On one hand, it was kind of cool that my father was so powerful.On the other, that was far too high of a standard for me to live up to.I was generally happy being somewhere in the vicinity of average.
If I took over Hell, the other demons would be laughing at me in no time.And then they’d knock me off that throne and chaos would ensue.
Chaos always ensued down in Hell, according to my mother, but if Hell’s demons were left unchecked, that chaos would spill over into this world, and, frankly, this world was doing a fine job of creating its own chaos.It did not need a bunch of demons leveling up.
Which meant I needed to stay out of Dad’s clutches.
I could run, like I’ve been doing for eight years.Just turn on my heel and hurry those few blocks to where my stolen Buick was parked, hop into the driver’s seat, and continue on my quest to stay at least half a step ahead of Dad—and be ready to change course at a moment’s notice.
I was so tired of running.And while I’d only been in this quirky small town for a few hours, I was already feeling comfortable here, if you could believe it.
Selina’s presence notwithstanding, of course.
And Asmoday.Although, honestly, the only thing annoying about Asmoday was my attraction to him.Take that out of the picture and the guy was, well, pretty darn nice.He gave me a place to stay, he bought me a coffee and pastry, he introduced me to Queenie, who set me up with a brand-new wardrobe that was pretty similar to the wardrobe I’d left behind in Maryland.
And now that I thought about it, she hadn’t asked me for payment, so he must have covered that too.
Not that paying for everything was the way to my heart.Far from it.
It was more that I couldn’t come up with a reason to dislike him.
Other than my own annoying attraction to him.
I understood enough about witches and the spells they were able to cast to know that I should be covered by that pheromone-smothering spell Selina had worked up.
But I wasn’t.And I didn’t want to think about why.
“Because I’m pretty sure you’re my fated mate.”
It was preposterous.And most importantly, not correct.
Demons didn’t have fated mates.It wasn’t a thing.And okay, yes, I was part mermaid, and yes, Mom told me about plenty of mermaids she knew who had found their fated mate and were living happily ever after.But that didn’t count.
Because I was half demon.
And Asmoday was…shit.Elf and lust demon?
There was no room for fated mates in that matchup.
And anyway, it didn’t matter.I wasn’t a lifer in this town.Especially not if there was a hellmouth here and it was even a smidge open…
No.Didn’t matter.Because demons didn’t do fated mates.
I kicked up the pace, heading away from the cluster of storefronts, Asmoday’s hotel, and my escape route, a.k.a.the stolen Buick.
While Queenie had tried to outfit me in every color under the sun—“Ohh, lavender would look lovely with your hair, sweetie.No?Definitely salmon, then.White?Spring green?Pale blue?”—she also peppered in information about the town.
And the hellmouth’s location.
I’d finally allowed her to dress me in a deep purple hoodie, although I’d insisted on my tried-and-true black leggings.So she’d given me five pair, plus a couple of relaxed fit yoga pants and five hoodies in varying shades of purple.Oh, and one in medium blue, which I grudgingly admitted I liked.
And then I left it all in a pile just inside the door and slipped out while Asmoday was otherwise occupied at the tattoo parlor across the street.The tattoo parlor that, I couldn’t help but notice, didn’t have a piercer on duty.
Not that I was looking for a new gig.
As I walked past Asmoday’s hotel, a short, stocky guy with dusky skin and a mop of curly hair fell into place beside me.While he had the face of a twelve-year-old, he also had practically a full beard and a tuft of dark hair sticking out of the collar of his shirt.
He didn’t say a word, but he did keep sniffing in my general direction.I was pretty sure he thought he was being stealthy about it, but his flaring nostrils and the constantsniff, sniffnoises were a dead giveaway.
