Page 14 of Demon Dating Service

Better yet, he could take her out to dinner. Nothing too fancy, but somewhere nice enough to have faux leather-covered menus and servers. Just as a thank-you for sticking by him through all the shit. That was an excellent idea.

Luke slid his key into the lock and opened the door, only to choke and gasp as a wall of something smacked him in the face. He stumbled back a step and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air before making another attempt. Maybe he was wr?—

“Aaachhooo!”

“Achoo! Achoo!"

Within a matter of seconds, his nose was stuffed up, his throat was itchy, and his eyes watered so badly he couldn’t see. What the fuck was wrong?

A cat.

No!Catsssss.

Cats must have sneaked into the house when everyone had gone to bed.Fucking neighbors.

The way his allergies were going absolutely haywire, the first floor had to be filled with cats. At least there was no way they could get into his room. He always kept the door shut, and the window locked.

While it was tempting to run up to his room and shut himself in, that didn’t fix the greater problem. He’d have to leave his room eventually, and this would begin all over again.

“Meow. Meow. Meow.”

Luke jumped and twisted, but between the darkness of the hallway and his watery eyes, he couldn’t make anything out. It sounded like he was fucking surrounded by big cats. In his mind, he could see house cats the size of people, walking on their hind legs, their tails swishing back and forth, narrowly missing knickknacks and priceless vases.

“Meow.”

“What’s wrong, Luke?Meow.”

Luke jumped, turning his head toward the voice. “Who is that? Sorry. I can’t see anything. My eyes have almost swollen shut.”

“It’s me.Meow.Annod.”

“Annod? Did the neighbor’s cats get in the house?”

“Ummm…yes?”

“Shit!” Another fit of sneezing interrupted his curse. “I need…I need…to get them out of here. I can barely breathe.”

“Ummm…”

Luke didn’t wait for Annod to say anything else. He stumbled to the front doors and jerked both of them open, so the cats had a quick and easy exit. Now he had to come up with a way to herd them outside.

Hissss…

It sounded like an enormous cat was standing right next to him, ready to bite his head off. Luke turned to tell the thing to scat, but he was pretty sure he sneezed right on the poor creature. A great yowl pierced his ears, and a breeze ruffled his clothes as the cat ran out the door.

That was one.

But he couldn’t sneeze on all the cats.

An idea occurred to him, and he cackled. He could have been mistaken for a Halloween witch. Stumbling and sneezing, he crossed the hallway and wound his way into the kitchen. Heremembered seeing what he needed when he’d been searching for a bowl to capture the spider.

Dropping to his knees on the black and white tile, he dug through a cabinet until he found the treasure he sought. With his hand wrapped around the slender neck, he thrust it into the air as if he were Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. Instead, his sword was an empty spray bottle.

“Ummm…Luke?Meow?What are you doing?”

“I found the perfect way to get rid of the cats.” He shoved to his feet and moved to the sink, where he filled the bottle with cold water. After screwing the lid on, he gave it a few test sprays to make sure it was on the mist setting and then began his hunt.

He stumbled his way through the first floor, bumping into nearly every piece of furniture and wall possible. He was moving blindly. Tears slipped down his face, and his nose dripped, but he ignored both. Every time he heard any movement or the softest meow, he wildly sprayed the water, spritzing the entire region. Claws scrabbled on the hardwood floors and the pissed-off cats hissed.