Angie Fox: ADS 01 - The Accidental Demon Slayer

“It’s okay,” I told her. “I just wish…” What? That my mom cared about me? That she’d been brave or strong or maybe that she’d warned me before she shoved her powers onto me? “I don’t have a twin, do I?”

She considered the question. “If you do, I haven’t felt her.”

“Well that was further from the ‘no’ I’d been wanting.” If I had a twin with the same powers as me, I had to help her. Or…my stomach squinched at the thought…maybe she was better off not knowing.

“I’d suggest you lay off your mom for a while,” Grandma said. “It took more than you realize for her to come after you, regardless of what you think about her.” She tilted her head and eyed me thoughtfully. “Just know your momma loves you in her own way.”

“Okay.” I’d choose to believe that, for now.

“I meant what I said back at the Dumpster. I’m looking forward to being your grandma. Not that I’m going to be throwing chocolate-chip cookies at you. Or blowing smoke up your ass.” She dug her hands into the pockets of her rhinestone-studded skinny jeans.

“I’m going home,” I told her.

She nodded, watching the full moon. “I told Scarlet what you did, ripping your soul in half. You should have seen the look on her face.” She cleared her throat. “Here’s the thing. She thinks there’s a way to rejoin the two halves.”

I nodded, relieved. Leave it up to Scarlet.

“According to Scarlet, you have a choice. When we rejoin your soul, we can put it back together and leave your demon-slaying essence behind.”

“You’re kidding!” I wanted to kiss her. Heck, I’d have been willing to kiss Ant Eater at that moment. Talk about winning the demon slayer lottery. This was even better than learning to control my powers. I could be normal. At last.

“Think about it, Lizzie,” Grandma cautioned. “No more switch stars. No more enchanted riverboats. No more throwing giggle spells at Ant Eater.”

“No more black souls, death spells, fifth-level demon attacks.”

“No more griffins,” she said, watching the moon-flecked waves slap against the bow of the Dixie Queen .

She would have to mention that.

“Unlike your mom, you won’t have to burden anyone else with your powers.’ Course you’ll be completely cut off from the magical world.” We stood in silence for a moment. “Except that I’ll be by to visit from time to time. I mean, you are my grandbaby.”

I knew there’d be consequences. I never thought leaving would be easy. Well, maybe I did in the beginning. While I wasn’t going to run from this world, like my mom, I knew I wasn’t a part of it, like my grandma.

“Let’s do it,” I told her.

“Think about it. We won’t start the ceremony for another,” she checked her hog watch, “twenty minutes, depending on how fast it takes to steam the armadillo jowls.”

“Of course,” I told her.

I didn’t need twenty minutes to think. I’d already decided a long time ago. I mean, this is what I wanted, right? It was better than what I wanted, which was to be left alone. For good.

So why did I feel so miserable?

I’ve never liked good-byes.

Dimitri leaned against the railing on the back deck, one foot propped up on the rust-flecked metal. He would have to look sexy as all get out in worn jeans that hugged his drool-worthy butt and his trademark black T-shirt, drawn tight over his back. Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling a bit tense.

Witches called to each other among the clanking coming from the kitchen and main dining room. Preparations for the Beast Feast were in full swing. I’d left Pirate in the middle of it, riding in Sidecar Bob’s lap and sampling everything in reach.

Dimitri’s gaze flickered over my dirty purple plaid miniskirt. “Come here, Lizzie.”

I wrapped my arms around him, ear to his chest and reveled in the thwump, tump, tump of his heart. He’d always have a part of me with him, whether he knew it or not. My chipped pink fingernails traced wicked patterns on his abs. “They send you out here too?”

“Nah. I just got off the phone with my sisters.” He burst into a wide grin. “You wouldn’t believe it, they’re—” He trailed off, lost in his pure rapture. His sisters were alive.

Dimitri shook his head, lit up from head to toe. “Diana has this horse,” he said. “She calls it her pony, but don’t be fooled—the thing’s as big as a Clydesdale. Turns out she’s been dreaming of him while she’s in her coma. She wakes up, glad as anything to be alive and decides she has to ride the horse, right then and there. Well Dyonne—that’s my other sister,” he paused, physically unable to wipe the smile off his face. “Dyonne tells Diana to forget about the horse. There’s a monster storm brewing off the coast. Lightning, pouring rain, the works. Everybody knows she can’t take Zeus out in that. But all Diana can think about is this horse.”

He shook his head. “So Diana’s out there, soaked, and Dyonne is hollering at her from the window, mad as hell ‘Get in here or you’re going to get killed—again!’ She thinks she has Diana convinced when Diana comes busting through the front door of the house and rides Zeus straight into the dining room.” He laughed freely, tears touching the corners of his eyes. “God, I love those two.”

He tilted his chin down, still smiling. I was going to melt into a puddle on the floor if he kept looking at me that way.

He wrapped my hands in his. “I’m flying to Santorini in a few hours to see them,” he said. “If the house is still standing—and at this rate, that’s a big if.” He ran his thumbs in lazy circles over my wrists. Such a small gesture, but I didn’t want it to end. “I’d like you to come stay with us.”

The two halves of my soul fluttered in my throat. I didn’t know what to think. I couldn’t.

I shouldn’t .

Besides, I’d never planned a trip without two guidebooks, a typed itinerary and at least three months’ notice. Well, except for my recent excursion with the Red Skulls and it was safe to say that undertaking hadn’t quite turned out like I’d expected.

“Well?” He hitched a brow.

He couldn’t be serious. “When would we leave? Now?”

“Ten minutes or so,” he said, not half as concerned as he should be. “I was about to come find you.”

“Ten minutes?” It would take longer than that to convince Pirate to leave the kitchen. And how would I take a dog to Greece?

And wasn’t I out here to tell Dimitri good-bye?

“You said yourself school doesn’t start for another week,” he teased, his lips on mine before I could even think about uttering the word no.

He drew me in again and again, his hands trailing down my back, pulling me into him, making me feel…

I pulled away. If I wanted to get rid of my powers, the ceremony was tonight. Of course that didn’t mean I couldn’t see Dimitri later…Wait. Yes, it did.

“What do you think?” He kissed the tip of my nose. I could feel every inch of him crushed against me.

I didn’t want to think. Just like I hadn’t wanted to think when I had him—all of him—on top of me at Motel 6.

It was time to face facts. This was never going to work.

Dang, it was hard to remember that with this utterly hot, raw, sexy griffin standing close enough to touch.

Before I could stop him, he lowered his mouth to mine. He kissed like his life depended on it. It was so easy to wrap myself up in his heat. I circled one of his nipples with a finger and felt him gasp.

“Come to Santorini with me,” he murmured against my lips. Delicious. “Black sand beaches, two crazy sisters, my family’s old country house.” He brushed my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ears. “I’d ply you with olives and think of many, many ways to entertain you.” His lips tasted mine again. Once, twice. “And of course,” he said, nipping at the edges of my mouth, “you’d have to skip the Beast Feast.”