Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Hailey
Syke grumbled as he looked at the usual suspects sitting in front of my building. He climbed out, and I could almost feel the demon rising inside him. When he stared down the petty gang members who were usually just selling weed on the corners, they all flinched away.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said awkwardly, and the demon grunted.
“Still have to unseal your door. Let’s go.” He stood behind me until I opened the door that wasn’t even locked. The elevator was out of order, and I wondered if hauling the crisis team up to my floor had tipped it over the edge.
Syke huffed, but we headed toward the staircase to the side.
The demon made me nervous, which meant I had to fill the silence with inane chatter.
“It’s about sixty years old, so I’m not surprised it’s out of order.
Last time, they left it out of order for a year before someone complained to the city and they were forced to fix it.
I don’t think they’ll even bother this time.
I’m glad it held out until Eric got help though.
Hauling him down the stairs would have sucked, even for the big guy.
Ilyas, right? He has to be like a dragon shifter or something, right? ”
“Gargoyle,” Syke muttered. “The little orc would have barely been a featherweight to him.”
I took the stairs twice as fast as I normally would, and by the time we reached my floor, I was puffing. Syke stood in front of my door and flicked the doorknob. That was it. The door swung open, and I stood there, startled by the casual use of magic.
I stared up at those cold, silver eyes. “We must look like dumb little mice to someone like you,” I murmured. We were so vastly outmatched by most creatures, but demons were a whole different level.
Syke grunted. “Yes, but some of you are more entertaining than others.”
He stepped into my apartment uninvited and looked through the room like something could be hiding in the shadows. His eyes snagged on my teapot. “Louis told you this was lead, right?”
I flushed pink. “Uh, yeah. Whoops?”
The demon rolled his eyes at me, then he held the pot in both hands and shadows coated it, sinking into the ceramic until they disappeared. If I looked at it out of the corner of my eye, though, it almost glowed. It was hard to explain.
He handed the teapot to me, and I clutched it gently as if it were a bomb. “If you’re ever in trouble, smash the teapot. I’ll come immediately.” With that, he walked out, his magic grabbing the door and closing it behind him.
Putting the teapot carefully on the shelf—because I didn’t want to drop it and bring an angry demon back here unnecessarily—I walked to the kitchen counter and rested my head on the scarred laminate.
The last thirty-six hours felt like a dream, a really lucid dream filled with hot guys, but a dream nonetheless.
Pulling out my phone, I messaged Ella.
Me: Home safe and sound. See you at work tomorrow.
Ella: You bet you’ll see me tomorrow. Girl, I want all the answers!
Yeah, me too.
I still felt unsettled, so I did what I normally did when I felt restless—I cleaned. I did the baseboards and the grout on the bathroom tiles. After an hour, I felt worse, so I deep cleaned the sink again.
Finally, the moon was sitting low in the sky, and my bones were tired, but my mind was awake.
I found myself pacing in front of the window.
Obviously, I’d slept a little too well at the Creature Crisis Center, and now I was wide awake.
It was an odd sensation. Normally I lived in a state of exhaustion.
I’d wondered if I was low in some kind of nutrient, like iron or one of the vitamins, which was making me tired all the time, but I’d never been able to afford to go to the doctor.
Apparently, I just needed a good nap.
Sitting down in front of my slow, old laptop, I flicked through the streaming service, trying to find a show I wanted to watch.
I settled on a creature film about the first human woman to fall in love with a creature, and their plight to be allowed to marry.
It was one I’d seen before, but I still loved it.
Fifteen minutes into the movie, my eyes felt heavy. By twenty minutes in, I was asleep.
* * *
The diner was packed to the brim. They were building a new apartment complex down the road, and someone must have let the construction crew know that we were creature friendly, because I just took an order for a centaur who requested three salad subs and two bowls of spaghetti al pomodoro.
Reggie was out back with the cooks, helping to get through the backlog of orders.
Ella, Laaniel, and I were barely staying on top of it out front, but I’d rather be busy than focused on the sensation of my skin feeling too tight across my bones.
The feeling had plagued me since I woke up this morning.
