Page 59 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“I'm glad somebody said it.” Cufio chuckled and leaned against the wall. “This is starting to get really awkward. You both know how I feel about awkward situations. I will pop out of here in a second.”
“Jericha,” Raymond addressed me and nobody else. “This is Metice. He's here to help us with our situation.”
“It's nice to meet you.” I reached out to shake his hand and instantly noticed the strange look he gave me. “What is it?”
“Your energy. It feels familiar.” Metice furrowed his brow, conflicted by something unspoken. “Like I’ve encountered it before.”
“Considering you were close enough for our paths to cross, you probably have,” Raymond interjected. “Remember, that’s why we’re all here now.”
“Right. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Jericha,” Metice continued, and it felt like the house rumbled with his voice.
“Damn,” Jackie commented. When I looked back at her, she was popping the last piece of sushi into her mouth. “I just know he got the demon girls going crazy over him.”
“Jackie.” I rolled my eyes.
“My bad. It's nice to meet you too, Metice. My name is Jackie,” she introduced herself. “I'm Jericha's home girl, also here to help them clean up this little mess they've created.”
“Hey, I didn't create any mess,” I corrected her. “It was dropped into my lap.”
“After you dropped into his lap, right?” She pointed at Raymond and winked.
“Oh, she's funny.” Cufio grinned. “So, she was in your lap? You left that out.”
“Don't get any ideas, shadow man.” Jackie balled up a fist, ready to fight off his advances. “Just because my friend likes to play in the shadows doesn’t mean I do.”
“Can we get focused here?” Noville groaned. “Earth’s air is making my skin itch. How do you all survive with such pollution?”
“Thank you, Noville.” I rolled my eyes at Jackie for her shadow comment before returning my attention to Raymond. “Are you two good to work together? It looked like there may have been some tension out there.”
“Yes. Metice and I had something to discuss, that’s all.” Raymond glanced at the dark man. “We’re all good. For now.”
“As my brother mentioned earlier, it turns out, Metice is the reason the others found Raymond,” Cufio offered. “He was also coming here for a human.”
“You were?” Jackie gawked at him. “Big, fine thing like you can’t find something good in hell?”
“My soulmate,” Metice confirmed. “She lived here on Earth.”
“Maybe I need to find me a human soulmate.” Cufio waggled his brow at Jackie, and I could tell he was having fun messing with her.
“I repeat, not me!” Jackie sucked her teeth. “Men. Ugh. Even the ones from hell can’t catch a hint.”
“Okay, maybe a different one.” Cufio licked his lips and then suddenly became very serious. “All jokes aside, we aren’t in the best position here. They know where you are and how to find you. I don’t think we need to keep things here.”
“You don’t?” Raymond asked. “And where do you suppose we take things?”
“I agree with your brother. We don’t want them to send more demons here. You know how reckless they are. It will only cause more dramaand bring unwanted attention,” Metice spoke, and all eyes snapped to him. “We’ve already had a few cause scenes that took a lot to clean up.”
“Did you find out anything useful?” Raymond asked Metice, avoiding my question. “When you were cleaning up their mess?”
“About you? No. But after Cufio reached out, I did some digging.” Metice pulled a small coin from his pocket and rolled it across his fingers as he spoke. “Nothing’s changed since you left. They gave up on their initial searches when they realized you left the Bane, but you’re still enemy number one. The orders to bring you in still stand. And if I were still part of the organization, I’d be following those orders now.”
“So you’re really out? Never thought I’d see the day.” Raymond nodded, almost approvingly. “Had to be something major to get you to walk away.”
“Yeah, he’s been out for a while now.” Cufio nudged Raymond with his elbow. “If you had stuck around, you could have witnessed the explosive events. Almost lost my head helping him, and now, I’m risking it again for you.”
“I can’t believe they haven’t moved on after all this time. Surely there are other things to worry about, people who’ve screwed them over since I left.”
“Maybe, but it wasn’t a low-level demon who lost their life. This isn’t one they can easily get over. The organization is still feeling the impact,” Metice continued. “And you running away like you did only convinced them you were guilty. If not, you would have stuck around and tried to defend yourself.”
