“What about the house?” she asked.
“What about it?”
“Well when are you going to put it up for sale?”
“Did you not pay attention to Mom’s will? She doesn’t want the house sold!”
“So what? She’s not here.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t work like that. Look, if you absolutely want money from this house then I’ll sell my house and give you the money I would get from the sale.”
Lela shook her head. “I just don’t understand why we have to keep this house! No one will live here.”
I sucked in a breath. “You’re wrong. I will. I’m moving here.”
I even took myself by surprise by that. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to live there, but then I guess I was.
Lela nodded. “Fine then. I don’t want your money though. Just keep it.”
She stormed off out the door leaving the front door wide open.
I turned and there was Theo standing in the doorway.
“May I come in?” he questioned.
“What are you a vampire too? Need permission to enter a home?” I huffed.
He laughed. “No. I was just being polite.”
I waved him in.
“What was all that about?”
“My sister wants to sell the house.”
“This one?” he asked pointing down to the floor.
“Yep. But in my mother’s will she states she doesn’t want it sold.”
“So, you are moving here?” he asked.
“Looks that way.”
“And your job?”
He nodded.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, for one, I wanted to thank you for the pay back the other night. And I also wanted to see if you had learned any more about your tattoo?”
“You’re welcome, and no.”
“I can share with you what I know.”
I wanted to say no, but yes came out of my mouth instead.
“So, tomorrow night? Over dinner? I can come and cook for you here.”
“You cook?”
“I do.”
“Lela will be here.”
“That’s okay. I can make enough for three.”
I nodded. “Alright, show up when you need, and I’ll more than likely be here. Uprooting my life and moving it here.”
He chuckled and nodded as he walked out the door.
“It’s a date then,” he said before he disappeared around the house toward the driveway.
“I don’t think this would constitute as a date.” I mumbled to myself.
I stood there for a couple more moments before I walked into the kitchen.
I had no idea how I planned on moving everything there. To that small town. And living there in my dead mother’s house.
“Damn it,” I said aloud to myself.
I called a friend of mine and asked for realtor recommendations. All she assumed was that I was looking to sell a house. Not mine. I would end up telling my friends once I got everything straight.
Chapter Four
Theo
“How’s it going with the girl?” the demon asked appearing in my room. I stood there with a towel wrapped around my waist.
“It’s fine. Moving along in the right direction,” I replied.
“Good. Looks like you are enjoying yourself.”
“You mean showering? Yes. I do enjoy making sure my body is clean.”
“Not all demons care about hygiene like that,” he replied.
“Well this one does. Look, if there is nothing else, I would really appreciate getting back to what I was doing.”
“Sure thing. Oh. One more thing. The boss wants to see you.” He smirked as he faded away.
“Fuck,” I said aloud. I threw on some clothes and faded down to Hell.
It felt strange being down there after being on Earth for a short time.
“Whoa,” a guard said standing between me and the door behind him.
“Where do you think you are going?” he snarled.
“To see the big man on campus.” I smirked.
“Not without an appointment you aren’t.”
“Tell him Theo is here.”
The guard nodded to the other guard who walked through the door.
“You don’t look important.” He laughed.
I shrugged. “Maybe that’s because I disguise myself. Only the important ones can do that. I assume you can’t.”
He folded his arms over his chest.
“He’s legit,” the other guard said as he came out of the door.
Reluctantly the guard stepped out of the way and allowed me through.
I had never been in there before. The last time I met up with the boss it was on neutral ground.
“Ah. Mr. Webb,” his voice came out of the shadows.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to face the way the sound came.
“I hear you are working hard up there. Anything I should know of?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Good, so you think you will be able to convince her to change sides?”
“That’s what you want?”
“Of course it is. Why do you think I wanted you to go check on her?”
“Because you had a thing for her mother?”
His face changed and before I knew it, my back was against the wall. I felt like my insides were being crushed.
“How did you know that?”
“It wasn’t hard to figure out. Plus, it was all over the place. Everyone knows,” I managed to get out. I could barely catch my breath.
My body fell to the ground.
“Don’t you dare repeat that to anyone!” he yelled.
I held up my hands. “I won’t. But you should know that most of your people down here already know. It was obvious.”
“Leave,” he said waving his hand at me.
I nodded and walked out the door.
“Well boys, it’s been nice.” I saluted them and off I went back to Earth.
Part of me wanted to stay in Hell a little longer, but I knew that if I did, it would be harder to come back to Earth.
I stood in my suite and stared at myself in the mirror in front of me.
“What the hell am I going to cook for this girl?” I asked aloud.
I had one day to figure it out and hope to the devil that I didn’t mess it up.
“THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD,” she noted as we cleaned the plates from the table.
“You had doubts?”
“Of course, I did. But you know we didn’t talk much about the tattoo.”
I nodded and handed her a glass of wine.
She motioned for us to walk into the other room.
“I know it’s demonic,” I blurted out. Might as well rip that band aid off.
“It can’t be demonic. I’m not a demon.”
“But are you part demon?”
She shook her head; I could see the anger starting to grow on her face.
“If I was part demon then so would Lela be. And she doesn’t have this.”
I stared at her and for the first time in centuries I felt something I never thought I would feel again.
“Then let’s go track down anyone who may have answers,” I said. I wasn’t even sure of what I said until it came out. I just agreed to defy orders for the beautiful creature sitting in front of me.