by Brandi Bell
“Eh, it puts life in perspective is all,” I answer, then go back to watching the torture.
Cliona
When our ticket times are up, we exit and head to the burger joint down the street for dinner. We need to discuss what to do about our larger mission.
“I should go out with Graden tonight. Maybe we can get lucky and catch the guy in action,” I offer, knowing sloth is next on the list.
“No can do Hot Cakes. I have a date with my couch tonight,” he replies shutting me down.
“Fine, we’ll take a night off then, but then we need to get back at it. I can’t disappoint my father. The results would be bad,” I shudder thinking about him yelling at me again.
When we finish with our burgers, I leave to head home to rest myself. Since I turned eighteen, everything has been happening non-stop, and I could really use the break myself; although, my father would disagree.
When I get barely down the street, Dayson comes running up behind me, yelling at me to wait. I stop and wait for him to catch up .
“Graden always has to be dragged out of his house to get him to go anywhere. I’ll text you his address, and you can just go get him when you’re ready for the mission. That way Asmodeus won’t get angry with you for slacking,” he suggests.
I wrap my arms around him in a bear hug. Even though time off sounds nice, he’s right; my father would get angry if he found me at home not working on the mission.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I tell him still in his arms.
“It’s the least I can do, considering I already got you in enough trouble,” he replies before crashing his lips down on mine in a smoldering kiss.
My knees are weak by the time he pulls away. He winks at me then goes back to the others while I skip all the way home. I get the text from Dayson and freshen up before leaving to go pull Graden off his couch and forcing him to go on a mission with me.
I arrive at the address Dayson gave me and knock on the door. Graden answers it, looking shocked to see me.
“What’s wrong, Pookie? You look surprised to see me,” I giggle, before giving him a sweet smile.
“Who gave you my address?”
“Dayson; he said it was the only way to get you to go on a mission.”
“Let’s go then,” he sighs. “At least I get some alone time with you.”
“Exactly! And maybe, we’ll even catch the culprit,” I reply excitedly, grabbing his hand and pulling him out the door.
“What are we going to do?” he asks confused.
“Wait near the portal until a sloth demon goes through then follow them,” I answer, looking at him as if he should already know that.
“Okay, that sounds like a solid plan. And if no other sloth demon goes on a mission then we get to spend all that time together.” Graden actually looks excited for once.
We walk leisurely to the portal and joke with the portal keeper while we wait.
“So, is it as boring for you as it is for me when it's my shift? I usually have to fight to stay awake. Sometimes I fail.” I honestly can't tell if Graden’s being serious or not.
“I love working the portal, I get to meet new demons every day, and to me, it's just fun,” the portal keeper proclaims.
It’s only a few minutes later when what we are waiting for appears in the form of Lynette, a sloth demon that Graden identifies before rolling his eyes. I know from his reaction there must be a good story there.
“So, how do you know Lynette, Pookie?” My voice is dripping with fake sweetness.
“Don't want to talk about it; let's just follow her so we can be done and go home. I have a couch calling my name and maybe a Hot Cakes that will join me on said couch.” Graden is actually flirting with me.
We find ourselves following Lynette to a small office building where she lounges against the side of the building. I'm not certain what she's doing until Graden tells me. “She's trying to cast sloth over the building to encourage the employees to either take a nap or goof off.”
We stay about three-hundred feet behind where Lynette is just watching as she goes from business to business. She never goes inside, she just leans against the buildings looking bored.
After about twenty minutes, when we are about to give up and go home, it happens. We see a shadow lurking in the alley beside the building Lynette is leaning against.
I nudge Graden to get his attention and motion to the shadow. We start moving toward the alley as stealthy as we can. We get to the entrance when the shadow steps forward enough for us to see their face.
Oh my Satan, I can't believe it's him!
About the Author
Brandi Bell
Brandi lives in Kansas with her son and husband. They also have two great danes, and two cats. She enjoys spending time with her family and doing crafts in her spare time.
About the Author
Brandi Womack
Brandi lives In Alabama either her husband, mother, and fur babies. When she’s not busy writing, she can be doing crafts or reading books.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank our alpha and beta teams. You guys rock and the story wouldn’t be what it is without you.
Thank you Rachael, you’re awesome as always!
A special thank you to Sarah for making the book pretty!