Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (21 page)

Lily glared at me, then said, “Fine.
We can talk about it later.”

“
Thank you,” I said. “Now,
do you mind if I go past you now?” I glared as I pushed past
her.

“
Where are you going in such
a hurry?” she asked from over my shoulder.

“
I still have to find
Jennifer,” I said, exasperated, as I spun around to face her
again.

“
What do you mean find her?
She was just here, you know?” Lily waved her arm through the
air.

My mouth dropped open. “What? She was
just here? Again? Where is she now? Where did she go?”

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know. What do
I look like, her keeper?”

“
But you talked to her?” I
asked.

“
Yeah, I talked with her for
a little bit.” She studied her fingernails. “She was with some big
dude. I think she must be on drugs or something. She was acting
totally out of it. I always knew she was weird. That just proved
it.”

I didn’t have time to argue with Lily,
so I let her comments go. I was so going to make her wedding
planning a living hell when I found Jennifer though. “Get to the
point, Lily. What did Jennifer say?”

“
She said she was moving
out. That she was going on a long trip.”

My stomach sank. What was Jennifer
talking about? Not to mention she couldn’t stand talking to Lily. I
wouldn’t expect her to tell Lily anything other than to screw
off.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#23

Don’t sell your soul to the
devil for a date.

I didn’t say another word to Lily as I
rushed up the stairs. She mumbled but I tuned her out. Probably
something about strangling me with her veil. Whatever.

“
We need to check that book
for the symbol,” Cole said, following behind me.

“
Good idea,” I
said.

“
Did you just pay me a
compliment?” he asked as we took the steps two at a
time.

“
Don’t get used to it.” I
bit my lip to keep from smiling.

We rushed through the door and I
headed straight toward Jennifer’s room. Had she taken all of her
belongings? Could I report her missing yet? I wouldn’t let this guy
get away with kidnapping her. She had no idea what she was doing,
so in my book he was completely taking advantage of her.

“
You get the book. It’s on
the table. I’ll be right back,” I said over my shoulder.

When I reached her room, I spotted her
bunny slippers by the door where she always left them. My heart
felt a little lift. I hurried across the room and opened the closet
door. It was still full of her clothing. Had Lily been yanking my
chain? I wouldn’t put it past her. Like I said, it would have been
unusual for Jennifer to even talk to Lily. Much less share
information about her moving out.

I went back to the dining area to find
Cole sitting at the table with the book open in front of
him.

He looked up when I entered. “Do you
have any more of that coffee?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I can make some.
We’re going to need it to stay awake. Looks like it’ll be a long
night.”

I turned on the coffee maker and went
back to the table. Cole was still flipping through the pages. That
symbol had to be in this book somewhere. I watched helplessly,
praying that he’d find something. Anything.

When I heard the coffeemaker stop
brewing, I moved into the kitchen and retrieved the coffee, filling
the mugs to the top with the hot liquid. “Would you like sugar or
cream?” I decided to be polite and ask this time.

I peeked into the other room for his
response. He gave me a look as if to say, Are you
serious?

“
What? A demon hunter can’t
use cream or sugar? Is that not macho enough for you?” I placed the
mugs on the table and sat.

He continued to flip the pages and I
dumped sugar and cream into my coffee. I wasn’t too macho to forgo
the good stuff.

“
What does all of that mean?
There are some frightening pictures in there.” Pages of symbols and
monsters looked back at me. “Those don’t look like the demons you
pointed out.”

“
That’s what they look like
underneath. They can make themselves very attractive.” He glanced
up from the book.

“
Was that why everyone was
so good-looking at the party?” I met his gaze.

“
You noticed,” he said, then
took a drink of the coffee.

He made a face. I guessed my coffee
was too strong. That was what he got for not taking the cream or
sugar.

“
Yeah, it was kind of hard
not to. It was like being in a soap opera.” I took a gulp from my
mug.

Cole stopped abruptly and peered down
at the page. I looked over at the book.

“
It’s the symbol from the
rings and the house. It lists what the demon wants and his name.”
He tapped the page with his index finger.

“
That’s good, right?” I felt
a brief flicker of hope.

“
That’s the demon name, not
the name he’ll use here on earth. It would be a normal name like
John Smith. He very much wants to blend in with the crowd. It’s
easier for him to prey upon people that way.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. So this
information doesn’t really help us much then. Why the hell are we
even looking at the book then?”

“
Sure it does, it lets us
know more about him. I have to say, I’m glad I let you drag me to
see the woman. We would have never gotten this book otherwise.” He
tried to suppress a smile, but the corners of his mouth tilted up
in spite of himself.

I waggled my finger in his direction.
“Are you giving me a compliment now?”

“
Hey, don’t get cocky just
because I gave you a compliment.”

“
So tell me what you can
about this demon after seeing this book.” I crossed my fingers for
good news.

“
Like I said, he is after
Jennifer’s soul. But all demons want to do that, so that’s nothing
new.”

“
Go on,” I said.

“
This demon will make her
reckless, just like you described her. He thrives on that. It’s his
mission to collect as many souls as he can. He’s a soul
collector.”

“
What? That term. I’ve heard
it before.” The color probably drained from my face.

He looked at me with wide
eyes.

I shook my head. “It was someone I
met… or something rather. He hangs out in the cemetery and claimed
to help souls cross over into the light.”

