Page 9 of Abraxas

“Let's dance," Abe suggested.

Gloria nodded, and he led her out to the dance floor. The song was not one of those slow dances he lived for. It was a faster dance. It wasn't that he couldn’t do it. He preferred having his woman in his arms when he danced. This dance was just for distraction, and it seemed to work because Gloria's mind was on her dancing instead of what would happen in two days. She enjoyed dancing. Often, they'd had dancing events back home. In general, demons loved to dance, and he was no different, but now that he had discovered slow dancing and had a woman he wanted to hold, that was what he wanted to do.

“I think you're trying to distract me," Gloria accused.

“Is it working?”

“Yes, darn it. It's hard to worry when you're having fun. You are such a good dancer and so sexy.”

Abe grinned at her. He loved it when she said nice things to him. Why didn't she just give in and let him move the relationship along? While he wasn't perfect, he would do everything he could to be exactly what she needed. All his brothers told him that Gloria was so much happier when she was with him than when she wasn't. He got along with Kiki. Of course, all the demons did. He had a good job and a great place to stay, and he could support her in anything she wanted

.

Their life would be perfect if she wasn't so stressed about being a burden because she came with her sister. She'd admitted to him that she'd like to take a trip a year to somewhere in the world that she'd never seen before. She also loved her job and wanted to do it until she was too old and frail to continue. Sometimes, he found Gloria very amusing. He wasn't too sure about her parents. They dropped something on her that they knew she would consider a burden and a responsibility. His woman had gotten lucky because she had ended up where the demons had loved her sister, and her sister was settling down. Abe suspected Kiki had wanted attention and love and hadn't felt like she was getting that at home.

After her parents had Gloria, they decided one child was plenty and didn't want another, but they hadn't found a permanent solution. When Kiki made her presence known, they were shocked and appalled. He suspected they had told her in small ways that they didn't want her. When she had become a problem, they'd basically palmed her off on Gloria and made her feel like she owed them because they had given her life and raised her. That could have turned out so badly, but it hadn’t, and she needed to understand that the demons loved Kiki, and they loved her. They were happy to have both of them in theirlives. How could you convince someone of that if they refused to see it?

Tomorrow was a concert. The next day was their mission. The day after, there was another concert. Then, they would get home as quickly as they could. Concerts were not so bad in themselves, but combined with the mission, they were very tiring. Origin had to be down to only a few facilities, but they were creative. They always found ways to make money to support their nefarious activities and occasionally added new ones. As long as they continued to add new ones, he wasn't sure if they would ever see an end to this.

Every god or demon swore to continue as long as they knew there was a single god or demon out there needing to be freed. Most would be freed because everyone could remember how horrible it had been to be in Origin’s clutches. It was not somewhere they would want to leave anyone, human, god, or demon. Few people were aware of it, but Origin had begun imprisoning humans when they ran out of money to pay for females to carry out their latest experiments. They had always imprisoned a few humans for specific purposes, but not usually for that.

The problem was that when you imprisoned enough humans, you caught the attention of the police. They had always tried to avoid that, but now they didn't seem to care. He was sure when they got to where Origin held the demons, they would find humans and some gods. Hopefully, the humans would know to stay out of the way and not get shot. Their problem with Origin was that they didn't care who they had to kill to get them out of their way. The quality of their guards were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

“Come on, sweetheart, let me escort you to your room," Abe said when he suddenly realized how late it was.

He wished he could invite himself to spend the night but knew that wouldn't happen. At least, not anytime soon. After dropping her off in her room and giving her a good night kiss, he headed to the room next door, which was his.

Abe tried to keep his mind off Gloria because he would never get to sleep if he didn't. He needed his rest. Giving concerts was hard work. No matter how much he loved the job, work was still involved.

Gloria was a hard worker, and he was amazed sometimes at the results she got. Sometimes, the song just called for something special or different, and she always pulled it off. Sometimes, they stepped out on the stage, and the crowd would go wild. There was one song that they would probably do tonight where she made them up to look like vampires. They weren't ugly vampires, either. The look was very sensual even though they did look scary. She'd made them pirates before and even given them animalistic characteristics. It depended on the song or songs. Sometimes, she changed their makeup and costumes several times during the concert. Her work was hard, too, but he was glad she enjoyed it.

Lu had talked about getting her an assistant to make things easier for her because sometimes when they had a lot of changes, it was very difficult. Stef had planned to put an ad for helpers in one of the papers. He wasn't sure how that would work out, but he hoped it would. If they knew someone or if one of the demons was interested, they would have used them instead. The word had gone out, and no one had shown any interest, so now they were looking for outside help.

Stef was getting applications, and she said she hoped after they got back to talk to Gloria and give her five choices. Gloria didn't know about it yet, but they all thought it would be a good surprise. Most applicants seemed to be women, but a couple of guys were interested. The final choice would be Gloria’s. Shehad to work with them. He really hoped that she would be happy with the surprise. He had noticed that sometimes humans weren't logical, but surely Stef knew her well enough that she was sure she would like it.

It was time to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come easily. There were too many things to worry about, even if Abe could do nothing about them. Someone else would decide on the details. That was tough because they had finally gotten to where they could write their own stories, but others played a large part in them. Abe finally got to sleep, but it seemed like moments later when he woke to the alarm. Today would be busy, and tonight would be even more hectic. Concerts were always crazy, no matter where the band played.

Abe rubbed his chest and then rolled out of bed. He slept nude, so he went to the bathroom and straight into the shower. Abe should have showered last night because he caught the smell of smoke in his hair. None of the demons smoked, but it wasn't because they weren't allowed. It was just their choice. Most of the demons drank but rarely to excess. He finished cleaning up, stepped out of the shower, grabbed a big thirsty towel, and began to dry off. What he wore wouldn't really matter because it would not be the same thing he would wear to the concert. Gloria always had something interesting, whether he liked it or not, for him to wear.

He pulled on jeans and a band T-shirt, put on socks and boots, and was ready to go. Abe went to the door next to his and knocked. Gloria opened the door. She was ready to go, too.

“Where are we going to eat breakfast?” Gloria asked.

“We are all meeting at the main restaurant just off the lobby. I hear they have an omelet station and cook steak for breakfast.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“I thought so, too," Abe replied.

They reached the restaurant, and about half the people were waiting. Maybe it would have been better to say they were there. Everyone seemed to already be in the process of getting their food or eating. The stagehands had just finished and were leaving as they entered, and they nodded to them. It was probably best that everyone was not eating at the same time because he wasn't sure that the restaurant could easily hold all of them and the other guests that happened to be there at the same time. Gloria went straight to the omelet station and ordered both their usual omelets.

Abe went to the grill where they cooked steaks and other meats and got them each something. They had been friends long enough that they knew each other well and knew what they would like. His was quicker, claiming a table and then getting each a drink. There was also a bar with fruit and vegetables and another with other foods. Milk, cereal, yogurt, and several baked goods were sitting on a counter. They had an exceptional breakfast food bar, and he would enjoy every bit of it. Demons had a hell of an appetite. It was amazing how quickly they replaced the food that was eaten.

Gloria had times when she had a good appetite but couldn't eat a third of what he did. This was no average day, and he needed fuel for what was coming. They gathered their food, sat down together, and began to eat.

“This is amazing. You think this is what the place back home will be like once they get it going?” Gloria asked.

“I hope so. It would be a pleasure to eat like this every morning.”

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