Page 15 of Demon Dating Service
He tripped over what might have been a footstool and was in danger of falling flat on his face, but a pair of hands grabbed his hips at the last moment and put him on his feet.
“Annod?”
“It’s me.”
“Thanks. Can you help me get to the next room?”
“Can you not see?”
“Nope. Completely blind.”
“Oh. Oh! Okay!” It seemed like relief and excitement mixed in his voice, but Luke didn’t have time to think about it. With Annod at his side, they hunted down every cat, while Annod made sure he didn’t run into anything else during their trek through the first floor. Little giggles followed him through thehouse as they chased the cats together. Luke would have been laughing too if he wasn’t still sniffling and sneezing.
When they’d cleared the entire first floor, Luke leaned on the wall, gasping for air. He lifted the water bottle and shook it near his ear. It felt light. Had they emptied almost the entire bottle as they’d chased the cats from the house?
“Are they all gone? Do you think we should check the second floor?”
“Ummm…no. I think they’re all gone now. I’ll go shut the front doors so they can’t get back in.” Light feet jogged through the hallway, and the double doors slammed shut, locking them safely away from the cats.
“Thanks for all your help,” Luke said as soon as he heard Annod’s returning footsteps. “I appreciate it.” Luke rubbed his eyes and nose. He was going to need a shower and a shit-ton of antihistamines before going to bed. At least he knew he was going to be knocked out until his alarm went off.
“Are you okay? You didn’t seem scared of the cats at all,” Annod observed.
“Oh, I’m not afraid of cats. I like them, actually, but from a huge distance and when they’re not hunting birds. I’m horribly allergic to them. My eyes water and get puffy. My nose gets stopped up. Plus, there’s the sneezing. I can’t be in a house that has a cat.”
“Ah, um…that sucks.”
“Totally. But that was kind of fun running through the house with you, spraying the cats.”
Another giggle escaped Annod. “It was fun.”
“But now I’m beat. Would you mind helping me up the stairs? I need to grab a shower so I can get some sleep.”
“Sure. Sure.”
Annod took one of his arms and helped him shuffle over to the stairs, where he picked up the backpack he’d dropped there.They giggled their way up to the second floor and along the hall to the entrance to Luke’s attic. Just getting off the first floor made it easier to breathe. He blinked a few times, but Annod remained blurry to him. He could make out a figure with what appeared to be blond hair and a wide smile.
“See you around the house.”
“See you.”
Luke stumbled up the stairs, exhausted but feeling better than he had after his chat with Harper. His life wasn’t all work and school. His roommates were proving to be entertaining, at least.
Now, he had to find a way to keep the spiders and cats out of the house.
Chapter 6
Death by Embarrassment
LUKE
The fall air was crisp with a hint of wood smoke and dried leaves. Hoodie weather. Curl up with a book and a steaming cup of hot tea weather.
Luke had finished his classes for the day, and he was waiting for Harper to get out of her final class so they could walk across the quad to her car. As much as he wanted to head home and curl up in the library with a book and tea, he had to get to his evening job. Harper had offered to drive him so they could catch up. Life had gotten busy, both of them tightening their focus on their master’s theses. They weren’t finding a lot of opportunities to hang out and shoot the shit.
“I’m here! I’m here!” Harper’s high-pitched voice rang out across the campus. Luke lifted his head from where he’d been feeding the crows some unsalted trail mix to see the woman in bright colors holding her bag by the strap in the air with one hand while waving books at him in the other hand. He wasn’t the only student to stop and gawk at the spectacle, but everyone soon shrugged and returned to their own business.
As she reached the bench, she flopped down, so that she was a millimeter away from sitting in his lap. She leaned on him, panting. “Oh, my fucking gawd. The professor just kept droningon and on and on, even after the class had ended. Students were creeping along the floor like cockroaches so they could sneak out the side door of the lecture hall. I gave the man another ten minutes and then I said fuck this shit and walked the hell out of there. I had places to be, and this man was disrespecting my time.”