My gaze jerked toward him.He was on his feet again, hands fisted, jaw locked.Gone was the charming, easygoing guy.In his place was someone hard and dangerous.
“Get away from her,” Owen ordered.
The demon snarled and drool flung from its tusks.
“I said, get away from her.”
“Owen—” I whispered.
The creature charged him, head down like a bull.
Owen sidestepped at the last possible second.The beast plowed into the card rack, sending cards flying in a confetti explosion.The metal stand toppled with a screech as the creature crashed to the floor, dazed.
It shook its head, snorting, then fixed me with one last hateful look.In the space of a blink, it dissolved back into black smoke and vanished, sucked away as if through an invisible drain.
The room was suddenly, horribly quiet.
Only the faint sulfur stink lingered.
I stared at the place where it had been, heart pounding in my ears.The cards lay scattered like fallen leaves.My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
“What just happened?”I managed.“Whatwasthat?”
Owen straightened the card rack, then turned to me.The professor-serious expression on his face sent another chill down my spine.
“It was looking for Alice,” he said.“That means someone sent it.I think we need to talk.”
I flipped the sign to closed and locked the front door.Forget lunch rush.I needed answers and possibly a gallon of tequila.
We drove to a Mexican restaurant on the highway, far enough out of town that nosy Hickory Hollow eyes were less likely to peer over their chips and salsa.
As soon as I slid into the booth, I ordered a frozen margarita.
Owen lifted a brow.“Don’t judge,” I said.
“It’s barely noon.”
“It’s noon somewhere,” I shot back.“Spill your guts, McAllister.What was that thing?”
“That,” he said, no hesitation, “was a demon.”
I froze, chip halfway to my mouth.“I’m sorry, what?”
My drink arrived, all salted rim and artificial lime.I took a long pull, bracing for the brain freeze as much as the answer.It hit hard and sharp.I winced.
“I mean, I heard you,” I said through the ice pick in my skull.“And normally I’d say there’s no such thing as demons, but I met a fairy in the greenhouse, so apparently the universe is done pretending to be normal.”
Owen blinked.“There’s a fairy in the greenhouse?”
“Yeah.Little, mouthy, insults my wardrobe.Her name is Tani.”
One eyebrow climbed.“And you didn’t think to mention this?”
I threw up a hand.“Sorry, it didn’t come up in conversation between ‘hey, how are you’ and ‘maybe a demon tried to kill me.’”I leaned in, lowering my voice.“Was Alice in trouble?”
He toyed with his fork, jaw tense.“I’ll tell you what I know.It isn’t much.There’s something… magical about Hickory Hollow.Something Alice was involved with in the woods.”
“The woods?”I echoed.“What’s in the woods?”