He looked at me as if I’d just said I
wanted to visit my relatives the aliens. “I’ve never heard of
anything like that.”

“
Do you think there’s a
connection?” I asked.

“
I’ve never heard of
anything like that. It’s probably someone who was just playing
games with you.” He took another sip from his mug. “We need to
think of something quick though. Time is running out.”

“
You don’t have to remind
me. Don’t pressure me,” I said, letting out a pent-up
breath.

Cole studied the book again. After a
long pause, he looked up at me and said, “I think I know where to
find this demon. At least I think I know a way to find
him.”

“
Well, do tell,” I
said.

Excitement raced through my body. Now
we were finally on to something.

“
I’ll have to show you.” He
met my gaze.

I took another drink from my
mug.

“
There is a portal where all
the demons enter. I know what region of hell this demon comes
from.”

“
There are regions?” I
asked.

He nodded, then continued. “There are
specific times that they can come and go through the portal. The
demons can’t stay in this realm all the time. Only brief periods of
time, so this demon will have to travel back and forth. We can be
waiting for him there at the right time.”

“
That’s all great, but how
will we know which one is the right demon? You said he will be in a
disguise.” I massaged my temples.

“
That’s where we have to
trick him into showing his true appearance.” Cole’s expression
turned serious.

“
Oh, is that so? That easy,
huh? Just trick him into it.” I threw my hands up.

“
These demons make rookie
mistakes a lot. It won’t be as hard as it sounds.” He closed the
book.

“
I hope you’re right.” I
took a deep breath and exhaled.

“
Have I let you down yet?”
He winked.

I looked at him. “I just met you. You
haven’t had time yet.”

Jack’s words about Cole being a demon
flooded back to me. I didn’t know Cole at all.

He nodded. “Oh, yeah. Good point. Come
on. Let’s get going.” He looked at his watch. “If we hurry we can
make it on the next time frame. He’ll be leaving for the other
world soon.”

“
Kind of like a train or
bus, huh? How long do we have?” I looked at my watch.

“
An hour,” Cole
said.

“
Does this mean he can’t
control Jennifer when he’s in the other world?” I swallowed the
apprehension stuck in my throat as I waited for his
answer.

“
His power over her is less,
yes. But not completely gone.”

I grabbed the keys and we hurried down
the steps and back out into the night air. Thankfully Lily was
nowhere in sight. The usual people moved up and down the streets
taking in the sights and enjoying the night life. Why couldn’t I be
one of those people? Why did my life have to be so
complicated?

“
We’ll head straight there
and I can explain how we’ll trick him into showing himself. I do it
all the time. They fall for it every time. You’d think they’d
eventually catch on, but like I said, they make a lot of
mistakes.”

“
A crash course in demon
tricks. Sounds interesting.” I smiled. “You learn something new
every day.”

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#24

Dating is one devil of a
job.

As I made my way down the stairs from
my apartment, I thought back to the rings that Jennifer and this
man had been wearing. What was the connection and how would we ever
find out? We stormed out onto the sidewalk like a couple of crazy
people. I didn’t bother to look around to see if we were garnering
strange looks. I assumed it to be the case. Maybe I should have
looked around for the demons though. It would be only a matter of
time until they came after us.

Cole and I were making our way down
the sidewalk. He was keeping up a pretty good pace. A faint glow
from the sickle moon cast shadows around every corner. The familiar
tingle I got every time I looked at that big white orb pulled at
me. I was lucky it wasn’t a full moon or I wouldn’t be able to stop
myself from shifting.

“
Are you going to tell me
where we’re going and how we’ll trick the demons? I don’t want to
go into this clueless.” I asked, navigating around a street
performer.

Cole glanced over at me. I knew by the
look in his eyes he wanted to attempt a witty comment.

“
If you make one statement
about me being clueless, I’ll let you have it,” I warned with a
shake of my fist.

“
I didn’t say a word,” he
said, holding his hands up in defense.

Up ahead I caught a glimpse of a red
dress and long blonde hair and I knew instantly it was
Jennifer.

“
Look. Jennifer just went
around that corner.” I pointed.

“
Where?” Cole asked
breathlessly.

“
Right there, around that
corner.”

I took off in a sprint, not waiting
for Cole to respond or give him time to run with me. He’d do
nothing but hold me back.

When I turned the corner, Jennifer
wasn’t there. I ran to the end of the alley, coming out on the next
street. I looked both ways, but she wasn’t there. What had happened
to her? There was no way she’d gotten away that quickly. Jennifer
had never been that fast. I exhaled slowly and placed my hands on
my hips. What now? I was at my wits’ end.

Had the demon just dumped Jennifer out
on the street? That was unlikely. I was surprised to see her alone
though. This was my chance though. No stupid demons around to stop
me. “Jennifer,” I called out. “Are you here?” I stepped down the
sidewalk, but my efforts were pointless. She was obviously not
around. Could she have gone into one of the buildings? It was
possible, but I couldn’t knock on every single door. I could stop
in every business and ask if they’d seen her, but that would take
forever and I was running out of time already.

I’d have to take my chances and
continue doing what I’d been doing, which was actually not much of
anything. I turned around and made my way back down the alley to
catch up with Cole. He was even slower than I’d thought.

I stepped back onto the street where
I’d left Cole, but he was gone too.