Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (14 page)

“
Hey, I said I’ll find her
and I will. I don’t question your matchmaking skills, which I
certainly could considering that you fixed her up with Neil Allen,”
he said with irritation in his tone.

I glared at him. I knew he’d throw
that up in my face.

When we made it out onto the street,
my cell rang. I dug in my pocket and fumbled for my
phone.

It was Jennifer’s number. My heart
thumped as I answered. I’d tried her cell, but it went straight to
voice mail. I was shocked she was calling now.

“
Jennifer,” I yelled into
the phone.

“
Rylie, darling. Where are
you? You should come and join the party.” Loud music blared in the
background.

“
Where are you?” I
demanded.

The phone went dead.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#15

A date somewhere cold is
always a nice gesture. May I suggest Alaska?

The address that the store owner had
given us was only a few blocks away. We could easily walk to the
location, although driving in the car would be much faster,
resulting in finding Jennifer sooner and having to talk less with
Cole. But on further thought, with the heavy traffic, walking was
probably the better option.

After walking through the businesses,
we moved into a section of houses. They all looked similar.
Luckily, we had the street number.

“
What was the address
number?” Cole asked.

“
158. It should be down two
more on the right. It’s on the other side of the
street.”

We crossed the street and walked a
couple of houses up. Cole and I reached the address Cole had
written down. I stopped and peered at the house. What if it was the
wrong address and I embarrassed myself by asking about demons? I
guessed there was no way to delicately ask about a subject like
that. The house was a light blue with black shutters and black
wrought-iron balconies on the top windows with doors that led out
from the upstairs rooms.

Cole opened the gate in front and
motioned for me to go first. “After you, gorgeous.”

“
Please. Spare me the fake
compliments,” I scoffed as I brushed past him.

We hurried up the steps and I used the
heavy iron knocker on the door. After a minute, a woman answered
the door. She had thick, long brown hair and wore a long black
dress. She looked like Elvira. Marcus and she had the black
clothing thing down to a science. It was getting close to
Halloween, but I don’t think this was her costume. Something told
me it was her everyday attire; maybe it was the gothic décor I
spied inside the house that gave it away.

“
May I help you?” she
asked.

Her voice was husky like she was a
phone sex operator, definitely the vixen type. The woman’s eyes
were shiny black like the color of blackberries.

“
Are you Anna Maria
Martinez?” I asked, glancing at the paper in my hand.

“
Yes.” She looked from me to
Cole.

“
Marcus Barker from the
store sent us. He said you may be able to help us with information
about demons,” I whispered the last word, as if the demons would
hear me, or if I said it any louder she’d tell me to get the hell
out of there.

The look on her face told me the
volume with which I spoke the word probably didn’t matter. She
frowned and I expected her to tell us to get lost at any
second.

After a few suspenseful moments, she
said, “Please come in.”

I stepped inside and Cole followed. I
should have made him go first just in case it was booby trapped. My
nerves calmed as I took a whiff. It smelled like peach pie which
instantly made me hungry. There was no time for food now though. We
needed to get down to business. The inside of her home was dark
with shades of burgundy on the walls and matching hued furniture.
It almost reminded me of blood. Was she a vampire? Or just
fascinated by the culture? Whatever. It didn’t matter.

“
Thank you for taking the
time to speak with us. My name’s Rylie Cruz and this is Cole
Palmer.” I gestured next to me.

“
Please have a seat.” She
pointed toward the velvet chairs across from the fireplace. “I’m
not sure how much I can help, but what can I do for
you?”

I briefly gave the woman the rundown
of why we were there.

I shifted in my seat. “So, my friend
began acting strange. Let’s just say very out of character. And I
have to find her.” I gestured toward Cole who was sitting to my
left. “This guy here claims to be able to help. I don’t trust him,
but he keeps tagging alone anyway.”

She raised her perfectly sculpted
eyebrows. Okay, I sounded like a crazy woman, but it was the truth.
No point in lying.

Cole snorted. He thought I was joking,
but I was completely serious.

“
That is quite a dilemma,
but what can I do for you?” she asked, as if she didn’t know where
I was going with all of this.

Did I have to force everyone to think?
I mean, throw me a bone here, people. I couldn’t do all of this by
myself as much as I wished I could. Unfortunately, in life,
sometimes you had to ask for a little help along the
way.

I let out a deep breath and said, “I
need to know about demons. Someone said if I can find out which
demon is messing around with her, then maybe I can find her and get
rid of this dirt-bag that’s latched on to her.”

And the dirt-bag who’d latched on to
me too. I glanced at Cole.

He scoffed. “I don’t think it’s that
simple.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back.
“But I’m willing to listen to what you have to say.” He looked at
the woman.

Please. This guy had his nerve. What
did he think, that she was just making up all this info? I doubted
that. Why would she lie? If he opened his ears maybe he’d learn a
thing or two.

As we waited for her to grab the
books, I looked around Anna Maria’s home. It was neat and orderly,
but something seemed strange. It wasn’t the gothic décor, no it was
something unseen… just a strange feeling that I couldn’t but my
finger on. It was almost as if she was keeping something from me.
Like she knew more, but was afraid to share.

“
You’re right, there are
different demons and they all want different things.” She pulled a
couple books down from the shelf.

Cole scoffed again. “They all have one
goal.”

She glanced at him, then continued,
“He’s right. They ultimately want the same thing, but it’s how they
get there that’s different. If you can figure out which demon
you’ll know his moves and probably be able to find your friend. The
demons aren’t nearly as clever as they think they are.”

