Personal Demons 2 - Original Sin (11 page)

Luc

The whole deal with Matt and Lili isn't sitting right. Because the truth is, I've had an uneasy feeling about Lili for a while. Not anything I can put a finger on, but there's something not right about her.

Or maybe it's me. Maybe I'm being unfair. Because there have been a few times that I've caught myself fantasizing…about her.

I told myself it was these Hell-forsaken teenage hormones. But it felt like more.

I watch Frannie empty Matt's ice bag into the sink and I know there's nothing else I could ever want. But I have to admit, if only to myself, that I felt the cold edge of jealousy cut through me when I realized Matt was lusting on Lili.

Frannie shivers when I step up behind her and kiss the back of her neck while running a finger down her arm.

“You don't think Matt was acting a little…strange with Lili?”

She turns her head to look at me. “I don't know. Maybe. But even if he likes her, I don't think he's really going to
do
anything about it.”

“I'm not so sure. But even if he's just ogling her, it's still a distraction.”

She turns and presses against me, wrapping me in her arms and making me completely lose my train of thought. “That's why I have you.”

“Hmm…,” I say, trying to remember where I was going with this. “But I've got my own shadow to worry about.” Rhenorian is out there, and he's got two choices: Figure out how to get me back to Hell, or burn in the Fiery Pit for all eternity.

Frannie stretches up and kisses my nose. “Would he leave if I used my Sway…convinced him he didn't want you?”

I can't stop the grin. “You'd be willing to compromise your moral standards for me?”

She shoves me away as her brow creases and her mouth presses into a tight line. “Shut up or I'll change my mind. Do you want me to try or not?”

I pull her back toward me. “Maybe,” I say into her hair, “but I'm hoping to find out from him what's going on. Since he's figured out I'm human, he seems to be hanging back and watching—more curious than anything.”

“But you said he can't take you to Hell, right? You're tagged for Heaven.”

“For now.”

She squeezes me tighter. “Forever.”

“That remains to be seen. Point is, he doesn't seem to be
doing
anything. He's made no effort to reverse my tag.” My stomach aches with a guilty pang, thinking about what Rhenorian said:
all the pretty young things.
I push his voice out of my head. “It's creepy. He's just watching.”

“Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like
watching
is better than
doing.
” She cracks a wicked smile and her hand glides down my stomach and under my T-shirt. “At least as far as Hell is concerned.”

I shudder at her touch. “It's just so unlike him. He's a creature of wrath. For him to hold his temper—just watch—it's completely out of character. It's making me nervous.”

She loops her arms around my neck, pulling me down to meet her in a kiss. “So, what do I have to do to make you unnervous?” she says, smiling into my lips.

I grin back. “This is good.”

But just then, there's a knock at the door.

“That's Lili. Shopping time.”

“I'd tell you to take Matt, but if he's drooling over Lili the whole time, I'm not sure you'd be any safer. Maybe I should go with you.” My voice is sour. I can't help it. This has me really worried.

She just stares at me.

I arch an eyebrow. “I like shopping.”

“Yeah, I can so totally see you and your demon shadow browsing the sale rack at Victoria's Secret.”

I think about that for a second and a smile breaks across my face. “So can I.”

She shakes her head as she moves to the door, tying her hair back in a knot. “No. Girls only. Except Matt, I guess, 'cause I can't really do anything about him.”

She pulls the door open. “Hey, Lili.”

“Hey. You ready?” Lili says, glancing from Frannie to me.

“Yeah,” Frannie says. “We'll pick up Riley and Taylor on our way to the mall.”

Lili lowers her head, and her hair falls in her face. “Okay.”

Frannie gives me a kiss on the cheek. “See you in a while.”

I smile, imagining what she might find on that sale rack at Victoria's Secret. “I'll be waiting with bated breath.”

Frannie

We pull into Taylor's driveway and she comes bouncing down the stairs. Riley and Trevor lag behind, hands tucked into each other's back pockets.

Taylor skips up to the passenger door before realizing there's someone already in that seat. “Oh. Hey. You're Lili?”

