Page 22 of Lucifer's Revenge
Chapter 10
Luc parked his truck in the side parking lot, and looked at himself in the mirror, he liked what he saw, and then shook his head at himself for worrying about how he looked. On a heavy sigh, he said to the mirror, “This is me, like me or not, I don’t care.” With that in his mind, he exited his truck, and as he rounded the corner he spotted Lilith standing outside the café, but a couple of doors down. She must be nervous because her hand was on her stomach and she drew in several deep breaths.
“Lilith?” he called out, and smiled when she whipped around and spotted him.
“Lucius, you’re here.”
“I am, and you can call me Luc if you prefer?”
“Why? I like the name Lucius. You can call me Lily if you would like?”
“No, I like the name Lilith.” They established that, then with his hand on the small of her back, he escorted her to the café, held the door open for her, and when they approached the counter, he held her back. “No questions asked, I’m paying.”
“Okay.” She knew when to pick her battles and knew this wasn’t one of them. They ended up ordering the basic coffee and a Danish. Luc didn’t know if it was coincidence, or not, but they ordered the exact same thing.
“I’m a simple person,” she said as they took a seat in the back, away from the others. At first they were quiet as they ate their cheese Danish, but then Luc looked at her with a stunned expression.
“I’ll be right back.” He stood and left the table and Lilith watched him, thinking he was heading to the restrooms, but he stepped up to the counter, talked to the server, paid them some money, then came back to the table. “Sorry about that.”
“What did you do?”
“I ordered a carafe of coffee. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to keep getting up and down to get another cup of coffee. I don’t know how much you drink, but I basically mainline this stuff.”
Lilith smiled as she nodded, and waved her hand in front of her face as she giggled. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached for my cup while doing my paperwork and find that it’s gone ice cold because I forgot to drink it, or couldn’t remember drinking it and the cup is empty. Since I enjoy iced coffee every once in a while, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Yeah, me too. I hate when that happens.” They finished eating, then waited until the barista set the carafe down and walked away.
“So, Lilith, what can you tell me about some of the places you’ve been to on your past vacations?”
Lilith grinned, and didn’t notice that Luc adjusted himself in his seat when his manhood suddenly woke after being dormant for so long. He listened intently to all her travels, and at one point, he felt jealous. She was doing what he had dreamed of. Not that he couldn’t do it, it was that none of his friends had the same passion he had for the paranormal things in the world.
“What about this year’s trip?” he asked, and again nodded when she told him everything she knew.
“Would you like a travel partner this year?”
“Right now? Right this minute? No. I’m only saying that because I don’t know you enough to spend a week with you in close proximity.”
“That’s a fair assessment. Would you like to get to know me better?” Luc closed his eyes and hung his head at that question, then looked at her with a defeated expression. “Sorry, that was a really bad question.”
“You’re fine, and yes, I would, but I have one question for you first.”
“Which is?”
“Starr told me that you don’t date. May I ask why?”
“It’s not like I have never dated at all. I have. I also wouldn’t say that I don’t date, it’s just that based on past experiences, I’ve learned to be more selective with whom I date.”
“Can you explain that more?”
“Sure. I am the sole owner of Hell’s Coffin, the bar slash restaurant. Starr tells everyone the club owns it, but not on paper. On paper, I own it. Because we use the place as a club house, they are like silent security for the bar. They help out a lot if I need it. The bar used to be an old cow barn on my grandparents’ property. Would you like a little history of the place?”
“Absolutely,” Lilith said with a laugh, refilled their cups of coffee and settled in for his story. “I love mysteries.”
“Not so much a mystery, but rather than documented history.”
“All the better.”
“Okay, let me see if I can get all my facts straight to tell this. My current property is one hundred acres. It’s been in my family for the last two hundred years. It was a farm that they worked to sustain the family.”
