I asked.

Cole looked me up and down, but didn’t
answer. I shifted my feet and pulled my attention back to the front
door.

Neil finally answered and, quite
frankly, looked a little stunned to see me standing there and even
more stunned to see Cole with me. So they did know each other. Dark
circles ringed his eyes and he wore a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans.
It looked as if he’d had a tough night.

“
Neil, I hope you don’t mind
that I just dropped by. I brought a friend.” I gestured with a tilt
of my head toward Cole. “I think you know each other.”

Cole and Neil glared at each
other.

“
Anyway, I just need to ask
a few questions, if you don’t mind.” I gave him a look that said I
didn’t care if he did mind. I was in no mood to play
around.

Neil shifted his gaze from Cole to
me.

“
What’s the matter, cat got
your tongue?” Cole stepped forward, placing his foot in the
threshold.

If he didn’t say something soon, this
werewolf would have his tongue. I was losing my patience with both
of them.

“
Aren’t you going to invite
us in?” Cole asked with a little too much glee.

Neil stared right over me and met
Cole’s gaze again. Their eyes were locked on each other. Talk about
bad blood. What was going on with them? Would they fight right
there? I hated to waste my time breaking up a fight between the two
nutcases. And I probably wouldn’t waste my time with them either.
I’d just let them kill each other. Although I guessed Cole could be
my key to finding Jennifer. I supposed I’d have to save his ass.
Neil stepped to the side and allowed us to enter.

“
If you two could quit
glaring at each other, then we can get this show on the road. I
don’t have all day to stand here while you all play this macho
game.”

We stepped inside his apartment. The
walls were white, void of color, but the windows let in plenty of
light. A blue sofa sat against the far wall with a matching chair
beside it. A gigantic television took up the wall directly across
from the sofa. Everything appeared clean except for the stacks of
files on the floor by the window. More files covered the dining
room table. Apparently organization wasn’t one of his strong
traits.

“
You want to tell me what
went on last night?” Cole asked.

Neil ran his hand through his dark
hair. “I guess it got a little out of hand, man, I mean, I know I
didn’t do my job. But I was overwhelmed. There was two of them and
one of me.”

“
You’ve been trained for
that. Look, it’s not my place to talk about disciplinary action.
I’m just here to find the girl.”

What a couple of bumbling fools.
Neither one of them knew what the hell they were doing.

“
Do you know the demons?”
Cole asked.

Neil looked at me bleakly. “They hang
out with the one of the worst groups, the Lideats.”

Cole nodded, and his expression turned
even grimmer.

“
What does that mean for
Jennifer?” I asked.

Neil looked out the window. I wasn’t
about to let him get away with not answering. I had a right to
know.

“
Well, if you won’t answer
that, then at least you can tell me if you know where to find the
demons that you were fighting.” I fought back angry
tears.

That was kind of an important
question. If he could tell us that, then we could go to Jennifer. I
watched him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

“
Yeah, no, I can’t tell
you.” He shifted in his seat and focused his attention to the
window again.

I frowned. This guy hadn’t seemed so
stupid when he’d come in looking for a date, why was he acting like
a moron now?

“
You don’t know where the
demons are?” I asked again.

He didn’t speak for a moment, then he
said, “I don’t know their current location, what can I
say?”

“
You can say you know where
they are, that’s what you can say,” I said through gritted
teeth.

“
Did the agency send you to
find them?” Cole asked.

“
No, the demons found me
apparently,” Neil said.

“
Why didn’t you tell me who
you were before I fixed you up with my friend?” I nervously tucked
a strand of hair behind my ear.

He shook his head. “You didn’t
ask.”

“
That doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t have told me. It’s kind of an important detail to leave
out, don’t you think? You knew that you’d be putting her life in
danger.” I swallowed the lump of sadness in my throat.

“
She was already in danger,”
Neil said.

Cole and I exchanged a
glance.

“
What do you mean?” Cole
asked.

“
I knew by the way she was
acting that one had already gotten to her. I needed you to fix me
up with your possessed friend. You made it easier than I thought it
would be. I thought I might have to go on several dates with other
women before I got to her.” He leaned back in his chair.

“
Yeah, you know what?” I
asked sarcastically.

“
What?” he responded
inquisitively.

“
I should kick your butt
right now, that’s what. You obviously tricked me. You could have
told me before the date.”

“
I didn’t know how you’d
react to my demon hunting and what I had to say about her. Damn.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t know until I saw her.
Plus, having a date seemed like the better thing to do.” He smiled
as if proud of his stupid comment.