Creative Matchmaker (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 6)

by Sarah Noffke

  Paris and her father watched the tiles move until they went still again. Then they waited some more.

  Paris held her breath, waiting and watching for the beam of light from the refraction lens, signaling the next location. Overhead, the sound of dripping was audible—blood loss from the injured demon. Paris thought that it was about to seep down, indicating the monster’s current place.

  However, the creature was still moving overhead based on the sound of the drips. It was moving slowly though, not showing its progression. They were going to need Faraday’s help once the beast was still.

  A moment later, the squirrel came through right on cue, the beam of light projecting downward to the carpet, marking where the demon was overhead. It was behind Stefan, who had been following the sounds of the drips, but that wasn’t where the monster was.

  Paris raised her hand, pointing at where she spotted the light. Stefan nodded minutely at her before turning to face the location. He looked up at it, some six feet away.

  Unlike before, Stefan didn’t stride to the spot beneath it. Instead, he sucked in a quick breath. Then, in a rush of speed, agility, and grace, the demon hunter leapt straight up and through the air—a brilliant and impressive series of movements.

  Flashing blades swept around in an arc and ripped sideways into the ceiling tile.

  Paris didn’t realize what would happen until her father’s swords sliced through the ceiling and hooked into the demon. The force of his jump and his launch angle brought the creature down through the tile and straight to the carpet below.

  The red-faced demon with many horns protruding from its face landed with a loud thud at Stefan’s feet. He didn’t waste a moment before yanking his swords from the monster and bringing the right one down like an ax. It severed the demon’s head from its body, ending the beast once and for all in a bloody but necessary finale.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Even though the sight was hideous, Paris didn’t look away, knowing that her father would disappear from that location and be unable to travel to Happily Ever After College.

  Blood flecked Stefan Ludwig’s face, and his chest rose and heavily fell as he stood over the dead demon’s body, its head having rolled to the side. His eyes flicked up to meet Paris’. There was an apology in them, but she wanted to tell him not to worry. That he had to do what he did. That she understood and didn’t see him as a murderer or killer or monster.

  However, his gaze said that he believed the opposite. Things had evolved so rapidly with them, Paris seeing her father as the demon hunter he was known as. His job wasn’t a glamorous one, but it was necessary.

  “You did it.” Paris finally found her voice, her throat dry.

  He nodded and straightened to his full height, pulling his gaze to the ceiling where the demon had fallen through. “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

  “And his.” Paris pointed at Faraday as he scurried down to the curtain rod and looked out at the scene below. The sight of the headless demon made him grimace and look away at once.

  “Yes, good work and quick thinking, Faraday,” Stefan commended as the squirrel climbed down the curtains and hurried over to Paris’ side.

  “Thank you.” He indicated the refraction lens. “I’m glad this has so many uses. It’s definitely come in handy.”

  “Well, we have one more demon to track down and kill,” Stefan began, striding in their direction, leaving the dead monster behind. “Let’s hope that it offers us more advantages. I have a hunch we'll need them to take out our final adversary.”

  “Why is that?” Paris asked, pulling open the door to Saint Valentine’s office, wanting some fresh air away from the demon’s horrid smell.

  “It’s the last one, and that’s always the worst in a cycle of three,” Stefan stated.

  “That’s not a nonsensical assumption,” Faraday offered, giving the demon hunter a skeptical expression.

  “Well,” Stefan began, wiping off the blades before sheathing the swords onto his back, “these demons were sharing leeching the fairies here at FGA headquarters. The one at Happily Ever After College has had all the students and faculty to feast on all to itself—guessing that there's only one there. If there’s more than one, well, we might have our work cut out for us.”

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  It felt surreal for Paris to step through a portal to Happily Ever After College with her father beside her. To add to the experience, the Enchanted Grounds felt incredibly different than ever before. The temperature was still perfect as usual. The sun was kissing the glistening green grass as it set over the trees in the distance. However, it was like a ghost town.

  Many students would have returned home. Some faculty too. Headmistress Starr and Mae Ling would be inside the mansion. However, no one was out on the grounds, too depleted by what the leeching demon was doing to them. Or demons.

  It was strange to think that one demon could be more of a potential problem than multiple ones, according to what her father said. It made sense though because one would be stronger, having feasted on the energy of the fairies. Multiple demons would be more to go after at once and possibly separate Paris and Stefan. She didn’t know which scenario she preferred, but she was looking forward to exterminating the vermin and returning to normal at the college.

  “It’s beautiful here,” Stefan said after getting his bearings when he stepped through the portal beside Paris.

  She nodded proudly, looking around the grounds. The mansion stood before them. Beside it was the Bewilder Forest that her blood had regrown. On the other side of the building that looked regal and also like it was home to the nicest grandmother in all the world was the Serenity Gardens.

  Behind the large manor was the pool, greenhouse, observatory, and Mirror Lake. None of it seemed right because no fairies buzzed around, smiling and laughing, studying under a tree, or strolling the grounds. It was empty, and all Paris wanted to do was make it feel like before.

