I took a deep breath, inhaling the musty air of the alley I found myself in. I tightened my bow tie and tried,to no prevail, to make my top hat quit hovering an inch above my head.
The chilly Oregon air gave a serene feel to the night, with the crescent
moon shining in all its glory, despite being wedged between a bar full of demon's that despised me and my power and a pizzeria who recently overstocked on anchovies. I hate the smell of fish.
But I had somewhere better to be. With someone better to be with. As Cade called her, "a puny mortal". I snapped my fingers. Now I wore an olive green shirt and dark jeans. No more hat and tie.
I strutted out of the alley and vanished into the night.
School's stupid. I don't care how many people like it, but this was the last day of my fourth Junior year. I'm beginning to despise teachers. But it's not like I'm not smart. If I were to be completely honest, I'm kind of a genius. That's not just because I've dissected four frogs in a row. I'm just naturally smart, I guess.
In school I'm a quiet kid, hardly say a word. I wear a plain t-shirt, jeans, and black converse. Most of my memories from the hallway usually have something to do with being crammed inside a locker. By my doing of course. To hide until the last minute, then run like heck to my next class.
The bell was about to ring any second now, signaling the end of the lunch period.
And then she walked over to me.
I'm not the type of guy who thinks of girls as cute or hot. But I had to admit that Alli was pretty good looking. She had wavy, light brown hair that looked almost blonde, greyish blue eyes, and a slightly squared jaw. Plus she walks like a supermodel, even though she's a tomboy. But one more thing about me: I've never, ever had a crush on a girl.
"Hey," she started.
I gave her an awkward, toothless grin.
"Wanna go get some burgers or somethin' after school?" she asked.
"Sure!" I replied, along with some sputtering sounds that were meant to come out of me as a laugh.
She snickered. "Cool! See ya at Out 'n' In, blondie!" she told me, ruffling my hair. "Eight o'clock."
"Don't touch my hair!" I detested, shoving her hands away as my hair popped into place. I consider my hair one of my best features. I was vain like that.
She chuckled some more before turning around to leave. "Just for the record, are you asking me out?" I called out to her. Her head bobbed up and down, a gesture I took to be a nod.
Unlike most people, who chose to ignore me, she was actually nice to me. Or maybe it was just the fact that she'd even talked to me for the last few weeks. Either way, I was glad to have some company.
The bell rang.
And here I was. I snapped out of the memory and slid into the seat at the table next to her.
Even though we were sitting, our height difference was obvious. She was 5'5", and I was 6'2". All demons are tall. I'm the shortest.
She smiled at me. I gave her the same, goofy simper as when she came up to me earlier today. That seemed like forever ago.
"ORDER NUMBER FORTY-TWO!" the man at the counter bellowed. Alli hurried over, and returned with a tray full of food.
"Got you a double cheeseburger and three fries."
Good. I can eat a lot when I'm not even hungry, and right then I was starving. "Thanks!" I murmured.
We divvied up the food. By the end of the meal I knew that her favorite book series was about demons and demon slayers. She's convinced that demons are nothing but pure evil, and their slayers are practically saints.
"Do you know how to kill a demon?" she questioned enthusiastically.
"Yeah. They can die like humans, just not because of age or disease," I explained.
Alli made a noise that was supposed to sound like the one on Jeopardy when no one could get the answer. "Nope! You can't kill them! You can just send them back to the underworld by cutting off their heads!" she corrected smugly. I hadn't answered a single one of her demon trivia questions correct.
"Alli, what if I were a demon?" I asked. "Just some randomness."
She looked thoughtful for a minute, then responded. "Well you're not a demon. You're too nice. And anyway, you couldn't be a demon. You'd be possessed by one." Of course. "But if you were possessed, I'd probably decapitate you." She looked completely serious, like if she knew who I really was, every ounce of her being would have the irresistible urge to murder me.
Then and there, I promised never to tell her my secret.
Author's Note: Just wanted to let you know that Alli's demon trivia is based off of Helen Oh's Prophecy.
