Page 69 of The Devil and His Ghost

The brunette leaning into Zagan’s side smiled sweetly. “Nice to meet you.”

“—Harper—”

The one with glossy black hair offered me a friendly nod while Perseus toyed with her long hair. “Hi.”

“—Serenity—”

The curvy, curly-haired moon princess turned sheepish. Her cheeks pinkened, and she shifted nervously on her feet while waving her fingers at me with a whispered greeting that I couldn’t hear over the music. That made Dante smirk, and he dropped a kiss onto the top of her silver head.

“—and Addie.”

The sexy barbie doll beamed. “Hiya! Welcome to the besties club!”

I tried to smile, but I worried the expression came off more as a grimace. “I’m Kendyll.”

Eden reappeared then from wherever she’d gone to deal with a customer, and she bounced hard with her hands braced on the bar top. “Finally! You guys are here!”

Addie gasped and looked over Eden’s horns and golden demon eyes. “You look so good! I wish I had time to prep a demon costume, too!”

“Next time,” Iyla laughed while sharing a knowing grin with the other girls. Harper and Serenity fought to keep their expressions even.

“Okay,” Eden declared to the whole group with a clap of her hands. “Drinks then dancing! That is the plan for the evening!”

The members of Sinners Do It Better murmured to their respective girlfriends then ordered for the pair, much like how Xander had done for me. Meanwhile, Addie leaned over the counter to read the glowing drink menu while tapping a finger against her lips in thought.

“Blood of Men?” Addie read off. “That sounds like my kind of girl power drink.”

“You don’t want that one,” Zagan quickly objected with a nervous chuckle.

“Why not?” she asked, shooting him a confused pout.

“Um …” Zagan looked at the others as though silently asking for back up.

I grabbed Xander’s shirt and tugged him close to whisper, “That drink isn’t actually the blood of men, is it?”

Xander bit his lip to contain his mirth and whispered back, “It’s exactly that. The blood of very bad men that’s been turned into an alcoholic drink for demons to enjoy.”

With that knowledge, I wanted to aid Zagan in his effort to stop the poor girl from drinking something that would surely kill her, but before anyone could say anything else, the typically quiet drummer leaned against the counter right next to Addie.

Coldin’s eyes locked on her as he argued monotonously in his deep voice, “If she wants to order it, let her.”

She smiled at him, but there was some bite and sass in the crease of her eyes. “Why does that sound more like a challenge than encouragement from you?”

Addie notched her head high and waved the phantom bartender down. I supposed it was a good thing he hadn’t died from a severed head or something equally hard to brush away as a “costume.” It would’ve been hard to explain why the bartender was missing such a vital part of his body to a human who had no knowledge of this world.

“Blood of Men, please!” Addie ordered.

I shared worried looks with the girls, at least silently bonding with them over this ensuing traumatic event. Meanwhile, the ghostly club worker poured the deep red, nearly black, liquid into a shot glass.

“Addie,” Perseus tried, reaching out as though to stop her. “I really wouldn’t—”

“One sip, and she’ll spit it out,” Coldin deadpanned, his emerald eyes never leaving her face.

Addie huffed a condescending laugh. She grabbed the shot glass, faced Coldin fully, and without hesitating, threw the drink back in one go before slamming the empty glass onto the bar. If she thought the taste was awful, she gave no visible sign of it. She merely smiled and wiped her red-tinted lips while batting her lashes at Coldin. Eden clapped jovially.

“I always swallow, never spit. Such a waste, you know?” She spun on her heel and raised an arm into the air while yelling, “To the dance floor!”

Eden waved at us once Addie was slightly out of earshot. “I’ll be on oblivious human babysitting duty! You guys join us after you get your drinks.” She bounced after Addie, who’d already found some shirtless and insanely muscular demon to dance with on the dance floor.