All The Wrong Signs

Opening my eyes, I turned to my side, letting out a sigh of relief when the chair beside my bed was empty. I don’t know what had happened last night or this morning, but I blamed it heavily on the alcohol.

What else could it be?

It could be Blaze.

I groaned. Where the hell had my mind even come up with that name? It sounded like one of the names in the romance books I used to sneak and read.

Whatever, at least he was gone. Good riddance.

Getting up, I grabbed some clothes and headed straight to my bathroom. I felt gross. Turning on the water, I instantly felt better, even if my stomach was a little queasy.

The hot water was just what I needed. I stood for the longest time, just letting the water massage my sore neck muscles. Taking my time shampooing and conditioning my hair, I wondered if food would help my stomach.

The only time I had ever gotten this drunk a cheeseburger had done the trick. I would have never believed it, but it was true.

Turning my water off, I stepped out of the shower, forgoing my robe. After sleeping in it, I needed to wash it. I’m sure it was hot and sweaty now.

Wrapping a towel around my waist and another in my hair, I grabbed my clothes walking back into my bedroom. I don’t know why I had brought my clothes with me. I never got dressed in the bathroom. It was always too hot and muggy after a shower.

Luna and Shadow walked into the room, looking up at me as I dropped my clothes on my bed. “Y’all need out?”

I talked to my dogs as if they were people, and sometimes I even answered myself back.

Walking out of my room, I let the dogs out, pausing to look in my fridge and see what I could easily and quickly make that might help my stomach. I didn’t have a lot of options, but a small frozen pizza would do the trick.

Hitting the buttons to preheat my oven, I felt the skin on the back of my neck rise. I knew before I even turned around that he was back.

“Do you always walk around your house half naked?”

“I’m not naked,” I said, turning around, hoping that I would find nothing but thin air.

Of course, I wasn’t that lucky. There he stood. He looked different than he had before. Cleaner. Different clothes.

“Are you a ghost?”

It was the first thing I could think of.

Blaze smiled, shaking his head. “Nope.”

“Fairy?”

Even I had to laugh at the look of horror that crossed Blaze’s face. I was trying to think of anything that would fit his description.

“Angel?”

Blaze shook his head. “I do have angel blood in my veins but…”

“Demon.”

“Prince at that,” Blaze said, standing a little taller.

“Wait,” I said, my eyes bulging. “You are a demon prince?”

He nodded, looking proud. “I am. I’ve been gone a long time and I’m afraid I have a lot of cleanup to do.”

“Then you better get off and go about doing whatever it is demons princes do.”

“Not that easy, little witch. Your mark bounds me to you.”

I instantly looked down at my tattoo. “But…”

“But nothing. What is done, is done.” Blaze looked me up and down, making me all too aware that I was still in nothing but a towel.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around my waist. “But aren’t you supposed to be in prison or something?”

Blaze paused, and I knew he was trying to figure out exactly what he wanted to tell me and what he wanted to omit. “You summoned me from that prison,” he finally said.

“What did you do to get put in prison?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know, but I had to know.

“I didn’t do anything. A sorcerer summoned me and trapped me underground, using me to do his biddings. When he died, he had yet to pass along the information on how to control me to his heirs. They have imprisoned me since.”

Only I would feel a little sorry for a demon. “How long have you been imprisoned?”

“Centuries.”

I swallowed. There was a fucking demon in my kitchen and I was stupidly questioning him, wearing nothing but a towel in my kitchen. The oven beeped, making me jump. I quickly turned around, putting my pizza on a pan and throwing it in the oven.

Not speaking a word to Blaze, I walked into my bedroom, shutting the door even though I knew he could easily make his way in my room if he wanted. I changed into my clothes faster than I have ever changed in my life before walking out.

Blaze was sitting at my bar, acting as if he hadn’t just told me he was a demon. Turning his head, he looked at me. I had no idea what to do about a demon in my kitchen. Was there a book for that?

Would Lakyn know?

“What do you want with me?”

Blaze smirked, and I felt my face blush. He looked every bit the part of a demon prince. I was beginning to think I wasn’t hallucinating at all.

Wasn’t that my fucking luck? I dabble in a little witchcraft and end up summoning a fucking demon when all I wanted was a reminder that I could do this. That I had everything I needed within me.

Walking to the sink, I picked up a Brillo pad I had found in a drawer when I moved in and had never thrown away. “What if I scrub your mark off of me?”

I was bluffing. I would never scrub my skin raw. I couldn’t even give myself a shot when my doctor wanted me to take b12 injections.

Blaze, however, didn’t know that and I yelped as he moved in a blur, slapping the pad out of my hand.

