Page 23 of Curses & Cold Brew
Seeing Ramona sweat should have made me realize the severity of the situation, but it only made me want to fightharder. We were getting close to answers—I could feel it. What’s more, I was angry. When was Ramona going to stop treating me like a damsel in distress and like the powerful witch I was?
“Ooh, so chivalrous,” I snarked, waving jazz hands. “I may like apple picking and wearing cute sweaters, demon, but I can handle danger.”
“Not this kind.” Ramona shook her head. “I don’t want you on the other demons’ radars. We still don’t have any leads, and the more we question people, the more likely the person behind this will figure out that we’re looking for them. We’ll lose the upper hand?—”
“But I have an idea—” I started.
“Everyone in town is a suspect. And if they decide to come after all of my souls, that means they’ll come after you?—”
“Ramona, just listen. I could summon the soul of Saul or Maude and ask them what happened?—”
“No!” she barked. “If they are still bound to the person who snatched them, then they will know it was you who cast the spell. They can’t know you’re involved in this. Just stay in the apothecary where you are warded and safe.”
“Why do you care if they know it was me?” I balked. “Who cares if it puts me in danger?”
“I care!” she shouted, and I froze at the force of her words. “I care, dammit. Iris, please just leave this alone.”
With that, she stormed back toward the demonic council, leaving me reeling. A small crowd of strangers looked at me as if I’d just been dumped.
And in a way, they were right.
12
RAMONA
Inever should’ve put her in that kind of danger.What was I thinking?As I retraced my steps, my fury rose until I was drowning in all the things I shouldn’t have done. Including waiting for Iris to storm off toward the apothecary so I could reenter the demonic council without her.
I straightened my coat, trying not to think of that look in her eyes. A good demon would’ve taken her help, put her in harm’s way, let her get herself killed. I shouldn’t care. But apparently, there were some things that I refused to waste, use, and abuse. Most souls, I wanted to hunt, but Iris’s, I wanted to protect. And I wasn’t willing to examine that thought any further.
Charging back through the hall and into the atrium, I spotted Naphula leaning against the pillar at the foot of the stairs. “I had a feeling you’d need backup,” she said and held out her hand.
Naphula made a fist then opened it again a moment later. In a flash of magic, a large pastry box appeared in the air before it delicately landed in her outstretched palm. “Apple cider donut?”
I gave her a quizzical look.
She’d never been one for sweets, but my old friend clearly knew my penchant for them. I appreciated the thought afterseveral shitty days in a row. And I suspected it wasn’t a great hardship for her to visit the beautiful werewolf baker who seemed to have snagged her attention.
“Where did you manage to get those?” I asked.
She grinned. “The bakery, of course.”
“No, those.” I pointed to the marks on her forearm that peeked out from her sleeve. The flesh looked like it was freshly healed with a bright pink hue.
“It’s nothing.” She pulled her arm back, but I wasn’t going to let her get away without explaining.
“Aw, come on, Naphula, tell me. You getting freaky with that succubus again?”
She pursed her lips, her brow pinched, and challenged my power of will. “A one-night trystmayhave gotten out of hand.”
I winked at her. “I knew it.”
With a laugh, she opened the box and handed me a still-warm donut. The wafting scent of cinnamon and melted butter made me salivate. “Before you cross the void and get the both of us in trouble for not being able to handle our shit here on this plane, run through your plan with me, okay?”
I bit into the soft crumb and savored it, disregarding the granules of sugar that fell onto my lapels. “There are a few bounty hunters in hell who could help us,” I mused.
“What outcome are you hoping for, Mona? Because I have a feeling Billy will not be happy if a horde of demon underlings swarms the town looking for a needle in all his decorative fucking haystacks.”
“I still have solutions. This isn’t a lost battle, even though I still appreciate the consolation pastries. Who’s the top hunter these days?” I knew that the threat of souls being taken out from under me was a more serious matter than employing a freelancer. “Shax, perhaps?”
