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“Oh… Hey, I don’t think that’s a great idea.”
“I think that’s where she is.”
Wilder was suddenly ahead of me, his hands braced on my shoulders, holding me in place. “Hey.” He gave me a gentle shake. “Can you hold on for two seconds?”
“We have to go.”
“Do you remember what happened the last time we were in that house? In what world do you think she would go back there? For that matter, why should we go back there? Even with what’s-his-name doing some kind of hoodoo, I don’t think we ought to go back.”
“Santiago.”
“Not my point.”
“Can we just go see if she’s there?” I wasn’t struggling or forcing him into anything, but I felt driven to go to the sorority house to such an extent I would go on my own if he said no. This wasn’t his battle, and he could sit out if he wanted, but I had to go.
That probably should have set off some alarm bells in and of itself.
I wasn’t in much of a mood to listen to my own common sense, though, let alone someone else’s.
Wilder was staring at me with such intensity I thought he might be attempting to change my mind by sheer force of will. Wasn’t going to happen. When he finally realized the futility of trying to stop me, he sighed and stepped out of the way, moving with me to the motorcycle.
“I think you’re nuts, but I’m not letting you go alone.”
This brought the faintest of smiles to my lips. I was freaked out about the idea of going back to a demon-infested sorority house, especially at night and with my powers relatively tapped out from my foray into memory magic. I wasn’t sure if I could make a basic protection charm work right now, let alone stop a demon in its tracks.
As I climbed on the bike behind Wilder, I pulled out my phone and texted Santiago. That spell of yours would be more useful sooner rather than later.
I didn’t even have my phone back in my pocket when I got his reply. How soon?
Nowish.
When he didn’t reply again immediately, I put my phone inside my jacket pocket alongside a half-full bag of M&M’s and slipped my helmet on. In spite of the muffled sound from the helmet I heard Wilder ask, “You just messaged him, didn’t you?”
“I did. It wasn’t some kind of tawdry sexting.” I used a joking tone, but I was a little annoyed he’d asked, like I couldn’t be trusted somehow.
He put his helmet on silently, and I knew he didn’t approve. But what else was I supposed to do? If it turned out Tansy was up to something, I wasn’t sure she could be trusted with a demon. Getting Santiago to speed things the hell up and help me exorcise the demon from the house would go a long way to easing the burdens on my plate.
Besides, I hadn’t asked Santiago to come to our rescue, I’d only told him to hurry the hell up with his magic. That seemed like a perfectly rational request if you asked me.
Twenty minutes later we were parked in front of the Delta Phi sorority house, and I no longer doubted we’d done the right thing by coming.
A loud party was in progress, with most of the house lights off but bright flashes going off inside, and a collection of hastily assembled Halloween decorations strewn about the lawn and visible in the windows.
It was only October twelfth.
Much like the strip club we’d left behind, the bass coming out of the house was thumping so loud I could feel it in my chest. I dismounted the motorcycle, keeping one hand on Wilder’s neck. He wrapped his arm around my waist instantly, the kind of instinctive couple-ish gestures we’d both resisted lavishing on each other up until last night.
How many times had I wanted to put my hands on him and held back?
A young man stumbled out the front door with a red Solo cup in hand. He missed the second step and face-planted onto the front sidewalk without spilling a drop of beer. Three girls in the doorway behind him erupted into a cacophonous choir of laughter.
The soundtrack shifted to a hip-hop track so thump-heavy it set my teeth on edge.
“What the fresh hell is this shit?” Wilder managed to sum up my thoughts in one perfect sentence.
“You heard me tell them to get out of the house, right? You were there when I explained there was a fucking demon in there that was responsible for their sisters going missing. Tell me I didn’t imagine that whole interaction.”
“You didn’t.”
