As soon as Tom’s red convertible pulls out onto the highway, I watch as the green demons stop, arms crossed as they watch us drive away. I let out a sigh of relief and turn back around, letting my aching head lie back against the headrest. “Fuck,” I mumble under my breath.
Tom shoots me an uncertain look. “Where am I supposed to take you? Because I was heading out for a date and…”
“And you don’t want to show up with me in the car? Yeah, that wouldn’t be good, Tom.”
He nods in agreement. “So...where…”
Right. Where, indeed.
I quickly rattle off the address to the stupid mansion of the stupid demons. They’ve got some explaining to do. They also owe me a new moped. And an entire box of ramen.
“That’s a long way away…”
I’m on the brink of losing it. “Okay, can you just drop me off at the nearest bus stop? Please?”
He grumbles a lot of shit, including a tidbit about a “crazy ass woman thinking she’s being abducted by green aliens,” but he takes me to the bus stop anyway.
“Thanks, Tim,” I tell him distractedly.
“It’s Tom,” he scowls.
“Right. Sorry.”
He peels away as soon as I shut his door. I barely have time to back away to the curb and not get my toes run over. “Geez. Tim’s rude,” I mumble as his car races off.
“I think he said his name was Tom, dear,” the elderly woman on the bus bench says behind me.
I nod at her. “Yeah.”
The woman gives me a once-over, because I probably look like shit. “Here,” she says kindly, digging in her purse before offering up a travel package of wet wipes. “You’ve taken a bit of a tumble. Unless Tom there needs to be taken care of?”
She speaks so sweetly that I don’t even realize what she’s said for a few moments. “Oh. Um, no. Tim doesn’t need to be killed. I crashed my moped.”
She nods just as the city bus pulls up. “This one yours?” she asks.
At this point, I’ll take any of them. Who knows if those green bean bastards can catch up to me? “Yep.”
“You take care now. And always wear your helmet! I tell my grandsons to always wear theirs, and they never listen.”
“Will do. Thanks for the wipes,” I say before hauling myself up the bus stairs.
As soon as I step onto it, I realize that I don’t have any money. I check my back pockets like I’m looking for a bus pass, and find one of them is ripped. I now have a denim butt flap that is clearly exposing some cheek to the rest of the world. I don’t even care right now, though. The driver gives a huff, the sound indicating that he’s not buying my oh shit, where’s my bus pass pat down of my pockets.
I toss a sheepish look his way, and he winces when he looks at my face. “Just get on,” he instructs, turning away from me.
My gaze fills with gratitude, and I mumble a “thank you” as I pass him and slide into the first empty row of seats I find. I collapse against the cold plastic of the chair and lean against the window, letting out a shaky breath as the rest of the adrenaline purges from my body.
That was just...in-fucking-sane. And terrifying. I’m really pissed off that the guys didn’t come to help me. Clearly, they let those demons get through their Hellgate, so this is their fault. At least, that’s what I’m sticking to right now.
As the bus drives, I carefully use the wipes to clean my cheek and palms. It stings like a bitch, but I think I manage to get all of the little asphalt rocks out from my skin and most of the blood wiped off.
By some miracle, this bus is heading in the right direction of the hot demon estate, but when I get off at the stop, it’s still miles away from my final destination. Guess I’ll be hoofing it. Dragging my sore body forward, I begin walking while looking around constantly, just in case more fucked up demon spawn try to jump me.
By the time I crest a hill and spot the massive gate that opens to the long driveway of the mansion, it’s been hours since my green team from Hell attack.
I’m tired, I’m hurt from my crash, I’m hungry as fuck, I’m freaked out, and I’m pissed. Oh, and I’m covered in sludgy mud, because I fell into a fucking marsh on the way here. As if I wasn’t having a shitty day already.
Time to give those four demons a piece of my mind.
8
I pound on the front door, wincing at the pain in my hand. Grumpy Lurch opens the door, his face just as cantankerous as ever, and when he sees me, his lips pull back in an irritated snarl.
I don’t wait for him to tell me I need to go to the back of the house or for him to spew any of his other classist bullshit that I see brewing in his eyes. Instead, I push my way past him into the house. “Excuse me!” he snaps.
“You’re excused,” I snark back as I hurry through the entryway.
I ignore the alarm that shoots through me when I realize that maybe this guy is a demon too. Then again, even if he is, I doubt this snooty fucker would lower himself to manhandle the help, or at least, that’s what I hope as I stomp past him, dismissing the indignant noises he starts making.
A booming laugh fills the massive house, and I pivot and head for the source. Just when I think I can’t get any more pissed about this situation, that laugh sounds off again,
