Chapter 11 #2
“Okay. You and Mabel go toward the back. Antonio, come with me.” I try to come up with a plan on the fly.
“If Delphi sees it, direct Mabel toward it. I don’t know—grab it and drag it toward the back, maybe? Hopefully by then the others will be back with the weapons and I can stab it.”
“Stab it with what?” Delphi asks, her face paling.
“A knife soaked in a vanquishing potion,” I tell her.
“We all have a little salad dressing container of it. Though injuring it in any way will probably slow it down. Decapitation is always an option.” I tip my head to the side, making a face.
“But swinging an ax at something you can’t see isn’t going to be easy. ”
“What if I throw a blanket over it?” Mabel asks. “Would that reveal its form?”
“I’m going to guess so. It has a physical body. I think it’s cloaking itself somehow.”
I look between Delphi and Mabel. “Delphi and I must be able to see through it because we’re supernatural. You are too,” I tell Mabel, “but biologically, your body was born human.”
We all exchange glances and silently decide this is not a topic we want to get into right now. Because if whatever cloaking spell the demon uses specifically targets humans, that means vampires have more humanity left in them than anyone ever thought.
“Okay. We’ll sweep the back,” Mabel says, holding out her hand for Delphi to take. Antonio and I start toward the front. Then I catch a glimpse of the demon sitting in an empty chair at someone’s table.
“It’s right there,” I tell Antonio, motioning for him to follow my line of sight.
“There’s an empty chair between those two women in the sparkly black dresses.
” He looks over. Several round tables sit near the front of the stage with reserved signs in the middle.
Almost every chair is full except for that one.
“What’s it doing?” he asks.
“Eating their French fries.” I blink several times to make sure I’m actually seeing this correctly.
The demon reaches across the table and knocks over a wine glass.
Red liquid splashes down the front of another woman’s ivory dress.
She looks up angrily at the woman two seats away.
The loud music drowns out their argument, and I watch the demon lean back and chuckle at the mess he created.
“He’s just warming up,” I say. “Creating enough little arguments that eventually someone is going to explode.” I swallow. “Soon these pranks are going to turn deadly.”
All of a sudden, a rush of people floods inside, filling the already cramped space. Probably because there’s no bouncer out front anymore.
“Oh, shit.” People crowd in front of me, blocking my view. “I’m going up on the stage to get a better look around,” I tell Antonio.
“I’ll let Leo know we’re here so they can bring the weapons,” Antonio says, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. I quickly rush onto the stage. But as soon as I get up there, someone steps out from behind a thick black curtain.
“Finally,” he says, holding a clipboard and adjusting the earpiece in his ear. “We didn’t think you were coming.”
“What?”
I look past him toward the crowd, trying to find the demon. I catch Antonio’s eye and shake my head, letting him know I haven’t found it yet.
“They’ve been waiting twenty minutes,” the stage manager says, tapping his watch. “You better give one hell of a performance if you think we’re ever hiring you again.”
“What?” I barely get the word out before he nudges me toward the center of the stage.
It takes my brain a few seconds to process what’s happening.
By the time I realize he thinks I’m the performer they’ve been waiting for, there’s already a spotlight shining on me.
I blink against the harsh lights and stare out at the crowd.
Everyone has gone still.
The hush that falls over the room suddenly gives me the perfect opportunity to find the demon.
Someone sits down at the piano on the left side of the stage.
I realize I’m just standing here awkwardly several feet away from the microphone.
My eyes are finally starting to adjust to the lights.
If the demon is still out there somewhere among the crowd, standing on the stage gives me the best possible vantage point.
“Are we going in order?” the pianist asks me.
“Uh…” I awkwardly inch closer to the microphone. “What’s the first song?”
“Love Yourself,” he replies, looking at me like I’m insane. “You emailed me the list this morning?”
“Right. I did.” I step up to the microphone and cover it with my hand. “The Justin Bieber song?”
“Yeah,” he replies, clearly annoyed.
I don’t know who this piano bar was expecting, but I’m definitely not her.
Though, luckily, I do know all the words to this song.
And I’m actually a somewhat decent singer.
I always slayed karaoke when we’d go to bars while on the road.
Standing in front of a crowded room and talking is the stuff of nightmares for me, but I need to put my own shit aside and look out at this crowd.
Finding the demon is like finding a needle in a haystack. But from up here, I have the best vantage point. Mabel and Delphi are standing in the back, silently asking me what the fuck I’m doing.
I just shrug and shake my head, letting them know I have absolutely no idea either.
Then the music starts.