  “Uncle John sent me here to save me from trouble,” Paris stated, so grateful that she could share this portion of her life with her father. “However, I don’t think he knew that he was doing more than saving me from myself. He was helping me to find myself.”

  Stefan put his arm around his daughter’s shoulder, hugging her to him as he laid his head on hers. “You speak like your mother, full of thoughtfulness and poetry.”

  Paris squeezed tighter to her father, always grateful for when people related her to her mother. She wanted nothing more than to be like Liv—well, and also mixed with a lot of how badass her father was.

  Having come through the portal with them, Faraday looked out at the Enchanted Grounds with a calculated expression. “Where do you two demon magnets sense we should go?”

  Before, as her father had said, Paris had been too overwhelmed to pick up on the invading demon’s energy inside the campus grounds. Plus, she didn’t know to be aware of it. However, now that Stefan had told her what she was looking for, Paris felt its draw.

  In unison, she and her father turned to the still young Bewilder Forest and pointed in its direction.

  “It’s there,” they said together with conviction.

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  “You grew all this,” Stefan marveled as they entered the darkened Bewilder Forest.

  Paris blushed. “Well, not really. It was my blood.”

  “It was you,” Faraday argued, hopping beside the pair. “You helped to get rid of the ghost trapped here, and she destroyed the forest. Without you, Paris, there would be nothing.”

  “Your halfling blood will make for quite a wonderful assortment of plants,” Paris’ father said, looking at a strange flower that was like a sun bursting with a bunch of neon colors. She didn’t know what it was and guessed that Hemingway didn’t either. It might be a brand-new species.

  “My demon blood made it so new, and different plants grew here too,” Paris stated. “There are dragonfly riders and deadly nightshade and who knows what
else. I’ve had quite an effect on this place.”

  “I have no doubt,” Stefan said proudly, making Paris blush again.

  It was weird to be there with her father and trying to explain what she’d done to this magical place he’d never been able to visit. For as powerful as Stefan Ludwig was and all the things he knew, Paris felt as though there was something she could teach her father. That was…well, weird and also wonderful.

  The darkness under the canopy intensified as the sun continued to set outside the Bewilder Forest. Paris worried that soon they’d be cast in blackness, as in the basement of FGA headquarters, which would make it difficult to see her father. Then he’d disappear, and she’d be left alone to take down the last demon plaguing the fairies.

  Stefan sniffed the air. “The monster we’re after is up ahead.”

  Now that they were deeper into the Bewilder Forest and closer to the demon, Paris could smell its horrid odor. She nodded, feeling the tug at her core, directing her to the creature.

  The forest had already grown so much since the last time she’d visited. The trees towered overhead, and their fresh green canopy of leaves provided a lot of coverage. Various plants covered the ground, and so far, Hemingway hadn’t cut a path leading through the forest. That meant they had to step through dense foliage and vines as they neared the monster they were hunting.

  Many of the tree trunks were already quite large, and they were also close together. However, this location, as whimsical as it was, filled Paris with dread. It wasn’t like the open space of the basement at FGA or Saint Valentine’s office at Matters of the Heart. There were so many ways to lose her father and not have her sights on him, and then…he’d be kicked out of the location.

  As though sensing her trepidation, Stefan reached down and grabbed his daughter’s hand, squeezing it. “I’ll stay close. I promise. I’m not going anywhere, Paris.”

  She squeezed his hand in return and gave him a confident look. “Yeah, I know. We’re in this together until it’s over.”

  “Until it’s over,” he repeated as a demon’s scream ripped through the night air, and something took off, charging straight in their direction.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Stefan released Paris’ hand, instinctively drawing his swords from their scabbards. She pulled the giant-made knife from the sheath her father had given her. The demon was no doubt charging in their direction. It would be seconds until the fight was on, but in the thick of the forest, Paris worried what that would entail. It would be impossible to keep sights on her father inside the dense trees of the Bewilder Forest.

  Jerking her head down, Paris gave Faraday an urgent look. He read it immediately and began working with the refraction lens. “I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will work or how long, but it might help.”

  She nodded, bringing her attention back to her father and the sound of running footsteps approaching quickly. The demon was almost there, which meant the fight was almost upon them. Paris hoped it was a swift and easy kill and that fairies would be returning to their lives, but she knew there was a lot to overcome first.

  The red-faced demon’s head caught Paris’ attention through the trees. The monster was racing in their direction as if it wanted this fight. It bared its white teeth and jerked its arms back and forth as it sprinted, leaping over plants and bushes.

  Paris braced herself for a hand-to-hand combat fight, but Stefan shook his head beside her.

  “They never face a fight fairly,” he seethed, staring at the approaching beast. “This will be a trick.”

  “How so?” Paris wondered what the demon could be up to.

