Grave Mistakes (Hellgate Guardians #1)(33)
She nods just as the city bus pulls up. “This one yours?” she asks.
At this point, I’ll take any of them. Who knows if those green bean bastards can catch up to me? “Yep.”
“You take care now. And always wear your helmet! I tell my grandsons to always wear theirs, and they never listen.”
“Will do. Thanks for the wipes,” I say before hauling myself up the bus stairs.
As soon as I step onto it, I realize that I don’t have any money. I check my back pockets like I’m looking for a bus pass, and find one of them is ripped. I now have a denim butt flap that is clearly exposing some cheek to the rest of the world. I don’t even care right now, though. The driver gives a huff, the sound indicating that he’s not buying my oh shit, where’s my bus pass pat down of my pockets.
I toss a sheepish look his way, and he winces when he looks at my face. “Just get on,” he instructs, turning away from me.
My gaze fills with gratitude, and I mumble a “thank you” as I pass him and slide into the first empty row of seats I find. I collapse against the cold plastic of the chair and lean against the window, letting out a shaky breath as the rest of the adrenaline purges from my body.
That was just...in-fucking-sane. And terrifying. I’m really pissed off that the guys didn’t come to help me. Clearly, they let those demons get through their Hellgate, so this is their fault. At least, that’s what I’m sticking to right now.
As the bus drives, I carefully use the wipes to clean my cheek and palms. It stings like a bitch, but I think I manage to get all of the little asphalt rocks out from my skin and most of the blood wiped off.
By some miracle, this bus is heading in the right direction of the hot demon estate, but when I get off at the stop, it’s still miles away from my final destination. Guess I’ll be hoofing it. Dragging my sore body forward, I begin walking while looking around constantly, just in case more fucked up demon spawn try to jump me.
By the time I crest a hill and spot the massive gate that opens to the long driveway of the mansion, it’s been hours since my green team from Hell attack.
I’m tired, I’m hurt from my crash, I’m hungry as fuck, I’m freaked out, and I’m pissed. Oh, and I’m covered in sludgy mud, because I fell into a fucking marsh on the way here. As if I wasn’t having a shitty day already.
Time to give those four demons a piece of my mind.
8
I pound on the front door, wincing at the pain in my hand. Grumpy Lurch opens the door, his face just as cantankerous as ever, and when he sees me, his lips pull back in an irritated snarl.
I don’t wait for him to tell me I need to go to the back of the house or for him to spew any of his other classist bullshit that I see brewing in his eyes. Instead, I push my way past him into the house. “Excuse me!” he snaps.
“You’re excused,” I snark back as I hurry through the entryway.
I ignore the alarm that shoots through me when I realize that maybe this guy is a demon too. Then again, even if he is, I doubt this snooty fucker would lower himself to manhandle the help, or at least, that’s what I hope as I stomp past him, dismissing the indignant noises he starts making.
A booming laugh fills the massive house, and I pivot and head for the source. Just when I think I can’t get any more pissed about this situation, that laugh sounds off again, stoking my inky black rage. How dare they be here, having a good time, while I’m out there almost dying!
I try to ignore the squelching sound my water-logged shoes are making and the breeze I feel on my exposed ass cheek as I make my way deeper into the house. Grumpy Lurch is stammering incoherently like he doesn’t know what to do about me. I look back to find him staring murderously at the mess I’m tracking through the pristine hall, my muddy footprints leaving dark watery puddles in my wake.
Whoops.
If he is a demon, I could definitely see him murdering me for making a mess, so I pick up the pace to round the corner, but I slam face first into a warm, rock-hard road block.
An oomph rushes out of me as I bounce off the wall of muscle. Large hands reach out to keep me from falling, but I wince in pain from the touch on my already wrecked body. I reach up and grab my nose, trying to breathe through the stars. I’m pretty sure it’s now bleeding. Great, just fucking great.
“Sir, I...she just pushed her way in…” Grumpy Lurch stammers, finally catching up to me. His look of outrage morphs into disgust as he takes me in.
I open my mouth to ream him, but the brick wall I just crashed into, aka Jerif, cuts me off. His dark, strong hands continue to hold my arms, and he looks down at me with glittering orange and yellow eyes while his fiery hair gives him a hellish halo around his head. “It’s fine. I got her.”
Behind me, Grumpy Lurch huffs and storms off, mumbling about needing to clean the despicable mess I made. I can practically hear him saying, this is not the last you’ve heard about this in his angry steps as he disappears back down the hallway.
Once we’re alone, Jerif takes a step back and runs an icked-out gaze over me as I glare up at him. He finally lets go of my arms and wipes his hands on his gray shirt in an effort to remove the muddy slime he acquired when he grabbed me. I cock a brow and look pointedly at the front of his shirt. He quickly discovers that I sludged his whole front when I slammed nose-first into him. I feel a weird sense of victory at his grimace.