Well, that explained the combat boots. But … “If it’s a kilt, why’s he wearing a … Kode, help me out here? Blouse? That’s what that frilly thing’s called, right?”
“Yes, Boo. It’s a black silk blouse with lace French cuffs and a ruffled cravat. And as much as I can’t believe I’m going to say this, it is Tabitha’s shirt. I’ve seen her wear it before.”
Cravat. Nick mouthed the word and made a face at Caleb, who laughed at him.
“Don’t mock the boy, Nick. Least his clothes don’t glow in the dark.”
“Sorry, Cay. Without Madaug here to do it, I felt the inexplicable need for it. Besides, unlike M-dog, I’d never say it to Eric’s face and hurt his feelings. I’m merely getting it out of my system before we approach and it slips out against my will.”
Nick winked at them. “And, I have to say that I admire the man for the self-esteem that allows him to leave home looking like that. And I envy him the mirror he owns that told him it looked good, ’cause my mirror cackles at me every time I glance in its general direction.”
As they approached Tabitha and her group, Nick glanced about for a sign of Simi, but didn’t see anything.
“Hey, Tabby. What’s up?”
She gestured at the closed store and the broken glass on the sidewalk. Luckily, the storm shutters were still in place so that she and her friends couldn’t see into the store. “I was coming to get some new protection crystals for the group and…” She toed the glass. “I’ve never known the store to be closed like this. Any idea what happened?”
“Gas leak,” Nick said, remembering Menyara’s list of ready excuses.
“Oh…” Tabitha gasped. “That’s awful. I hope no one was hurt.”
“Nah, everyone got out.”
Except for the dead demons.
Nick cleared his throat at Caleb’s mental insertion.
Tabitha sighed heavily. “Well, crap … Guess we’ll get our protection elsewhere. Everybody, head to my aunt’s.”
As they started away, Tabitha stepped over to Nick to whisper in his ear. “Future reference? You wrinkle your nose when you lie, Gautier. Might want to work on that. And I know this was a demon attack—they left their stink all over it. But I don’t want any of my friends hurt, so I’m getting them out of here. à bient?t!” She glanced over to Kaziel. “Nice C?n Annwn, by the way.”
Gaping, Nick watched her skip to catch up to her friends. “How does she do that? Or, more to the point, know that?”
Caleb and Xev shrugged.
Kody leaned against him. “She’s an empath and a psychic. She knows all kinds of things.”
He shook his head. How had he always ended up collecting the strange ones …
You’re the Malachai, moron. They’re drawn to you.
Oh, yeah. That was why they always found him. How could he forget?
Putting that out of his mind, he led the others into Menyara’s shop to look for Simi. But she wasn’t there.
An awful feeling went through Nick. What had they unknowingly turned loose on the city?
Yeah, that ulcer was spawning clones. “Who all thinks Simi is eating tourists?”
Caleb and Xev raised their hands.
Nick passed a curious stare to Kody. “You’re not in on this?”
“Sorry. I’m trying to think like Simi. Where would she go from here?”
“If we had her scent, we could track her.”
Nick liked Zavid’s thought. But unfortunately, they didn’t have anything that held her scent on it.
Suddenly, they heard something rustling in the back room. Assuming it was another demon that had stumbled into the store to do damage, they armed themselves and headed for the noise.
Nick licked his lips and braced himself to fight whatever would be on the other side of the break room door. He passed a quick glance to the others to make sure they were ready before he snatched open the door and made ready to cut the head off the intruder.
Simi stared at him with a cocked head and pursed her lips. “Why all you peoples look so strange? Even for you? Is this one of them irritable bowel syndrome thingies?”
Nick was truly confused now.
Simi appeared normal, although normal for Simi on any day was a bit of a stretch. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, less see. You done told me that the Simi could eats the demon. What you forgots to tell the Simi is that he a D?v. Ever tried to eat a D?v?” She gave each of them a condemning stare. “Didn’t think so. Theys all gamey and…” She shuddered. “Not enough barbecue sauces in the world to make that taste pleasant. So the Simi done had to pop him in the head again. They all screamy like a bunch of them little half-sized people who smell funny and run around yards. And then, when the Simi popped him in the head, he made a big old gross mess and I was afraid that if akri-Mennie saw it, she might not share her sparklies with the Simi. So I wents and cleansed it and made it all smell nice again.” She grinned.