All he thought about was tasting those ruby lips, convincing her in different ways he was here to stay, no matter what she said. He’d made a promise to Chase and to himself to keep Cyra safe.
“Look, I don’t know why you’re against a helping hand. This way we get this done quick and both of us will be out of here soon enough.”
She gritted her teeth. “Because I need to prove to Argos that I can work on a case on my own. Don’t need your help or my brother’s.” She whirled on her heels and marched toward the kitchen, and he followed. “I’ll let Argos know I just popped in to visit you. They don’t need to know anything else. Deal?”
But she didn’t respond.
Once they turned the corner of the hallway and entered the kitchen, towering in front of them in the middle of the room was a mountain of chairs piled high on the table. An eerie vibe engulfed him. Each seat balanced on the table on one leg while the rest of the weight hovered midair, as if held up by puppet strings.
The sight had Gunn stiffening. This was impossible without supernatural intervention, and right there, he found all the evidence he needed to confirm his worst fears.
He leaned closer to Cyra and whispered, “This ain’t no simple haunting, baby girl. We’re dealing with a demonic creature.”
Chapter 3
Cyra
“Could be a pissed off ghost. They move things too,” Cyra whispered to Gunn, unable to pull her gaze off the stacked chairs defying gravity. A shiver clawed up her arms, and she rubbed them. Her experience thus far had come in the form of ghosts and spells, not handling darkness from Hell. Sending her here had to have been a mistake, but Argos trackers were notorious for being accurate, or so they’d told her during training. They didn’t misjudge assignments.
Gunn didn’t say a word as he moved past her. He grabbed a chair’s leg and yanked it away from the table.
Silence.
Cyra had expected the rest of the chairs to come crashing down, but none budged. He set the chairs back on the floor, one by one, and she joined him, figuring the old couple would freak at the sight.
“The way I see it,” Gunn began, “no one is possessed, so I’m guessing it’s a speck demon attached to an object. And it’s playing with us.”
“Or an angry spirit that needs to cross over.” Cyra pushed another chair under the table, the wooden frame icy to the touch. Thankfully, the personal cleansing she’d done on herself before arriving would help, though there were no promises something wouldn’t latch on to her. Life didn’t come with guarantees; otherwise, she’d wouldn’t have lost her parents at a young age, or her grandpa last year. While her brother annoyed her, she loved him. He and her grandma were all she had left in the world, and that was why she had jumped at the chance to work with Argos—to be closer to him, but not in his pocket. And she really didn’t want to fail this job. What would Argos say if she backed away from the mission because it was a demon not a spirit? She was meant to deal with all these beings, but in truth, the demon side still freaked her out. So maybe it was wishful thinking on her part, but she desperately wanted this to just be a spirit.
The temperature climbed from freezing to semi-normal. Though, with the array of appliances on the bench top, marble walls, and bronze stove, she doubted anything in this kitchen was normal for your average person.
Gunn had his lasso in hand and dragged the loop across the various gadgets in the kitchen, determined to prove his point. And while she appreciated his tenacity, this was her first gig, and she didn’t need some hotshot demon hunter coming in and claiming it as his own.
“If it was a speck, how did the woman see an apparition?” she reminded Gunn. Not to mention, she’d seen one herself in a bedroom from outside, and it had been a terrifying fiend. But it was just a spirit. Had to be. Then why was she shivering?
Gunn pressed his back against the sink, the light from the window behind it giving him a glowing effect, almost angelic. Which couldn’t be further from the truth. But then again, she’d only heard stories about the guy. He rarely spoke with her and usually just walked away if she approached him. She got it. He wasn’t interested, and that was fine by her, because one arrogant beefed-up man in her life was plenty enough—Chase.
And sure, Gunn might be the lord of deliciousness, making her libido twist into the shape of a pretzel, but that meant jack if he saw her as his friend’s baby sister needing rescue.
Whatever! Just get the mission completed, ace it for Argos, and go home. She had a casserole to bake for dinner and there was more of the Argos training manuals to read. Taking a deep breath, she pulled away and approached the doorway.
“Where are you off to?” Gunn’s voice deepened.
With a quick glance over her shoulder, she noticed him retracting the loop of his lasso and placing the weapon onto his belt. “I’m completing what I started before you almost killed me.”
He scowled, and she strolled away. If she intended to show everyone she wasn’t incompetent, she needed to be smart about her approach. The best way forward was to ensure her blessings worked on the house so well, she’d blast every unwanted spirit into space. And that required a bit of her magical intervention.
With her backpack collected from outside, she returned to the kitchen and selected a ceramic bowl from the cupboard. Gunn’s stare remained on her, but she kept going. She dug into her bag, searching among the raven’s feathers, animal bones, and even