  Then she heard the buzzing and flapping of hundreds of wings. She worried that the dragonfly riders had somehow been thrown into this fight unknowingly. However, then Paris spotted the swarm behind the demon. She only caught sight of a few of the creatures distinct from the rest to know that it wasn’t a blanket of monsters.

  It was moths. Hundreds or maybe thousands of moths. They were the wall behind the demon streaking straight in their direction. Paris had never feared moths until that moment, but right then, she didn’t fear anything more. She didn’t know what they could do to her, but as they soared after the demon, its backup in a way, she didn’t want to find out. There was something very, very wrong about the moths trailing the monster.

  Paris’ father must have jumped to that assumption too, because he grabbed her hand and yanked her in the opposite direction, pulling her through the forest, away from the demon and its flying sidekicks.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  As fast as Paris was, she had trouble keeping up with her father. He was incredibly swift and half-dragged her through the Bewilder Forest as the swarm of moths followed the angry demon.

  Since they’d had no choice but to leave Faraday behind, Paris hoped that he’d moved to a safe place. The squirrel was pretty good about self-preservation, so she assumed he’d found a secure location. She also hoped that he worked out whatever he was trying to do to help them because at this point, they could use a solution.

  Things had quickly shifted with Paris and her father fleeing the demon and moths instead of hunting them. They quickly neared the wide stream where Paris had met Edison, Curie, and Faraday, reuniting the first two with their human forms. She didn’t think they could leap over the water, which meant they’d come to a dead-end of sorts.

  However, her father tugged her harder, looking at her urgently. “Hold your breath for as long as you can. Don’t come up until I tell you.”

  She nodded, not knowing what he meant until she put it all together.

  In unison, the pair jumped off the bank and clawed through the air, trying to get distance to the middle of the stream, the deepest section. They both plunged into the cool water and sank low, still holding hands.

  Paris turned her full attention to her father, watching as bubbles spilled from his mouth and his eyes looked up to the surface. Right then, the swarm of moths streaked overhead, spilling over the stream as though they were still pursuing something heading in that direction.

  The demon didn’t pass, and Paris assumed that it was on the banks waiting for them. Unlike the other two, this demon wanted to fight. It was stronger and smarter than the other two, which gripped Paris with fear.

  Her father held her on the streambed as they looked up at the clear surface, waiting for the last of the moths to pass so they could rise for air.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  When Paris and her father surfaced from the stream, there were three things evident. The moths had passed. The demon was waiting for them. And something was totally different.

  The sound of the moths had receded into the distance of the Bewilder Forest. The demon lurked on the bank, crouched and ready to pounce. The tree trunks in the forest had a mirrored quality, casting strange reflections that bounced back and forth.

  That must have been what Faraday was working on with the refraction lens, Paris thought. She saw how that would help ensure she kept her father in view.

  Stefan spotted the mirrored surfaces all around them as they swam for the bank opposite where the demon was lurking, drool spilling over his fangs and down his pointy chin. Of the ones Paris had seen, this one was the ugliest, and that was saying a lot.

  Apparently, the demon had some manners because it waited until the pair had clambered onto the bank before it stood to full height, which was about seven feet tall. Then it bent its knees and leapt across the stream, landing between Paris and Stefan.

  They broke apart at once, Paris falling back on her butt and Stefan stumbling back as he pulled his swords to fight the monster.

  However, now that the demon was facing the hunter, he didn’t appear to want him. Instead, it seemed he wanted to play cat and mouse. The demon took off, streaking through the mirrored forest.

  Stefan glanced at his daughter, his eyes full of fury. “Can you keep up? Follow me? I have to chase that thing, or this will go on until he’s ex
hausted us.”

  Paris looked out at the mirrored forest, seeing that there were multiple ways she could see an image of her dad. That’s all she needed to do, according to Tiffer’s warning. With conviction, she nodded, not wanting the demon to get away when they were so close to ending it.

  “Yes, go,” she encouraged, pointing toward the retreating demon. “I’ll be right behind you. Take that monster down.”

  Stefan nodded and sprinted through the forest with Paris quickly on his heels.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  The mirrored surfaces of the tree trunks definitely made it easier for Paris to keep an eye on her father. Without that, it would have been impossible because he was fast. She was quick, thanks to sharing his demon blood, but would soon lose to her father in a race. Since he was sprinting after a demon, he’d kicked it into high gear to ensure the monster didn’t get away.

  Stefan was soon yards ahead of Paris, easily maneuvering the overgrown forest, leaping over plants and vines. She stumbled many times but kept up as best she could. The reflective surfaces of the tree trunks made it so that Paris could see her father even though he was getting ahead of her more and more.

  She kept her eyes focused ahead, which was probably why she kept tripping on roots and vines, nearly stumbling many times.

  Thankfully, she noticed a clearing ahead and a strange rock wall that she didn’t remember from any of her expeditions in the Bewilder Forest. However, she had to remember that this place was brand-new in many ways and would have many different elements.