Page 62 of Demon Dating Service

But the thought had no sooner crossed his mind as pain exploded in the back of his head and the world went black. Rough voices blurred into indecipherable white noise, and he felt himself sinking to the ground. He couldn’t save Matteo. Couldn’t even save himself.

Not the ending he’d been expecting for their first date.

Chapter 24

Payback

LUKE

Consciousness crawled into Luke’s mind bit by bit.

He was cold. So fucking cold.

His head throbbed like his brain was attempting to leak out of his skull.

More of his body hurt, but it was difficult to pinpoint the exact locations when it all mixed to make a nauseating brew of pain and cold. Part of him wanted to slip into the black void of unconsciousness again, but there was something nagging at him, pulling him toward being fully awake. He didn’t know what. Everything in his head was fuzzy and hurt.

The feeling grew more urgent as the seconds ticked by until at last he forced himself to pry his eyelids open a crack.

Darkness.

It was almost a relief considering how badly his head hurt. He slowly opened his eyes the rest of the way and looked around. This wasn’t his room or the house he shared with the demons. It wasn’t anywhere he recognized on campus, either. He was lying on a dirty concrete floor as far as he could tell, but everything else remained in heavy shadow. It was all indistinct blobs looming over him. The scent of rust, dust, and mold was thick in the air.

He attempted to pull his arms under his body to push himself upright, but he couldn’t move. Panic sliced through his heart. His wrists were tied behind him. Someone had bound his ankles as well. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t sit up. What the fuck was happening?

It all came to him in a violent flash.

He and Matteo were walking to campus.

They were being followed.

They ran.

The stalkers chased. Outnumbered them.

Someone grabbed Matteo.

Someone else caught Luke.

A car’s tires squealed.

Pain. Someone hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out.

They’d been kidnapped and taken only God knew where.

They needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. Where the hell were the crows when he needed them? They’d followed him anytime he stepped outside the mansion. Why couldn’t they have been following tonight?

Maybe it was because it had been after one in the freaking morning and icy cold outside.The crows needed to sleep too, asshole.

Luke mentally groaned at himself. This wasn’t the crows’ fault. He had to find a way out of this.

Lying on his side, Luke lifted his head as best as he could and attempted to look around. It seemed as if he’d been left alone. At least for now.

“Matteo?” he whispered, then winced. His throat was killing him as if he’d swallowed a box of razor blades. It was either from earlier screams, or he was catching a cold from being sprawled on the frozen concrete for so long. But he had to push on. “Matteo?” he tried again, this time a bit louder.

There was a soft scrape of something on the concrete not far away. Luke froze, his ears straining to hear better what it could be.

“Luke?”