It was odd. I had never felt the urge to physically comfort a client before. It seemed... unprofessional.
Chase bent forward at the waist and tumbled out of the chair.
Instinctively, I reached to help him up. Something I had never done before, either.
But then Chase sputtered and coughed, slapping his palms against the hard floor. His head snapped up and he glared at me.
“What the hell was that, asshole?” he demanded.
I blinked.
Normally people were woozy and soft-spoken after their exorcism ritual, as if waking up from a deep slumber. And usually they were much more grateful.
I chalked it up to Chase’s obnoxious personality. “You’re at peace now. The demon is gone.”
Chase coughed again, wiping his mouth on his forearm. “The demon is gone, my ass! He’s laughing his fucking head off!”
The bottom of my stomach fell out.
“What?” I whispered.
Grunting, Chase rose to his feet and shot me a dirty look. “You made me deepthroat an arrow and it didn’t even do anything!”
My jaw unhinged in disbelief. I ran back my actions, trying to remember if I’d made an error during the ritual.
But I hadn’t. The exorcism went perfectly.
It should have worked.
Chase must’ve been lying. After all, he was buddies with those dumb frat boys. They loved idiotic pranks like this.
“Hello?” Chase yelled, waving a hand in front of my face.
My patience had worn thin. I fisted the front of his shirt and growled, “Enough. Your joke isn’t funny.”
Chase looked irritated and baffled. “I’m not joking, man. I still hear his voice.”
“Are you finished?” I asked, unamused.
His eyes widened. Then he laughed bitterly as he wrenched himself out of my grasp. “Oh, cool. Soyoufucked upmyexorcism, but you think I’m screwing around. Pretty shitty business model, Sagitta. I’m giving your temple a one-star review.”
The blood drained from my face.
Oh god, he was serious about the demon.
In the blink of an eye, my irritation transformed into panic. I grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” I cried. “Don’t leave. You can’t go back into public like this.”
“Like what?”
My voice grew hysterical. “Possessed! By Faust!”
“Dude, what else am I supposed to do? I’ve got a job and a life! I can’t stay here forever just ‘causeyoumessed up an exorcism!”
“Keep your voice down,” I urged, suddenly terrified we were being eavesdropped on.
Chase rolled his eyes. “Why? Is the manager gonna fire you?”
