“How’d the transaction go?” I ask, meeting her at the car.
“Fine. Once the money was authenticated, the guy who owned this book pretty much shoved it in my face. I think it freaked him out. The guy at the bank didn’t even want to touch it.” Kristy pulls out a large box. “It’s heavy.”
“It is.” I take it from her and head inside. Olive, Kristy’s rabbit familiar, follows behind, hoping around the yard before shadowing up the stairs. Scarlet comes flying in after us, skidding across the foyer and knocking into the wall.
“Ruby went through and bookmarked pages for you. She also wrote like half a book of notes,” Kristy laughs. “She wants you to let her know if you find anything.”
“I will. Somehow.” I set the book on the coffee table. “Want something to eat?”
“No thanks,” Kristy says, cheeks blushing ever so slightly. “I’m having dinner with Evander at the Covenstead.”
“Ohhhh, is this a date?” I wiggle my eyebrows.
“No, it’s just two friends having dinner. With our High Priestess, and most likely Ruby. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Felix astral projected in.”
“Is he still asking about the transference spell?”
“Yes,” Kristy admits. “But Evander has done a good job evading him of the truth.”
“Good,” I say and make a face. “Though I feel bad. He helped us and I pretty much lied to him and then blew him off.”
“Understandably so. We can’t have just anyone knowing who you are, though he’s not an anyone, is he?” She wiggles her eyebrows, and I can sense Lucas’s glare from across the room.
“I trust him,” I say slowly. “But you’re right. No one else should know the truth. It’s just too risky.” I let out a sigh. “Since you’re not staying, want to take a romantic walk in the woods with me?”
She smiles. “I was hoping you’d ask.”“Do you want to go out for dinner?” Lucas asks as we get back into the house after walking Kristy and Olive to the Covenstead door. Neither Lucas or I could get too close or we’d risk setting off magical alarms.
“Yeah,” I reply. “It would be nice to get out of the house and do something normal. Well, normal for me.”
“Being with you while you eat is normal for me as well,” he says with a smile, pulling me to him. “Where do you want to go?”
A greasy cheeseburger and fries from Suzy’s Café sounds good right about now, and they’re open for another hour. But a member of my coven—my former coven—works there, and I’d rather not have any sort of confrontation…or even a dirty look. I’ve repressed what it really means to me to not be a member of the coven anymore.
It was my home…my safe place…my saving grace.
And now I can’t go back.
“Mexican food sounds good,” I say as Lucas sweeps his hands down to up my ass. “Want to go now?”
“Yeah, let me do my hair first.” I break out of his embrace and go into the living room, standing in front of a mirror. Using magic, I curl my hair, flip my head over, and shake out the curls. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“I don’t think I’ve fully appreciated how quickly you can get ready,” Lucas laughs.
“It definitely comes in handy.” I take the lid off the box that has the Infernal Dictionary in it. “Wow. This thing is impressive.”
Lucas steps over and picks up the book, carefully removing it from the box and setting it on the coffee table. Pieces of ribbon are acting as bookmarks, and there’s a handwritten note from Ruby at the bottom of the box.
“Callie,” I read out loud. “I went through the book as quickly as I could and marked demons that matched your description. Open the book to the green ribbon.” I look at Lucas, who finds the green ribbon and opens the book to a page about a deity summoned in ancient times to bless a village with a bountiful harvest.
“That’s not him,” I say, not needing to read Ruby’s notes. I set the paper to the side and squat down, sliding the book closer to me. I flip to the next ribbon. “Not him, either.”
Lucas flips to the next bookmarked page.
“Nope.”
He flips to the next. And then the next. And neither demon look like the one I saw. We go through six more pages of possible demons who are in some way related to the earth or trees, enabling them to conjure and control the root-monsters.
“The drawings might not be accurate,” he reminds me.
“True, but they look nothing like the demon I saw. Even if he was possessing a human body, which would change, I’m assuming the crown would be similar, right?”
“I’d assume so, too.” Lucas grabs Ruby’s notes and skims them over with vampire speed. “The gold ribbon,” he says and I find it toward the back of the book. “She said this is the last demon described to be wearing a crown but it’s a high-level demon who’s been banished to some sort of supernatural prison in Hell. It would require opening the gates to get him out.” Lucas puts the paper down and looks at the book. “So it doesn’t sound like it could be our guy.”