Page 5 of Cooking Up a Demon
The faded yellow walls are now a light lilac color, the dark-stained bookshelves now painted a warm white. I’m not sure how I am getting them back against the wall again, but the new paint makes me happy.
The demon must have some serious strength because I can’t get the floor to ceiling shelves to budge. There was a briefmoment a few days ago I considered summoning him, but I came to my senses. I’ll ask Delia to either help or suggest a workman the next time she stops in.
I wind my way through neatly packed boxes of books and pause to glare out the window again. Delia gave me the awesome idea of having a sidewalk sale to clear out the old books that didn’t fit with my new business plan. Except it’s been raining every day for a week. Fucking weather.
I trail my fingers over the freshly painted pink railing as I climb the three steps to the raised platform now sitting area. Well, it will be a sitting area. Once I get the couch and chairs assembled. It does have a fully functional and stocked tea and coffee cart already in place. I fill the electric kettle from a jug of distilled water and flick it on before dropping to dig through the selection of loose teas.
I have individually wrapped tea bags for the customers, but I found a treasure trove of loose teas in the back room. Each tin has Nonna’s messy script and I keep them hidden behind the service cart for my personal use.
A tin labeled “A Bit of Sunshine” catches my eye, and I decide it’s just what I need. Especially since it appears to be the only sunshine I’ll be getting anytime soon. Taking the tin, I grab a diffuser shaped like a bee and my favorite yellow “you are my sunshine” mug before getting to my feet.
The tea smells of lemon verbena and joy as I pack it into the diffuser and place the little bee into the mug. The kettle clicks, and I add the hot water to the mug. I barely have time to take a single sniff of the steeping tea before the steam thickens to white smoke.
“No!” I yell at the smoke. “I don’t summon you! There is no summoning! Go away and let me have my tea!”
Of course, the infuriating demon doesn’t listen, and in a giant billow of smoke, he’s there in all of his grey stone glory. He mighthave been intimidating if I wasn’t so damn angry at him for ruining my moment of sunshine.
“You dare-”
“The fuck I do!” I interrupt his bellow. “I did no such thing. Why do you keep showing up here? Why? Just leave me alone!”
“You summon me, witch.”
“I repeat, the fuck I do.” I glare at him, which feels absolutely ridiculous given I’m all of five-five and he’s got more than a foot and a half on me, without the horns.
The demon glares daggers and stomps his foot on the floor. I force myself not to take a step back. I refuse to give any ground to this deranged demon.
“Witch,” the word is a guttural growl I can feel in my chest like the thump of bass in a club. It does nothing to settle my temper.
“Demon,” I shout back. It’s not nearly as intimidating and doesn’t do the resonating thing his voice does. Which is probably why he throws back his head and laughs.
Asshole.
“Are you going to make me needle it out of you or are you going to tell me why you summoned me this time?”
“I didn’t summon you!” I argue. Then I see the shelves standing in the middle of the room and deflate.
“Yes?” The demon offers me a fangy grin, and I glower.
“No one likes a smug demon,” I mutter. The demon’s grin only grows. “I didn’t summon you. But since you’re here, can you put the shelves back?”
I dig the toe of my ankle boot into the carpet and avoid the demon’s gaze.
“Now was that so hard?” His tone is smooth, but I can hear the amusement under it. I’m tempted to kick him, but I don’t really want to find out if he’s actually made of stone. My toes can’t handle it if he is.
“Just move the shelves, please.” I glare at him as he grins at me. But he does what I ask and crosses the room to the floor-to-ceiling shelves. He doesn’t even strain his muscles as he picks them up and moves them back against the wall.
I refuse to be impressed.
“Anything else I can do for you?” His eyes rake over me as he crosses the store and returns to my side.
I tense every muscle against the little shiver that look gives me. Nope, I refuse to be affected by a demon. Not happening.
“Tell me how to stop summoning you.” I demand.
“Now where would be the fun in that?” He uses one large, clawed hand to chuck me under the chin, and then he’s gone in a plume of smoke.
“Fuck.”
