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She rolls her eyes again and drops her hand.“Nothing formal, I get and respect the hesitation.Agree to meet with me?We can wait until the bar opens, which will be more for my benefit than yours.We can both agree you’re the more powerful one between us.”
“Flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere and I’m annoyed you interrupted my lunch.I didn’t even want to about demons let alone talk to one.”I arch my eyebrows.“Yet here I am.”
“I’m sorry,” she says and actually looks like she is.“I cornered you because I chickened out last night.I thought it would be a little safer here.”
“Have you been jumping from body to body just to follow me?”I ask.
“Guilty.”
“Gross.”I close my eyes in a long blink and let out a sigh.My brain is so fried I shouldn’t make any decisions right now.And there’s a fifty-fifty chance this demon is telling a partial truth.Maybe she doesn’t want Paimon to take over, but joining forces?“Look…I won’t kill you here as long as you leave this girl alone before she starts to rot from the inside.And as far as talking later…” I shake my head.Stranger things have happened, right?If only I could talk to my uncle.“I don’t even know.It’s been like nearly a full day since I’ve killed a bunch of demons, so I’m more than out for blood.”
She shudders.“I felt it,” she whispers.
“Felt what?”
“You vanquishing my brothers and sisters.”Her eyes meet mine again, but instead of anger or sadness, she looks at me with adoration.“Which is why I knew I had to man-up as the humans say and try to convince you.I don’t have the power to take down Paimon, and you don’t knows his plans.We can help each other out.”
“And then what?”
“I haven’t gotten that far ahead, but it’ll be my turn for being out for blood.”She laughs and then looks horrified she said that out loud.“I mean, I’m going to volunteer at a nursing home.”
“Please don’t.”
“You can name your price I just can’t go back to being a slave.”
Demons say all sorts of shit to get under your skin.I’m not giving her an ounce of sympathy until I can talk to Lucifer and find out what the fuck she’s talking about.He said the demon from last night was old and powerful, with a high ranking amongst the others.
Which mean this demon can pull some weight.
“What is your name?”I ask, expecting her to hesitate.It’s always like the fucking Rumpelstilskin principle with demons.They never want to give up their true name or reveal their sigils.Because with that comes power to use against them.
“Or’dreaxth,” she tells me.“But call me Drea.It sounds cool, right?”
It kinda does, but I won’t admit it.“Whatever,Drea.I will be at the Taproom ten minutes before opening.And I cannot promise I won’t reach inside and pull your spine out of your ass—” I cut off when a customer walking to the bathroom gives me a concerned side-eye.
“You really are into ass-play, aren’t you?”
“Shut the fuck up,” I say calmly.“Now let the waitress go.”
“Toodles.”She wiggles her fingers and the drops down to her knees, leaving the waitress’s body in a rush of dark smoke.
“Hey, you okay?”I ask, quickly helping the waitress to her feet.She wobbles as she stands, blinking rapidly.“You tripped.”
“Oh, yeah, I did.”
She was only possessed for a few minutes and might remember parts of our conversation later, but it will all seem too odd for her to put any stock into.
“Sorry,” she says, thinking she bumped into me.
“It’s okay.Just glad you didn’t get hurt.”
She looks at me, confused, and then walks away.I hurry back to the table and take Juliet from Abby.She’s wide awake now and is, of course, hungry.
“What the hell is going on?”Abby asks as soon as I sit down and situate Juliet to nurse.“You looked scary-angry.”
“I did?”I shouldn’t find any satisfaction with that, but I do.If I really wanted to intimidate Drea, I would have donned my hellfire crown.But the less who know about that the better, and I’m kind of in the middle of a restaurant.“I mean, yeah.I was.She interrupted lunch.How rude, right?”
“Yeah.Rude.What did she want?”
