Ume shook her head but Julie wasn’t buying it, rushing to the daybed, a look of true concern on her lovely face. “Ume Wu, tell me what’s wrong right now. Are you in pain? Do I need to call the doctor?”
Julie took Ume’s face in her hands and she crumpled, the tears she’d been holding in pouring down her cheeks. Her cousin looked bemused. It was understandable. Ume didn’t cry. Not during the surgeries. Not when she’d discovered her chances of ever walking normally again. Not in front of people, at least. It was a lesson from her stoic father that she’d never forgotten.
“Please, tell me what to do. What happened?”
“I ha-had cyber se-sex,” Ume sobbed. “And it felt real. I mean really real. And then…and then…hiseyesturnedredandnowI’mafraidtoopenmycomputer.” She looked up at Julie, whose mouth was opening and closing like a fish trying to breathe above water. “You think I’m loony tunes, don’t you?”
“Because you had cybersex? Or because of how fast you’re talking?”
Ume sniffed loudly. “Because I’ve been playing that stupid game and now I think there’s a demon on my computer. Oh God, I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”
Julie sat back. “You’ve been playing Demon Saint?”
Ume nodded, and Julie bit her lip. “And you think you had, um, cybersex with a demon?”
Ume nodded again.
“And it was good?” Another nod. “So, why are you crying again?”
Ume snorted, accepting the tissue Julie handed her. “You’re no help at all. I’m admitting to you that insanity may run in my family and you just accept it. I keep forgetting you believe this is all real.”
Julie sighed. “Okay, you want practical? I don’t think your computer is possessed with an orgasm-inducing demon. To prove it, I’m going to sit here while you turn it back on. Besides, you can’t be afraid of the Internet. You’re my best customer.”
She stuck her tongue out at Julie but felt a nervous flutter in her stomach when she looked at the thin, rectangular object of her fears. Maybe Julie was right. She should just open it up, turn it on and prove to herself once and for all that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Julie reached over and picked up her laptop, holding it out towards her. Ume’s hands lifted hesitantly to take it. She opened it, releasing a startled shriek as it started to ring.
“Calm down, Ume. It’s just my phone.” Julie chuckled, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket with one hand, reaching over to turn on Ume’s computer with the other. “Hello?”
Ume looked up as Julie’s fingers grasped her wrist and held on tight. Her face had gone dangerously pale.
“Who is it?” Ume mouthed, momentarily distracted from the hum of her laptop booting up.
“Wolf,” Julie mouthed back. Out loud she said, “Yes. I remember you, Liam. May I ask, how did you get this number?”
Ume started to smile. It was him. The man Julie had such a huge crush on. The one she’d regretted walking away from. He obviously hadn’t forgotten her either, if Julie’s blush was anything to go by.
The computer in her lap was making a strange repetitive dinging sound, and she looked down. It was a dialogue box from the game. The game that shouldn’t have turned on automatically.
You have been given a new quest to find the Demon King’s lair. Do you accept Y/N?
Oh, shit. Her hand started shaking. She slid her fingers over the mouse, comforted by the feel of Julie’s fingers, tight as they were, around her wrist. She clicked on the X to close the box without answering, deciding she would uninstall the game and reboot, just to be safe.
The question dissolved and a new box appeared.
I’ll take that as a yes.
A shock of energy pulsed from the mouse pad to Ume’s fingertips and up her arm. She heard Julie’s cry of surprise mingling with her own as an electric current passed through her body, charging the air around them. Before Ume blacked out she could have sworn she heard a wolf howl in pain.
A wolf?
She never should have turned her computer back on.
Demons weren’t known for their patience. Two days of waiting had nearly destroyed all traces of Saint’s humanity. She’d left him no avenue. No phone, no computer, no television signal to reach her. He wanted to go to her, to show up on her doorstep and demand an explanation for her abrupt departure from his arms. He wanted to tear down the world to get to her. A dangerous feeling for someone like him, because he could actually do it.
But she didn’t know who or what he was. And her hoshi no tama, her talisman, still protected her. She had to give in to him willingly.
He’d done some research on her during the last forty-eight hours. Enough to know she wasn’t his Trojan horse, not sent by a jealous demon brother or rival. But she might be his downfall all the same.