Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (23 page)

Apparently everything creeped her
out.

The stone entrance had a wide iron
gate. The cemetery plots were all above ground, making a labyrinth
of stone around the space. Lily and I eased down the stone pathway.
The sound of her breathing was loud in my ear. A noise sounded from
somewhere behind us. Lily grabbed my shoulders and whirled us both
around. A shadow zipped around one of the vaults.

“
Oh, my God. What was that?”
She gripped my shoulders tighter.

“
Let go of me. You’re
hurting me.” I pried her hands from my shoulders.

“
Screw you. I don’t want to
be attacked by whatever that thing was.” Her eyes were full of
panic.

“
Come on. Let’s go this
way.” I grabbed her arm and she reluctantly followed.

We turned down the path to our right
and weaved around the gravestones. So far there was no sign of the
soul collector. Like I said, I’d met him when Jack had brought me
to the cemetery. The soul collector was an ugly creature who
claimed to bring souls over to the other world when they were lost
and couldn’t find their way. I wasn’t so sure I believed
him.

We continued our march down the path,
careful to avoid the uneven, torn-up pavement. Halfway down the
jagged path, Lily paused.

“
Why are you stopping?” I
asked.

“
I thought I heard
something,” she whispered.

Lily and I were wedged between a
couple of ornate vaults when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a
shadow zoom past. Since it appeared that Lily was scared of her own
shadow, I didn’t mention the sighting to her. The last thing I
needed was a freaked-out werewolf on my hands.

The shadow appeared again, not giving
me a chance to answer. I knew Lily had seen it too. No hiding it
from her this time.

“
What the hell was that?”
she screeched. “Was that a person? Are my eyes flipping out on me
or could I see right through the creepy thing?”

No, she hadn’t been seeing things, but
maybe if I avoided the question we could get out of there before
she went even more bat-shit crazy then she already was.
 

“
Are they serious? Are you
freakin’ kidding me? You bring me to this place where you know
there are ghosts. How could you?” Her voice raised to a piercing
level.

“
Oh, calm down. It’s a
ghost. It’s not going to eat you. You’re a werewolf. Deal with it.
You knew ghosts were real, so don’t act so surprised.” I
pointed.

“
I’ll get you back for this,
Rylie. If I have a nervous breakdown, it’s all your fault.” She
glared.

“
If?” I snorted.

“
I heard that,” she
said.

I hadn’t meant to hide my words. She
was always threatening revenge. She was all bark.

“
Did you bring me here just
to scare me? Is it because of the whole wedding thing? If that’s
true, Rylie, then it’s a pretty dirty trick.” She sounded as if she
might actually cry, but I knew better of that.

I thought I was going to have to grab
her and shake her to calm her down. “Lily, get a hold of yourself.
I told you I was looking for something else. I wouldn’t play that
kind of dirty trick on you.” Okay, I would, but whatever. Right now
I didn’t have time. “What kind of a person do you think I
am?”

She quirked a brow.

“
Fine. Don’t answer that. I
don’t want to fight right now.”

She blew out a deep breath. “Okay. Are
those freakin vampires you hang around with here?”

“
No, there aren’t any
vampires here.” I crossed my fingers to cover for my
lie.

Well, not that I knew of. They had
manipulated Jack’s mind and lured him here. That was why he’d
brought me there and why I’d met the soul collector to begin with.
They could play nasty mind games. You never knew what kind of
tricks they were up to.

“
Fine, let’s meet this
supposed soul collector and get out of here.” She threw her hands
up.

Walking through the graveyard was
difficult since the darkness made it hard to see what uneven stones
I might be stepping across. The tombstones appeared more ominous
than usual, and a foreboding feeling hung over the area. That
strange feeling as if someone watched us wrapped around me,
enclosing us in an eerie cocoon. A chill traveled down my spine. It
felt as if our every move was under scrutiny, this presence
traveling with our every step.

Rumor had it that the spirit of voodoo
priestess Maria Laveau roamed the graveyard. Was she around? Or
were other ghosts hiding in the shadows? So far I hadn’t see any
ghosts, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. I’d seen ghosts in
this cemetery many times before. I’d seen more than enough the two
times I visited the cemetery with Jack.

A feeling came over me and I knew we
weren’t alone. It wasn’t the ghosts or the deceased either. I had
sensed another presence. Lily’s eyes widened. She must have felt it
too. The sooner I found the soul collector, the sooner we could get
out of there.

“
Come on. Let’s go a little
further in.” I motioned for her to follow.

“
Oh great. Just what I
need.” Lily snorted.

I was
so
not carrying her through that
cemetery.

Lily and I trekked through the
graveyard, moving further in, through the labyrinth of the graves.
Our surroundings were hauntingly beautiful, but the creature I was
looking for was far from it. I glanced over at Lily. She still
looked terrified, which was shocking in a way. So much for her
tough-girl act.

We turned to our left and Lily
clutched at my arm. I practically had to drag her through the
graveyard. I glanced over my shoulder several times. Where the hell
was that thing anyway? Any other time he’d pop up and scare the
hell out of us. What would Lily do when she saw him?

I knew that the creature was lurking
around somewhere. At any moment he could pop out. I hoped we didn’t
come too close to him. He gave me the heebie-jeebies. Not only did
we have to lookout for the soul collector, but ghosts roamed the
cemetery too. Not to mention the vampires and werewolves. Tour
guides roamed around the grounds as well, so maybe we’d run into
one of them. Did they see the soul collector too?

Lily and I had moved a few steps
further when something bounded out from behind a tall crypt and
caught our attention. We froze on the spot. I wasn’t sure whether
to run, or carry out my mission and talk to this thing.

