Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (22 page)

“
Cole?” I called
out.

No answer. But I hadn’t expected one.
A few people walked past and looked at me as if I was from Mars. I
glanced down at my hands. No hair. Whew. I was worried that with
all the stress I’d started to shift and not realized it. Where was
Cole? I needed him right now.

Maybe he’d gone after Jennifer. I
pulled my cell phone from my pocket along with his business card
and punched in his number. After many rings though, I finally gave
up and shoved the phone back in my pocket.

Well this was a fine mess. I knew I’d
seen Jennifer. My eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on me. This was
no time for Cole to be playing tricks on me. I didn’t know what
else to do so I started back toward my apartment.

Once I reached the front door to my
building, I knew I couldn’t go inside. I couldn’t just give up now.
But what would I do? I needed to think of something quickly. I
scanned the area again. There was still no sign of Jennifer or
Cole. Then a thought popped into my head. Anna Maria had another
book that she had wanted to show me. Were the answers to all of
this in that book? I needed to get my hands on that book. I pulled
the cell phone from my pocket and found the card that the woman had
given me. I slid down on one of the steps behind me.

With a shaky hand, I punched in the
numbers and waited while it rang. My leg fidgeted at rapid speed
and I tapped my fingers against the concrete step. What was taking
her so long? Why didn’t she answer? It would take too much time if
I had to go to her house. But after many rings with no answer, I
knew I had no choice. I jumped up and headed in that direction. I’d
have to make the trip back to her house and hope that I found
her.

Naturally, as I hurried down the
sidewalk back to her house, the sound of footfalls came from very
near behind me. Did I expect anything less? I whirled around,
fearing that the demons had caught up with me.

“
I have wedding favors to
make. Do you plan on helping or not?” Lily threw little imaginary
daggers at me with her eyes.

I would have preferred the demons now.
I feared that this wedding was driving Lily insane. Well, the rest
of the way insane. If not, she was for sure driving me
bonkers.

“
I’m a little busy here,
Lily.” I glared at her.

“
Fine. I’ll go with you.
Where are we headed?” She matched my pace and caught up to
me.

“
We are not headed
anywhere,” I snapped.

“
Look, I know I am driving
you a little crazy with the wedding stuff, but I’m stressed too and
it looks like you don’t have anyone else to help with whatever the
hell it is you’re doing, so why not let me come along.” She bounced
along beside me.

I sighed, then said, “Because you will
drive me crazy with talk about the wedding.”

I tried to pick up my speed, hoping
that she wouldn’t be able to keep up. Apparently, she’d had a power
bar for breakfast because my speed was of no effect to
her.

“
How about if I promise to
only ask two questions per hour?” She held up two
fingers.

My mouth fell open. “Per hour? How
long do you intend on hanging around?”

“
For as long as you need
someone to help your sorry ass,” she quipped.

I groaned. “Fine.”

Maybe she would be able to help. With
what, I wasn’t sure, but it would be good to have someone around if
I needed the help. As much of a distraction as Lily was, I realized
that I didn’t want to be alone right now, so I’d have to let her
tag along.

“
Where are we headed?” she
asked in a bubbly tone.

“
To see a woman who knows
all about demons,” I answered hurriedly.

She scoffed. “I swear, Rylie, you can
get yourself into the craziest messes.”

“
What? Me? What about you?”
I pointed at her.

She rolled her eyes and didn’t answer
my question. “Did you piss off a demon by setting him up on a
terrible date?”

“
A demon has Jennifer, I
told you that.” I shook my head. She had selective
hearing.

“
She’s still gone? I just
saw her at your place right before I saw you on the sidewalk,” she
said nonchalantly.

“
Again? What are you talking
about? Are you playing games with me?” I whipped around to run back
to my building.

Lily grabbed my arm. “Wait, it’s no
use. She got in a car with some guy. They looked very comfortable
with each other though, so I don’t think a demon is keeping her
against her will.”

“
Did you get a good look at
this guy?” I asked in a panicked tone.

“
Yeah, it was the dude I saw
you talking to earlier.” She played with the tacky gold necklace
dangling from around her neck.

I stopped cold in my tracks and my
stomach turned. “Cole?” I asked.

“
How should I know what his
name is?” She rolled her eyes again.

I grabbed her arms. “Tell me
everything.”

Her nostrils flared. “You may be my
bridesmaid, but that doesn’t give you the right to touch me. Only
Phil touches me.”

Please, I didn’t need that mental
picture right now.

She broke free from my
grasp.

I took a couple deep breathes to calm
myself before I smacked her. “Okay, tell me everything you saw,
please.”

She let out an exasperated sigh. “I
already told you. She was going down the steps of your apartment,
then she got in that guy’s car.”

“
How sure are you that it
was him?” I stared at her, waiting anxiously for an
answer.

“
I’m positive. I always
remember the good-looking ones.”

I ran my hands through my hair. “And
you’re sure they drove away.”

She huffed. “Yes, now I’m tired of
telling you the same thing over and over.”

What did I do now? I pulled out my
phone and hit redial. Jennifer’s line just rang and rang. I hadn’t
expected her to answer. I had hoped, but I hadn’t expected it. I
pulled out the card from my pocket and dialed Cole’s number. I
didn’t want to talk with him, but if I had to I would.

After many rings, he didn’t answer
either. What was going on? I could run back home, but then I’d take
the chance that they probably weren’t there anyway. I’d just be
wasting time. I’d go with my original plan and visit the
woman.