Lili slides out of the car and pulls the back of the seat forward. She starts to get in back.

“No.” I say, “Lili's shotgun.”

Taylor shoots me a glare and I glare right back. She pushes past Lili and into the backseat.

Riley and Trevor finally make it to the car. Once they rip their eyes away from each other, I make the intros and Riley slides into the back with Taylor. Trevor stands in the driveway, looking like a lost puppy as I pull out.

“So, what's with the sweats?” Taylor sneers from the backseat.

“Taylor!” I say, and glance at Lili.

“It's okay,” she says, and shrugs. But she doesn't turn to look at Taylor. “They're three bucks at Walmart.”

I can see some semi-vicious comeback perched on Taylor's lips, but Riley smacks her in the arm and does her best Taylor glare.

“Lili,” Riley says, touching Lili's shoulder from behind her. “Frannie says you're going to State.”

Lili turns in her seat, but doesn't really look at Riley. “Yeah, that's the plan.”

“What are you studying? Fashion design?” Taylor smirks.

I turn and glare at her. “You know what, Tay? Shut the hell up.”

“Um…Frannie,” Riley says. “Road…driving…” She points a shaky finger forward.

Lili grips the seat next to me, staring out the windshield with wide eyes as I weave through traffic. Taylor and Riley chitchat in the backseat, but I hear Riley's anxious voice rise every time I change lanes. And Taylor keeps talking about muumuus and stuff on sale at Walmart. I should have known it was too much to hope that she would behave.

We score a decent parking spot near the food court and stroll into the mall.

“Aeropostale?” I say, 'cause they always have good sales.

“Sounds good.” Riley starts off in that direction and we all follow.

We browse the sale rack, and Lili comes away with three printed tees, a couple of tank tops, and a really cute pair of shorts for thirty-four bucks. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to see her try them on. I'm still curious about what lurks under that baggy sweatshirt.

Next, we head for Victoria's Secret. It's their semiannual bra sale, so I pick up a new red lace one and a few others. My best find is this short, sapphire blue silk nightshirt, on sale for fifteen bucks, that I'm sure Luc will love.

Lili looks through the D bins and finds two cute ones she can afford. So not heavy, stacked.

We swing into Macy's and hit all the perfume counters. Riley and Taylor spray each other with random scents while Lili wanders to the JLo counter and tries a citrus-vanilla one—Glow.

“That's amazing on you,” I tell her, 'cause it is. “You should totally get that.”

She cringes a little. “How much is it?”

I look at the counter. “Oh…like thirty bucks. Ouch.”

Her face scrunches. “I can't.” She puts it down and starts to walk away, but then turns back, sniffing her wrist again. “It is pretty fabulous, isn't it?”

I smile at her, glad to see her come out of her shell a little. “It is.”

She pulls a wad of small bills from her pocket and smiles back. “Who needs to eat this week?”

Ten minutes later, we all walk away from the fragrance counter smelling like a combination fruit bowl and florist.

“Food court?” I say.

“Totally,” Taylor says, because that's where the high school guys all hang out during the day.

I laugh when we get there and look over at the tables. Trevor and Jackson Harris are there with the rest of their crew. They already have a mound of french fries and burgers in front of them. I'm convinced teenage boys can never be more than thirty feet from food or they'll shrivel up and die.

Riley and Trevor make eyes at each other, but Riley displays amazing restraint and stays with us as we head to the Panda Express counter. We grab some stuff to share, and Lili looks a little embarrassed when I tell her it's my treat.

“Hey, I owe you for all that beer,” I say.

She sorta smiles, but not really, as we head to the tables. And she doesn't eat much.

Finally, when we've picked at the food as much as we're going to, I roll up all the plates and head for the trash. Just as I'm coming back to the table, Taylor's eyes spark.

“Ooh…there's one for you, Lili,” she says, pointing full on at a guy skulking by with dirty jeans and a stained gray sweatshirt. He looks at us and trips over his own feet. His brown hair is long and in his face, so it almost hides how red he turns. And I hate to say it, but with that sweatshirt and hair, he does kinda look like Lili's male counterpart. He hurries past and disappears into the throng of summer shoppers.

