AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Where the hell is she?
The front door clicked, and I sprinted to the living room. “Erin?” I shouted, throwing any attempt at hiding the panic in my tone out the window.
Josh and Derik stood at the kitchen island, both wide-eyed. Derik arched his eyebrow. “Uh, where’s the fire, dude?”
I panted, hands on my knees. “Have either of you seen or heard from Erin?”
Josh checked his phone, the definition of calm. “Yes, she and Miss Libby are out running errands. Something along the lines of ‘girl time’ as Miss Snow had put it,” his attention moved to me. “Any particular reason as to why you are stampeding through your home like a rampant untrained horse?”
I opened my mouth to respond, and Derik swooped in. “Lover Boy probably got his rocks off in dream land, and wanted the real thing, huh?” He winked at me, and I forced the corners of my mouth upward.
I added a laugh for good measure. Josh rolled his eyes as he returned to his phone, scrolling. Derik eyed me but let it drop.
I slid onto one of the bar stools and nestled my feet behind the barred footrest, elbows leaning on the counter top. “So, what has you two waltzing in here this early in the day?”
Derik slid a mug towards me, it sloshed over the rim as I caught it in my hands. I took a sip, grimacing as the bitter cold brew slid down my throat.
I choked. “There’s no way this practically turned to ice that quickly. Erin made it fresh this morning.”
“Nothing gets past you, does it, Seth?” Derik retorted and grabbed his phone out of the pocket of his bedazzled jeans. He tabbed the screen with his thumb. “It’s three in the afternoon, dude.”
I flipped him off, glaring over the sage green rim. “Explains a lot.”
I didn’t even think I fell asleep. It felt so real.
I rubbed the center of my chest, a slight ache present. Derik quirked an eyebrow at me and I brushed it off, pointing my attention at Josh.
He tapped away on his phone, features devoid of emotion. His mouth formed a set line, his eyes bored. I could never figure the guy out. Always quiet, observing. Rarely partaking with our group unless a hunt was involved or intel was needed.
Until recently.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Any reason why Erin would text you instead of me?” Envy boiled in the pit of my stomach.
He snapped his smartphone shut as his stone-cold gaze met mine. “Actually, Mr. Draven, it was I who reached out to Miss Snow first. I had sent her a text message alerting my arrival. She simply responded,” judgment shown in his eyes as they swept across my body. “Your jealousy is ill aimed, Seth. And not the best look on you.”
The hair on the back of my neck rose. “Screw off, Josh. Why are you guys here anyway? You never answered me.”
Jackass.
Derik responded first, “I wanted to pop over to dive into some more Demon and ‘Key’ hunting. I found a few things yesterday and wanted to run them by you. Plus, one of the girls texted me to come over. Not too sure about Chronically Cranky over here, though.” Derik jutted his thumb in Josh’s direction.
Josh rolled his eyes at the nickname. “Similar.”
I leaned back in the stool. Arms crossed. “Alright. So, what’ve the two of you got?”
Derik sat in the stool next to me, bringing a bag of chips with him. He dug his phone out of his pocket and sat it in front of me.
“From what I found, it looks like the Demons can’t just maim, procreate, and torture these humans at their whim to screw us all to hell—to an extent—it must be done on the night of the Blood Moon and coincide with The Key being brought forward and unleashed.” He gulped.
Josh whispered, “To truly unleash the chaos and disruption in this world.”
“And the next one is less than a month away.”
“Shit.” Lead hit the pit of my stomach. The vision of Erin overtook me, panic constricted itself around me.
“I texted Miss Snow and Miss Libby. They should return momentarily.” Josh’s voice faintly registered through the cackling as it rang in my ears. I nodded in response, rapidly blinking away the memory of Erin’s molten flesh.
