She fixed him with a blank look.
“From the motel?”
“Oh . . .” She nodded slowly. “Right. The rat from the motel. I remember you now.”
“See?” Reggie said proudly. “I’m unforgettable.”
“Why are you helping me?” Lisa asked.
Val shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I help you?”
She gingerly rubbed her rope-burned wrists. “I didn’t expect this. You’re putting yourself in danger.”
“Seems to be what I do these days.” Val didn’t say it as a particularly good thing.
“But I tried to barbecue your boyfriend earlier,” A grin pulled at Lisa’s mouth. “If I get the chance I might try again.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow. “The way he was looking at you—”
Val held up a hand to stop her. “So I’ve been told. But it doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he just tends to stare off in the distance and sometimes that distance is me. I don’t know. What I do know is he isn’t my boyfriend.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand why he brought you here, to the Underworld. It goes against all the demon rules.”
Val sighed. “I’ll tell you if you really want to know, but not here. Let’s go . . . somewhere that isn’t here and we’ll chat, okay?”
“Deal.”
Val grabbed Lisa’s hand to help her off the bed, snatched her boots from the floor, and they moved toward the door. Val pressed her ear to it. Reggie pressed his ear to it.
“Hear anything?” she asked him.
“Nope.”
She opened the door and looked out. Nobody was there. She beckoned for Lisa to follow her quickly and quietly down the hallway.
“Okay,” Lisa whispered. “What’s up with you and Nathaniel?”
“He’s my guide to the Underworld. That’s all.”
Lisa looked at her curiously. “How did you manage to convince a demon to be your guide?”
“I summoned him.” They turned a corner. The carpeting was red and plush and the walls were lined with generic, but expensive-looking oil pointings in gilded frames.
“That’s it?”
“Pretty much.”
“Doesn’t sound like something a demon would appreciate. Being forced to take orders from a fallen angel.” She paused. “He hasn’t tried to get away from you?”
“No,” Val answered immediately.
“That’s very strange.”
Val shot her a look. “He has to do what I command him to. It’s part of the summoning spell.
He’s bound to me. Whether he wants to be or not.”
Reggie snickered but didn’t say anything.
“That’s very industrious. Summoning a demon,” Lisa said. “And you’re only just fallen?”
“Two months.” Val was quickly growing weary of this inquisition.
“Two months without being tempted?”
“Nathaniel’s also my Tempter.” After a moment, she added, “So far unsuccessful.”
She nodded. “I heard that about him. His complete failure at being a demon.”
Val’s lips tightened. “He succeeded with you, didn’t he?”
“Oh looky,” Reggie said. “A door.”
“Okay,” Val said. “Consider yourself rescued. Now beat it.”
Lisa smiled. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now shoo. And don’t get caught again. One rescue per night. That’s the rules.”
She opened the door and Val felt the tropical breeze from outside blow her hair back off her shoulders. “I’ll remember this. See you later,” she said, then winked and slipped out of the mansion, closing the door with a soft click behind her.
“See you later,” Val repeated, slowly turning back around so she could start retracing her steps through the mansion. “Reggie, I don’t want to see that crazy girl again, if I can help—”
Julian stood behind her. “Claire. What are you doing in here?”
Val forced a smile and tried not to release her bladder at the sight of the blond demon.
“What am I doing in here?” she repeated, and placed a hand on her hip. “Looking for you, of course.”
Julian arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” She reached out to tap his chest. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I simply had some important duties to attend to.”