Instinctively I shoved at him, to get him as far away from me as I could, but he didn’t move. It was like I had shoved a brick wall. Luna and Shadow had started barking at him and I knew at that moment that whatever alcohol fused trip I thought I was on wasn’t real.

There was a fucking demon in my kitchen.

Naturally, I did the only thing there was to do. I ran straight to my room, slamming my door shut and locking it. First wrong move, he could get through locked doors. I also had left my poor dogs to fend for themselves with him.

“Fuck,” I mumbled, realizing that I had left my phone on the kitchen counter. Who would I ever call? Lakyn? A priest?

Running to my nightstand, I pulled my MacBook out of my top drawer and pulled up googled. I quickly typed, “how to get a demon out of my house?”

The first couple of hits were YouTube videos that I wasn’t about to sit and watch, but the first article I saw I clicked on. I frowned as I read it. Sentence after sentence was about how having a demon in your home would make you feel scared and helpless.

Did I feel scared? Helpless?

I knew I probably should, but he had yet to try to hurt me. Unless he was playing the long game. Had me summoning him to me changed the rules?

The first step was to burn sage and try to expel the demon that way. I vaguely remembered Lakyn going on about how she had to sage her apartment after she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her.

It was worth a try.

Shutting my MacBook, I threw it on my bed, turning to find my shoes. My hair was still wet, and I was in a pair of Nike athletic shorts and a too big t-shirt, but I didn’t care. Grabbing my wallet, I unlocked my door and made a beeline to the front door.

My dogs started barking at me as if I was the intruder. Blaze was still sitting at my counter.

“Going somewhere?”

“I’m going out and you can’t stop me,” I said with a little more force than I knew I had.

Blaze shrugged his shoulders, “you are free to come and go as you please.”

“You will not follow me,” I added.

Blaze snorted, “if I want to I will, but go. I’ll be here waiting for you. I’ll also take this pizza out of the oven. Unless you want to burn your house down?”

The stupid demon had the nerve to wink at me.

Why did that have me blushing as I turned, slamming the door louder than necessary?

I half sped walk, half jogged the entire way to Lakyn’s shop, praying she was open. Seeing the open sign, I let out a sigh of relief, doubling my speed to make it there.

I won’t lie. I was too out of shape to be trying to run anywhere, so by the time I opened the door I was out of breath.

“Who are you running from?” Lakyn looked up from her perch on the counter. “I have to tell you, I about fell off the counter laughing at your ass.”

“Shut up,” I said. “I have a problem. I think I need some sage. I somehow summoned a demon and I don’t know what to do with him.”

Lakyn looked at me unblinking for several seconds. “Wait. Do what? You summoned a demon. Girl, didn’t I tell you not to fuck with that Ouija board?”

“No, it’s my tattoo,” I said, shoving my hand under her face. “I told you he was following me last night. He’s at my house now.”

“Have you been drinking this morning?” Lakyn hopped down from her counter. “I’m telling you no-one was following us around last night. I would have sensed them.”

“You don’t understand,” I said, walking around the shop looking for sage. “I released him from some kind of prison that he says he was put into for no reason, but yea right. Like I believe that.”

“I mean, is he hot?” Lakyn asked, giggling, turning me toward the direction I needed to go.

“Lakyn, I’m not playing.”

Holding her hand up, she looked serious. “Ok, I’m sorry. If you think you’ve attracted bad energy, then yes, you need to sage your place. Make sure all the doors and windows are open so the negative energy or the demons can get out. Then light the sage and let it burn for 30 seconds before you blow the flame out. Allow the sage to smolder and the smoke to cleanse the space of negative energy. Waft the smoke into the corners of the room, including the nooks and crannies, so the negative energy can’t accumulate there.”

I nodded, “ok so no words or anything?”

“Do you feel like you need to speak anything?” When I didn’t answer, she tilted her head. “You will know.”

“So that’s it. It’s that easy?”

Lakyn made a face. “I honestly can’t tell you for sure. I’ve never encountered any demons. Plenty of bad juju, but never a demon. They can fight you and if you aren’t strong enough, you will just make it worse. Just don’t half ass it.”

Walking over to the crystals, I grabbed a couple that I had read were for protection. I already had some of them, but I had a feeling I needed a lot more. Walking to the counter, I sat everything down.

Lakyn bagged my stuff up. “I’m not charging you for this. We drank way too much last night. I’m sure it’s nothing, Riley. But go home sage your house, it will make you feel better. How about I come check on you when I get off tonight? I can bring us takeout?”

I nodded, wanting to tell her that the demon in my house was real. I had seen him. Heard him. Felt him.

But I didn’t. He was right. No one would believe me. Not even Lakyn. Not if she couldn’t see him.

What had I done?