Kind of like Cole. He wasn’t nearly as
clever as he thought he was. I fidgeted my hands nervously. I
prayed something good came of this visit.

“
You just have to trick
them.” She sat the large leather-bound book on the table in front
of us.

“
With all due respect, I’ve
been dealing with demons a long time and while I know there are
different demons, I know it’s impossible to be able to trick them
based on their characteristics and what you think they might do.
You don’t think they’re clever, but that’s where you’re wrong. I’ve
been doing this for a long time and despite what Ms. Cruz thinks, I
am good at what I do. I have a solid track record within the
organization.”

Oh, he sounded so professional. I
wanted to mock him for his comments, but realized that wouldn’t
make me look all that professional myself. He brought out the
negative in me.

She scoffed in Cole’s direction. “I
think you should listen to me, Ms. Cruz. I’ve studied this subject
extensively.”

“
I have one book you can
borrow, but the other one I can’t let leave my home.” She opened
one of the books and flipped through the pages.

“
Based on what you’ve
described, I’d say it’s one of these two demons.” She pointed at
the book.

I leaned and opened my mouth to
speak.

She held up her hand. “But don’t speak
their names out loud.”

“
What?” Cole stifled a
chuckle.

“
It’ll draw other demons to
you,” she warned.

“
Wouldn’t the demon I called
out come to me?” I asked. “I’d be willing to risk it if I found
Jennifer.”

“
You’d think so, and in some
cases, it would work. But the demon will know you’re looking for
him. He’ll know you want your friend back and he won’t come.” Her
mouth was set in a grim line.

“
I could call the names and
the one who didn’t answer would be the one I’d want,” I
offered.

“
Then you’d have a bunch of
demons hanging around.” She shook her head. “No, that won’t
work.”

That all sounded a little too
complicated. She was giving me a headache. But she sounded as if
she knew more about it then the so-called demon hunter himself. I’d
stick with her advice. What was in the other book that she wouldn’t
let me see? Maybe there was information that would lead to Jennifer
hidden behind the pages and I’d never know. But with any luck, the
answer was right there between the covers of the book she’d lend
me.

Cole scoffed and leaned back in the
door, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “It’s the
demon-hunting two stooges. I refuse to be the third
one.”

I glared at him. “Oh, shut
up.”

He shrugged and held his hands up in
surrender. “Whatever you say. I’m just along for the
ride.”

Again, why was he tagging along with
me? If he didn’t know how to find Jennifer and was coming to me for
help, then why did he smirk at this information? It wasn’t as if he
had anything better to offer. If he did, then why hadn’t he come
out with it already?

“
Thank you so much for your
time,” I said as I pushed to my feet. “You’ve been extremely
helpful.”

She eyed Cole and I felt like I should
apologize for bringing him, but instead, I let it go. No need to
give him the extra attention.

“
Don’t mention it. If you
have any more questions please let me know. I hope you find your
friend.” Maybe it was my imagination but her expression told me it
was highly improbable that I’d find Jennifer. She was just
appeasing me.

It looked as if she wanted to say
more, but she stopped short.

When we made it out the door and down
the front path, I shot daggers at Cole.

“
What?” he asked, glancing
over at me.

“
Oh, you know what. The way
you acted was completely uncalled for. You were being an
ass.”

“
I think the woman is full
of it.” He shook his head. “It should be against the law to fool
people with that nonsense.”

“
Well, I don’t see you
offering any other advice, so I did what I had to do.”

“
I don’t think this
information will help us. But I have an idea the demon who is doing
this to Jennifer, although I don’t know where he is leading her. If
I did, I would go there. The demon wants to lure her away to steal
her soul.”

Cole’s words churned in my mind. The
demon would take Jennifer with him—that made my stomach sink. I
couldn’t even think about that scenario. I wouldn’t let that
happen.

I scoffed. “Oh, you have an idea, huh?
But you don’t know where this demon is.” I shook my head. He was so
full of it. “Can’t we go to this demon and find out what is going
on? It doesn’t matter where he’s taking her if you know how to find
him right now. Just banish him back to hell and make him release
his hold on Jennifer.” I clutched the book to my chest. It was my
only chance of helping Jennifer at the moment.

“
It’s not that easy and that
woman doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Cole said.

“
She made a lot of good
points and she had information that you haven’t provided,” I said
with a curt nod.

“
Little details about the
history of these demons don’t matter. I’m not an encyclopedia. I
just hunt down the bastards. I’m not some book nerd.”

“
Maybe you should consider
becoming a book nerd.” I flashed a wide grin.

If looks could kill, I’d be a
goner.

“
Do you enjoy giving me a
hard time?” he asked.

When I didn’t respond, he said, “You
really don’t like me, do you? Why is that? I think we just got off
to the wrong start. Maybe you should give me a chance.”

“
Do you blame me for not
giving you a chance? I think you were being a real jerk from the
start. That’s not exactly the way to make friends, you
know?”

“
I guess I’m so used to
dealing with demons that sometimes I forget. I’m definitely not
used to being around someone as beautiful as you.” He stared at his
feet, not looking my way.

Okay, I said compliments wouldn’t
work, but the sincerity in his voice had almost gotten to me. That
little smile didn’t help matters either. Jack flashed in my mind. I
couldn’t let Cole Palmer, demon hunter, try to sweet-talk
me.