Angie Fox - ADS 03 - A Tale of Two Demon Slayers

“How should I know?” I stood, one hand on my switch stars.

“Hold up,” Grandma cautioned. “You draw a star and every TSA agent, police officer and security guard is going to be on you like a chicken on a June bug.”

Pirate growled. “I’d attack it, but I don’t see it. Now that ain’t right.” He paced back and forth next to me. “I thought you said we were going to take a vacation from all of this hoodoo.”

My thoughts exactly.

We all watched the off-white floor as if we’d suddenly be able to see my family’s supernatural gift, one of the many that hadn’t quite worked out for me.

“Well,” Grandma said, “you couldn’t have opened the box if you weren’t ready.”

“Naturally,” I replied, wondering how the heck I was supposed to handle this one.

We never could tell if the bar managed to find all its pieces or how it fit itself back together. But I felt it as it rolled up to me and rested against my right foot.

Pirate aimed a harsh bark in the general direction of the training bar. “That’s one crazy game of fetch you got going on.”

“You can’t just leave it here, Lizzie,” Ant Eater said.

I dug my hands into my hips. “I know that,” I said, wishing I could.

That magical aberration had shown me a vision of the man I loved kneeling over my broken body, and now I had to cart it along on my trip as if I actually planned to take it out of the box again. I rooted around in my purse for a tissue and picked the thing up like it was a roach.

“I still say you were ready,” Grandma said, eyeing Ant Eater.

Like I was ever ready for half the things that happened lately. I placed the box on the chair behind me and eased the training bar back into the velvet loops. Then I wound an extra tissue around it, as if it were a miniature mummy. Pirate braced his front paws up on the seat next to me and watched.

“Keep your enemies close…” I began.

Pirate growled low in his throat, “…and your batcrazy supernatural bar in plain sight.”

“Aw, come here.” Grandma wrapped me in a giant hug. “You just do what you do best—take care of yourself, accept the universe.”

“Okay. Thanks.” The hug felt nice, but I had to get away before she started giving me a lecture on the Three Truths of the demon slayer: Look to the Outside, Accept the Universe, Sacrifice Yourself. And one I wanted to add—Keep Closed Boxes Closed.

I shook Ant Eater’s hand and, ignoring the box on the chair behind me, reached down to open Pirate’s pet carrier. “You ready, buddy?”

Pirate drew his ears back. “Are you kidding? I’ll turn that box into kindling. You want it in five pieces or twenty million? You know, I can count now.”

“I meant, are you ready to go?” We still had a plane to catch.

His ears drooped back. “No attacking?”

“Not right now,” I said, “although I’m sure you’d do a fine job of it.”

“Oh yeah, I could take that bar. I could eat that bar with a side of crackly wood box. That box might even taste good. Like the doorjambs back home.”

“I told you, no chewing on doors.”

“Oh I know.” Pirate made a lap around the doggie carrier, his eyes on the box. “It’s just hard to stick to a diet all the time. Speaking of eating…” His tags jingled as he shifted his focus to the Burger King a few stores down. “I hear the Double Whopper is quite meaty and cheesy.”

Instead he got my last Schnicker-poodle and a trip through the security line.

The TSA officer, her jaw as tight as her sleeked-back bun, didn’t bat an eye at my switch stars or the ancient box I carried. Instead, she set her sights on a tube of Bengay that I’d forgotten in my purse.

Yes, the pungent cream made me smell like one of the biker witches, but my back had been killing me ever since I pulled it doing a few celebratory gymnastics with Dimitri. It had been worth every twinge. And caress. My body warmed just thinking about it.

The TSA agent cleared her throat. “You must forfeit the item if it does not fit into your one-quart Baggie.”

Which I knew it wouldn’t, because I’d bought the set of plastic bottles with the Baggie, and everything fit perfectly. And yes, that made me very happy in an incredibly dorky way.

“Let’s lose it,” I said, watching her toss the Bengay into the trash. At least I had my switch stars.

With the medicine safely in the garbage and my weapons intact, Pirate and I made it to the departure gate with barely two hours to spare. I let out a sigh of relief and plopped us down in the chair with the least gum on the side.

The sun was beginning to set outside the terminal, and Pirate gave a wide yawn. I pulled him out of the carrier and snuggled him close. Dimitri liked to fly internationally at night. That way, he could start the day in a new place.

An airport cart beeped past us, its yellow light flashing. A few travelers looked up. Most didn’t.

Pirate curled up in the crook of my arm and fell instantly asleep, as only dogs can. I hoped I could sleep after what I’d seen.

Shake it off.

The creatures—not to mention demons—I’d met over the last two months had probably wanted to do much worse to me. I just hadn’t been able to see it in 3-D color before. I settled back into the chair. No sense borrowing trouble from an invisible bar. I’d take each day as it came.

It was easier said than done.

Dimitri—in his usual daring fashion—arrived less than an hour before takeoff.

I turned too fast and almost woke up Pirate. I eased the little guy into his carrier, and before I knew it, Dimitri’s solid weight pressed against my back.

Mmm…he smelled like rich amber and pure man. I ran my fingers lightly over his olive skin. “Missed you,” I said, thankful for once that his griffin nature let him move a hair quicker than other men.

“Good,” he rumbled against my back. The sound of his voice, the crisp Greek accent, made me glad to see him all over again.

I smiled up at him. He grinned back, his angled features softening. He wore a crisp, blue shirt cut to fit his broad shoulders, and black dress pants. Everything about him was polished, except for the way his thick, ebony hair curled around his collar.

A ribbon of pleasure trailed down my spine when his eyes swept over me. I’d waited thirty years for a man to look at me like that.

His hand lingered on my shoulders. “Your back still hurting you?” he asked, with a trace of guilt.

“I told you, it was worth it.” I’d never made love on the back of a Harley before. We hadn’t planned on that, but things tended to get out of hand with Dimitri.

Of course, I loved every minute of it.

I rubbed my spine, releasing a waft of Bengay. Dimitri noticed it too. He tried to hide it, but his nose wrinkled slightly at the pungent odor.

“It has to get better,” I said. “TSA took my drugs.”

“Praise be to national security.” He handed me a Diet Coke and pulled a Hershey bar from his pack, my two feel-good foods. Did I say the man was a keeper?

I unwrapped the chocolate and bit into it, savoring the creamy texture. I’ve never been crazy about flying, but somehow being here with this man made it all worth-while.

“My sisters can’t wait to meet you, Lizzie,” he said, smoothing a lock of hair behind my ear.

Pirate let out a grunt that turned into a loud doggie snore. Dimitri couldn’t stop grinning, although I didn’t know whether it was due to Pirate or the anticipation of going home at last. “Diana has already unearthed pictures of my more awkward years, and Dyonne is most eager to tell you the story of my first shift into my griffin form.”