Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“He’d love that,” I tell her. “And Leo is good at helping with cupcakes.”
My brother looks at me incredulously but smiles and we all go into the kitchen.
“Hey,” I say, catching Antonio’s arm. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Of course,” Antonio says, pausing for just a moment. What he said still burns in my mind, but I can’t deal with it right now. He doesn’t regret it, not really. But even if he does—I don’t. “You okay?”
“I have to ask you something,” I start, motioning for him to follow me into the family room in the back of the house.
“Okay?” Antonio eyes me curiously.
“There’s this, you know, little thing that’s kinda bothering me or just making me curious,” I ramble nervously, twisting my hair around my fingers. Antonio looks at me, nervous for what I’m going to say. “You haven’t been hearing the demon in your head, have you?”
“No. Have you?”
“Yes. That’s how I knew it was going to be at Tent City and how I knew the attack downtown was from our demon. I could hear the voice and I could see almost like what it planned to do. I thought if you were connected to it too, you might have heard it.”
Antonio‘s brow pushes together and he thinks for a few seconds before looking straight at me.
“Maybe the demon isn’t connected to me. It sounds like it’s connected to you.” He stops, considering what I just told him, and then his eyes widen. “Wren, I think it’s the lesser demons here not to fuck with you, but to follow you. If you find the sigil but they get it first…the demon is still freed and gets to keep your soul.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
“I’ve had some long days, but I think this one officially takes the cake.” Leo holds up his cupcake, chuckling at his own little joke. We are sitting in the kitchen, gathered around the rarely used table.
“You’re telling me,” Antonio agrees. “I think the day I died will always be the longest day of my life.” He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms across his chest. “Does count start over? Am I still thirty-two or am I just a couple days old?”
“Nice try,” Leo says. “I don’t think you get off that easy.”
“Since when is dying easy?” Antonio asks and we all laugh. It’s weird how normal it feels to sit down and decompress after a hunt like this. Mabel did make cupcakes, but we had Ryan taken back home before they were done. Worried his girlfriend was going to be hurt by assuming she was stood up, Mabel insisted that Ryan take one of her expensive bracelets she didn’t wear anymore. She also was able to convince Xavier to write a note saying he needed Ryan to do Top Secret Vampire Stuff with him and that is why he missed dinner. Whether any of that is believed or not is out of our hands, but at least Mabel tried.
Yawning, I rest my elbows on the table, debating if I should eat a third cupcake or not. A bit of a heavy silence hangs between Antonio and myself. He’s not going to tell anybody about the demon voice in my head, but he’s not going to let it go either. I know I can’t ignore it and hope it goes away, because it won’t. The best way to block the demon would be with a spell. I don’t know one, but I’m sure Marie would.
The only problem is I have no idea how to contact her.
“You should go back tomorrow,” Antonio tells Leo. “I expect tears and lots of speeches in my honor.”
“How many people think that he’s a vampire right now?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Leo replies. “But if he was, Mom and Dad wouldn’t want very many people to know. To them, becoming a vampire would be an epic failure on Toni’s part and theirs as well for allowing it.”
“A little insulting,” Devon notes. He’s been sitting at the table with us and has been relatively quiet up until now.
“It’s not,” Mabel tells him, zooming into the room with several stuffed animals in her arms. She sets them up at the table across from me. “Hunters hunt. If you become the thing you’ve hunted for, you’ve obviously failed.” She puts a cupcake in front of a stuffed bunny. “You just can’t take it personally.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Devon says.
“We need to talk about Gia,” I say, hating the wave of anxiety that washes over me at the mention of her name. “Do we actually know she’s safe? If you can get me something of hers, I can track her location.”
“We need to come up with a plan once we find her,” Antonio adds. “She’s a smart kid, but she is just a kid. She has to be terrified. Who knows what the hell Mom and Dad have told her or what she saw at the warehouse.”