Page 21 of Flirting with Death

I didn't wait for the others before I pushed myself to my feet and ran after her. This girl was going to get herself killed one of these times. She was a badass. It was one thing I loved about her, but she had help that she should be accepting right now. At least I knew where she was headed.

"Sammy, wait!" I called after her when I caught sight of her running around the corner at the end of the street. She must have recovered quicker than I had. I reached her about a block from the mall. She pulled out her phone and swore under her breath. "What happened to together?"

"You're here. That means we are together, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Rai, this is my dad," she said, her voice breaking over the words.

The others arrived as we were crossing the street. We looked like a strange group and caused a lot of stares as we passed through the parking lot.

"Do you even know what my father would do to you if he caught you?" Bellamy hissed at Samantha from her other side.

"Watch your tone," I growled.

His gaze narrowed at me, his eyes slightly unnerving. "Oh, would you rather that she is dead, dragon?"

Before I could open my mouth, Samantha leveled both of us with a look. "Now isn't the time to iron out your differences. Bellamy is right. If he isn't with me when I run across his dad, I'll probably regret it. I'm sorry I ran off, Bell, it was stupid."

My mouth dropped open. I snapped it shut, my jaw aching from clenching my teeth together. What was it with the demon that she liked? Was this really my life now? Did I have any other choice if I wanted to be with her?

"Spit it out," she said, lifting her eyebrow at me. Sometimes I forgot she could read me as well as I could her.

Shaking my head, I averted my gaze, taking in the looming mall in front of us. The plain beige building had six entrances for the public. You could thank my teenage years for knowing that fact. We approached the north side closest to the large food court. A bunch of scents assaulted our noses as we pulled open the door, along with a bunch of voices combined into one loud chorus of noise. It was almost too much for my sensitive ears and nose.

I never understood the appeal of the food court. How could you eat Subway and smell Chinese at the same time? There was something intricately wrong about that scenario. We cut a simple path through the crowd, most of them jumping out of our way, thanks to Bellamy. The dude gave zero fucks what the mortal world would think of a demon walking freely among them. I could sort of admire that. I wasn't brave enough to shift in public. They would capture me and torture me in the name of science.

"Nothing to see here. We are here for a convention." I could hear Alastor telling the humans. I snorted but stayed next to Sam. Brook squeezed between us and threaded her fingers through Samantha's.

"Your dad will be fine," Brook said. "You helped save my mom, so I'm not leaving until we know he is safe, too." She bumped her shoulder, and Sam smiled at her best friend.

"Thanks. It isn't every day that someone can brag about having the help of the Fae Queen." Sam winked.

"I'm sure that no one will believe you if you spout that around." Brook laughed.

"True."

"You can't have animals in the mall unless they are service animals," a security guard scolded as he stepped in front of us, his hand held out. His attention on Cerberus, who looked like a large normal dog, attached to a leash even. Alastor shrugged his suit-covered shoulders and lifted his eyes from his companion.

"He is needed." Alastor doesn't move a muscle, and it hit me at that moment. Cerberus was his protection. If I thought about the fights I'd seen him in, he was never the one to fight. It was always the animal.

"Papers," the man demanded.

"Excuse me." Brook stepped forward, her hands on her hips. "You can not legally ask for those, he says his dog is needed. That means he is."

"Miss, no disrespect, but for the animal to stay, I will need to know what task he is trained to do and if he is required because of a disability. Neither question is illegal."

I smothered a smile beneath my hand, because I was sure the security guard did not want to hear that Hades trained him to protect Alastor from threats because he was a God with limited powers. Not that he'd believe that, anyway.

"He ensures I am safe when I am in danger." Alastor dropped a hand to Cerberus's head and ran it over his fur lovingly.

"Danger from a medical condition?" the man pressed.

"You could say that," he said.

Bellamy snickered, and the security officer ran his gaze over his tail, horns, red eyes, and blue skin, as if he was just now noticing him.

"Where is the freak show at?" the man said with a half laugh.

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