Demons Amongst Us (The Book of Demons Saga #2) (5 page)

“Find
anything?” Sam asked, sitting beside Balthazar on the couch.

“Your scars,” Balthazar said,
looking up from the book and seeing Sam’s now pristine face.

“Yeah,” Sam said with a sheepish grin, “I guess Alex’s powers are coming back to her.  Now that you’re around.”

“There is a surprising wealth of knowledge about my people,” Balthazar said, looking back down at the book, “but nothing of how to return.”

“Pani talked about using a key,” Sam said, his mind working on a solution.  He never would have thought
he would want to go back, but Balthazar’s words had awoken something inside of him.  A desire for revenge.  And that desire was burning red hot.  He would make those pathetic creatures pay for what they did to him.  “Do you have any idea what that could be?”

“Pe
rhaps,” Balthazar thought for a moment, “Alexandra had a box among her possessions when she was found.  It is possible that the key is something from my world.”

“I’m about to fix
some lunch,” Sam said, getting up from the couch, “you want anything?”

“Your hospitality is appreciated,” Balthazar said, “but I am afraid your food will not provide me with adequate sustenance.”

Sam could have laughed at the demon lord as he gestured to the junk food that was spread across the table.  He could well imagine the type of food Balthazar would be used to, and could see how the pile of sugary snacks would be less than appealing.

“That’s not what
I meant,” Sam said with a smile, “come on.  I’ll show you what real food is in our world.”

“Real food?” Balthazar said, raising a slender black eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Sam said, with a wiggle of his groomed brows, “meat and potatoes.”

Those words brought a glint to Balthazar’s eyes as he licked his lips.
  That indeed sounded like real food.  He followed curiously behind Sam into the kitchen. 

“You prepare the food yourself?” Balthazar asked, looking around the kitchen in dismay.

“Of course,” Sam said with a chuckle.  “Who else is gonna to fix it?”

“I do not see any food,” Balthazar said, continuing to look around the room.

“You got a lot to learn about our world,” Sam said as he went to the fridge and began pulling things out.  Balthazar examined each package, bringing it to his nose and smelling it intently. 

“Why do you wrap food in such peculiar materials?” he asked Sam, as he felt at the plastic and Styrofoam that held a thick hunk of ground meat.

“It keeps it from spoiling,” Sam said with an amused smile as he watched Balthazar studying the food, “and makes it easier to buy and carry.”

“Odd
,” Balthazar said, setting the package down on the counter.  Sam watched him from the corner of his eye as he went about fixing lunch for everyone.  He could see why Alex had become so smitten with the demon lord.  He was a very intriguing creature, and though it was clear to see that he was lost in their world, he was adapting surprisingly quickly. 

Alex followed the amazing aroma of Sam’s cooking into the kitchen, utterly surprised to find her best friend giving Balthazar an impromptu cooking lesson.  It deeply pleased her to see them getting along so well.  One look at the demon lord and it was easy to see that he didn’t belong anywhere remotely near a kitchen.  But he was watching Sam intently as he demonstrated how to test the potatoes to see if they were soft enough to eat.  Balthazar watched with all the seriousness of a heart attack, as if he thought he was going to be tested on the lesson.  Alex stood in the doorway, watching them both with a smile on her face.

“You are feeling better?” Balthazar asked without turning around to look at her.  She thought she was being sneaky, but once he spoke she realized he had most likely sensed her as she was coming down the stairs.  There was very little that got past the demon lord’s sensitive senses. 

“A bit,” Alex said, stepping over to the island in the kitchen and
hopping on one of the bar stools.  As soon as her butt touched the seat, the doorbell rang out in the massive house.

Sam looked uneasily at Alex, as if he hated having to ask her to answer it.  He knew she was still feeling unwell, but he just couldn’t leave the food untended, and Balthazar had no business cooking or answering the door.  The sight of him would likely send whatever visitor was there running for the hills.

“It’s ok,” Alex said with a half-smile, understanding Sam’s wordless request.  She slid off the stool and made her way to the door as the bell chimed again.  She swung the heavy wooden front door open to find four brown haired women standing there, wide smiles plastered on their oddly similar faces. 

“Hello,” one of the women said
with an overly excited smile, “you must be Alexandra.  We have been waiting for you.”

Alex returned to the kitchen, a confused look on her face as four brown haired, brown-eyed women trailed in behind her.  They all wore the same faded blue jeans and green long sleeved shirts, and they also all looked remarkably similar. 

“Um,” Alex tried to get the attention of Sam and Balthazar who were occupied with their cooking lesson.  “We have guests.
”

Alex gestured
to the girls, unsure exactly how to introduce them and hoping they would step in to introduce themselves.  As soon as the women’s eyes fell upon Balthazar a mini hysteria broke out amongst them.  They whispered excitedly to themselves, pointing and gasping.  They seemed to be speaking some strange language that Alex didn’t recognize.  The apparent leader of the group finally broke from the conversation.

“He is demon?” she asked Alex
with wide-eyed fascination. 

“Yeah…” Alex said, looking back and forth between the newcomers and Balthazar, who had a less than pleased expression at becoming such a sudden curio.  The woman
commenced their gasping and secret language chatting.  Finally, the leader signaled for them all to calm down.

“Forgive me,” the woman said, “we have only been told stories of demons.  We never truly believed we would meet one in person.  It is an honor…”

“Lord Balthazar,” Balthazar said to the woman’s expectant expression, to which he received a fresh bout of gasps and chatter.  Alex could swear she saw him puff his chest out proudly at the admiration that shone in the women’s eyes.   She felt an ever so slight pinch of jealousy at the act.

