Page 79 of Soul Food

His beady eyes widened on the blade as I answered. “It’s not, but it was over so quickly, unlike now. None of it's going away.”

The gremlin just stared at me!

My head swam, and I tried to make sense of what happened in the past twenty-four hours. The soul reaper killed two more people because of me. As crazy as it made me sound that wasn’t what bothered me. I had no tears when he killed Liz in front of me. She was never who I thought she was. No, the true pain came in knowing my demon was Amit. The man I laid with and developed such intense feelings for since I first heard his voice over the phone. It only intensified when I met him. There was a fine line of fear and lust every time I encountered him, and now I understood why.

Some part of me sensed the truth long before there was a chance for me to learn it myself.

My phone went off for what seemed like the tenth time. I ignored Jayne’s call again.

“You shouldn’t ignore her so much. It’s not normal for you to.”And listen at him, spoken like he knew me…

I tilted my head at the gremlin and observed him. “You’ve been around me as long as the demon has too.” It wasn’t a question. I remembered the demon saying something about the gremlinalwaysbeing by my side.

“Why do you call him demon when you know he’s Amit?” he asked instead of answering.

“He’s a demon. That’s probably not even his name. Do demons even have names?”

“Amit is his name, but Kingston is not. He has no other names,” Lars told me. “And I have been by your side for the last ten years. And since you’ve had Moose, a lot of those days have been spent inside of him.”

I was quiet as I processed this. “Inside him? You mean you possessed my dog?” I screeched. “Is there anything you and him won’t do?” I stood up and went to search for my dog. “Moose!” I called for him. When he didn’t come, I panicked.

“He’s fine.” Lars sighed. “I locked him in the bathroom.”

“You what?” I whipped my head around and looked down at the gremlin. I was too angry to be afraid at this point.

“He wouldn’t stop growling.” He limped closer, then shrugged like locking my dog up was the right thing to do.

I opened the bathroom door, and Moose barreled out, growling at Lars. I had a déjà vu moment where I started recalling all the times I’d seen him do that over the years.

Oh, God. So many times. The demon had never left my side, had he?

My skin rippled with unease. Why me? Why did he have to claim my soul the way he did?

I couldn’t—no, I wouldn’t stand for this. I unlocked my phone and pulled up the calendar. I still had a little over three weeks left before the anniversary of the day I met the demon ten years ago. He was the one that made the rule, not me. Until I had no time left. I wouldn’t stay still for him.

I dialed Jayne’s number and waited. By the time I got off the phone with her, Lars studied me warily. “What are you doing?”

I smirked, grabbing the painting on the wall and hurling it at him. It wasn’t made of glass so when it hit him, it did no damage. But it had felt good. “Whatever the hell I want.”

________

“I can’t thank you enough for this Jayne,” I said for the millionth time since arriving at her apartment.

She waved it off with her hand. “I love Moose. I don’t care to keep him, but what’s up?”

I shrugged. “I just have something going on right now. Allergies or something, maybe?” I couldn’t meet her eyes as I lied. “I would ask Ma, but there was no way she’d keep him. She never let me have any pets growing up.”

She laughed. “It’s no big deal.”

Jayne’s apartment wasn’t very big. It was a one bedroom, but the place was lively and full of color like she was. It wasn’t any of my business to pry though. I thought I paid her enough for her to afford a bigger one than this though. I had my own matters to deal with, anyway, as bad as a friend that made me sound, I couldn’t take the time to worry when I was weeks from dying.

She handed me a bottled water, and I took it. “So…” She waggled her eyebrows. “How are you and Amit?”

I gripped the bottle in my hand, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. “That’s already over.”

Her entire demure changed. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” I bit out quickly, untwisting the cap on the water and taking a big gulp. “He’s not who I thought he was.”

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