Katherine Pine

“For all intents and purposes, Cammy was now my imaginary friend, since no one could see him except my boyfriend and the satanic chauvinist who tried to kill me.”

“The four of us were together at last--me, the angel, the devil, and my demon. I felt like the moment should have seemed more momentous, or at least more pleasant, like we should have made jokes as we meandered down to the beach, collected driftwood for a fire, and leisurely toasted marshmallows. Instead, I was struggling to keep my eyes open, the angel was looking at the ground, Oz was glaring at the trunk, and for some reason I just knew that Forneus, locked down and wrapped in a sheet, was glaring right back.”

“He just stared at me."Stop looking at me like that," I begged.Immediately he changed the angle at which he looked at me.I wanted to scream at him.”

“Forneus glared at us from the driver's seat with eyes glowing with the promise of purple vengeance.”

“Oh yeah, I'd almost forgot. Forneus was beautiful, with purple hair, purple eyes and a smile that could probably only be described as devastating. Not that I'd ever seen such a smile, or wanted to. After watching him rot and ooze blood on top of my mom's oven in his "true" form and learning that he'd tried to drag me off to Hell, he'd lost a bit of his sex appeal.”

“Oz closed his eyes and grit his teeth. For a few minutes I thought he wouldn't say anything at all, just haul me over his shoulder and lock me in the back room. I hugged Princess for protection. Claws, Princess! Start hissing! I've pet you for hours, now protect me! But she didn't understand the gravity of the situation. Groggily, she licked my chin and began to purr into my neck, as if I'd clung to her for dear life simply for her own benefit.”

“Well, I have my angel--""Yes, let's place our faith in that sparkling 'Frisbee' because he's done so much to help you already.”

“No, I mean I can't kiss you while you think about your brother."My grip on his shirt loosened. It did sound bad when he phrased it like that.”

“Oz suddenly looked very guilty. "About that. Um, that's because I marked you last night."My smile froze on my cheeks, making my face ache. "What?"He suddenly found the half-eaten pancakes on his plate fascinating. "While you were sleeping on the couch, I rolled you over and..."The blood left my face. "What exactly does marking someone entail?""Nothing so bad. I just bit your back.""You bit me?""Yeah. I injected some venom into your bloodstream that would make you feel better around me. I like holding your hand but I didn't think it was very practical."I lifted my shirt, pulled down my pants, and almost fell over. My lower back looked...it looked..."You gave me a festering tramp stamp?" I shrieked."You don't think it's cute?”

“I kinda looked like a wanna-be Goth chick, or an unfortunate Persian girl in a Gothic romance who was wasting away from Tuberculosis. But that was alright. Oz had mentioned he wasn't human. He was probably into that sort of thing.”

“He was like a knife, all harsh angles and violent promises.”

“Don't worry about it. He's just moody because it's been about nine months since he's gotten laid, and he thinks I'm going to get some tonight."I almost choked on the pancakes.Oz put his hand on his belly and looked down. "Don't make that face." He tried unsuccessfully to keep himself from laughing. "I know it's not happening. Besides, I don't you well enough yet. You could be scary."I forced the uncooperative bite of pancake down my throat. "You think I'm scary?" I squealed. "I hope you realize this is coming from the guy who said he wasn't human.”

“Nothing could kill a conversation quite like fighting back tears after you're asked a simple question.”

“I actually really don't want to know," I admitted. "Up until a few seconds ago I had a lot of illusions about you being this incredible, sane guy and I'd like to keep them, but I'm not going to be satisfied until I do.""Fine then, I won't tell you."I planted my face in my palm and sighed. "It doesn't matter how crazy this is, I'm going to be thinking about it all night."He gave me a purely demonic grin. "Then I definitely won't tell you. "My eyes narrowed. "That's nothing to be proud of.""And why wouldn't I be proud of keeping a pretty girl up all night?" He chuckled and chewed on a French fry.My face and the back of my neck burned. He had to be joking. No one could say something so horrifying and then eat a French fry. Supernatural beings didn't like fast food, I was sure of it. This was all an elaborate hoax and I just hasn't picked up on it yet. It had to be, and even if it wasn't I would pretend it was. Pretend until it became true.”

“This wonderful, sexy, funny guy was completely psychotic. And I was still holding his hand.Even more surprisingly, I still didn't want to let go.”

“Then he was on his knees in front of me. "Come here Princess," he cooed.My pulse spiked. I wondered if I should slap him or "come here." Then I realized he was talking to the cat.”

“He grinned. "You're easy, I like that."I didn't really have a response. I guess I was easy.”

“How old are you?""Not too old, in this incarnation anyway." He smiled again. "I recently inherited it.”

“I actually huffed. "Do not make me result to underhanded measures."It was the wrong thing to say. He gave me a devastating smile. "Oh, I definitely wouldn't mind.”

“If you think your desires are selfish or cruel, hate yourself. If you think the world unjust, then hate your god.”

“Maybe this kind of devotion is sinful," I continued. "Perhaps it was even the origin of sin. But you and I are already damned.”

“His matted hair was a bit longer than it should have been, his leather trench coat way too worn and soft under my fingertips. There was no incandescent light, just this flawed, wonderful being.”

“Every part of her was still except her hair, which blew round her face in the damp night like Medusa's serpentine locks rearing to strike.”

“Longing did not even begin to describe the dark, blissful, almost painful feeling that rose within me. It was as if I was truly melting into him.”

“She's the one I told you about. Everyone is looking for her. Lucifer wants her.”

“I didn't want to think about it. Indulging someone's insanity like this couldn't be healthy.”

“To Oz's credit, he didn't say anything, probably because he'd decided that trying to converse with someone so temperamental wasn't worth it.”

“Well, you can't be a vampire." I struggled to make it sound like I was teasing, not feverishly wishing. "You're not sparkling.”

“My breath caught in my chest. Misunderstood artsy types weren't supposed to smile like that. They were supposed to glance at others condescendingly and ooze sarcastic witticisms. I felt like this guy was going to wiggle his eyebrows and ask me to "wrassle”

“The only customers they'd get on a day like this were lunatics -- well, lunatics and hopeless romantics with a fetish for the smell of dusty old books, which in their eyes probably amounted to the same thing.”

“A man killing himself in the pursuit of his dreams is no different in a moth flying into a flame.”