Well, he certainly knew how to express himself.
“I’m at Lily’s. That’s his girl. Yeah. Apparently, she’s a witch. No, he didn’t know. Crazy, right? But it gets worse. Her sister’s a crazy bitch,”—he grinned shamelessly at Iris when she pointed the cleaver in his face—“and she crashed their date, drew a prison ward, and threatened to kill him. Lily said he shifted in front of her and took off.”
He paused, nodding in agreement with whatever the person on the other line was saying. Oh god, it was probably another demon.
“I know. It’s fucked up. And he’s not answering his phone. Do you think…? He wouldn’t be that stupid, would he? Shit. All right, I’ll be back in a few.”
He hung up and looked at them.
“Well, ladies, it’s been a slice,”—he gestured to the cleaver with a wink—“but I’m out. Gotta go save a demon, if you know what I mean. We were trying to help Mist get out of a bad sitch, but it seems he’s gone right back to the lion’s den.”
Undaunted by the knife still in his face, he shot Iris a heated look, goofy grin back like it had never left. “It’s a shame we had to meet like this, sweetness. Any other time, I’d have loved to take you out.” He looked at Lily. “Sorry you had to find out your date was a demon, but he’s really not a bad guy.”
Turning to open the door, he glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, and if you’re going to practice witchcraft, stay away from summoning, yeah? Easiest way to get dead, guaranteed.” He waggled his fingers. “Toodles.”
The door slammed, and he was gone.
8
Denial Ain’t Just A River In Egypt
Lily had not recovered from her shock by the next morning, nor had Iris stopped fuming. They loitered in the kitchen with iced coffees and bagels, Iris pacing and mumbling, Lily sitting and staring at the wall. Just like last night.
After Mist’s friend left, Iris had spent a good hour trying to convince Lily to stay at her place. Lily had obstinately refused. If the demons had wanted to hurt her, they’d had ample opportunity. And if they wanted to find her again, they would, whether she was in her home or running scared.
Of course, Iris had then declared that if Lily was staying, so was she. After making a series of mysterious, hushed phone calls and drawing wards over all the walls, her sister ended up crashing on her sofa. Lily had tried to sleep but just stared at the ceiling all night instead, trying to process everything that had happened.
Now, morning had arrived, and she didn’t feel better. She didn’t have closure. If anything, she felt worse.
“We need to double the strength of the cloaking,” Iris was muttering as she paced. “We’ll need to bring in outside manpower. Maybe I’ll call the Toronto coven for support.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What I can’t figure out is why he was stalling. Why play human and bother with the fake date charade? Why not just snatch you up the minute he got close? Why walk off when he had us both within his grasp? It’s not like he would’ve needed reinforcements to overpower us.”
“What if he wasn’t after anything at all?” Lily dared to ask, though she knew better than to reason with her stubborn sister.
“What?”
“What if his friend was telling the truth? What if he really just wanted to go on a date with me?”Why are you even trying to get through to her?
“Lil…” Iris got that pitying-the-sad-sister look on her face that Lily hated. “He’s a demon.”
“Yeah, but what do we really know about demons? I mean, who says they can’t go on dates?”
“I know a lot about them. And believe me, they are just as evil and soulless as the legends say. There is no such thing as a good demon.”
“But how do you know for sure? I mean, they’re conscious beings with thoughts and emotions, so they must have some free will like humans. Therefore, it’s theoretically possible that they could choosenotto be evil.”
“Listen to yourself! You sound insane! Demons are demons. They’re evil. They tempt you to do evil to claim your soul for Hell. That is their one purpose, their only reason for existence. There is no gray area. There are no good demons.”
“But how do you know for sure?”
“Because I’ve seen it with my own eyes! I’ve seen what those monsters are capable of.”
“What are you talking about?” Lily frowned at the anguish suddenly flashing in her twin’s eyes. “What have you seen?”
A shadow passed over Iris’s face before she turned to face the window. “Nothing.”
