Page 77 of Twisted

“I kill demons.”My hands tremble ever so slightly as I bring them up, brushing a small leaf off Xavier’s chest that just landed on him.“Going to Asheville is stupid.”

“No, it’s not.The place has meaning to you.And now I’m curious.We’re going.”

Something tells me that once Xavier makes up his mind, there’s no getting him to change.“Okay,” I just say and let my eyes fall shut.My mind is too chaotic right now to get a good read on what I’m feeling, but the more I think aboutMaria Elena’sthe more I feel a desperation to sit down in my favorite booth, feeling the worn and cracked pleather cushions on the seats beneath me.I can almost smell it now, and my stomach grumbles at the thought of a vegetarian fajita with a heaping side of coconut rice.

“I need weapons,” I say.

“You have me,” he replies and for a second, I think he’s serious.He takes my hand and begins walking toward the house.

“You better hope we don’t run into a Wampus cat.”

“Pray tell what that is.”

“Nothing we actually have to worry about.That one is just a legend.But Wendegos…that’s another story.Though, um, speaking of demons, I have a question.”

“Go ahead and ask,” he says and go down the cobblestone path.

“When I was out running, I overheard someone talking about how a lot of homeless people have died suspiciously lately.”

“And you think it was because of demons?”

“Yeah.It would be really helpful to get the full M.E.reports.”

Xavier slowly inhales, not because he needs the air, but for the dramatics.“I know there is more to this, but this once, I won’t dig.If you want those reports, we should go now.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he says.“I find you interesting, Wren.It’s not every day I find someone other than myself worthy of giving attention to.”

“There might have been a compliment in there hidden beneath the barf-worthy self praise,” I chide, raising an eyebrow.Xavier is confident, but his confidence is earned.He’s poised, controlled, successful in more ways than one.

And an apex predator.

Why deny any of that?Why walk around meek and humble?Are we actually better people if we downplay our strengths?I really don’t know, and I suppose as we’re not going around trying to make others feel bad or less than, it probably is a good thing to know what you have going on and use it.

I get my phone and a sweater for later and then go through the house, meeting Xavier in the garage.He opens the door to the G-Wagon for me and I climb in, pulling my seatbelt down and clicking it into place.

I mess with the radio, flipping through channels as I sigh.“I had some really great Spotify playlists on my phone.”Slightly turning my head, I glance at him.“And it’s not like I can’t figure out how to contact my family with a new phone, you know.”

“I do know.”

“I want my old phone back.”

“I figured you might.”He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls it out.“I’ll be the judge of how great your playlists are.”

Smiling, I eagerly take my phone and immediately go to my texts, certain I had a bunch of missed messages and calls from my family.

I don’t.

It’s gut-wrenching and I don’t understand.I have just a few texts from Antonio the day I was taken, and one from Leo.There’s one standard text from the Order, which is sent out to everyone.

But then nothing after that.Swallowing hard, I open the texts from Antonio.

I’m going to get this figured out.Don’t worry.

Stay safe and stay strong.Leo and I are going to go to HQ tomorrow.Are you okay?

Wren??