Page 72 of The Devil and His Ghost

I rose from my seat abruptly. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get some water if they have any.”

I started back toward the bar, eyes on my feet. I clenched the material of my shirt at my chest and tried to calm down my dizzying emotions. I knew better. He knew better. The two of us might’ve belonged to the same puzzle, but my edges had gotten too warped to ever fit with his again.

A pair of dark boots appeared directly in front of me, drawing me out of my spiraling thoughts. I barely managed to draw up short before colliding with the newcomer. Slowly, I looked up.

The demon in front of me had gold eyes with a vertical black pupil and antelope-like horns, which both identified him as a Mischief demon. His electric blue hair stuck up at all angles, and baggy clothes hung off his tall yet lanky frame. The minute I looked up at him, his fanged smile stretched eerily wide.

“Look who it is,” he cooed. “You look just as delicious as the last time we met.”

“Excuse me?” I questioned with a step backward.

This man was clearly confused. I’d never met this demon before. Sure, I’d been to hundreds of haunted locations, but demonic hauntings weren’t nearly as common as the media made them out to be. The only demons I’d met were Xander and his friends.

The demon licked his lips and raked his golden gaze over the length of my body. “Wanna be mine instead?”

Normally, I was all for the paranormal, which included anything demonic. But I didn’t give a damn that this guy was a demon. I glared at him and snarled, “Fuck off.”

A body stepped between us lightning fast. Xander had shifted into his demon form at some point, and his clawed hand extended to sheild me behind him as he growled at the stranger, “Stay the fuck away from her!”

I felt a crowd grow behind me, and when I looked over my shoulder, I found Zagan and Perseus now flanking my sides while Dante corralled the worried looking human girls away, including Addie who must’ve been on a dance break.

“Or what?” The blue-haired Mischief demon laughed haughtily as he passed a look between Zagan and Perseus before meeting Xander’s eyes. “Are a couple of Incubi or a Mischief demon of your level supposed to stop me? Especially with your clearly weakened state? I have hundreds of spirits under my command. I could squash all three of you before any of you even realize I’ve moved. You really think any of you low level demons would be a match for me if I wanted to take her?”

Xander practically vibrated with rage in front of me, and before I knew what I was doing, I reached out to fist the material of his shirt at his back. He was snapping, and I didn’t like it. I wanted to ground him and keep him from doing anything dangerous.

Unbothered by the Mischief demon’s assessment, Zagan replied coolly, “Maybe not us, no.”

A towering figure stepped up behind the stranger. The Mischief demon’s cocky attitude instantly faded along with the color from his face. He turned around stiffly. Coldin, now with ram horns and black eyes with roaring flames within them, stared down at the stranger. The blue-haired demon immediately stumbled away with a panicked gasp, though his eyes never wavered from Coldin as he retreated many steps.

Xander laughed darkly. “What was that you were saying?”

The Mischief demon scoffed between gritted teeth as his narrowed eyes landed on Xander. “Fucking pussy. Calling in your guard dog.”

“He’s a snake, not a dog,” Perseus corrected and cooly studied his heavily ringed fingers. “You’ll offend him by saying things like that, and I really don’t recommend that.”

Coldin’s clawed fingers rippled as though stretching each one in anticipation of putting the dangerously sharp digits to work. All the while, those flaming eyes stayed fixed on the Mischief demon.

The demon staggered back another step. “Fine. I’m leaving.” Those golden eyes flicked to me, and a hint of that dangerous smirk reappeared. “I’ll see you again very soon.”

Shadows wrapped around the demon, and when they cleared, the spot he’d stood in was empty.

The second he was gone, Xander grabbed my shoulders and looked me over frantically. “Did he do anything to you? Did he say anything weird?”

“What? No. I mean, that whole exchange in itself was weird, but he didn’t really say or do anything.”

“Are you sure?” Xander pleaded desperately.

Trepidation made my body heavy. I’d never seen Xander so shaken. I reassured, “I’m sure, Xander.”

He blew out a ragged breath and dropped his head while both hands still gripped my shoulders.

“Who was that?” I asked.

Xander shook his head feebly. “I’m not sure.” He pulled back to search my face once more, and while the fury still simmered in his gaze, they softened upon meeting mine. “I think that’s our signal to call it a night, though.”

I nodded slowly. As much as I’d appreciated Xander bringing me here and the distraction his group of friends provided, something about that demon rattled Xander, which in turn, unnerved me. Nothing got to Xander, so why had he?

When we returned to the dark room of the hospital ward’s common room turned bedroom, Xander sank heavily onto the edge of my bed like the energy had been knocked right out of him. Admittedly, I, myself, was exhausted from the combination of my nightmare, the chaos of the club, and the bizarre interaction at the end. But I momentarily forgot my own tiredness to place a hand on his shoulder and sat on the bed beside him.