I’d seen pictures and videos of demons before, but still, I couldn’t help but stare. His red skin gleamed in the sun. He wasn’t like Flame and Blaze, whose legs disappeared into a swirl of smoke. He was solid all the way down to his feet, which were tipped with dark claws.
He wore a white muscle top and jeans that molded to his legs. His horns curled back from his temples, and there was a glow in his eyes. He was just as good-looking as Tansy.
Wow! I was meeting a whole lot of beautiful people lately, and here I was probably looking some shade of green and trying not to puke on their floor.
“Thank you,” I said awkwardly before spearing the juice box with the straw and taking a long drink.
I immediately felt better.
The demon turned, and oh look! A tail. It swished behind him, the triangular point waving hypnotically. And that had me thinking about Graham and the fact that I still hadn’t actually seen his tail. But if he thought I was going to touch his tail after that bit about our kiss being a mistake, then he was going to be waiting a very long time.
As if summoned, Tall, Dark, and Grumpy stepped effortlessly out of the portal next to us. He looked around and cleared his throat. “Tansy. Eamon. This is Meera. She’s under Redrock protection for the time being.”
The bright orange, yellow, and green bird that had come to perch on Eamon’s shoulder squawked indignantly.
“Oh, right, we can’t forget. This is Nugget. It’s short for Chicken Nugget, and she’s a menace.”
Nugget bobbed her head and said, “Peek-a-boo!”
I grinned, feeling a lot better than I had just moments ago. “Peek-a-boo to you too, Nugget.”
Graham got straight to the point. “Get her set up in one of the downstairs rooms, Eamon. I’m exhausted. I need to crash.”
“Can’t,” Eamon said. “That senator who’s been getting death threats is in town. She’s got the suite for the next few days.”
“We’ve got two extra rooms up here,” Tansy said, opening a granola bar of her own.
Graham’s expression could’ve curdled milk, but he didn’t argue. After a noise that sounded suspiciously like a grumble, he gave a curt nod and stalked off through the nearest door.
“He’s grumpy today.” The demon looked amused.
“He did fly over halfway from New York with no sleep.” I didn’t know why I was defending him.
“He’ll probably perk up after a nap.” Tansy eyed the mostly empty backpack in my hands. “Is that all you have with you?”
“Yeah. I packed a few things for the trip, but we had to abandon it with the SUV.” I looked down at my dirty clothes. My shirt was smudged with dirt from the woods and torn from the wreck.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you sorted. Okay, world’s fastest tour. The penthouse has five sections. We’re in the central one right now, which is a shared area. Those doors over there”—she pointed to four doors, two on each side of the massive living room—“go to our private suites. You can help yourself to anything in the shared kitchen, which is right over there next to the foyer. The bathroom is in that corner. It’s a full bathroom too, so you can take a shower if you need.”
A shower sounded heavenly.
I stood and followed Tansy past the bathroom.
“Here are the spare rooms. The first one is full of Gunnar’s crap right now. You can take the second one.” She opened a door, which turned out to be a closet, and picked up a cotton tote filled with stuff. “Here you go. Towels, hygiene products, toothbrush, the works.”
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes welling with tears. Everyone had been so nice.
She dropped her voice. “Oh, and don’t let Nugget into the bathroom with you, no matter how much she begs. She will watch you shower with no remorse. And she learned how to mimic peeing sounds.”
I smiled to myself. Nugget sounded like a lot more trouble than Q-Tip.
Before long, I was cleaned of all the smoke and dirt and tucked into a comfy bed, ready to take a nice long nap. Even though itwas bright and early in the morning, I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.
WhenIwokeandventured back into the common area, Tansy and Eamon were gone. Instead, I found a woman watering the plants with an oversized watering can that dwarfed her slim frame. Her sleek, dark hair fell down her back in a shiny curtain, and she had a bright, friendly smile that put me at ease immediately.
“Oh, hey! You must be Meera. I’m Lillian, Gunnar’s mate. I’m just waiting on Shelby to head out to grab some lunch. There’s a new Mexican place that just opened up across the street, and I heard the birria is really good. Want to join us?”
I hesitated. “I’m hungry and want to get out there and see what Darlington has to offer while I’m here, but I’m not sure I’m supposed to go out.”
