AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I bit back a smile. Good. Let the demon prince see what he’d walked away from.
“I think you look very pretty, Lorelei,” Ray interjected.
“And you’ll look even better once you run a brush through your hair,” Nana Pratt added.
“I already brushed my hair.” I pivoted to face the phantasmal duo. “My bathroom suddenly feels very crowded. I don’t think it was designed to accommodate one person and two judges at the same time.”
They took the hint and evaporated. I gave myself a final glance in the mirror.Not too shabby, Lorelei. You clean up nice when you’re invested.
I quickly averted my gaze. I meant invested in the situation, not the someone I wanted to talk to about the situation. There was no reason to invest in someone who learned your deepest, darkest secret and then disappeared without an explanation. Kane was not a safe bet; then again, there were no safe bets when it came to my secret. Pops had warned me time and time again, yet I’d let myself believe otherwise for a fleeting moment.
Hard lesson learned. The hardest, in fact.
I exited the bathroom and slipped on my take-no-shit boots. My footwear would back me up if my mouth failed me. To be fair, my mouth never failed me. It was as reliable as a Roman aqueduct.
“Be careful,” Ray said, as I put on my coat. “There’ll be black ice on the roads.”
Black ice was the least of my concerns. I was about to stick my head voluntarily on a chopping block and test the sharpness of the blade.
I had issues.
I tugged on a pair of warm gloves as I walked to my truck and noticed the snow had been cleared from the walkway. Ray’s handiwork no doubt. His poltergeist skills were really coming into their own. The heels of my boots crushed the remaining chunks of icy snow, and I relished the satisfying crunching sound. I may or may not have imagined someone’s body parts in its place.
It took a solid five minutes to warm up the truck—the downside of buying a vehicle that was on the road when Nixon was president.
I heeded Ray’s advice and exercised caution as I drove. Although the roads had been cleared and salted, there was no reason to take a chance. I couldn’t afford to fix any damage the truck might incur in an accident, especially without insurance.
I didn’t pass a single vehicle on my way to the Devil’s Playground. It seemed nobody wanted to risk the unsafe conditions today. If everybody stayed home, maybe that would help cut down on the number of incidents today, although it wouldn’t have helped Connie and her lover, John.
I pulled into the empty parking lot and listened to the engine rattle as it idled. The truck didn’t function well in the cold. I patted the dashboard. “Me neither, buddy.”
I exited the truck, ignoring the churning of my stomach. I pretended the discomfort was due to hunger, but I knew the real reason—and he was just on the other side of this door.
There was no bouncer or lock to keep out the riffraff.Seemed like a bad idea, but what did I know about running a supernatural nightclub?
I entered the main room and saw Josephine behind the counter with her head and shoulders bent over a book. The vampire looked up at me and exposed her fangs with a half-hearted snarl.
“Hello to you, too, Josephine.” I kept my voice nice and pleasant. It seemed to irritate her more when I was friendly.
Dantalion emerged from the stock room, carrying a stack of empty crates. “Lorelei. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Just arrived.”
“We’re not open,” Josephine said flatly. “Come back later. Or better yet never.”
“I’m not here for a drink.” I crossed the room to stand at the bar. “I’d like to brainstorm with you.”
Josephine closed the book on the counter and straightened. “Me, specifically?”
“All of you. I need ideas.”
Dantalion set the stack of crates on the floor at the end of the counter. “I would be happy to oblige.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Of course you would. I liked you better when you weren’t so agreeable.”
Dan chuckled and gave her arm a light punch. “I never realized how funny you are, Josephine. I can see why Kane enjoys having you around.”
The vampire maintained her deadpan expression. “Yes, it’s my sparkling wit.”
