Part 14 (1/2)
Chapter 18.
I don't know what shook me from sleep. It might've been the warm brush of air on the back of my neck, or the fact that my feet were sticking out of the covers and were cold like ice. Most likely it was the fact that Devon, her pink pigtails looking as perky as ever, was sitting on the edge of the bed at my uncovered feet, scowling at me.
”Who the h.e.l.l are you?”
Gasping, I flinched away from Devon's outstretched hand. It looked like she was about to rake her ragged fingernails down my instep. I pulled my legs up and sat back against the headboard, unsure of exactly what to tell her.
”I said, who the h.e.l.l are you?” She growled again.
”Salem,” I managed to squeak.
”What are you doing in my Trevor's bed?”
”Your Trevor?”
She grinned at me, but it wasn't pleasant at all. In fact, I swore I saw the tips of four fangs in her mouth. Did succubi have fangs? G.o.d I hoped not. I reached up to my mouth and rubbed a finger over my gums. Just in case.
”Yes, he's mine.” She blinked and her eyes turned to black. She didn't try to hide it. She wanted me to see it, to scare me. Little did she know that I could do the same trick.
Thankfully, the door burst open and Trevor stumbled in affording me a reprieve from doing something stupid and outing myself.
”What are you doing here, Devon?”
She stood and set her cold dark gaze onto Trevor. ”I came to tell you that we're heading to the club to set up.” She nodded toward me. ”And look what I found in your bed. A stray dog.”
That put my back up and I opened my mouth to say something.
But Trevor was quicker. ”I'll be at the club within the hour. You don't have to check up on me. And I appreciate it if you use the doors instead of popping in here,” he lowered his voice as if to keep his next words from me, ”through the shadow-ways.”
”I can come and go as I please.”
Trevor snarled. ”Not in my room, you can't. You don't own me.”
With a malicious grin on her face, she strutted toward him. She stroked one finger down his arm. ”Of course I do. You should know that by now.”
”Get out,” he muttered under his breath.
”Don't be late to the club. Thane won't like it much if you are.”
”Tough s.h.i.+t.”
”I'd be more careful, if I were you. The only reason Thane keeps you around is because of me. Remember that and maybe I'll let you keep your new pet.”
With a parting sneer toward me, she sashayed out of the bedroom. Neither Trevor nor I moved or said a word until we heard the distinctive opening and closing of the hotel room door.
When she was gone, I let the breath I was holding out. ”Holy c.r.a.p, Trevor. She was sitting on the bed watching me.” I shuddered. The thought of her being near me for so long without my knowledge gave me the severe creeps. It just about made me sick.
”I'll have to ward the hotel room from now on. To keep them from popping in and out.”
”You can do that?”
He nodded. ”With salt.”
”How does it work?”
”You have to pour at least half a cup in each corner of each room. It's like making a protection grid. If someone tried to access a room that's been salted they'd bounce out of the shadow-way.”
”Like bouncing off a huge rubber ball?”
He nodded. ”Yeah, just like that.”
”Cool.”
”K, get up and get dressed.”
”Where are we going?”
”To the club. If you're going to hang around you might as well earn your keep.”
”Fine,” I groaned.
He turned to leave.
”Hey Trevor?”
He stopped. ”What?”
”Can't they, you know, tell what I am?”
”Only if they taste you.”
”Ew.”
”Not like that, sicko. A kiss, a lick of skin, would be enough to tell.”
I nodded. ”Okay, got it. Don't let anyone kiss or lick me.”
”Especially not Thane. He's the one you need to watch out for.”
Trevor left the room so I could drag my a.s.s out of bed and get dressed. I dreaded being anywhere near Thane and the others but Trevor said he needed me to help him bring Malice down. I'd never had that kind of power before. It felt kind of good. Like maybe I didn't need to be a victim. That I could rise above what Thane had done to me. Maybe after I helped Trevor kill the demons I could go back home to my mom, to Chloe, to my life however drab it may have been. A girl, even a freak cambion one, had to have some sort of dreams.
Forty-five minutes and a tall mocha latte with cinnamon sprinkles later, Trevor and I arrived at the club where Malice would be playing later that night. Quinn met us at the back door.
”What took you so f.u.c.king long?” he barked.
Trevor didn't back down. ”I'm here now, so relax.”