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Kiss from the Abyss had sucked me in like no other game ever had. Despite adjusting my choices each time I played it through to create a different experience, I always chose Damien for the romance side quests. I’d never stopped to ask myself why.

The game could wait until after my hike. I’d be up late anyway in case Jason needed a ride home. I wanted to snag the Halloween badge in Compass Adventures before midnight, and I needed GPS to clock me at the abandoned house to earn it.

Time to go touch some grass, then come home and woo my digital incubus lover like a proper introverted twenty-eight-year-old.

TWO

With my headlamp and the glow of a full moon guiding my way, I followed my GPS nearly a mile along a narrow path into the woods. The occasional rustling leaves and hooting owls accompanied my excursion toward the abandoned building, which was still a half mile ahead according to the app.

Jason would jump at every sound or light gust of wind if he were here. He was completely out of his element in the outdoors, which was how I felt at parties. I was the one to befriend the pet or play games on my phone in the corner.

It was a shame I hadn’t met a woman who was into this stuff too. It’d be nice to go on adventures with someone else, but that would require putting myself out there. Hard pass.

I tugged my beanie further down over my ears and shivered at the chill seeping into my bones. The temperature was dropping fast. I should’ve added the base layer beneath my hoodie.

As I pulled out my phone to check the route in Compass Adventure, I caught something small and furry skittering across the path.

“Jesus!” I dropped my phone, and my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. That probably took a couple of years off my life.

I scanned the ground with my headlamp to search for my phone. It landed under a fern, facedown. I stepped forward to grab it and tripped over something, landing with a hard thud on my foot.

“Ow! Shit!” A sharp pain radiated from my right ankle all the way up my leg. I could already feel my foot swelling inside my boot. How the hell was I going to get back to my car?

Jason was probably already drunk, and I doubted anyone else at the party was sober enough to come help me. There had to be a branch I could use as a crutch. I aimed my headlamp and scanned the forest floor for something I could use. Crap. I was probably going to have to crawl around on the damp ground and move off trail to find something.

I shifted to my hands and knees and crawled toward a gap between ferns, but I froze when I heard footsteps approaching from the direction I was heading.

“Hello?” I called out tentatively.

“Hey. Are you alright?” A deep voice responded.

My headlamp caught on his boots. Tight, dark jeans hugged thick thighs, and his black hoodie stretched over broad shoulders. God, he was huge, especially from my position on the ground. Was he wearing horns?

He shielded his face from my light.

“Sorry.” I angled my light toward the ground and shifted away from the vulnerable position to sit. The movement made me hiss and sparks flashing behind my eyes. “I think I twisted my ankle.”

Huh. He was wearing horns. Probably dressed as some sort of demon for Halloween. Maybe there was a Halloween party in the woods, but I would’ve heard the sound carry.

“What happened?” he asked as he crouched. Even in that position, he was double my size.

“A tiny animal startled me, I dropped my phone, then tripped over a tree root or something when I went to pick it up. Harrowing.”

His onyx eyes sparkled in the indirect light of my headlamp as he chuckled. “Lots of ferocious creatures in these woods.” His tone made me shiver.

There was something vaguely familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. He looked like other bearded white guys at the gym I went to occasionally

“Do you mind if I take a look?” He gestured toward my foot.

I opened my mouth to ask if he was a medical professional, but I couldn’t afford to be picky. “Go ahead.”

With gentle fingers, he undid the laces and eased the boot off my foot. He clucked his tongue as he pressed around the swelling skin.

He shifted his weight, and I relaxed slightly at the scent of oranges and cinnamon rolling off him. It was unexpected among the pines.

“It’s probably a sprain. Better than a break, but that doesn’t help much right now.” His devilish smile made my stomach swoop, like I was riding a Tilt-A-Whirl.

I wasn’t into men, but even I could see that he was hot in a WWE wrestler or action hero kind of way. He seemed like the kind of guy who could snap somebody’s neck with one hand during the day while spending his evenings hand-feeding kittens with a gentle touch.