Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Asmoday
“No,” the young woman in the old lady car protested.
Too aggressively, I daresay.
“Oh, I think you are,” I responded. It’d been a long time since someone in this town was attracted to me, by design.
Well, except for Selina, but she didn’t count.
Newsflash: being part lust demon was not all it was cracked up to be. Sure, people throwing themselves at me, begging me to strip their clothes off and have my wicked way with them sounded fun, on the surface.
But when I say constant, that’s not an exaggeration. Hard to run a business or, say, go to the grocery store when one was hiding from pretty much anyone they might come into contact with.
It was like being a famous rock star during the 1980s, only worse.
And then there was my elf side.
Generally speaking, nobody cared about that half of my nature. Well, except for every single one of my family members on that side, but not the point. Especially since I was pretty sure it wasn’t me they cared about but what I was supposed to represent.
Being half elf and half lust demon was exactly how I’d ended up in this rando town in the middle of nowhere, Texas.
Four years ago, I’d been cruising down a two-lane road on a stolen moped, my tattered shirt flapping in the wind, once again dodging my family and their expectations while at the same time trying to put as much distance between myself and the participants of a book club that had been meeting when I’d unwittingly stepped into a bookstore in Austin.
Suddenly, the town of Arrythmia appeared in front of me. Like a mirage, except blessedly real.
The book club, all human women, had rushed on by, not seeing the town at all. I’d fallen in love right then and there.
And the minute I realized it was a town entirely comprised of paranormal creatures, I’d immediately sought out the resident witch, who’d cast a spell over me that dulled my pheromones and made it possible for everyone in this community to exist without being attracted to me.
Of course, that also meant I hadn’t gotten laid in four long years.
At first, I’d been fine with it. Reveled in it, if I was being honest. Turned out, there was such a thing as too much sex, especially when it was meaningless. I may be a lust demon, but lucky me, I also happened to believe in love.
Except no one could ever get past my lustiness to see that maybe I was a pretty cool guy to like on a more emotional level too.
And now this woman in town was attracted to me, which shouldn’t be happening. And I was happy about it. Which was a new revelation.
I canted my head, studied her. She wasn’t a witch, so she hadn’t cast a spell counteracting the other witch’s magic. I was pretty sure she was a demon, actually, although no clue what kind. She didn’t send off any particular vibes, other than super powerful ones.
She was something else, too, but it was hard to tell with the overpowering scent of incense and river water and the fact that she could very well be cloaking herself. The blue hair and eyes were probably a clue, but I wasn’t savvy enough to pick up on it.
Not that it mattered. All that really mattered was, damn, this chick was smokin’ hot. It wasn’t often I went for my own kind, but when I did, I certainly went all in.
Which was a weird, because I’ve never even hooked up with another demon before. Yet this girl—I wanted to drown in her. I wanted to dive in and never, ever leave her again.
I tilted my head the other way. Wait. Was this what my dad warned me about?
My mom was a lust demon, my dad an elf. And elves, unlike lust demons, liked the idea of love. They liked to fall into it. Celebrated it as loudly as the residents of this town celebrated Valentine’s Day.
Even though Dad had fucked up and had an affair with a lust demon who, nine months later, deposited me on his doorstep and walked away, he still believed in fated mates.
And he wholeheartedly believed I’d eventually find mine, and then I’d return to the elfin forest and take over my responsibilities, my mate by my side.
He probably expected that potential mate to be an elf, and yet, here we were.
Me, lusting after…another demon.
“I gotta go,” she blurted, her hand curling around the shifter.
“Wait,” I said, lunging forward and grasping the door. Hopefully, her demon side wasn’t so prevalent that she’d simply roar away and possibly rip off my arm in the process. It’d grow back, but it would be a long and drawn-out—and painful—process.
“What?” she snapped, her gaze dropping to my knuckles, where the phoenix who owned the tattoo parlor had inked the word amor.
It meant love in several languages. River, the phoenix, was big on “creating a new you” for his clients, and he’d been convinced that word permanently etched into my skin would eventually guide me to my true love.
Maybe that guy was onto something.
Was this woman really my fated mate? Definitely put an interesting twist on things.
Would my family still expect me to take over my elfin responsibilities with a supernatural not even remotely tied to elves by my side? Hell, our offspring would hardly qualify as elves.
Okay, I was getting wa-a-a-ay ahead of myself. The beautiful blue-haired woman I suspected was my mate was currently staring at me as if I’d grown an extra head in the last few minutes.
She waved like she was shooing away a bug. “Could you step back, please? Like a good ten paces, at least.”
“Only if you don’t go tearing out of here.”
She squeezed the steering wheel, clearly considering doing exactly that, but then she blew out a breath and relaxed her grip. Marginally.
I obligingly took several steps away until I saw the tension in her shoulders drain. Also marginally.
“Are you a resident here or just passing through?” she asked.
Interesting question, considering she was the one who’d just arrived in town. “Permanent resident.” Unless my dad had something to say about it, but we’d ignore that for now.
Her shoulders relaxed even more. “Are you employed by the keeper of Hell?”
“Never met him in person,” I responded.
“Really?” Her gaze was still suspicious, but the wariness was fading. “So you’re just some random demon, living in Monster Small Town, USA?”
I chuckled. “Basically, yeah.” I waved at the historic building on the next block that resembled an antebellum home.
The original mayor of this town had built the home more than 150 years ago. It had been an abandoned building when I moved here, and I bought it and turned it into the monster equivalent of a bed and breakfast.
As it turned out, monsters with nowhere else to go tended to gravitate to this place, often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and a desperate need to redefine themselves.
