Still in a state of shock, I headed home. It was only as I passed the market that I remembered I had nothing to eat at home. Food didn’t seem all that appealing at the moment, but I would need to eat eventually. Besides, I could use the distraction.
As I walked the aisles, I tried to put Deb’s words out of my head. She lied to me my whole life. I sort of understood that she wanted to protect me, but it was my choice to know or not. My mother wanted me to know as soon as I was old enough to understand.
How would that conversation have gone?
The truth was there were a lot of things my mother never got the chance to tell me and not just about witchcraft. I’d never missed her more than I did right then. Her and Dad.
Pausing in one of the aisles, I grabbed some instant noodles. I was in no mood to cook right now. As I dropped them into the basket, I glanced up to see a man watching me from further down the aisle. He was my age with dark hair, wearing jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. When he caught me looking, he smiled at me.
My heart sped up as I remembered Zack’s monstrous face. Was this guy a demon too? Turning away, I moved to the next aisle. I needed to calm down. Cute guys had smiled at me before, it wasn’t that unusual. Though now I couldn’t help but wonder if they had all been guys.
If they weren’t, I’m sure more of them would have tried to kill you.
That thought oddly wasn’t comforting. I needed to pay for my things and get the hell out before anything happened.
Heading toward the registers, I came to a halt when the man reappeared at the end of the aisle. He walked slowly toward me, smiling broadly. As he passed me, he winked, but didn’t stop moving.
Terrified, I dropped my basket on the ground and ran for the exit. Even if he was human, he wasn’t blind. I was sure he saw the scared look on my face which meant he didn’t care and carried on acting that way. So honestly, man or demon, I didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
Crossing the parking lot outside, I kept glancing back, expecting him to follow me. When I reached the next building, I stepped behind it, out of sight, to catch my breath.
I’m just overreacting. Nothing is going to happen.
Taking a few deep breaths, I could feel myself growing calmer. A hand clamped down on my shoulder.
“Hey, you,” a voice said.
With a shriek, I turned and punched the guy right in the face. He staggered back, clutching his nose. It was then I realized that it wasn’t the guy from the market, but Donavon.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I said. The shock quickly changed to anger though. “What the hell are you doing sneaking up on people? After everything that happened, you are lucky I didn’t blast a hole right through you.”
“All right, I’m sorry,” he cried. “I think you broke my nose.”
“Ugh, don’t be such a baby. What are you doing here?”
He dropped his hands to reveal a small trickle of blood coming from his right nostril. I felt a tiny bit bad, but I was too shaken to let it bother me that much. The guy was rude, plain and simple.
“We need your help,” he said.
“What? Who does?”
“Rufus and me. There’s a demon hunting people in the city and we are having trouble IDing him. Since you can draw a demon to you, we figured you could act as bait.”
I stared at him in stunned silence. Did he even hear the words coming out of his mouth?
“Have you ever actually had a conversation with a woman before? Funnily enough we draw the line at playing bait. Sorry.” I shoved past him, eager to get home.
“Okay, that wasn’t the right way to put it. But you’ve already proven you can handle yourself. It’s important.”
“No,” I yelled back at him.
“What if we could help you control your power?”
I stopped walking and looked back at him. “How?”
He walked toward me. “I have access to some potions that could block your ability and help keep you safe.”
I hesitated. Deb did say she was going to try and help me, but he seemed to already have a solution. But the thought of going up against another demon terrified me. My power worked once, but what if I couldn’t summon it again? Were these two idiots going to save me? Highly doubtful.
“I can’t, I’m sorry.”
“Please. He’s killed three women so far.”
Shit. I couldn’t exactly ignore that. “What are we talking about?”
“We know he likes to go to a club downtown. You go in, lure him out and Rufus and I will take care of the rest.”
I considered it. “Then I get the potion?”
He nodded.
I am going to regret this.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”