Demons Like It Hot (Demons Unleashed #2)(92)

“My ass? Do I really look like I need protection?” She flew up in the air and flipped backward. She sprang up again and cartwheeled across the floor. The sound of silver scraping against a scabbard echoed throughout the kitchen, and Matthias found a fine saber pressed dangerously close to his heart.

“Point taken,” he said. With calculated slowness, he pushed the blade away.

“I hope so, or I’ll make another point.” She gave the saber a quick flourish and sheathed the blade. “I’m testing the drink. No one will change my mind. Or I’ll find a way to change it for them.”

With a sly smile, she patted the scabbard. “Works every time.” She plucked a bottle from Lucy’s hand. “Let’s get this show on the road.”





Chapter 35


Was she being suicidal or just plain insane? She slit the security seal with her fingernail and untwisted the cap. Bringing her nose to the bottle, she shrugged. “No scent.”

Serah reached out and snagged the liquid from Kalli. She wasn’t going to let one of her friends go down to protect her. “That saber doesn’t scare me. Are you sure?”

“For the five-billionth time, yes!” Kalli bellowed, her hand still gripping the hilt. “I’ve lived over two thousand years, Serah. A nice long sabbatical in limbo could be what the doctor ordered.”

She was willing to let this thing kill her? Something wasn’t right here. What the hell was going on with her? But Serah knew one thing. When Kalli made up her mind, there was no changing it.

“Okay, if you say so.” Serah handed the bottle back to Kalli.

With a sly grin, Kalli raised the jar high. “Bottoms up.” She pulled out the medicine dropper and dripped a little of the clear liquid on her tongue. “It doesn’t have a taste. Bonus!”

“That’s a relief.” It was the last thing Serah wanted, a secret weapon that was too obvious.

“Anything yet?” Daniel asked.

Kalli looked down at her cream-colored hands and frowned. “Not yet.” With a swirl of her tongue, she traced the tip of her labret piercing.

“Uhh…” Serah said, pointing her finger. Right above Kalli’s tongue piercing, where she had dropped the silver, a blue dot had formed. It expanded, growing larger by the second and coating half her tongue. “I think it worked.”

“Really?” Kalli stuck out her tongue and looked down at it. “Hell, yeah, it did.” She pulled out a pocket mirror and flipped it open. Sticking her tongue out further, she shook her colorful dreadlocks around her head. “I kind of look like a Chow Chow that got in a paintball fight.”

“We’ll have to use more,” Lucy said, examining the other bottle. “We need more than their tongues to turn blue.” She snorted out a chuckle. “Don’t even go there, Serah.”

“Me? You’re the one who was about to. Your head is always in the gutter.”

“We can put it in their water and wine, right?”

“Great idea. I think I can get away with putting some in the mascarpone filling too.”

Daniel cleared his throat. “We’re supposed to prepare it on the show.”

“Yeah, but it takes six hours to firm up.” Serah grinned. “The one I make on the show will be made correctly. The ones we actually serve will be poisoned.”

“Sweet. Sally wants me to inspect all the ingredients beforehand.” He looked around the kitchen. “Inspected.”

Serah giggled. “I think that’s the shortest inspection I’ve ever seen.”

“What can I say? I’m thorough.”

Matthias turned to drill Daniel with a piercing glare. “You need to act as if everything is normal. Can you do it?”

What’s with his sudden attention to Daniel? It’s as if his mission was to protect Daniel instead. Strange.

Daniel gulped, and his eyes widened like a kid about to get reamed by his dad. “I will do whatever it takes.”

“Good.” Matthias smiled, his gaze softening.

“Anything else we need to worry about before Matthias and I head to limbo to get this silver blessed?” Rafael asked.

Matthias drew his lips tight. “I can’t leave Serah unattended.”

“It isn’t safe to travel the portals alone,” Rafe stated. “With such important cargo.”

“What about Kalli?” Serah blurted. Anything to keep him close. Yep, she had it bad.

“As much as it pains me to say this,” Kalli said with a smile. “Matthias is a stronger fighter.” She turned to Matthias. “You’ll only be gone for an hour or two at the most. Lucy and I can protect Serah.”

Matthias offered a reluctant nod. “I understand.”

Maybe they could eliminate the middleman all together. “Gerardo’s an angel. Can’t he just bless them?”

“Guardian angels are earthbound angels, so no.” Leave it to Matthias to rain on their parade.

Daniel shrugged. “You know, earlier I felt like I was being followed. The presence didn’t seem demonic though.” He chuckled. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”

“No, you’re not.” Rafe reached into the box and set several more bottles of colloidal silver on the table. “You were being ghosted.”