I run my gaze over his marbleized white and gray skin, and truth settles heavy in my stomach.
I...I don’t think they’re lyin’.
8
“You two are...demons.” Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.
“Yes,” Alder replies evenly.
I can’t tell yet if I appreciate their bluntness or if I wish they had softened the blow a little. You’d think they’d wanna butter a girl up before they go droppin’ a demon bomb.
I watch them for a moment, weighin’ all the facts of my entire life as I take in their words while they settle somewhere between my stomach and my soul.
They look dead serious. No hesitation or smirks cross their faces. And from what I saw last night at the bar…well, I know now that I wasn’t hallucinatin’ or drugged. I’m lookin’ at the evidence of that right smack in front of me. No human looks the way they do.
After a long moment of my brain workin’ overtime, I swallow hard and give a terse nod. “Okay.”
Alder’s head rears back in shock. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” I repeat. “You say you’re demons, and that you have a job opportunity for me. That can’t be good, so I’m gonna need you to explain yourselves quick before my daddy gets back with the shotgun.”
Flint chuckles.
“Alright, I’ll explain,” Alder says, takin’ the reins. “We believe that you’re like another young lady we recently met. Her name is Delta. She thought she was human...until she was drawn to a Hellgate too.”
I pick up my green and blonde hair and start fannin’ the back of my neck. I don’t know if it’s just the swelterin’ Georgia heat, or all this talk of Hell and demons, but I am burnin’ up.
“Keep goin’,” I say, doin’ a circular motion with my finger.
Alder hesitates for a moment, like he expected me to ream him with questions. “Well...Delta learned she was a demon.”
I continue to fan my neck. “Alright. And what the hell do you want with me?”
Alder cocks his head. “You’re takin’ this a lot better than we thought you would.”
I squint at him. “How did you think I’d take it?”
Flint answers. “Maybe you would faint or scream or something?”
“Do I look like a fainter or a screamer?” I volley back, annoyed.
Flint’s lips curve up. “Maybe not the fainting part, but one night with me and you’ll be screaming, alright.”
I walked right through the front door of that one. But damn, that picture he just put in my head makes me squirm, my legs pressin’ together slightly.
I clear my throat just to make sure it doesn’t go all husky. “Answer my question,” I say sternly, lookin’ back at Alder. “What do you want with me?”
“To help you,” he answers quickly.
I tilt my head and scoop up my hair, shovin’ it up in a messy ponytail. “Help me how?”
“Again, we don’t have all the details, but Delta started being able to see through demon wards—to see us for what we truly look like. Just like you did last night in the bar.”
“But when I first got there, y’all looked normal,” I point out.
“Yes, and I’m not sure why. We’ll have to ask the others about that,” Alder concedes. “Something changed from the time you were in my office to when I saw you again in the bar.”
“Yeah, one minute, y’all are normal lookin’, and the next, you got glass patrons with no mouths and a tree tendin’ your bar,” I tell him.
