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“She’s not my type, and she couldn’t handle me. I just need to run off some energy.”

Ah. I didn’t really have a huge backyard. I lived in one half of a duplex, and my uncle lived in the other. The backyard was tiny. We went on long walks, but Hellhounds needed to run. Pan had figured out most of his magic now that he was in a safe space. He could open a portal to an open field and run to his heart's content, but he wouldn’t leave my side since we hadn’t tracked down any of the men who were in my house that night.

Not for lack of trying.

“We’ll go to the dog park tomorrow. No pissing on anyone in the Salty Worm.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. Delilah is terrifying. She’d figure out how to neuter a Hellhound.”

“Delilah is a demon, so she might already know that.”

“Don’t threaten my nuts, Logan.”

Delilah had been around forever. She started out as a fifth-generation human running the bar as a place where the Flame could gather. Some idiot tried to mug her when she was walking home, and she fought back. She ended up brain-dead in a coma.

Her son was only seven and would have inherited the bar, but her older brother was a complete tool. He’d been banished from New Orleans, but no one wanted Gabriel in his care, and he would have destroyed the Salty Worm, which was technically a historical landmark.

Demon 101. Not all demons were evil. They were just like everyone else. There were good ones and bad ones. They needed a body to walk this realm, but they didn’t always steal them. The one in Delilah took over when she was brain dead and asked permission first. Gabriel was young, but he understood things. He gave consent because he didn’t like his uncle either.

I didn’t know the demon’s name. She had known Delilah well and slipped into her life with ease. She asked us to call her Delilah. She’d been helping Pan unlock his inner monster.

As soon as we walked into the Salty Worm, she came from around the bar to make kissy faces at him and scratch his butt. She was one of only a few people who knew he was a Hellhound.

“Who’s my sweet baby? It’s you. Yes, you are!”

I was still holding him, and his happy tail smacked me in the face. I set him down because the bar floor was safe.

“You’re going to spoil him.”

“Too late, dove. Didn’t you just get back from a job? You’d better just be here for the mozzarella sticks and the Kansas cover band.”

“Well, yeah, that too, but I was hoping for a job.”

“Not until you’ve eaten. Rainer says you get wrapped up in work and forget. And get a poboy or some chicken tenders. You can’t eat just cheese. It’s not balanced.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Delilah was like that. She wanted me hydrated and fed. I grabbed a table and ordered for myself and Pan. Hellhounds didn’t eat kibble. He needed lots of meat. I got a dressed oyster poboy for me and a bacon cheeseburger for Pan.

The waiter scowled at me. He did every time he took my order because he thought I was feeding my mullet dog onions. Delilah assured me Hellhounds were fine with garlic and onions, and Pan liked them. The first time I ordered Pan a bacon cheeseburger, he asked if I wanted it plain, and I said no. He tried telling the kitchen I wanted it plain.

Pan let me know his burger was wrong and then peed on the waiter.

While I was waiting for my food to come out, Julius slid into my booth. He was a vampire and flashed me some fang. If he was about to ask to bite me again, he was going to be wearing my Bloody Mary.

“Heard you were looking for a job.”

“Maybe.”

“Can I pee on him?”

“Wait until we get outside. I don’t want to clean it up, and I’m not going to make anyone who works here do it.”

“I’ve been in therapy, Logan. I know you said no. I’m not going to ask to bite you again.”

Not all vampires were bad either. Yes, they needed blood to live, but they didn’t need to drink an entire human to survive. Kidnapping humans and using them as blood slaves still happened, but not often. Forensics had come a long way. They could get caught by human police or by the Flame.

There were plenty of vampires in fiction now. All they had to do was ask, and they could find someone willing to bite them. Julius just kept asking.