Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (26 page)

I stood from the table. They all stood
with me. Did they want to escort me to the bathroom too? This was
going too far.

“
I’ll walk with you,” Jack
said.

“
That’s okay. I don’t mind.
It’s just at the back of the room.”

I could have sworn that vampire nodded
that it was okay for Jack to let me walk alone. Had I slipped into
a Scientology meeting by mistake? This was weird. If Jack started
acting like Tom Cruise, then we had serious problems.

I made my way across the room while
getting some serious gawking from the crowd. It was either my
attire or the werewolf thing. Maybe it was both. I glanced over my
shoulder and noticed that all the men at my table were staring.
Creepy with a capital C.

I glanced to my left and right and saw
vampires staring at me. Soon all eyes would be on me. They’d be
ganging up on me. I couldn’t fight off hundreds of vampires. I’d be
lucky to fight off one or two. Would I make it out of this place
alive? There was only one way to find out. Glancing over my
shoulder again, I realized they were still staring. Just then,
Shane stood and moved toward me. He didn’t take his eyes off me. He
knew what I was doing.

Shane drew closer as I hurried across
the room. When I reached the hallway where the restrooms were
located, his hand wrapped around my arm. I looked down and saw a
gold ring on his hand. I gasped, all of the air escaping from my
lungs. He had the same ring on his finger. It was the same demon
symbol. I yanked my arm free and ran. Luckily, he was no match for
my speed.

Rushing forward, I grabbed the door
and swung it open. I slid into the bathroom and locked the door. It
rattled from the other side and I knew it would be only a matter of
time before he broke it down.

I leaned close to the door and
listened.

“
Hey, boss, what are you
doing here?”

“
I have the subject for
Obiclin.”

What the hell were they talking about?
Was I the subject? Was that the name of the demon? I had the book
with me, so I hurried and pulled it from my purse. I might get
dragged around this town like a rag doll, but I never lost my
purse. It was a talent, really.

I flipped to the index and sucked in a
breath when I saw the name, Obiclin. That had to be the demon that
had Jennifer. It even listed the location of his portal. It was
near the spot that the soul collector had mentioned. I had to get
there right away.

I looked around for a window. There
were three stalls, but luckily no one else was in there. Thank
goodness this time I didn’t have to strip off my clothing and shift
into my furry self. The smell of vanilla air freshener made my
nervous stomach turn. I had to get out of there quick.

I was also thankful that there was a
window. Now to get it open so that I could jump out. Luckily,
we were on the first floor. I could usually handle a jump from the
second floor, but beyond that got a little dicey. I heaved the
window open and slipped my legs over the ledge. There was a short
jump to the ground. This vampire cult needed better security.
Suckers. Who did they think they were messing with? An
amateur?

Just then, an alarm sounded. Damn. The
noise pierced the night air. Did it really need to be that loud? It
was like I was the convict and the hounds would be called out to
sniff me out at any second. Would Jack be angry with me? Maybe he
wasn’t meant to be with a werewolf? I had too much baggage anyway.
Sure, he was a vampire now. He’d probably find some hot vampire who
didn’t always have to climb out of windows.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#29

Tell your date they’re so
hot they make the devil sweat.

I ran away from the building as fast
as my legs would take me. The vampires were a lot faster than the
demon hunters so they might actually have a chance of catching up
to me. If the soul collector had been correct and I’d really heard
the name of the demon from Shane, then I was very familiar with the
area where the demon was taking Jennifer, but it wasn’t the easiest
place to get to from my current location.

My legs ached from all the running.
Just when I thought my lungs would collapse, I spotted the street
sign. I was just a couple blocks from my home. Who knew there was a
portal to hell that close to my house? I pushed myself to go just a
little further. There was no time to pass out now. When I finally
caught my breath, I dialed Cole’s number.

“
Pick up, pick up, pick up,”
I said.

He didn’t answer. Now what would I do?
I left a message and told him to get to the location now if he
didn’t want me to report his ass to the demon hunter boss in
charge. Whoever the hell that was.

I finally approached the location
where they demon was supposed to appear. The portal to hell was
allegedly there too. All I saw was a brick alleyway and a few lost
tourists in the distance. Would the flames appear out of thin air?
What did the portal to hell really look like? I wasn’t exactly
excited to find out. If this wasn’t the location, then I knew it
was all over. There would be no hope of saving Jennifer. I didn’t
even want to think about it.

Cole had said there were different
portals around the world for different demons. With so many demons,
it seemed that there weren’t nearly enough of the demon hunters.
Perhaps they needed to hire a few more. I’d never given too much
thought to where hell was actually located. All I knew was that I
never wanted to visit. The heat in New Orleans was bad enough.
There was no way I could deal with the scorching temperature of
hell. Plus, the demons with pitchforks didn’t sound like much fun
either.

Anyway, there I was standing near the
portal to hell, praying that I didn’t get sucked in. My heart
thumped and my stomach ached. If I didn’t time things right,
Jennifer would get swooped away. If I wasn’t able to take down the
demon, Jennifer would get swooped away. No pressure there. What
kind of best friend would I be if I let her get carried off to
hell? Plus, it was my fault she was in this situation in the first
place. I brought the paranormal creatures around. If not for me
she’d be safe at home wearing her bunny slippers and watching an
episode of Ghost Hunters. Luckily, I’d devised a plan for rescuing
her. Was I a little worried that it wouldn’t work? Of course, but I
had to remain positive.

Was the portal supposed to be at the
end of the alley? Apparently, the hole would appear right there in
the air and the demons would just slip through the other side. Was
that how this thing was supposed to work? The smell of smoke
permeated the air. It reminded me of the odor at Anna Maria’s
house. No one appeared yet, so I stayed quiet as best as I could.
The only sound was the thumping of my heart in my ears.

