Page 19 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

He licked my cheek.

“Gross.”

His laughter filled my head as I grabbed for my knee-high black boots near the door on the floor, put them on quickly, and then opened the back door. “Okay, let’s go.”

Torid raced outside and went to his favorite tree toward the back of the property. After watering it, he began his perimeter sweep, barely paying me any mind. I didn’t think much of it until he began to bark loudly.

“What is it?” I asked, going around to the side of the house. He was near the cellar doors, barking like mad.

A second later, Torid sniffed the ground and then took off, running toward the street.

“Torid, no! Wait!” I could have pulled him back by using the pendant, but I didn’t want to have to resort to that, especially if he was just chasing a squirrel or something. I wasn’t worried about him getting hit by a car because as a goblin he was smart enough to check for cars first. But in his current state, he could get into a lot of mischief, something he excelled at. I tucked the necklace into my shirt so it wouldn’t fly up and smack me in the face as I ran though.

ChapterSeven

Stratton

“Please tellme the Hell Fire Charity Event benefits somethingotherthan demons,” said Stratton to his cousin as they walked briskly down the darkened street. Neither had been to the South Carolina town of Grimm Cove before though they’d both heard of it. Most hunters had. The town had something of a reputation as being one of many supernatural gathering spots. A clustered area of many supernaturals living everyday life. From the overwhelming amount of energy Stratton felt coming from the area, the rumors were true.

Grimm Cove was vastly different from Chicago, where he and Drest had been stationed out of since the disturbing events in Tarrytown, New York, years ago. That was a day neither of them liked to discuss. Everything that could have gone sideways had done so.

“I’m not sure if the event is for demons or not,” said Drest, glancing around at the darkened areas of the campus.

The school’s mascot was a gargoyle, so statues of the creatures were nearly everywhere one looked on the university grounds. A particularly large one was close to Stratton and for a split second he thought it moved. He knew gargoyles existed, but he’d never encountered one. They were big into setting up shop near good-versus-evil hotbeds of activity. Stratton couldn’t imagine hanging around a university campus would hold any interest to them, so he didn’t think these were real ones.

“The fact what we’re tracking seemed to have this as their next stop says it might be for demons,” added Drest.

It was true, the creatures they’d been tracking across multiple states had been headed this way. Stratton couldn’t help but glance back at the statue he’d been sure had moved. Could there really be gargoyles in Grimm Cove? Was something bigger at play here than simply being a supernatural hot spot? If so, did it involve a battle between good and evil?

“Did you bring me to another doorway to Hell?” asked Stratton with a groan. “I’m really tired of your idea of fun weekend male bonding trips. The one in Haven’s Gap two months back left me facing off against a high-level demon with the ability to spit acid. That was loads of fun.”

“Hey, you can’t blame me for how Haven’s Gap turned out. It’s not like Iknewthey were in the middle of a demon summoning and looking for sacrifices,” said Drest. “Admit it was a blast.”

Stratton cast his cousin a hard stare. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

“I know.” Drest laughed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and happen upon another ritual. The acid demon was a fairly skilled opponent, but come on, we handled him in a matter of hours. We’d have been faster if the damn townsfolk hadn’t been trying to really use us as sacrifices.”

Stratton snorted and reached up, pushing his long hair from his face as a breeze caught it.

His cousin watched the act, shaking his head as he did. “Your undercover assignment ended two weeks ago. I think you can safely cut your hair and shave that shit off your face.”

“I would have but someone here got a lead, so I thought it was better to focus on following that than trying to tame all this,” said Stratton with a partial laugh.

“How about you go ahead and do us both a favor and tame the crap out of it tonight when we get back to the motel? That, or I’ll hold you down and do it for you while you sleep,” warned Drest.

Stratton scratched his close-cut beard, side-eyeing Drest for being dramatic. “If I remember correctly, didn’tyougo through a full-on hippie stage back when that was all the craze? And wasn’t your hair down to your mid-back? And let’s talk about that beard you had.”

Drest grumbled. “Don’t remind me.”

“Okay, I’ll let it drop…for now,” said Stratton with a smirk. “But I will search around for the pictures I took back then. Maybe I’ll have a poster made. Peace, love, and hairiness.”

“Asshole,” said his cousin. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I miss the stuffy version of you. The one who had gel in his hair and an expensive haircut done every few weeks. And the one who didn’t dress like he was a fuel station attendant.”

“I believe the term is called grunge nowadays,” replied Stratton with a grin.

Drest curled his lip. “Yeah, grungy sounds about right.”

“Ha. Ha,” said Stratton in a deadpan voice.

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