Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Not to mention the crows had told him about a very promising meeting between Luke and Matteo.
No, Luke wasn’t leaving. This was something else.
Before the demons could continue their speculation, the front door opened, and Luke’s footsteps echoed through the hallway. They stopped close to the main living room, where the others were gathered. The thick, heavy scent of grease and fried food wafted in the air ahead of him. It was after midnight, and Luke had just gotten off work at that nasty fast-food restaurant.
After a brief pause, Luke continued until he was standing in the doorway wearing his uniform and a heavy coat with a backpack slung on one shoulder. His eyes were bright, and his cheeks were red as if bitten by an icy wind.
As he stood there staring at the group of demons, his breathing sped up, and Azroth could hear his racing heartbeat across the room. Of course, this was Luke’s first time seeing all of them in their true form. It was undoubtedly overwhelming.
“Has it started snowing yet?” Azroth called out in a friendly tone, breaking Luke’s paralysis with a mundane question.
“Snow?” Luke blinked at him like he’d never heard of such a thing. His brown eyes widened when the information seemed to click, and he exhaled. “Uh…no, not yet. Soon. I think,” Luke answered haltingly. It sounded like his brain was coming more online with every word he spoke. He licked his lips and swallowed hard, his eyes touching on everyone in the room.
“Would you like us to assume a more human form?” Azroth offered.
“No! Uh…no, thanks. That was part of the agreement, right? If I stay, you get to be your true selves. That’s only fair.” He took a slow step into the room and then another. “I’m still adjusting. You’re scary, but also kind of cool. Plus, I’m trying to figure out who is who.” He stopped in front of a towering, hairy creature. “I want to guess that you’re Tog.”
“Yep!” Tog grinned, showing a mouthful of large yellow teeth. He tipped his chin higher and puffed out his barrel chest.
“Can you guess who I am?” Mullmag inquired, throwing all four of his spidery arms up in the air.
“Mullmag. Totally,” Luke said with a chuckle.
“He recognized your voice, moron,” Ogos grumbled.
Luke spun to the greenish-yellow gelatinous blob behind him. “And you’re Ogos. There’s no mistaking your snark and sarcasm.”
“Hey, Luke,” the cyclops greeted with a tiny wave.
“Bath’tuk.” Luke waved in return, his shoulders lowering as the tension seemed to seep out of him. He turned to Azroth as he dominated that high-back chair, his leathery wings wrapped around him. “And of course you’re Azroth, but where’s Annod? Could he not make it?”
“I’m here! I’m here!” Annod called out as he crept out from behind Azroth’s chair. He was trembling so badly his bones rattled. The demon was barely more than a skeleton wrapped in sagging chicken skin with frizzy blond hair. He hesitated, still not coming out completely. “I didn’t want to scare you.”
Luke nodded. “You are scary, but you’ve also helped me battle the neighborhood cats, so I know we’re friends, too.”
Azroth sighed. Okay, they were all friends again. He was more interested in getting down to business. “Take your coat off, Luke. I’m assuming you called us all here because you’ve got news about Matteo.”
As expected, there was a bit of an uproar when Azroth mentioned Luke’s love interest. The young man looked overwhelmed for a moment but laughed as he slid off his backpack and set it by the coffee table. He removed his winter coat and dropped onto the end of the sofa.
The fear and worry seemed to fall off Luke, and he was back to being as comfortable with them as he always had. He was the most remarkable human. They were all frightening creatures crowding the room, and he barely blinked an eye at them. Mullmag, with his spiderlike limbs, had given more than one human a heart attack just because of his ghastly presence. And yet, Luke barely reacted. It had to be his steady diet of horror movies. If he laughed at those, how could their true selves frighten him?
“Your crows are more like magpies,” Luke teased.
Azroth could only shrug. “They couldn’t tell me specifics, but they reported that you had a chat with him, and Matteo has now begun feeding them treats. Was that your doing?”
Luke scrubbed his hand through his messy hair. “Sort of. After he was accidentally attacked, he thought he would give the crows some treats so they wouldn’t mistake him for the enemy any longer. He asked for some advice on what to give them.”
Azroth leaned forward, tenting his fingers in front of him so that his nails clicked together. “Was that all you talked about?”
The other demons leaned in as well until Annod fell over. Mullmag and Tuk made disgruntled noises and claimed open spots on the couch so they could be closer to Luke as he spoke.