The Sinner

“Hey,” I said, fighting to not let my hair fall over my face. “Need help?”

“Hey, Luce.” Guy popped the cork on a bottle of chianti. “You can grab some glasses, thanks. First cabinet, over the dishwasher.”

I went as directed and took down four red wine glasses.

“Your friend Cas is an interesting guy. Not sure what to make of him, honestly.”

He said it with no trace of malice, just honest curiosity. I managed a smile.

“He’s…eccentric.”

“That’s the word.” Guy leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. He had nice forearms, tanned and with a silver watch on his left wrist. “Where did you say you two met?”

“Oh, umm…we sort of bumped into each other outside my apartment.” I heard how random that sounded and coughed. “But he’s a friend of a friend. From art school. I mean, my friend is in art school and Cas is his friend, and we sort of met…that way.”

Real smooth, Luce. Gold medal in rambling at the Awkward Olympics.

“Cool. He in town long?”

For a split second, I entertained the notion that Guy hoped the answer would be no.

“Not long,” I said. “A few days.”

Guy’s mega-watt beam returned, showing perfect white teeth. “Great. Well, the wine has breathed long enough, I think. After you, my lady.”

I smiled and went out, proud that I’d survived without making a total ass of myself.

Are you sure about that?

“Shut up, Deb.”

Guy took a chair at the head of the coffee table. Since Abby had claimed Cas on the couch, my only seating option was a chair opposite them.

Guy poured the wine and then sat back. “Well, Cas? What’s the verdict? Your Spidey senses tingling?”

The demon made a face. “Spidey senses?”

Abby burst out laughing. “Oh my God, how precious. Of course, they don’t have Spider-Man in Iraq. Guy just means, can you feel any ghosts?”

I just about died of second-hand embarrassment but was more fixated on Abby’s arm that was linked in Casziel’s.

Cas, who apparently had an arsenal of smirks, put on a smug one. “As a matter of fact, I do. A little twinge, perhaps. A little thickness in the air.”

Guy was nodding. “Right? That’s it exactly.”

“Of course, there’s only one way to be sure,” the demon said. “Do you have a Ouija board?”

Abby pursed her lips. “Ugh, no. Those things give me the creeps.”

“Me too,” I said glaring at Casziel. He ignored me, his hard gaze fixed on our host.

“Nope, don’t have one,” Guy said. “Too bad—”

“All is not lost,” Cas said. “We need only a piece of paper of sufficient size and something to serve as a planchette. After all, the board is merely a tool for communicating between this world and the next.”

“When you put it that way…” Abby turned to me and fanned herself, mouthing, So hot.

Guy, amicable as usual, set down his wine glass. “I think that can be arranged.” He came back with a piece of drafting paper and a black Sharpie. “Not sure about a planchette.”