Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (24 page)

“
No… well, yes, but because
you’ve come to collect them. I’m thinking if you have to force them
to go with you it can’t be all that good.” My voice was barely
above a whisper.

“
They are confused, that’s
all. All they need is a little guidance. If they’d follow my
directions they wouldn’t have this problem,” he said.

“
Maybe you’re not good at
giving directions. You need to give them a little pamphlet.” I
laughed.

He frowned. Did he ever smile or
laugh? He needed to learn how to take a joke. That was what I got
for thinking I could lighten the mood.

I coughed and cleared my throat.
“Anyway, what about the demons?”

“
I told you that I am not a
demon.”

“
Do you know where the
demons are?” I asked.

“
They are all around. Just
be careful that they don’t find you. Now beat it and get out of my
cemetery.”

“
But do you know the names
of any demons?” I pressed for more information. He had to have more
information than that.

“
No,” he barked. “There’s a
portal near Bourbon Street, next to that little jazz bar. Go check
there and leave me alone.”

Wow, that was the bar where we’d seen
the demon. That made sense now.

“
Now we’re talking. See, why
couldn’t you have just given me that information to start with?” I
asked.

“
Do you remember what I said
about disturbing the spirits? I told you last time. You’re
wandering up and down the aisles and they get curious. They want to
know what you’re doing. Therefore, I can’t do my job. Now are you
going to leave me to get my work done and promise never to disturb
me again?” He didn’t take his gaze off me.

I scanned the area looking for one of
the ghosts. I saw nothing else. It was just me and the soul
collector and the gentle whistle of the wind. The vampires had
lured Jack here before. Apparently they liked hanging out with the
dearly departed. Perhaps because they had something in common
with the residents of the graveyard. I was thankful there were no
vampires around this time, but I could’ve used another person
though. I didn’t like being alone with the soul collector. Where
was Lily when I needed her? I knew she was a chicken.

The soul collector’s expression turned
even more sour. My time was running out with him. Movement caught
my attention and I looked to my right.

The soul collector let out a loud
groan. “See, there goes a spirit now. Look what you’ve
done.”

The male ghost peeked around one of
the tombstones, made eye contact, then glided in the opposite
direction.

“
I’ve been trying to get
that one all night.” He threw his oversized arms up in the
air.

“
Oops. Sorry about
that.”

His eyes turned even darker and I
didn’t think that was possible, so I took that as my cue that it
was time to beat it.

“
Okay then, I guess it’s
time that I got out of your hair.” I glanced up at his few pieces
of hair.

He growled and I held my hands up in
surrender.

“
I’m leaving, I’m
leaving.”

Soul collectors could be so
touchy.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#27

Show your date a good time
or there will be hell to pay.

I hurried away from the cemetery with
the other book tucked securely under my arm. Not surprisingly, I’d
had a hard time getting answers from the soul collector. But he’d
given me the location and I did have the book. Maybe I’d learn more
from it. Looking at it was worth a shot and about the only option I
had left.

Earlier I’d thought I’d wanted to have
someone around, but now I realized it was nice finally not having
anyone tagging along. I thought I’d needed someone with me to help,
but I’d be fine on my own. The peace and quiet with my thoughts
would be a welcome reprieve.

It wasn’t meant to be though. When I
made it a block down the street, someone grabbed my arm.

I yanked it away and whirled around.
Cole stood behind me.

“
Why do you insist on
grabbing me like that? Haven’t you ever heard of being gentle?” At
least he hadn’t kissed me again.

He nodded for me to look in front of
us. The demons we’d seen earlier were headed our way. Their eyes
glowed red in the darkness.

“
I’m here to save your ass.
It’s a good thing I found you just in time.” He scoffed. “And you
were totally clueless that anyone was even behind you.”

My eyes widened. Had he really just
saved me?

“
Let’s run.” This time I
grabbed Cole’s arm.

“
There isn’t time,” he said.
“We’ll have to fight them.”

“
What? We? What the hell?
I’m not a demon hunter. I can take on werewolves and the occasional
vampire, but I don’t do demons.” Panic rose from my feet and
settled in my stomach.

“
You’ll have to,” he said as
the demons approached.

They were practically on top of us.
There was no choice but to change into my werewolf self. It would
be tough to do while I was fighting though.

They didn’t say a word. They just
started grabbing and punching. Men fighting a woman? This wasn’t
cool. They had height and weight on me, not to mention the whole
devil thing. How would I even begin to fight them? Did they have
demon-killing bullets? If so, I needed to look into getting a
gun.

One demon grabbed me around the neck,
pulling me to the ground, while the other had Cole in a head-lock.
What did he typically do to fight the demons? What was the secret
to being a big bad demon-hunting tough guy? They had strength
beyond what I’d imagined. I had to fight dirty just like them. I’d
sprouted hair on my arms, but because of the fighting, the change
was taking longer than usual.

Not that I was sure even my werewolf
strength would be a match for this demon. I wiggled around, trying
to break his hold. His breath was hideous. He might have been
good-looking, but whatever was going on in that mouth of his, even
a whole container of Tic-Tacs wouldn’t make a dent. Something told
me he didn’t much care about his dental hygiene. I needed some kind
of distraction. It would be my only hope of breaking free of his
grip.

That was when I remembered my keys. I
didn’t know if my plan would work, but it was the only plan I had.
If it worked, I’d have to run. There would be no stopping to help
Cole. He would be on his own. I wouldn’t be any help to him here. I
could go for backup if I needed to. After all, he was the demon
hunter.

