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“If I want to come and go, yeah,” she said. “Why? Tired?”
I glared at her. I wasn’t tired, I just wasn’t used to being in a poor part of town, doing things I never had to do. Like climb three flights of stairs.
“This is me,” she said and unlocked her door.
When she pushed it open, we stepped into a tiny apartment. A loveseat couch faced a small television. The open-plan kitchen had only three counters, one of which was occupied by a microwave and the other a sink, and the fridge looked very old.
The apartment only had one bedroom, but it was neat and clean. Liv clearly took pride in her things, even if her possessions were meager. Where had she put all those plants? I looked around, trying to imagine the jungle this place must have looked like.
“I’ll be right back,” Liv said and walked to the bedroom.
I followed her and watched as she searched the nightstand. When she kneeled, running her hand along the floor, her face sagged in relief.
“Here it is; it fell.”
Something drew my attention away from her. It wasn’t clear exactly what right away. I strained my ears for an unusual sound. The building thrummed with life and activity, a lot of humans moving around, talking and laughing. That wasn’t what I’d picked up on.
I turned off my physical ears and reached outward with my magic, probing, trying to figure out what was going on.
Danger was close—I could taste it. I just didn’t know where it came from.
“Stay here,” I ordered.
“Where are you going?”
“Just stay here,” I said and left the room.
I walked through the small front room and opened the door. I looked up and down the hallway, looking for whatever enchanted being’s magic I’d picked up on. I didn’t doubt that it was magic now.
Dark magic, which meant it had to be a vampire. Now that they knew what Liv was, and what her blood was worth, they wouldn’t rest until they had her to themselves.
Damn it, we shouldn’t have come here!
A scream sounded from inside, and I spun around and ran back into the apartment.
It didn’t take me long to get to the bedroom. Liv stood with her back against the wall, and a creature of darkness stood in front of her. The creature was tall, with black fog oozing from its pores and red eyes smirking at Liv.
It could look like a human if it wanted to, but the demon who stood before Liv had taken on its true form, trying to scare her.
It had worked, too.
“If I knew we’d have guests, I would have prepared better,” I said.
The demon spun around to face me. The room grew darker and darker, the dark magic blocking out the sun that fell through the window, and the temperature in the room fell very low. Liv started to shiver.
“You’re trying to scare me with magic,” I said. “It’s not going to work. I don’t scare easily.”
“Oh, no,” the demon said in a strange double voice. “But she does.”
Liv’s fear reached my nostrils. She was terrified. Why not? She’d encountered two monsters in as many days, and she’d only just learned that the monsters under the bed were real.
“Do you want to dance?” I asked.
My magic brought on a partial shift. My hands changed, the skin turning into scales, and my fingers became knobbed and thin. My nails turned into black claws, and I pushed power toward the demon.
He might have been powerful in the Underworld and got away with all kinds of dark shit down there, but this wasmyterritory.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” the demon hissed and grabbed Liv, dragging her body in front of his like a shield.
