I focused on Cassie, trying to gauge her reaction. She looked serious, but this had to be all a joke, right?
“Ha ha,” I said eventually, my voice edged with layers of sarcasm. “That’s a good one. You’re a witch, like Harry Potter. And you’re here to take me to Hogwarts?”
“Well…” Alec scratched his neck. “It isn’t exactly like Hogwarts; I’ll tell you that.”
I glanced from one of them to the other. Neither appeared to be joking. Cassie wasn’t exactly a good actress, but now she was either starring in the performance of a lifetime, or she wasn’t joking and all of this was real.
“And this morning? With my mother?” The sarcasm had vanished from my voice, and all that remained was shock.
“That would be me.”
In an instant, the seat opposite Alec and next to Cassie, which had been empty seconds before, was occupied by a man who was perhaps even more stunning than Alec. Jet-black hair, blue eyes the color of the ocean, a strong jaw, and a scar through his left eyebrow that somehow made him look even more attractive. If this guy would’ve walked straight out of a movie set, I would’ve believed it. Guys this hot didn’t usually hang out in our boring little town.
I was dreaming, I had to be. One hot guy turning up was one thing, but him claiming to be a warlock, and then another equally stunning specimen turning up?
I should have pinched myself to wake up, but all I could do was stare at the guy who had literally materialized out of thin air.
“Do you always have to pop up everywhere unannounced?” Cass barked at him, irked. “How about using the front door like everyone?”
“You’re just jealous of my skills,” the blue-eyed hottie said.
“Of a demon?” Cass snorted. “Hardly.”
I blinked slowly, the words barely sinking in.
A demon?
A warlock was bad enough, but an actual demon?
“Name’s Christian. Which is a bit ironic, I have to admit.” The newcomer held out a hand toward me, and I automatically reached out to shake his hand, but Cass slapped my hand away.
“You don’t want to know this one, trust me,” she said.
I jerked my hand back without protesting and gaped from one stranger to the other. If this wasn’t a dream, but some kind of messed-up version of reality, how could I ever trust my best friend again if she talked to creatures like warlocks and demons and had never once told me about it? Who was she, really? Did I even know her?
“You look like you’re about to come up with a brand-new theory about the creation of the universe,” Christian commented while gazing at me. “Don’t hurt your brain too much, love. Just accept what we’re telling you, and don’t try to make sense of it.”
I struggled to reclaim my ability to speak. “You’re… you’re a… a demon?” I sounded like a toddler attempting to say her first ever actual sentence.
“Yes,” he replied. “And I’m also the one who possessed your mother this morning. In all fairness, Alec told me not do it, but I just had to. The look on your face, by the way, pure comedy gold.”
The demon seemed to find the whole experience enjoyable. As if scaring me and even worse, my mother, was a joke.
“You scared the hell out of me!” I felt anger flaring through me, despite my shock, despite how terrified I felt. “And my mother!”
Christian e shrugged. “She’ll forget all about it by this evening, trust me. A one-time possession is not that bad. Besides, we had to do something, else you wouldn’t believe us.”
“Believe you about being warlocks and demons? I still don’t believe you.” I gazed at Cass, growing exasperated. “Please tell me there’s a hidden camera somewhere.”
Cass’s expression was pained. “I’m sorry, Dev. There isn’t. Warlocks, demons, witches, all the things that go bump into the night… They’re real.”
“And you knew this? But you decided not to tell me?”
The hurt at her betrayal was even worse than the shock I felt at what the guys had just told me.
“Of course, she didn’t tell you,” Christian said while he tapped Cassie on the head, as if she was a child. “She didn’t tell you, because she’s one of us.”
Chapter Four
I stared at Cassie, my best friend for over ten years, as if it was the first time I had ever seen her. Warlocks, demons, and what not being real was one thing. But my best friend being one of them, and not telling me about it?
Did I even know her? Who was the real Cassie? What other secrets had she kept from me?
“Dev, it’s not like that…” Cassie reached for my hand, but I pulled away from her. All I could feel toward her was shock and anger.
“Then explain.”
Cassie sighed. “Fine. But you have to understand, Dev. I couldn’t tell you. I wasn’t allowed to. We’re not supposed to reveal who we are to humans. And all these years, I thought you were… Well, human.”
“Uhm, excuse me, but I’m pretty sure I’m one hundred percent human.” I looked at the three of them as if they’d all grown four heads. Them being something supernatural, I was willing to come to terms with, but good old me? I was definitely human. In all the years I’d walked this earth, I had never developed the