Once I discovered I could actually interact with newcomers without fighting them off with a stick, I became the unofficial welcoming committee, offering up my temporary accommodations and guiding them toward whatever other services they might need while they figured out whether this was going to be a permanent stop.
“If you need a place to crash,” I said, “my lodgings are the best in town.” The only ones in town, actually. “And my fees are negotiable.” And yes, if she wanted to trade sex for a place to stay, I would not say no.
Damn, did it feel good to have these sorts of thoughts.
I’d begun to think I’d lost my lustiness altogether courtesy of that spell. I’d been contemplating seeking Selina out and asking if she could pull back a little on the magic. Just enough that I could get laid once in a while.
But now, well, maybe there was no need.
“I am not sleeping with you,” the woman in the car replied, clearly reading my intent.
“Suit yourself,” I said, because sometimes, the chase was as exciting as the grand finale. “The offer of accommodations still stands. You can pay in cash, or you can simply tell me your name.”
“You’d let me stay in your hotel or whatever for just knowing my name?”
“You sound suspicious.”
“I am suspicious. You’re a lust demon. Any sort of demon can’t be trusted, but lust demons are the worst of the bunch.”
That reputation was exactly why Dad raised me as an elf and tried so hard not to exploit my demon side.
“It’s a false reputation, I assure you. And I have references.” I glanced around, spotted Matilda the gorgon stepping out of her hair salon, smoothing down her snakes. Probably heading over to the coffee shop for a pick-me-up between clients.
“Matilda,” I called out.
She paused, looked around, her eyes hidden behind specialty sunglasses that kept the whole turning-people-to-stone bit to a minimum. “Asmoday,” she responded, as she hurried across the street and gave me a quick hug.
Very quick, because her snakes were not affected by the spell, and they tended to twine themselves around me if they got close enough for long enough. I had a lot of kinks, but being wrapped in reptile skin was not one of them.
“Oh, do we have a newcomer?” Matilda asked, peering into the car. “Hello there.”
“Matilda?” The newcomer sounded unsure. “I thought your name was…”
It was hard to tell behind the ultra-tinted sunglasses, but I was pretty sure Matilda rolled her eyes.
“Medusa? That’s my sister and the reason I’m here in Arrythmia.
Her antics made it nearly impossible for us to live peacefully in the human world.
” She sniffed and petted a cluster of the hissing snakes curled about her head.
Someone had taught the newcomer manners, because although she threw me a scathing look while she did it, she turned off the car and climbed out of the driver’s seat so she could meet Matilda properly.
Which worked in my favor because now I could ogle her properly.
She wore an oversized black hoodie and black yoga pants, with rubber flip-flops on her feet, cerulean-blue polish on her toes.
The color matched her shoulder-length hair.
When she tucked a lock behind her ear, I saw no less than eight piercings.
The bottom one was a seashell, the topmost a trident, with tiny silver hoops in between.
She had a tiny silver hoop in her nose, too.
While she had a vaguely sulfur scent to her, she was absolutely stunning. Which, for the record, I would have thought even if she weren’t my potential fated mate.
“Daruka,” she finally said, shaking hands with Matilda.
“Daruka. What a lovely name.” Matilda beamed. Her kind’s reputation, much like mine, was entirely undeserved. One bad apple and all that.
It took me a moment, but I noticed something else about Daruka. Specifically, something that was missing.
I stretched my black leathery wings to their full length.
She didn’t even blink.
“Where are your wings?” I blurted.
She shrugged. “My shapeshifter nature canceled them out.”
“Your shapeshifter nature?”
“I’m part mermaid.” She glared at me like she expected me to challenge her, when really, all that proclamation did was make me want her more. Mermaids were hot. Not that I’d ever met one in person, but everybody knew some mermaids were sirens, and sirens were practically as lusty as lust demons.
Seven minutes in heaven in a closet? Twenty minutes in a shower? All night in a bed? Sign me up, pal. I’d take whatever I could get.
“I have so many questions,” I murmured. Could she have sex in her mermaid form? Did mermaids even have sex organs?
If they didn’t, did that mean no sex in the shower? Because that was a little disappointing, I wasn’t going to lie.
“And I have zero answers, so leave me the hell alone.”
Damn, she was prickly. “I have the perfect cure for grumpiness, you know,” I suggested.
Matilda giggled. Daruka glared some more and muttered, “Hellfire and damnation.”
I clearly did not know when to stop, because I said, “I know nothing about mermaids. Except what people whisper around campfires. Care to enlighten me, or are you going to leave me with my assumptions?”
“News flash, lust demon. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me. To clarify, you are definitely on that list. Now, leave me the hell alone.”
“Actually,” Matilda said, “if you need a place to stay while you’re in town, you’re going to have to deal with Asmoday. Unless, of course, you’ve prearranged your living arrangements?”
Daruka’s shoulders sagged. “I didn’t prearrange anything. I just left town. In a hurry. I don’t even have a change of clothes.” She sniffed and wrinkled her nose.
“Very common,” Matilda said solemnly. “And that’s where Asmoday comes in.”
I really should start handing out commissions, although, why bother when Matilda was happy to tout my services for free?
“I have an appointment coming in, so I best get to the coffee shop for my caffeine fix.” Matilda petted her snakes again.
“And an update to the spell on my glasses. It was so nice to meet you, Daruka. Your hair is so beautiful. If you’d like, I’d be happy to give you a complimentary wash and blowout.
Have a lovely day,” she called over her shoulder, already hurrying across the street.
I faced Daruka and spread my arms wide.
“It’s just you and me, babe.”