“Hey, roomie,” Leanne said from over Oliver’s shoulder. I hadn’t even seen her, so intent was I on tackle-hugging my fairy friend.
I let go of Oliver and dragged Leanne into her own bear hug. She held me close. Something about the way she squeezed me made me think she knew better than anyone else what exactly I was going through.
I stepped away, wiping away bloody tears. “You don’t know how good it is to see you two.” I took a couple deep breaths, looked between the two of them, then to our surroundings. “Wait,” I said as my tears dried up, my gaze traveling back to them, “what are you two doing here?”
“Rescuing your skanky ass,” Oliver said.
Rescuing me. I could smell the truth to Oliver’s words too. They hadn’t turned their backs on me, though I didn’t know why. I was dangerous to associate with.
“Word on the street is that you’re the anti-Christ,” he said.
I winced at the name. “That’s what they say.”
“It’s a load of ogre crap,” Leanne said.
I couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’m not sure that it is,” I said, rolling the stem of the rose between my fingers.
I drew in a deep breath. “How did you find me?” I asked her. Hestia had said that no seer would be able to locate me.
“She didn’t find you, Buffy,” Oliver said, pursing his lips. “I did.”
My eyebrows lifted.
“Apparently the ley lines have been blowing up with demonic activity,” Leanne supplied, “all circling this location.”
“Pssh.” Oliver buffed his nails on his button-down. “She makes it sound like it was a simple matter of plotting lines down on a chart. Do you know how many favors I cashed in on your behalf, Sabertooth? So. Many. Not to mention all of the demons lurking on the ley lines that I had to crotch kick.” He glanced down at his shoes and pouted. “Their dongs melted my new Jimmy Choos. Boo.”
Movement flickered on my peripherals, but when I turned to look, nothing was there. Still, it was enough to spook me.
“Neither of you should be here,” I said, my panic rising. If Oliver had to fight off demons just to traverse a ley line, what would happen to him and Leanne once Underworld beings realized they were my friends?
“Don’t be ridiculous. You need us,” Leanne said. “Oliver has the connections—and the means of travel—and I have the foresight.”
God, they weren’t going to back down, and I didn’t know whether the dominating emotion was terror or soul-deep gratitude. “But you could both get hurt.”
“Do I look frightened?” Oliver asked. “I’m James-fucking-Bond with wings. Oh—” Oliver snapped his fingers, his eyes lighting up, “before I forget, I had something made for you.”
Even in dire circumstances, some things never changed, like Oliver’s impressively short attention span.
He dug through the bag he carried until he pulled out a folded fitted shirt. Shaking it out, he held it up and presented it to me. “Do you like it?”
The shirt read, I Kissed Satan and All I Got Was This Shitty Shirt.
I choked a little. “Oh my God.”
“I figured we needed evidence that you got somewhere with some guy. Lord knows your sex life is slower than the journey to Mordor.”
He folded the shirt back up. “Don’t worry, Sabertooth, I’ll hold this for you,” he eyed my leather outfit, “seeing as how you have no place to store it.”
“How … thoughtful of you.”
“I thought so.”
My breath caught, and a sharp pain wedged itself in the center of my chest. Happiness that my friends were here with me. Fear for them and worry that they’d located me so easily.
Speaking of locating people …
“I need to find Andre.” He’d been at the back of my mind since I’d woken, and now I couldn’t ignore my thoughts concerning him. As soon as he realized I was gone, he’d begin moving heaven and earth to find me, and that usually meant human casualties. I didn’t want anymore blood on my hands.
Oliver cocked his head. “You don’t know where he is … ?” As if seeing it all for the first time, Oliver surveyed me, then my surroundings. His head drew back, affronted. “Wait, fuck that question: what are you doing here?”
I rolled the stem of the flower in my hand, causing his eyes to dart to it and his head to tilt in the other direction.
“No clue,” I said.
Olive grabbed the note tied to the rose and turned it over. “‘Counting the days’?” He pursed his lips. “Is it … written in blood? Ew.” He dropped the note.
His eyes met mine as did Leanne’s, and my mouth began to move, words tumbling out before I could think twice about them. “The devil kidnapped me—just like he did at the beginning of the school year.”
“Kidnapped you?” Leanne repeated, her eyes going wide.
I nodded, a frown tugging down the corners of my lips.
Oliver made a sound at the back of his throat. “Ooooh, ten euro says your big, scary hunk of burning love has ripped out at least one throat trying to find you.”
“Oliver, that’s inappropriate and savage.” Leanne turned to me. “Do you know where Andre might be? Oliver can take us to him.”
“Pfft, there you go, just offering out my services.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if you had anything different in mind.”
I cut in. “A sorceress lives a little less than a mile away.” I nodded in the direction. “That’s where I last left him.”
“Awesome,” Leanne said. “Let’s get going.” She made a grab for Oliver’s hand, but he pulled it out of reach.
“Whoa,” he said, “eff-no to the nature hike—my shoes are ruined enough as is.” He wiped something dark off of his shoe and onto the leaves. I really hoped it was just melted rubber. Turning to me he asked, “This is the sorceress we’re talking about, right?”
I shrugged. “She seemed pretty self-important.”
“Then she’ll have her one ley line portal, which we’ll use.”
“Still going to get demon all over you,” Leanne said.