Page 27 of My Blind Date is a Demon

“Since when?” I ask her, trying to figure out where this change of heart is coming from.

“Well,” she says a little sheepishly. “I always wanted to. But Dad said it was better for me to go to school here. Then he died, and I didn’t want to... I don’t know.”

“You didn’t want to take advantage of his death,” Damon says. I slap his arm to tell him to shut up and let Bella talk, but, to my surprise, he seems to understand what she is trying to say.

“Yeah, I guess,” Bella says. “Like, if I go to the academy and am happy there, it will be like I’m happy he’s dead or something. Which I’m not. I’d stay at Mystic Cove Elementary forever if it meant him coming back to life.”

“But he won’t,” Damon says. “You being unhappy won’t bring your dad back. And you being happy won’t trample on his memory either. He’s dead and that’s just how it is. You need to live your life the best way you know how.”

“Right,” is all Bella has to say to that.

I don’t say anything. How does this demon I just met seem to understand something that has been staring me in the face for four years? Though, he said that he studies humans. And he tortures them for a living. He probably knows human nature pretty well. Still, I don’t want to rush into anything.

“I’ll talk to Beverly about it, see what she has to say.”

“Yes! Thanks, Mom!” Bella says.

I look over at Damon and see him grinning at me. I can’t help but smile back.

“What?” I ask him.

“Nothing,” he says. “I just like being right.”

“Right about what?”

“Right that you need to stand up for yourself more—with everyone. Living and dead.”

“Okay, that’s far enough,” I tell him as I pull into the police station’s parking lot.

“What are we doing here?” Bella asks.

“We are going to see Detective Dawson to try and find out who hexed me,” I say.

“You aren’t going to try and make Damon go away, are you?” she asks.

“Umm... Yes?” I say. “I mean, being hexed kind of sucks, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “Just seems like you’ve been happier since Damon showed up.”

Damon and I look at each other, and even he seems a little unnerved by her words.

“It’s just the change in pace,” Damon says coldly. “Something to bring a little spice to your otherwise humdrum lives.”

“Hey,” I say. “My life isn’t humdrum. I have plenty of spice in my life. The last thing I needed was some demon running roughshod over me.”

“Spice and stress are not the same thing,” he says, getting out of the car and slamming the door behind him.

I press my lips together to keep from running after him and giving him a piece of my mind. What that piece would be, though, I have no idea.

“What was that about?” Bella asks me.

“Just let that be a lesson, my girl. Never trust a demon.”

CHAPTER 10

Mystic Cove’s police station is quite small, little more than a trailer, really. Actually, it is an old trailer home that was converted into a police station with the living room serving as a front office, the kitchen as storage for files, two of the bedrooms serving as offices, and the third bedroom serving as a sort of temporary lockup for minor offenders.

By the time Bella and I get inside, Damon is already leaning over the counter, chatting up the office manager, Lisa.

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