With any luck, she could tell me where
to find this demon. Heck, I’d take any information she could or
would give.

Lily had her hands on her hips. “So
are we just going to stand here or what?”

I shook my head. “No, come on. Let’s
go.”

After a few minutes, we were back in
front of the woman’s home. That gargoyle statue still watched me.
It felt as if he was sending a warning this time though. I made my
way up the porch to the front door with Lily on my heels. I
shivered and rubbed my arms. Something didn’t feel right. As we
stood there on Anna Maria’s front porch, the house seemed ominous
now. There was a tiny glow from a light that shone from the front
window, but other than that, there was no movement or sound that
would indicate that she was home. A faint whiff of smoke tickled my
nostrils. I knocked on the door, but it swung open.

“
Hmm. That’s strange,” I
said.

I looked at Lily and she just
shrugged. “Do you know this woman?” she asked as she stuck her head
through the open door.

“
Not really. I just met her.
She gave me information about the demons.”

Lily clicked her tongue. “Well, I’d
say something not so good happened here.”

“
What do you mean?” A pang
of fear rushed over me.

Lily stepped into the foyer and I
slowly followed her. I didn’t like walking into someone’s house
when I hadn’t been invited in. A chill ran down my spine. Something
definitely didn’t feel right. The woman’s living room was in
shambles. The furniture was turned on end and the smell of smoke
lingered in the air. Where was she? Panic rose from my feet and
settled in my stomach. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know
that something wasn’t right. I prayed nothing had happened to Anna
Maria. That gnawing feeling took hold and I knew this had something
to do with my earlier visit. My stomach turned with that thought
that I’d brought something evil to this woman. I took a deep breath
and tried to calm myself. I was jumping to conclusions. I didn’t
know for sure that this had anything to do with me. Just a sneaking
suspicion, that was all.

“
Hello,” I called
out.

No one answered.

“
I think we should get out
of here.” Lily’s expression had turned to worry.

If she was saying this, then I knew we
needed to get out of there. But how would I find Jennifer? And what
if something had happened to this woman?

“
I should call the police,”
I said.

I’d call the police, but I didn’t have
time to hang around and wait for them. There was nothing more I
could tell them in person anyway. There was one thing I needed to
do before we got out of there though.

“
Help me look for a book.” I
tiptoed around the room, trying not to touch anything.

“
What the hell? Go to the
damn library. We need to get out of here. I don’t like this crap.”
Lily shivered and rubbed her arms.

“
I thought you were big and
tough.” I chastised with a frown.

“
Why don’t I kick your ass
and we’ll find out,” Lily growled.

“
You wish,” I snorted as I
continued looking around the room.

Lily stomped over beside me. “What the
hell kind of book is it?”

“
It’s a book about the
demons and I think it’ll tell me what I’m looking for. We’ll just
take a quick glance around and see if we find it.” I pointed to a
stack of books on the table beside her. “You check over
there.”

“
Do you think she caught on
fire?” Lily asked.

I stuck my fingers in my ears. “I
don’t even want to hear it. That stuff freaks me out.”

A sly smile slid across her face.
Great. I’d just given her ammunition. She’d know how to freak me
out for sure now. We eased around the room. The smell of smoke was
making me choke. Nothing appeared to be on fire or that it had been
on fire, so I didn’t know where the smell came from. Had Cole been
here again? Had Anna Maria called up a demon? My stomach turned.
Maybe the demon had taken her to hell. Why did she know so much
about the demons anyway? Heck for that matter, why would she want
to know? She had definitely been putting herself at risk. I hoped
someone had just broken into her home and she hadn’t been here at
the time. Then I realized something: what if the person who’d
broken in was still there? I needed to hurry up and get the heck
out of there before it was too late.

Just when I’d given up on finding the
book, I saw it on the table. The same spot where it had been when
Cole and I had left Anna Maria.

I grabbed the book, tucked it under my
arm and dashed for the door. “Come on, let’s get out of
here.”

“
Gladly.” Lily practically
pushed me out of the way as she hurried past.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#25

Do scare the hell out of
your date.

We rushed out onto the sidewalk and I
didn’t look back. As we made it back in the direction of my
apartment, I called the police and told them about my suspicions of
foul play. What they did after that was totally up to them. It was
out of my hands.

There was one other option that I
hadn’t checked. Cole had mentioned the soul collector. I’d run into
a creature who called himself a soul collector when I’d gone to the
cemetery with Jack. He’d been lured there by the vampires. There
was never a dull moment in my life.

As we neared the cemetery where I’d
found myself many times recently, I wondered if this soul collector
would even be there. Cole had said the demon collected souls. Was
it the same thing as the soul collector?

“
There’s someplace I need to
stop before we go back to my building,” I said, not glancing over
to see the sneer I was sure she had plastered on her
face.

Lily scowled—her usual expression.
“Where?” she asked.

“
The graveyard,” I
mumbled.

I knew she’d freak out. Lily was such
a chicken—all talk.

“
What the hell. You really
are a freak,” she said in a disdainful tone.

“
Look, don’t mess with me,
Lily. It’s been a long freakin’ day and I’m tired. You came along
with me. I’m not forcing you, so if you don’t want to go, then beat
it.”

She huffed. “Fine. Why are you
going?”

“
There’s someone there that
I need to talk to. He may know where Jennifer is.” I didn’t mention
that I was pretty sure he wasn’t human.

“
Okay, but let’s hurry up.
That place creeps me out.” She rubbed her arms again and glanced
over her shoulder.