Page 14 of How To Summon A Memory
“Hey, Rossy. I have two apples for you if you promise not to tell Cordia anything.” I hold my hand and wave it in front of him. He’s practically hypnotized as he watches the apples. He nods and holds out his little hands. “Promise?”
Another nod. I place the apples on the ground and he snatches them up.
“Come on,” I whisper to Florence and take their hand.
We run across the yard until we get to the edge where there’s a faint glow before yard turns into pavement.
“Moment of truth,” I say.
Florence squeezes my hand. “We got this.”
I hold my breath and shut my eyes while we take the final step onto the pavement. I wait for the spell to activate. To pullus back into the yard and into the house. But nothing happens.Nothing.
“We did it!” I whisper shout. “We did it!” I release Florence and throw my hands into the air and dance to a beat in my head. Freedom!
Florence palms their crystal and grins. “Okay, now we gotta go back in before it wears off.”
“Nu uh, we need to test it to see how far it works. If it’s just to the road, it’s not that useful. But…” I look towards the rest of the town with pleading eyes. “We can investigate that Flutter and Fangs place. We’ll grab a drink and come right back.”
“Sounds reasonable enough.” They shove the crystal back into their pocket. “We look ridiculous, though. Well, you do.”
I rework the belt to keep the pants up. “If anyone asks, I’m testing out a costume.” I grin up at them. “It worked.”
“It did.” Florence grins back.
Chapter 6
Warwick
I materializeon my favorite bar stool. After Poe left, I didn’t want to be alone, so I decided to come to Flutter and Fangs to drown in HellFire like usual.
“Keep it coming,” I say to Gabe when he turns to face me.
His brown eyes grow wide as he takes me in. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” I wipe at my eyes. “Got something in my eyes.”
He nods, letting me lie to him without questioning me. “I’m here to talk if you want. That’s what bartenders do. We listen.” He leans in closer. “And I’ll never judge you for wanting Ethan.”
“I know. You’re the only one, I think.” I throw back the first shot and savor the burn as it slides down. I’ve tried human alcohol, and it never gives me what I want.
“You know what you want. I admire that.” He pushes a bowl of gummy worms towards me, but I wave them away.
“I have cookies cooling at home. I think they’re my best ones yet.” There’s a commotion at the door and I grind my teeth at the giggling pair. I’m not feeling social after the last time people came in and sat with me. I didn’t hurt the student, just scared him a little tiny tiny bit then tried to infiltrate the university campus knowing full well demons have been banned since thebeginning. “I’m gonna go sit with Frankie. Can I get a tray of HellFire to go?” I nod to the leather couches against the far wall where the Hellhound sits primly in her doggie bed and snuggles with her favorite toy, a pink giraffe. She looks like a giant Doberman with blue flames kissing her curled tail and cropped ears.
Pike and Lark are probably fucking in a backroom. Since having his crossroads curse broken, Pike became the incubus he truly is, and he’s insatiable some nights. Lark doesn’t seem to mind, probably has something to do with being Fae, but who knows?
I grab my tray of HellFire and carefully make my way to the couch. Frankie yips at me, but doesn’t try to trip me as I walk. She lets me set my tray on the coffee table and get settled before she hops into my lap. “Such a good girl.” I give her scratches under her chin while she licks at my face. Thank fuck I’m a demon, or she’d burn my skin off with her lava-ish saliva. Her curled tail thumps against the back of the couch making me laugh.
I long to break my crossroads curse. Just need someone to destroy my crossroads and I’ll be free. But if I’m not a crossroads demon, I can’t help Ethan, and I desperately want to free him.
Every crossroads demon is cursed. The only way to free us is to destroy our crossroads and we can’t even tell anyone that or where our crossroads is.
Once we’re free, we’re the demon type we’re meant to be. For Pike it’s an incubus. My brother doesn’t want to be free because he wants to be the king of the crossroads demons some day. ButIwant to be set free. I don’t want to have to worry about being called in the middle of something, that’s why I didn’t have any hobbies until this year. Van never cared. He does whatever he damn well pleases, even if he’s in the middle of sexual relations when someone summons him. His crossroads is one of the mostpopular and every time he fucked up in the past, I ended up having to take on double the deals. Which is hard when my crossroads isn’t anywhere near as popular as his.
The giggling pair finally make their way to the bar. Gabe asks for their IDs when they order drinks. His eyes go wide and he looks at the one person a couple of times before he hands back the IDs. I chuckle, wondering what has him so excited.
I find out when he turns his back. My phone vibrates in my pocket.
