The Sinner

Casziel had found a head of iceberg lettuce in my fridge and bit into it, crunching noisily.

I showered, changed into a T-shirt dress with a navy blue top and a patchwork of different patterns along the bottom. It was shapeless and loose—my preferred style—to hide my small pooch of a belly and thighs that definitely touched.

I made Casziel wait while I cleaned up the lettuce bits and Pop-Tart crumbs from my kitchen counter. Apparently, there were no table manners—or roaches—on the Other Side. Then we headed out into the April sunshine on a stunning Saturday morning.

I hated to admit it, but the demon—and Cole—were right. Left to my own devices, I would’ve probably stayed indoors on this beautiful day, reading and continuing to put off finding something to wear for my boss’s wedding that I was nervous about attending in the first place.

Casziel walked beside me looking darkly beautiful. Pedestrians parted around us, giving him a wide berth, as if they unconsciously picked up on the subtle aura of danger emanating off of him. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop staring now that he n

o longer looked like a subway flasher in a trench coat.

He felt me watching him and glanced down at me. “Yes?”

“You don’t sparkle.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m teasing.” Or going crazy. “Just thinking about one of my favorite books, a romance about vampires.”

“I am not a vampire.”

“I think you meant to say, There’s no such thing as vampires, Lucy.”

His gaze slid to me then back to the street.

I gaped. “They’re real?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Actually, no. My sanity will last longer if I pace myself. But…”

“You have questions.”

“Only one or two…thousand.”

“Ask.”

“I thought you were sick of my interrogation.”

“I may have failed to take into account the novelty of our situation.”

I smirked. “You think?”

“You can’t blame me. Your entertainment creates a multitude of films and television shows on the subject, yet humanity has such puny capacity for the supernatural.”

“We’re trying. We even have a show called Supernatural.” I grinned. “You wouldn’t like it. It’s about demon hunters.”

Casziel snorted. “A comedy, I presume.”

I laughed. “And anyway, I think I’m doing pretty well dealing with our situation. For instance, I haven’t freaked out over the whole anicorpus thing.”

“There is nothing to freak out over. I told you, all demons have an animal form on This Side to facilitate transportation without drawing unwanted attention.”

I nodded and wondered—aside from possessing a guy and stealing his clothes—where Casziel had gone last night. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear the answer.

“How many times have you been on This Side?”

He glanced down at me, one brow arched. “Are you asking if I come here often?”