Lily let out a loud screech. “What the
hell is that?”

“
It’s the soul collector,” I
said, as if I saw that type of thing every day.

“
Well, it’s not collecting
my soul. I’m getting the hell out of here.” She spun around, her
auburn hair twirling with the spin.

I grabbed her arm. “You’re not leaving
me in here alone. Just calm down. He won’t take our souls.” At
least I didn’t think he would.

The soul collector glared at us. “You
are disturbing the cemetery again. Why are you back? Do you want me
to collect your soul? Do you have a death wish?”

“
I don’t know about her, but
I don’t,” Lily said, her eyes wide.

The soul collector was
completely hideous. But he had some human-like features, well,
considering they were distorted, I guessed you’d say they were
human-like in an otherworldly kind of way. His long face stretched
down like he was wearing a melted Halloween mask—kind of like in
that
Scream
movie.
His pasty white, sheer skin was almost see-through. The tops of his
ears pointed upward like horns, while the bottom portion sagged
down like a basset hound.

His mouth set in a straight line as he
studied us with his small coal-black eyes. His extra-large face
made his narrow nose look even more miniscule. He stretched his
mile-long arm out and pointed at us.

I thought things like this were only
fantasy and part of movies. I believed in all parts of the
paranormal, but he really stretched my level of believability. No
one would ever believe me if I told them about him. I was glad Lily
was seeing it with her own eyes. I wondered if I could talk him
into scaring her away permanently? I’d pay good money for
that.

“
Why have you returned?” he
snapped.

He spoke like us and moved like us,
but he was definitely not human. The scenery behind him shone
straight through his body; he was completely see-through. But as
I’d learned before, he wasn’t a ghost. He was the enforcer of the
graveyard. It was his territory as far as he was concerned. Who
made him boss? I was pretty sure he didn’t own the graveyard. If he
wasn’t so scary-looking, I’d tell him how I felt. But I didn’t want
to take my chances of being dragged off to hell though, so I kept
my mouth shut. Why did I keep coming back to this graveyard? Hadn’t
I learned my lesson yet? Sometimes I could be so hard
headed.

“
I need to ask you some
questions,” I said, praying he wouldn’t attack me.

“
I don’t have answers for
you. Now, if you’ll please leave me to my business.” He gestured
for me to get lost.

I looked around. “How many lost souls
are still here? I mean, does it honestly take you this long to do
your job? Maybe you should reevaluate your
productivity.”

The sound of his heavy breathing
traveled across the night air. He glared at us.

“
Way to go, Rylie. Piss off
the hideous creature. Can’t you do anything right?” Lily shook her
head in disgust.

Hmm. Sometimes I wondered if I could
do anything right.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#26

Help your date give the
devil his due.

“
What are you?” Lily asked.
“What is that thing?” She looked at me and whispered, “I know it’s
not human. That’s not possible. Look how hideous it is. This thing
doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“
I’m standing right here.”
He snorted. “You don’t have to insult me.” His face seemed to droop
even more, like a melting candle.

“
I told you what he is,
Lily.” I pointed at him. “Don’t offend him.”

“
I figured you were just
making that crap up. I mean, you’re good at it.” She rolled her
eyes. 

“
I’m a soul collector. I
collect the souls who won’t go to the other side,” he said with
grumble in his voice.

“
Oh, are you the grim
reaper?” Lily asked.

I should have warned her not to ask
that question. He didn’t like that one at all.

The tiny dark holes that were his eyes
grew even smaller. “I told you before, I am not the grim reaper.
Don’t call me that again,” he yelled.

“
Calm down. She didn’t mean
it. Did you, Lily? Don’t get upset.” I nodded toward
Lily.

“
Whatever.” She
snorted.

Now she was going to act tough? I
never knew what to expect out of Lily. I thought maybe she had
multiple personalities.

The soul collector looked hideous with
the sagging skin on his face. He wore a suit that looked as if he’d
stolen it from one of the corpses. No wonder the ghosts didn’t want
to go with him. His personality didn’t help matters
either.

“
Are you going to tell me
why you’re here again?” His voice boomed loud across the night
air.

“
Why are you being so rude?”
Lily snapped.

Now she really was being
brave.

The soul collector took two steps
forward and Lily yelped. She took off in a sprint for the front
entrance. As she reached the gate she stumbled, but she didn’t let
that stop her. She hurried up and ran right out the front gate,
never looking back in my direction. I was surprised she’d lasted
this long. She’d better never act like a tough girl in front of me
ever again. Now I was all alone with this creature.

“
Lily! Seriously? You’re
going to just leave me like that? Don’t ask me any more questions
about the wedding. I don’t care if you do the chicken dance or the
freakin’ hokey-pokey. As a matter of fact, you’d be perfect at the
chicken dance,” I yelled.

A loud, rumbling laugh sounded from
the soul collector. “Some friend you have there.”

“
She’s not my friend,” I
hissed.

“
Are you going to tell me
why you’re here or do I need to take you to the other side? Is that
why you keep coming around?” He stared, not taking his weird eyes
off me.

I swallowed hard. “No. I have
questions about what you do. The ghosts… do you take them to hell?”
I studied his face. “Are you a demon? And does a person have to be
dead for you to take their soul?”

He shook his head. “Didn’t I answer
these questions before?”

Why did he have such a good
memory?

“
It’s just that recently
I’ve had some dealings with people who claim to take souls to hell.
Someone said they collect souls.”

“
So you automatically
thought of me?” His voice sounded even angrier.