Page 41 of Demon Loved
“Fuck. Sorry I’m late, babe. Thanks for waiting. Mrs. Shreba forgot I was coming by to pick this up, so she had the door locked.” Stacy, a blonde with bangs, pecks David on the lips before turning to Katrina with a wide grin. Her smile wilts when she notices me and Kastros. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s my fault we’re loitering. We’re just about to leave.”
Does she think she’s in trouble? I’m almost tempted to keep the ruse going and give all three of them detention, just to have an excuse to punish David.
“It’s fine,” I respond gruffly, exchanging a quick look with Kastros. “But school is over, so these halls need to be empty.”
There. That sounded teachery, right?
Stacy begins to pull on David’s arm, dragging him down the hallway, but she pauses suddenly and turns back to Katrina with hopeful eyes.
“You’re coming, right? You said you would.”
Coming? She better not mean in the sexual way, or else I’ll add two bodies to my kill list.
Katrina blushes brightly, ducking her head, before nodding. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Yay!” Stacy claps her hands together and does a little shimmy in place. “It’s going to be so much fun!”
My curiosity is threatening to make my entire body burst. I can tell Kastros feels the same by the way he’s repeatedly tapping his finger against Katrina’s upper arm, attempting to garner her attention so he can sign to her.
“What’s going to be fun?” I demand as soon as Stacy and her boy toy are out of sight. I never really liked Stacy all that much. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not as cruel and conniving as some of the other girls at this school, but I have no doubt she’ll sacrifice Katrina in a heartbeat if it gets her what she wants. She’s so fucking vain and selfish that she’ll spend all her time staring at her reflection on the water’s surface. One day, it’s going to drown her.
“Stace invited me to a party this Friday,” Katrina confesses, brushing a strand of pink hair behind her ear. Another delicate blush erupts on her cheeks.
“Oh.” That isn’t what I expected her to say.
Katrina and…parties? That’s like water and gasoline. My girl is not the type to goparty.
And you’re going?Kastros signs, seeming just as confused as I am.
“I mean, why not? In just a few months, I’m going to graduate. And Stacy’s my best friend. I promised her I’ll go to this one.” She smiles softly, the barest twitch of lips. “Besides, the last party I went to, I summoned you five. Maybe I’ll summon more sexy demons?” When Kastros and I begin to growl threateningly, she holds up her hands in mock innocence, giggling softly. “I’m kidding!”
“It’s not safe,” I growl out, hating to bethatguy. “With the angels and your parents—”
“I won’t be alone,” she assures me. She pauses, nibbling on her lower lip, before adding, “I need this, Raz. I can’t keep living my life in fear. I need to feel…normal.”
Guilt pricks my heart like a thousand needles. I know that Katrina loves us, but I can’t help but feel we’re destroying her life. Before us, she wasn’t hunted. She didn’t have to fear for her life.
But she also lived with abusive assholes who would’ve destroyed both her and Adam until they could no longer be the people we recognize and love now.
“If Zolroth’s feeling better, he can come with me!” Katrina adds, knowing that I’ll relent. “And maybe even Akor.” She winces, no doubt thinking about all of the crazy shit he could get up to if I wasn’t around to reel him in. “Okay, maybe not.”
“The rest of us won’t be able to come,” I point out, hating these societal norms and fucking rules. I wish I could scream our love from the rooftops, confess it to everyone who’s around to listen. I’m praying for the day Katrina graduates and we can move on with our lives. As a family.
“Raz…”
“It’s on Friday,” I say gruffly. “We’ll talk about it then. But for now…” I lean forward and steal her backpack from her, placing it over my own shoulder. Kastros reaches for her hand. She attempts to tug it free, glancing in both directions anxiously, but the halls are empty at this time of day. “Let’s go home, baby girl.”
16
Zolroth
I’ve been pastinga smile on my face for nearly a week, faking a carefree attitude any time someone asks how I’m doing, but today, for the first time, I feel like myself again. The ache in my ribs is still there, that might last a while, but the rest of me has healed up pretty decently. It’s actually made me a smidge more sympathetic toward humans, who don’t heal quickly. This lying around bit I’ve been forced to do is awful stuff. But…now that I’m feeling better, I get to enjoy the benefits of said infirmity—Amazon just delivered the fifty pairs of shoes I ordered myself.
Question is, how do I get them all inside without Jason and the entire menagerie destroying them?
I’m standing in the front doorway of our townhome, debating what to do as the delivery guy’s resentful back retreats back to his dark blue van.
Jason slides across the floor behind me in socks—thankfully, the zombie-dog-man hasn’t started to shun clothes—but all too soon, I feel a bump against my shoulder. And there he is, beside me. “Whatcha doing? Huh?” he asks as his ass shakes side to side faster than Shakira’s. “Are those…are those…SHOES!” He squeals the last word in utter excitement.