“You a
re a demon lord?” the woman asked Balthazar with awe. 

“I am,” Balthazar replied casually.

“Then it truly is an honor to be in your presence,” AnnaBeth said.  “Allow me to introduce myself and my sisters.  I am AnnaBeth, this is AnnaLee, AnnaMarie, and the youngest, AnnaBelle,” she held out her upturned palm, gesturing for each of her sisters to come forward as she introduced them.

“How did
you…” Alex began to ask but was quickly interrupted.

“We fe
lt your powers,” AnnaMarie said up with a cheery smile.

“But who…”
Alex tried to ask another question.

“We are the sisterhood,” this time it was AnnaLee that interrupted Alexandra’s question.

“Sisters,” AnnaBeth spoke up, holding a hand up to quiet her younger sisters. “We are meant to be your protectors Alexandra.”

“I hate to
burst your bubble,” Sam said as he gave the simmering meat a stir, “but you’ve done a pretty lousy job of being her protector.”

“Yes,” AnnaBeth said
, as her sisters whispered to each other behind her, “unfortunately we were unaware of your existence until only recently.”

“I’m sorry,”
Alex said, shaking her head, “this is all a bit…”

“We will explain everything to you,” AnnaBelle
interrupted, a polite smile stuck on her narrow little face.

“That would be great,” Alex said, trying to calm her rising
annoyance at being constantly interrupted.  Just because they were polite about it didn’t make it any less irritating.

“There is so much to discuss,” AnnaMarie said, more to her sisters than the others.  The group of strangely similar
woman once again began to chat animatedly amongst themselves in a strange language.

“
Uh..excuse me,” Alex tried to interrupt, to which she received a not so pleasant, chastising glance.  Alex took a deep breath, looking at Sam and Balthazar with tight lips.  She was trying her best not to lose her patience with these women.  If they were going to be hanging around protecting her, they were going to have to lay down some ground rules.

“Why don’t you explain what’s going on over lunch,” Sam said
noticing his friends rising irritation, as he switched the stove off. 

“That sounds perfect,”
AnnaBeth said, clasping her hands together.  Alex fought the strong urge to roll her eyes.

“I’ll set the table,” Alex said with a heavy sigh.

Alex and Sam stared at the sisters, mouth
s slightly agape.  Balthazar was staring as well, although with a much more dignified expression on his face.  The four sisters were shoveling the cooked meat and potatoes into their mouths as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks.  They were already on their third helping each, and they showed no signs of slowing.  Alex never would have thought it possible, judging by the waffishly thin figures of the four sisters.  When they finally finished, peculiarly all at the exact same time, they placed their forks down in unison.

“Delicious,” AnnaMarie said, a smile spreading across he
r face as she looked up from an empty plate.

“Delectable,” AnnaLee said, dabbing at her lips with a napkin.

“Scrumptious,” AnnaBelle said, a small belch escaping her thin lips. 

“It was indeed
quite tasty,” AnnaBeth said, leaning away from the table as if making room for an invisible bloated stomach.

The four women
then simply sat quietly, pleased smiles on their faces as their eyes darted from Alex to Sam to Balthazar, completely oblivious to the fact that they were waiting for an explanation.

“So,” Alex said,
when it became apparent that the sisters weren’t going to explain themselves.  She honestly could not take much more of their polite rudeness.  “Are you going to tell us what is going on?”

“Of course,” AnnaBeth said, her
polite smile widening and her eyes forming cute little half-moons.  She looked from Alex to Balthazar and back again.  Her eyes narrowed as if she was thinking for a moment, and then she tilted her head as if trying to make sense of something. 

“Ah,” she said finally,
“I see you two have begun to form a bond.  Interesting, very interesting indeed.”

Alex and Balthazar glanced at each other then back at the sisters
.  AnnaBeth saw the interaction and her expression hardened ever so slightly, a crease forming between her eyes. 

“You two were already aware of this?” AnnaBeth asked.  The other sisters looked to each other, but this time they did not begin whispering amongst themselves, although their expressions mirrored their older sister’s.

“Well, we’ve heard that before,” Alex said.  She was careful not to reveal too much to these strange women.  She didn’t know if she could trust them or not.

“I see,”
AnnaBeth said, her expression, as well as that of her sister’s, returning to the calmly pleased look that had remained on their faces since they had shown up.  “And you are already aware of your powers?”

“Sort of,” Alex said, “I mean, I’ve used them a couple of times…but…”

“But you know nothing of them, correct?” AnnaBeth said, a slight tilt in her neck at she stared back at Alex.

“No,” Alex said, “I kind of happened upon them in Balthazar’s world.”

The faces of all four sisters fell simultaneously.  Their mouths hung slightly ajar as they tried to process what Alex had just said.  They quickly regained their composure, their faces returning to nearly identical serene masks.

“Do you mea
n to tell me,” AnnaBeth said, her eyes going back and forth between Alex and Balthazar, “you have been to the demon’s world?”

“Well, yeah,” Alex answered
, a little unnerved by the sisters’ sudden shift in demeanor.  Again, whispers broke out between the sisters, more excited and active than any before. 

“Oh my,” AnnaBeth said finally, with an exasperated sigh
as she motioned for her sisters to settle down, “that is interesting.  How did such a thing come about?”

Alexandra’s brow furrowed for a moment as she thought about the questions.  She wasn’t entirely sure how to answer.  She never was able to remember how exactly she had gotten to Balthazar’s world.

“I don’t really know,” Alex said finally, with a helpless shrug.

“Alexandra was found in my lands by my young
er brother,” Balthazar said, “a silver box made by the craftsman of my palace was found in her possessions.”