I took out four rare steaks to a table of weres and topped off their coffees. “Can I get you anything else?”
One of the weres’ twitched his nose. “You dating one of us?”
I shook my head. “Uh, no?”
A huge were with shaggy black hair grinned at me. “Are you sure about that?”
I flushed red and topped up their coffee. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t forget something like that.”
They hooted and hollered as I walked away, shaking my head. So far, the creatures had all tipped well, and I was excited for them to eat here every day. I’d have a nice little nest egg in no time.
What I hadn’t planned on was the regular clientele being bigots.
Thirty minutes later, one of the regulars who was normally in Ella’s area but had been shunted over to mine because there were no open tables was bitching about the increased patronage.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we are getting to it as soon as possible. I’ll check with the kitchen, but there were many people before you, so you may have to wait.”
“Get the fucking manager while you’re back there, bitch, because I shouldn’t have to wait because you let some fucking beasts in here to eat with proper humans.” He was standing now, and I backed away, but he grabbed my wrist and hauled me closer.
“Let go of me,” I ordered in a low voice, tugging at my arm.
“Or what?” the man sneered.
“Or we’ll rip your fucking arm from its socket and shove it right up your overly tight asshole,” someone growled behind me.
I looked over my shoulder to see the were construction workers all standing around me like a wall of pure muscle.
“Remove your fucking hand,” the big, shaggy-haired one demanded.
The guy gripping my arm paled, but he dropped my hand and pushed me hard, so I flew back into the arms of one of the workers. Then, the asshole all but ran out of the diner, and all the other patrons watched him go.
I looked up into the face of the guy holding me, straightening quickly. His nose twitched again, and he dipped closer to my hair. “Oh, I know. She smells like Louis.” He grinned, his canines flashing. “We’re in the same pack. A friend of Louis is a friend of ours.”
I gave him a quick smile. “Thanks for that. I helped out the Creature Crisis Center over the weekend.”
The guy grinned, holding up his hands. “Hey, no judgment here.” They all chuckled, like it was some big joke. “Can we grab the check? We better head back to the site.”
Reggie appeared from the back. “It’s on the house. No one manhandles my waitresses.”
The shaggy-headed one tipped his hard hat at Reggie. “Thanks.” He looked down at me. “You let Louis know if that guy causes you any problems. The pack sticks together.”
They all left, and I shook myself. My hands were still trembling softly, but there were tables to be cleared and plates to deliver.
Laaniel came over to me. “You okay?”
I nodded. I was okay. Shitty patrons were just par for the course, but I was still off-kilter when I made it home that night.
Climbing the stairs, I could have sworn I heard someone come in behind me, climbing the stairs one flight down.
I mean, there might have been, because I obviously wasn’t the only person who lived here.
Still, I walked faster, and when I got to my door, I opened it quickly, and then deadbolted it just as fast.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I headed toward the bathroom. I needed to shower, and apparently, I needed to wash my hair. Smelling like the handsome werewolf had saved my ass today, and I was kind of happy that I hadn’t dreamed the whole thing.
I showered the smell of burger grease and french fries from my skin, moving quickly because I only had four minutes of hot water, and when I climbed into my pajamas, I was more relaxed. I was exhausted though. What the fuck was wrong with me?
I sat down on the couch when a rustle sounded near my door.
I paused, waiting for the footsteps to walk down the hall.
The walls were so thin I could hear the tiniest sound.
The doorhandle rattled gently. I silenced a gasp behind my hand, my eyes going wide and my heart starting to thunder.
I stood, preparing to run… where? I needed a knife or a weapon, even if it was just one of my drunk neighbors who’d gotten the numbers mixed up on our apartment doors.
I didn’t even realize I’d been drifting closer to my kitchen shelf, and the door thumped harder this time. “Who the fuck’s there? I’m calling the cops!” I shouted, and then the door started rattling more frantically.
Thump.
Thump.
Were they trying to kick it in?
My heart felt like it was about to pound out of my chest as I grabbed the teapot and threw it down on the ground, smashing it into a million pieces, then the door to my apartment flew open as I screamed.