And that gave her an advantage she sorely needed.
Delaney crawled to the very tip of the bed, holding the prism high above her head while the dogs howled their discontent, drowning out the sound of the TV. “Get—out—of—my—house!” she roared. The frustration that had begun to well in her chest over losing her rent, coupled with the incredible disturbance he’d created for a perfectly good Friday night, finally spilled out from her throat in harsh gasps.
Plus, the carrying on made for überdrama and maybe that just might make Clyde understand exactly whom he was fucking with.
Clyde’s head arched backward, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a howl of agony as his form shimmered with a quiver and a buzzing sound that made the dogs’ frantic squeals escalate zinged through her tiny bedroom.
And then he was gone with nothing but a pink lump of comfy, Friday night bathrobe left in his place.
Jesus Christ in a miniskirt.
She yawned.
What a wuss.
But her thoughts turned to what Clyde had said about taking her back to Hell with him.
Lucifer had promised someday he’d come calling.
Dude obviously didn’t front.
The tinkle of the bell on her door had Delaney rushing to the front of her now darkened store so the dogs wouldn’t bark. She ran smack into her brother Kellen’s solid chest. Delaney gave him a hard hug around his waist, inhaling his scent while the puppies all vied for his attention, jumping and scratching at his ankles and knees.
Kellen kissed the top of her head, tilting her chin upward. His eyes, hazel like hers, held that worried look he always had when it came to Delaney and the supernatural cards she’d been dealt. “You okay?”
She jerked her chin away from his fingers, laying her cheek on his shoulder and letting her nose bury itself in the cool leather of his black jacket. “I’m fine, Kellen,” she muttered, her words muffled by his coat. Now that Clyde’s dust had settled, she found herself a little worried. Not so much that she was breaking out the Bible and holy water, but enough that she was on alert. “I’m not hurt or anything, but I’m definitely very, very . . . aware.”
He set her from him, taking her by the hand and leading her to her couch. “Sit. You want me to make you some of that tea that smells like an elephant’s ass? It seems to calm you.” Kellen kneeled down in front of her, letting the dogs pile onto his lap.
Delaney chuckled, pulling a pillow to her chest and squeezing it tight while three of the dogs leaped up beside her. “Nah, I’m fine, really. He was a noob, I suspect. Didn’t even have the nads to fight off something as lame as a prism. I just figured I’d better give you the heads-up that Lucifer’d sent a calling card.” She’d called Kellen as a warning. If strange shit began to happen, it was imperative that he be very careful.
Kellen pinned her with one of his concerned, big brother gazes, jamming his hands into his faded blue jeans. “So let’s begin at the beginning. What happened, and are you sure this Clyde’s a demon?”
She used the heel of her hand to massage her forehead, trying to ease the headache forming at her temples. “I know demon when I see demon. Well, okay, so at first I didn’t know he was a demon. He interrupted me during a séance I was performing. Seemed perfectly harmless, and you know how often that shit goes down with me. Someone’s always popping into my head or showing up uninvited. It’s the nature of the beast. I tried to get him to wait until I was done with the Dabrowskis, but he just couldn’t hold on to his britches. He was typical ghost MO. Pushy, demanding that I stop my world from turning just for him.”
“And?”
“And we played the spirit game. Well, again, sort of. I gotta tell you, Kellen, all I kept thinking the entire time I was communicating with him was that he seemed way too oriented on this plane. He wasn’t at all confused; nothing he said was mangled or mixed up the way it is for most who’re stuck between planes. In fact, we carried on a perfectly normal conversation about the dogs and why they don’t have names, yadda, yadda, yadda. I didn’t even get the weird goose bump vibe I get when a demon shows up during a crossing. And do you think the medium in me might have found that at least a little out of the ordinary? No, instead the outgoing tard spirit lover in me who just wants world peace reigned supreme. I was all Miss Manners.” Of all the stupidity . . . For all the years she’d dealt with the other side, that she hadn’t seen the demonic signs Clyde presented left her breathless and none too comfy with her ghostie alarm clock.
One of Kellen’s dark eyebrows rose, his brow wrinkling. “So what tipped you off that he was a demon?”