I accepted it and managed not to recoil at the disgusting chatter of the demon in my ear, telling me to keep going as it sidled away from me, over to the bartender, and circled him.
Normally, two single people flirting was not a bad thing. But this demon wanted me to make Trevor stumble, to make him focus on the physical and ultimately suffer. It wanted the bartender to burn with lust. It wanted him to screw up on his job. The whisperer made something as innocent as flirting feel wrong. I knew it was time for me to say something to Trevor, but my eyes started to sting, threatening tears. Do not get emotional!
“You’ve got pretty eyes,” Trevor said. “Shiny.”
The demon chortled. “Romeo needs to work on his pickup lines. Boring.”
“Thanks, I’m Anna.” I needed to flirt. I lifted the corners of my mouth and moved some hair forward with a flip of my hand. “Are you working here all night?”
“Yep, until one. Then who knows? Should be plenty to do around town after that.”
“I’ll bet,” I said.
Now what? Should I, like, wink at him or something? Flirting with strangers might not have been my forte, but drinking definitely was, and he liked that. I took another long, cold gulp, and relaxed as the first beer hit my system and kicked things into gear. Oh, shoot, I forgot to get the time. I twisted my wrist until the silver watch was in place. Nine twenty.
A group of people came up to the bar next to me. The bartender took their orders, but he kept glancing back at me. I waved with my fingers in that coy way I’d seen girls do to Jay. I felt dumb, but he grinned and swiped his hair aside, sporting a steady stream of red in his aura.
I left the bar, wondering what the heck I was going to do now, and walked straight into the grisly shadows of two demon whisperers. Even though I couldn’t feel them, I shivered with revulsion as I rushed through the vapors.
The party was coming to life now, and the deejay was on the mic, making announcements and getting everyone riled with his electric excitement. I stopped amid the moving bodies, acutely aware of being followed. Over at the deejay booth, Jay scrambled around, organizing things for his boss. I couldn’t see Veronica anywhere.
I started to search for the other Neph, but caught myself. The last thing I wanted was to see Kaidan at work. I couldn’t afford to be distracted. The mere thought of Kai made me empty half my drink. It was too soon to finish the second one. I was already light-headed.
“Anna! There you are! Holy... What is that?” Veronica perched a hand on her hip and pointed at my beer. “And how the heck did you get a bracelet?”
“Connections,” I said, tensing as the whisperers circled the two of us, watching, trying to listen. My heart began to pound. “I needed to relax.”
She blinked at me, a look of disbelief displayed on her face. I should have warned her ahead of time that I’d “changed” my attitude toward drinking. I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Let’s just be careful and have fun, ’kay?”
“Fine, okay,” she shot back, still acting unsure about my out-of-character behavior. “I guess as long as you hook me up, too.”
A whisperer leaned near Veronica’s ear, and her guardian angel dived between them. I pretended not to see, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her toward the deejay booth, only to stop short. Jay was leaning down, grinning, and talking with Marna. Veronica’s eyes narrowed. This was about to turn into a hot mess. I changed direction, pointing us at the bar instead.
“No, hold up,” she said, pulling away and watching them.
The two raunchy spirits could see the dark disappointment trickling around Veronica, swirled with green envy. The demons attacked, both whispering to her at once despite her guardian angel’s efforts to stop them. My breathing went shallow as her aura darkened and the green became more vivid. Standing there, not interfering, was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
At that moment Marna tugged Jay’s arm, as if she were trying to get him to come out of the booth, and he laughed, shaking his head and pointing to his work. She went up on her tiptoes and hollered something to Jay’s boss, who grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders, patting Jay on the back. Marna clapped at her success and grabbed Jay by the hand, leading him out to the dance floor. What were they thinking?
Veronica stared out at them, and the spirits, who were finished whispering, danced around her, further antagonizing her angel as Veronica struggled internally.
I whispered to her, “She’s just a friend of Kai’s from England. Jay met her over the summer.”
“That’s the English chick? He told me about her, back when we were just...”