It was hard not to fidget. I wanted to
pace while I waited. Watching for them to approach was torture, but
it was keeping me on my toes. I was super-sensitive to my
surroundings. I’d hear any little noise if it approached.
Werewolves had great hearing. My parents always had thought my
hearing was off, but I could say at this moment without a doubt
that they had been very wrong.

“
Did you think we wouldn’t
miss you?” The shuffling of feet made me whip around. It was Jack
and Quinton.

I let out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t
care, honestly. You all were creeping me out with that weird
vampire.”

“
I’m terribly sorry that I
creeped you out.” The weird vampire stood to my left.

Great. They’d brought Shane with them.
Well, I didn’t care. He needed to know that he was weird. Maybe
then he’d stop doing it. I had to tell Jack what I’d overheard at
the convention.

“
How did you know where I
was?”

“
We told you that vampire
knew about the demons. He told us where the demon would be bringing
Jennifer.”

Hmm. If he had that information, then
why didn’t he tell them sooner?

While we were yammering on, Jennifer
and the demon had approached the portal. To say that she looked
distressed was an understatement. It looked as if the demon life
was finally getting the best of her. I wanted to jump out and grab
her right then, but Jack pulled me back when I made a
move.

“
We have to wait until just
the right moment.” Jack’s eyes darkened and the tips of his fangs
poked out of his mouth.

“
When is the right moment?”
I blew the stray hair out of my eyes.

I couldn’t wait until she was getting
ready to be dragged through to hell.

“
I’m so glad you made this
easy for me.” The demon flashed his diabolical smile at
me.

Shane Bast stepped forward, fully
exposing his fangs. “We used Jennifer to get you here. She was
vulnerable at the time. We knew you’d follow her here. It was quite
easy, really.”

See, I knew that vampire was creepy.
Not only that, but he was evil. But would Jack and Quinton listen
to me? No. What did they have to say for themselves now? I knew
that was the demon symbol I’d seen on his ring. If we ever got out
of this mess, they had some serious apologizing to do.

“
Well, this is a fine mess
you’ve gotten us into,” I snapped. “Look at the great vampire guy
now. He’s one of the demons.” I pointed at Shane.

Quinton snorted. He knew when he was
wrong, but he hated to admit it. At least Jack and Quinton were
acting normal again. Well, normal for Quinton was still a little
weird, but I digress. How had they broken the weird
trance?

“
What do we do now, genius?”
My panic level reached its limit.

“
Just give me a second.”
Quinton waved his hands.

“
I really don’t think we
have a second. We’re all out of time here. You know what we need?
We need the freakin’ demon hunter that you all chased away.” I
pointed at Quinton, letting him know this was all his fault. “With
any luck, he’ll get my message and come save our asses.”

“
I don’t need a demon hunter
to save my ass,” Quinton barked.

“
Well, it looks like you do
from this angle.” I poked him in the chest for emphasis.

The air around us changed. A burning,
charred stench assaulted my nostrils. It made me want to gag. Jack
and Quinton coughed from where they stood behind me. Speaking of
which, why were they standing behind me? What was I, a werewolf
shield?

Jennifer’s gaze met mine and for a
split second I saw recognition in her eyes. How did I break this
spell the demon had on her? The only way was to get rid of him
permanently. She looked even worse than she had when I saw her last
at the party. Her hair looked as if she’d been though a hurricane.
Her dress was torn and dirty. Her shoes were missing. Had she been
in a fight? Or had someone attacked her?

I moved forward but swayed when I
stepped on a stray rock. My legs wobbled and I stumbled forward but
caught myself with the palms of my hands. They burned from the
scrap of the concrete.

“
You fell right into our
trap.” The demon cackled as he stared at me with his glowing red
eyes.

My skin prickled and for a split
second I wanted to run. But then I looked at Jennifer again. She
squirmed in his arms. Was she coming back to us? Was his hold on
her fading?

“
Let her go,” I
ordered.

My voice cracked. My skin tingled
again and I felt the familiar pull. I knew I’d change soon, but
this was one time when I didn’t mind. It was the only chance I had
to save Jennifer since the men were standing behind me and
apparently frozen in time. Had Shane cast the spell on them again?
This was getting ridiculous.

“
Come here,” the demon
demanded.

I didn’t answer. Did he think I’d just
walk over and let him have me? Not in this lifetime. Loud noises
sounded from behind me and I spun around. Quinton was in a battle
with Shane. Jack was trying to break up the fight. They struggled
on the pavement. My instincts made me want to jump in and help
Jack, but I knew I couldn’t get involved this time. And there
wasn’t much they could do to help me at the moment
either.

“
Need a little help?” the
male voice asked.

I whipped around.

Cole stood behind us. Okay, I hadn’t
heard him approach. Maybe my parents were right. My hearing sucked.
I had never been so glad to see Cole though. Now if only Jack and
Quinton would listen to him without trying to start a
fight.

The demon’s mouth twisted into a smirk
as he looked at Cole. “You are what they sent to get rid of me?
What a joke.”

The demon’s expression changed. He
wasn’t as good-looking. The color of his skin was changing right
before my eyes. Was it a trick? He took on a red glow. Now standing
before me wasn’t the man who I thought was the demon, it was the
true image. What had been on the inside had been revealed for the
whole world to see, except the whole world wasn’t looking. His
formerly muscular physique had turned to that of a decaying corpse.
Jennifer stood with her eyes transfixed. She was there on the
outside, but on the inside she was out to lunch.