He nodded. “Yeah, my girlfriend’s like that—” He cut himself off and abruptly looked elsewhere.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You don’t have to avoid talking about her. We’re just friends, remember?” Several awkward moments passed. We weren’t making out or anything, but no one in their right mind was oblivious enough to think this outing had no romantic overtones. “So?
What about her? Is she in really good shape?”
“Um, yeah,” he finally said. The dangerous topic had triggered some of his usual hesitancy. “Really slim.”
“Cool,” I said. “And she doesn’t work out or anything? She must have good genes.”
Seth choked on his cotton candy a little. “Yeah. Great genes.”
“How long have you guys been dating?”
“A couple months.”
“Is it serious?” He didn’t reply. “Look,” I said hastily, “if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, really…”
“No, no.” He sighed. “It’s just…I’m sorry. This is just kind of weird for me. Us. You and me.” He gestured toward the happy people mingling around the carnival attractions. “This. I just don’t…I’m just not sure…I don’t know.”
“You feel guilty?” I asked.
He considered. “Yeah. A little. I mean, we’re in town for her…thing, so it’s not like I’m neglecting anything of my own by being here tonight. I got my writing in. She’s busy. And, um, I like hanging out with you, but the whole thing is…”
“…weird,” I finished.
“Yeah.”
“I understand. I know it’s hard…men and women being friends always are. And I don’t want to cause any trouble for you. We can go now if you want.” I paused meaningfully before going in for the kill. “I mean, especially if you guys are having problems or anything…probably best if we don’t…”
Seth stared off at the gray line of the Pacific. “Not problems. Just a few kinks here and there.”
I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. So. Seth didn’t think everything was perfect with us. No surprise there. I sure didn’t. Hearing him acknowledge it—to a woman he hardly knew—yanked painfully at something inside my chest.
But, he didn’t seem like he was going to elaborate on it, which was good. He also didn’t seem like he was going to get up and leave, however, so he wasn’t taking my—Beth’s—offer to end tonight’s awkwardness. I tried to think of what some ostensibly helpful and secretly lustful woman would say. God knows I’d played this role plenty of times in the past. Nothing like a helpful confidante to pave the way for seduction.
“Anything you want to talk about?” He glanced over at me, and I offered a small smile.
“Want a woman’s perspective?”
He provided a small smile of his own in return and shook his head. “It’s more than that. The prob—kinks we have…well, they’re just little cracks here and there in what’s otherwise a…” The wheels of word choice spun in his head. “…a work of art.”
“Little cracks can eventually destroy a work of art,” I pointed out.
“Yeah,” he said wistfully. “But for now, it’s so beautiful.” More silence fell, and at last, Seth straightened up from the slouch he’d fallen into. “You know, maybe we should go. I’m sorry…I don’t mean to…”
Relief flooded through me. Seth was walking away from this situation.
“No, no, it’s okay,” I assured him, crumpling up the cotton candy paper. “It’s getting late anyway.”
We stood up, and Seth gathered my winnings again. Frowning, he glanced down at them and then let his eyes drift off to the people walking up and down the midway, watching and playing games. I followed his gaze and knew him well enough to immediately know what held his attention.
A woman—mid-thirties maybe—was walking through. She had two grade school children, a boy and a girl, walking with her while she pushed a stroller holding a toddler. The boy was pointing toward one of the games. I couldn’t hear what he said, but he sounded excited. They passed near us, and I heard his mother’s words clearly.
“No one ever wins those things,” she told him. “It’s a waste of money.”
They kept going and then paused in the shadow of a crazily spinning ride, so she could kneel down and fuss with the toddler’s bottle.
“Be right back,” Seth told me.
A smile crept onto my face as I watched him stroll over, bearing the stuffed animals. They were too far away now for me to hear, but I watched him speak to the woman and present his offerings to the children. My heart fluttered, and my insides turned wispier than the cotton candy. Seth was amazing. There was no one else in the world like him. No one as sweet. No one as kind.
“Do you know,” a voice suddenly said in my ear, “how easily the bolts in one of those cars could come loose? And at the speed they’re going…wow. Yeah. It’d be pretty bad for anyone in the car—not to mention anyone it hit on the ground.”
I turned jerkily and looked into the cold eyes of Magenta Lips from the jury. Weak Chin stood beside her. A slight shimmer to their appearance told me they were invisible to mortal eyes. Damn. For half a second, Seth’s sweet nature had made me forget about my woes. Now, here they were, right in front of me.
“And did you also know,” Weak Chin added, “how many people in a crowd like this are armed? Guns, knives. So easy for things to go awry if some would-be thief tries to steal from someone. Hell, there doesn’t have to be a crime involved. A trivial fight breaks out, someone pulls a gun, some bystander in the crowd is in the wrong place at the wrong time…”
“And yet, even that’s not as dangerous as the ride back,” mused the demoness. “People still don’t believe those statistics about flying being safer than driving, but it’s amazing what can go wrong on the road. Drunk driver. Brake failure. Really, it’s a wonder mortals live as long as they do.”
“Fortunately,” pointed out Weak Chin, “we aren’t mortal, so we don’t have to worry about anything like that.” He turned from me, and I followed his eyes to where Seth still stood talking to the family. “Poor bastards.”
“Are you threatening me?” I asked in a small voice.
Magenta Lips’ magenta lips turned up in a cruel smile. “Of course not, sweetie. You know the rules. We can’t harm you. Wouldn’t dream of it.” But her eyes were on Seth now too.
“Look, if you guys think—”
“Oh, look at that,” interrupted Weak Chin, glancing down at his watch. “We need to get back. Still got more deliberation in the morning, and I’m sure we’ll all want a good night’s sleep if it turns out to be as long as today’s was.”
“Well,” said Magenta Lips crisply. “Let’s hope it isn’t.”
They vanished. A minute later, Seth walked back over to me, smiling broadly. It was another of those full ones I loved so much, but I couldn’t even appreciate it.
“Now there are some people who really value a good throwing arm.” The smile faded as he peered at me. “Are you okay?”
No. No, I wasn’t. I could barely focus on his face, and I felt cold all over, despite the warm weather. The two demons’ words had ripped into me like shrapnel.
“I…yeah…” I swallowed. “Just not feeling so great all of a sudden. Let’s go back.”
I didn’t sleep well that night. “Not well” meaning “not at all.” I tossed and turned and alternated between staring at the ceiling and at Seth. Apparently he’d gained no sugar high from the carnival food because he’d been fast asleep when I’d arrived back in my normal body. He slept heavily and peacefully throughout the night, a content look on his face. He didn’t look like a guy who couldn’t touch his succubus girlfriend or who had a death threat hanging over his head.
Surely…surely they wouldn’t do it, I thought. They were bluffing. Trying to scare me. They couldn’t do it.