Chapter 93
Chapter 93
“No clue.” Looking for a distraction, I saw we were in front of the bowling alley. They had a booth in front of it decorated with fall leaves and pumpkins. Hoping that meant they were part of the festival, I drug my glowering demon to it.
“Hello!” A too cheery adorable older woman greeted us. She seriously looked like grandma on a cartoon. Bright pink blush stood out on her bright cheeks. Oversized bright blue glasses dangled from a chain around her neck. Huge gold cameo clip on earrings were attached to her ears. Tight white curls that looked like they were just out of their rollers finished the look. All believable until you looked at her exposed skin. “Five tickets each gives you the chance to vanquish your demons!”
The four of us exchanged amused looks. Then handed her twenty tickets. On my way past I told her I loved her costume. Her squeal of delight made me think she was not legal to drink yet. Shaking my head we went inside the bowling alley.
Inside we found it had been decorated to look like a cartoonish hellscape. Mostly just large black paper boulders with fake fires in from of them. At the shoe rental counter, a teenage boy in all black under a black hooded cloak explained that everyone got one shot to make a strike. Everyone who did it got a coupon for a round of free bowling.
Shrugging, we all swapped out our regular shoes for the bowling shoes. Then went to the lane the teenager sent us to. We were delighted to discover that the pins looked like demons. The head pin was painted with a cartoon devil. Us three humans looked at the demon trying to keep from laughing. He threw his head back and laughed hard.
“Oh humans.” He snickered. The boys insisted on Carissa, and I go first. Shaking my head I sent Carissa first. Confidently she grabbed her ball off the ball return. Using perfect form, she threw her ball down the lane. It waivered at the last minute to miss the head pin. She uttered a very bad word.
Sticking my tongue out at her, I strutted up and made a big deal out of making sure I was standing just right. My ball didn’t even pretend it knew where it was going. It took out the two on right end. Giggling I walked back to Caspian. He hugged me.
“Don’t worry baby, I got us.” He kissed the top of my head. Ace was taking his shot while he comforted me. Carissa let out a squeal and leapt into his arms when he threw a strike. Laughing he caught her. They shared a heated kiss. I was shaking my head when my phone went off again. Pretending I didn’t here it, I snuggled into my demon.
He pulled me in tight. Then slid his hand into the pocket of my dress where my phone was. Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed it was ANYONE but Rich. His snarl indicated I was wrong. I turned my head in time to see him reject the call. Normally that would piss me off, but, Caspian knew I had no interest in talking to Rich.
“Get me a strike.” I tugged on his beard playfully. He smiled down at me with his love shimmering in his brown eyes.
“As you wish, farmgirl.” He kissed me then turned to grab his ball. Completely skipping the peacocking I had indulged in in, he threw his ball. It hit the headpin with a crack that echoed off the walls. OK. Don’t piss off the demon.
Smiling, he strutted back to me. Not wanting to be outdone by Carissa and Ace, I tugged him to me by his beard I kissed him until we were both breathless. “Time to go home?”
Everyone agreed it was time. We stopped at the counter to get our certificates. Caspian immediately gave me his. Ace snickered and handed Caspian his claiming he wasn’t in town enough to use it. We all laughed at ace giving his prize for knocking down demons to a demon.
On the way out we found a stall with pumpkin spice lattes. Ace and I got one. Carissa and Caspian went for regular coffee. How boring. Sipping our coffees, we walked back to the car parked at the church just off the town square. Caspian sweet talked the lady at the cloak room to use a wagon to haul all my spoils for us. The drive home was spent rocking out to power ballads.
As we were unloading the car in garage, the door from the house opened.
“There you are!” Lena stepped out. She still looked like she had when she popped out to find out what the imps were up to. She looked at me apologetically. “I hope you don’t mind that we waited inside.”
“Depends, who’s we?” I queried. If she was with the imps, I suspected I was going to be very happy with them being there. Caspian chuckled and kissed the top of my head.
“The imps aren’t here.” He told me as he carried two giant teddy bears and huge bunny. Ace had an armful too. Carissa only had her rose. I ducked into the hatch to get the remaining stuffed animals.
Inside the house, I looked at the stairs, then my demon. I raised an eyebrow. Grinning, he shook his head. Then shimmered out. Reappeared empty handed. He took everything from my arms and what Ace had. Shimmered out again. While he was gone, I put my bag back in the hall closet. Clarissa dropped her stuff in her room.
Frowning I wondered where Caspian had gotten off to. We climbed up the stairs to the main level. Lena and Carissa were right behind me. Ace was walking behind them. Yet, I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. One of them was Caspian. I assumed I knew who the second voice belonged to.