Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Asmoday
Shoving Selina away, I chased after Daruka.
“Hey, don’t leave me here alone,” Krishna called out. His trainers slapped against the cement as he hurried after me.
Well, hell. I couldn’t very well have the conversation I needed to have with Daruka with wolf boy dogging my steps. If she had rushed back to the B we were all still fairly scarred from the last time the hellmouth opened.
But still! This was not the time nor place—
She shoved black panties down her legs, and if I didn’t already belong there, I was most certainly going to Hell for watching her like this. Except she was the one who decided to shed all her clothes in the middle of the day not fifty feet from the end of Main Street.
Seriously, why was she doing this?
She stepped to the edge of the mossy groundcover that curled over the edge of the moat and then did a graceful swan dive right into the murky water.
A moment later, a blue-green fin burst from the depths, the scales catching in the sun and sending sparkling stabs of light at my eyes before the fish’s tail slapped the surface and disappeared.
I dropped my hands from Krishna’s face.
“Did I just see—”
“No,” I practically growled. “And if you tell a soul, I’ll eat yours.”
He audibly gulped. “Right. I didn’t see a thing. But where’s Daruka?”
I pointed at the rippling water.
He squinted and inched closer. “She’s in the moat? Did she fall? Shouldn’t we, ah, help her?”
I sighed, following him. This kid was so clueless. “She’s a mermaid, Krishna.”
His eyes bulged as he searched the surface for signs of a half woman, half fish. “Holy cow. She said that’s what she was, but then she said she was a demon like you, and I guess I didn’t really think about it, but wow, half demon and half mermaid. That’s so cool.”
I had to admit, despite the rambling longest sentence ever, the kid was right.
Daruka broke through the surface, headfirst, her blue hair flattened against her chest, hiding those beautiful boobs from my eyes.
She leaped into the air, as agile as a dolphin, exposing the lower half of her body.
Her milky skin faded into blue-green scales just above her ample hips, which narrowed into a shimmering fish tail that seemed to wave at us before it disappeared beneath the surface again.
And I couldn’t miss the abject joy on her face before she dove underwater again.
So this was how Daruka unwound.
We were more alike than she’d probably ever be willing to admit. I preferred to be in a meadow or the woods, but it was still outdoors, and, until I’d moved here, there had always been a lake or a river nearby.
It was peaceful. And soothing. And kept our volatile demon natures in check.
And honestly, I needed to let her have this peace. Afterward, maybe she’d be amenable to talking about that outrageous display out on the sidewalk a short time ago. But right now, I was being a voyeur, and honestly, that was only fun when the other person was aware and playing along.
“Come on, Krishna.” I grabbed a fistful of the kid’s long-sleeved T-shirt. “Don’t you need to get back to your pet store or something?”
“Hang on,” he said, tugging out of my grip. “Something’s wrong.”
“I told you, she’s a mermaid. She can literally breathe underwater. She—”
Krishna’s body began to vibrate. His nose elongated.
Long whiskers sprouted to go along with the heavy dark scruff already there.
His ears grew into fur-covered points. His back rounded, forcing him to drop to all fours, then his shirt split at the seams, revealing more thick, dark fur.
A tail sprouted from his ass, and he shook, sending fur and the remnants of his tattered clothes flying.
With a warning bark, he dove into the drink.
Oh, come on.
Was I about to have to save a mermaid and a damn werewolf?