Who knew that demons would resort to
hair-pulling during a fight? I guessed I shouldn’t have expected
them not to fight dirty though. I fumbled as the demon was choking
me and managed to pull the keys from my pocket. The necklace the
priestess had given me broke and fell to the ground. Finally, I
broke free. I lifted my arm back and jammed the key right into his
eyeball. He yelled out a sound unlike I’d heard before. I guessed
the demons weren’t so tough after all. He released his tight hold
on me.

I ran without looking back. I had no
idea if Cole was still under attack, but I assumed that he was.
After a few seconds, I heard heavy breathing beside me. Oh God. The
demon had caught up with me. My running speed had slowed. I was in
a transition phase unlike I’d ever been before and my speed was
greatly hampered.

I’d heard about this before. When
changing under attack, it screwed something up sometimes. Things
were just not going my way lately. I continued to run, but I had to
chance a glance to my side. Cole Palmer was running along beside
me.

“
It takes a demon attacking
you to slow you down?” he panted as he ran beside me.

“
How the hell did you get
away?” I asked.

“
It wasn’t easy,” he said
with a slight smirk. “Let’s just not look back,” he
added.

“
I don’t intend on it.” I
stepped up my pace.

Things certainly had spiraled out of
control. Where had I taken a wrong turn in my life? Could I make a
U-turn?

“
I lost you earlier. Where
did you go?” Cole asked.

“
The better question is
where did you go? Lily said she saw you with Jennifer. Did you find
her earlier?” My anxiety churned while I waited for his
answer.

“
I don’t know what Lily is
talking about because I never saw Jennifer. I certainly didn’t
drive anywhere with her.” He avoided my stare.

I eyed him suspiciously. Was he lying
to me? If he was keeping the truth from me, then where was Jennifer
now? And why would he be back here?

“
I promise I haven’t seen
her. If I had seen her all of this would be over,” Cole
said.

I let out a sigh. Yeah, now I was
suspicious. But what could I do? If he said he hadn’t seen her then
I had to accept his word.

“
We have to get to the
portal. We’re losing time.” Cole grabbed my hand.

“
You know which demon had
Jennifer?” My heart hammered in my chest. This was it. We were
really running out of time.

He beamed. “I know which demon has
her.”

I wanted to cry with joy but there was
no time. We had to save Jennifer. There would be time for tears
later.

We’d made it just another block when I
saw another familiar face approaching me. Actually it was two. Jack
and Quinton were marching toward us as if they were on a mission.
This was not going to end well. It was like an ambush.

They didn’t speak as they approached.
In the blink of an eye, Jack picked up my upper half and Quinton
grabbed my legs.

“
What the hell are you all
doing? Have you lost your mind?” I wiggled, trying to break free.
“Put me down.”

“
Rylie, we’re doing this for
your own good,” Quinton said as they hauled me down the sidewalk
like a sack of potatoes.

“
Hey, come back here,” Cole
yelled after us.

They dumped me in the backseat of the
car. The seatbelt was smashed against my face as I slid across the
leather. I was so not happy.

I watched out the back window as Cole
ran after the car. It was no luck. He’d never catch us. They didn’t
slow down for Cole.

“
I can’t believe you all
just did that. What were you thinking Jack?” I asked as Quinton
started the car and sped off.

“
We got rid of him,” Quinton
said, glancing back through his rear-view mirror.

Jack nodded. “Good job,
man.”

I expected them to fist pump at any
moment. Apparently, they were happy that their mission was a
success. Quinton steered the car around another turn and I slid
across the back seat of the car again.

“
Can you slow down long
enough for me to put my seat belt on at least?” I
snapped.

“
There’s no time.” Quinton
didn’t take his eyes off the road.

“
Okay, but if we’re in a
wreck, it’ll be your fault when I’m stretched out on the ground,
broken and in a bloody mess.”

“
We’ll be there soon, I
promise,” he said.

“
Yeah, that’s reassuring.
Thanks. Your driving sucks by the way.” I leaned forward to make
sure he heard my complaint.

He steered around a curve and I
slammed to the opposite side of the car. “Quinton, I’m going to
kick your sorry vampire ass. Why are you speeding? Is there a fire?
Do you think Cole will be able to run after the car and catch up
with us? Because call me crazy, but I am guessing that you all are
trying to keep me away from him.”

Jack and Quinton gazed straight
ahead.

“
Well, you all should be
quiet. You should be ashamed for this foolish behavior.” I leaned
forward in the middle of the seat, glaring at both of
them.

What a couple of knuckleheads. Quinton
was starting to rub off on Jack.

“
Rylie, I’m sorry,” Jack
said softly. “I told you that guy was bad news. He was trying to
take you back to hell. We had to get you away from him.”

“
He is not a demon. I don’t
know where you got that information from, but you’re wrong.” I
didn’t try to conceal the irritation in my voice.

They didn’t respond. Quinton kept his
eyes on the road and Jack looked out the window.

“
Can you at least tell me
where you are taking me? I know I’m a kidnap victim but could you
be so kind as to tell me where we are going?”

“
I’m sorry, Rylie, but after
listening to Quinton, I felt we had no choice.” Jack ran his hand
through his mussed hair. Dark circles ringed his eyes.

“
That was your first
mistake. You listened to Quinton.”

I watched Quinton quirk an eyebrow in
the rear-view mirror. “Hey, I give solid advice and we’re doing
this for your own good. If you insist on hanging out with that dude
we have to stop you.”

“
Oh, so I need to be saved,
huh? Poor little werewolf in distress,” I said through gritted
teeth.