A thunk to Juliana’s other side rattled the plates on the table.
Irene’s forehead was pressed against the table. She let out a small groan. “How did I get dragged into this?”
“Has anyone told you that you get pressured into things too easily?”
“No?”
Juliana patted her on the shoulder. “Ah. Well, don’t worry about it. If you weren’t here, Shalise wouldn’t have agreed to come.”
“We should have waited for Eva, at least.”
Pulling out her cellphone, Juliana shook her head. “No response. Must be busy still.”
In truth, Juliana had never sent out a text in the first place. Eva’s text asking where Shalise was had come as a surprise, but she had played it off as if Eva sent a message saying that she would be busy for a time and couldn’t join them.
It might be a dangerous game that she was playing, but Juliana wanted to meet with a few of the demons outside of Eva’s presence. The way that they had all but ignored everything around them to focus on Eva had been both disturbing and off-putting. Not a single one of the demons had looked at anyone else while getting off the bus.
With Eva gone, hopefully things would be a little bit more normal.
And it shouldn’t be
“Are they going to show up soon?”
“Maybe they couldn’t find the place.”
“We found it just fine.”
Juliana jumped at the sudden voice. The least exaggerated reaction of those present. Shalise stiffened like a board after letting out a surprised noise. Irene bolted upright, flipping a spoon halfway across the room as her elbow bumped against the table.
The spoon stopped in mid-air. A hand shimmered around it, coming into vision along with the rest of a body. A fairly regular human body. There were no obvious signs of his demon side despite him almost undoubtedly being one. No hands or eyes like Eva had or the odd facial expressions and mannerisms of Lucy.
Appearing out of thin air wasn’t typically a mortal ability, even for mages. Teleportation was one way, but that wasn’t teleportation. More like invisibility. Which was possible, but not easily. Therefore, he was likely a demon.
“You’re scaring the poor humans, Srey.”
A second demon—and this one was obviously a demon with the leathery wings sticking out of her back—came up the stairs to the second floor of the club. She sauntered up to the first demon and plucked the spoon from his hand. She turned it over once, looking at her reflection as she adjusted a strand of hair. As soon as she finished, she flung the spoon over her shoulder with a shrug.
Her eyes roamed over the three seated humans, watching each with the intensity one might give a venomous spider slowly creeping closer.
The look disappeared as she put on a radiant smile and offered her hand. “Saija. Charmed to meet you.”
Irene was the first to move forwards to shake the offered hand, being the one sitting closest to the two demons. She reached out almost instantly, pure reaction and conditioning forcing her to shake hands when one was offered.
Juliana grabbed hold of Irene’s arm just before she could make contact and pulled it back slightly. Both Irene and Saija looked aghast at her actions. Irene looked more scared with her eyes widening as she whipped her head towards Juliana.
Saija narrowed her eyes, lifting her chin slightly so as to glare downwards all the more effectively.
“Sorry,” Juliana said as fast as she could. “I don’t mean any offense, it is just that we’ve heard about a demon called the Lord of Slaves. Apparently shaking his hand isn’t a good idea.”
Saija’s face softened somewhat as she gave a heavy nod of her head. “I’ve heard of such a being. Enslaving mortals and demons alike. Truly a fearsome creature. Though you need not fear such from me! I am a succubus,” she said, fluttering her wings in obvious pride.
The demon she had called Srey stepped forward, closer to the table. He didn’t extend his hand, smile, or look very personable at all. In fact, he looked like he wanted to be just about anywhere but where he was.
His eyes weren’t on the three humans. They were darting around the club, never stopping on any one thing for any length of time. After a moment, he sighed and leaned in to Saija.
“We were being watched,” he said softly, though not so soft that Juliana couldn’t catch what he was saying. “They noticed that I noticed and quit.”
Saija groaned. “More demon hunters? How many do we have to kill before they get the hint? There are a dozen of us plus however many were already around. And that one…” She trailed off with a slight shudder. “They had better have brought an army this time.”