I glare at Taylor.

But just then, over the piped-in Muzak, I hear a titter of laughter from the other side of a short partition between the tables and the water fountain. It makes all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Because I know that laugh. I turn to see Angelique Preston and her posse just coming out of the Abercrombie.

Angelique looks up and sees us. Instantly, her nose wrinkles. She walks within earshot of our table. “Do you guys smell that? Eew. Someone forgot to take out the trash.” She glares at me for a second; then her gaze shifts to Lili. “So nice of you to feed the homeless, Cavanaugh.”

I shift closer to Lili and when I glance over, I'm shocked to see Riley and Taylor both shift closer as well.

Taylor steps in front of Lili and looks daggers at Angelique. “Fuck off.”

Angelique smirks and sashays off toward the Hollister, her minions trailing behind.

And for the rest of the day, Taylor and Lili are attached at the hip. Go figure.

Matt

Taylor was living dangerously for a while, but she seems to have come around. I was right on the edge of putting duck sauce down the front of her shirt until Angelique showed up.

But I have to say, staying out of the changing rooms while Lili was trying things on—especially at Victoria's Secret—took all the angelic restraint I could muster.

The girls make their purchases and finally head back to the car. Frannie drops Taylor and Riley off, and when she rolls into the parking lot at Lili's apartment building, top down and hair flying, I just happen to be there.

“Ladies,” I say with my biggest smile as they step out of Frannie's car.

“Hey, Matt,” Frannie says.

Lili turns to retrieve her shopping bags from the trunk.

“How'd you do?” I say, gesturing to her stuff.

“Pretty good, I guess. Frannie knows where all the good sales are.” She ventures a small smile.

“Cool. You guys heading up?” I shrug a shoulder toward the building.

“Yeah,” she says.

I reach for her bags. “I can carry those for you.”

Frannie rolls her eyes behind Lili, but Lili clutches her bags tighter. “I think I can manage, thanks.”

I hold my hands up in the air. No harm, no foul. “Just offering…”

I follow Frannie and Lili into the building, and Lili turns to me at the bottom of the stairs. “Watch your step,” she says with a smile. Her eyes spark as they connect with mine, and a hot electric zing shoots through me.

I rub the back of my head. “Yeah.” It's all I can think to say. I'm such a moron.

Frannie uses her key in Luc's door, and just as she twists the last lock, there's a crash from inside the apartment. The door swings open and Rhenorian's head jerks up from where Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber have Luc pinned against the wall. He lowers his glowing fist, and a wave of panic surges through me as I wonder how much Lili saw.

Lili.
Crap.

She's going to expect me to do something to help my “friend.”

Rhenorian turns and gives Luc a crack across the left cheek with his fist—the old-fashioned approach. Then the Tweedle brothers pull him off the wall.

“No!” Frannie rushes toward Luc, but I hold her back and glance at Lili. She's just staring at the spectacle. This could be my big chance to impress her.

So now I've got to save the demon.

Crap.

I step into the room. “Let him go.”

Rhenorian smirks at me. “Yeah, right.” I see his eyes flick to Lili, and a grin splits his face. “You gonna make me?”

In a fair fight in our human forms, I'm pretty much toast. Which means I can't fight fair. I cross the room and catch Luc's eye. He nods.

At the same instant Luc twists out of the Tweedle brothers' grasp and throws Tweedledumb into the wall, I strike out with an electric punch to Rhenorian's jaw. I hope Lili doesn't notice the hint of ozone it leaves behind. Rhenorian reels back from the punch and glares at me. “For the sin of Satan, cherub, figure out which side you're on.”

I shoot a glance at Luc, but he's too busy wrestling Tweedledumb to have heard.

Rhenorian grabs Tweedledumber by the scruff of his neck and stalks toward the door. “It was a stupid plan anyway,” he grumbles, leering at me as he passes. Luc releases Tweedledumb, and he follows behind, throwing a glare over his shoulder at me.

Lili stands just inside the door, looking shocked and confused. Frannie slams the door behind the demons and runs to Luc.