Demons Prefer Blondes (Demons Unleashed #1)(24)

Serah huffed. “I was thinking about you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The light ahead of them turned yellow and Lucy slowed to a stop. Didn’t these lights know they were in a hurry? It was as if the traffic light gods had it out for her, giving them every red light on the street. Both of them.

“How much further?” Rafe asked, bashing his knee into the dashboard. “I despise modern transportation.”

“Me too, especially when I have to fill the tank.” She often wondered what riding in a carriage or stage coach would’ve been like. She remembered the time she drove through northern Indiana and passed a bevy of Amish wagons. She shook her head. Way too slow. “It’s faster, you know.”

“True, but I prefer my comfort, Lucy.”

She loved it when he said her name. The way it rolled off his tongue with his sexy English accent. She leaned back and exhaled deeply. “Sorry, but a Kia Rio was all I could afford. Maybe when I hit the big time, I’ll get you that Mercedes.”

“What the hell?”

Lucy looked in the rear view mirror at Serah, who nibbled her lip. “What?”

“I think we’re being followed.”

She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak. “Oh—”

“Don’t even say it!” Serah exclaimed with a huff.

She loved having a friend who could read her mind. Then again, that’s why they were best friends. They had a bond. That bond had never faded since second grade, even when Serah had stolen her “I love NKOTB” shirt in junior high. She smiled. She wasn’t ashamed of her childhood infatuations. Jordan had always been her favorite.

Rafe turned his head, his hair flying around his face. His eyes narrowed into a thoughtful gaze. “Damn, we are.” His tone, however lacked urgency.

“You don’t seem worried,” Lucy mused out loud.

She stole another glance behind her. Men of all shapes, sizes, and ages ran down the road, snow pelting their faces. They waved their hands to and fro waving someone down.

Me?

Cars honked their horns. At first, she thought they honked at the marathon of men—until the guy next to her rolled down his window and blew her a kiss. He held up a piece of paper with his phone number scrawled across it, flailing it in his hand and shouting like he was having a grand mal seizure.

With both brows quirked up, she nodded at him. She just didn’t have the heart to say, “Go away, you freak.”

He held his pinkie and thumb to his ear and mouthed the words, “Call me.” With a wink, he rolled his window back up and drove down the road.

Her eyes just about popped out of her head. “What the heck?”

“Your sexual energy is off the chart,” Rafe said. “This is worse than I thought.”

“So you’re saying these men only want me for my new superpowered hormones?” How utterly ironic. When you wanted a guy, they were never around. She stole another glance at Rafe. Or throwing off mixed signals. Then—when you didn’t need them, they wouldn’t leave you alone.

“Do you know what this means?” Rafe’s gaze drilled holes into her.

“I’m the newest demonic It-girl?” she asked with a hit of sarcasm. “I don’t know—what?”

Rafe growled. Yum! “It means you’re no ordinary succubus.”

“Of course, you said I was only half-sexy, remember?”

Rafe shook his head, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. Tingles raced through her body. “You shouldn’t have this much power.”

“Maybe I’m special?” she quipped. Then her mind spun with questions. “Maybe some of the chest’s energy is inside me.”

Rafe shook his head again. “That’s a good explanation, Lucy. But the chest has no energy. The energy now in it is yours. It is your energy that opened it and it’s your energy that is keeping it shut.”

So now she was a walking sexpot and couldn’t do anything about it? Life couldn’t get any more f*cked up. For five years she’d been content being alone, but now it seemed she was heading toward a stampede—literally—of rampaging testosterone.

“Unbelievable,” she muttered. What on Earth—or more appropriately, hell—did she do to deserve this?

With a quick right, she turned into Green’s Corner shopping center. Thank God they were almost there.

Who’s my maker now?

All of a sudden, a man dropped down in front of the car, his gaze challenging and his stance ready to fight. “Something tells me that he’s not one of the good guys.”

“You would be correct.” Rafe snorted. “Belial hasn’t changed. Sending his goons to do his dirty work.”

Serah squeaked in the back seat. “Demons can come out in the daylight?”

“Helio-demons. They pull their energy from the sun.”

A sarcastic chuckle escaped her mouth. “Great! A walking solar panel. Lucky for us, it’s cloudy right now.”

They had two options. Either A—run into the mob of crazy obsessive fans, or B—fight a sun demon on a cloudy day. Did Britney Spears have such monumental decisions? Then again, she did run over a photographer’s foot to escape the paparazzi. If this was what celebrities went through on a daily basis, she didn’t envy them one bit.