Chapter Four

I only knew of one demon that might help me, but a visit to Roland would have to wait. It was just after eleven when I arrived back at Lucinda's apartment. I listened for a moment outside her door to make sure she wasn't already asleep before I knocked.

Arriane cracked opened the door. "Did you find your answers?" she asked without a greeting.

"No," I said quietly while shaking my head.

"You probably shouldn't be here then," she said coolly.

I placed my hand on the door, pressing against it to open it enough to get inside.

Arriane shook her head and placed her hand on my chest, pushing me away and walking out the door. "Luce is already asleep. So maybe you should spend some more time coming up with a solution to this that doesn't involve dictating how she has to live her life."

The loud bang of a slammed door rang out. "Right. She's asleep." I frowned, but surrendered to Arriane's stance and stepped back. "I'm not trying to take away her choices. Do you think I'm enjoying this? I've waited how long to be with her, to live like we have the chance to now and you honestly think I want to derail everything?" I turned my back on her and paced in the hallway, trying to keep my voice low, but my frustration was winning. "I was willing to marry her as soon as she graduated high school."

"Yeah, such a noble gesture, Daniel. You just wanted to test out what it would finally be like to sleep with her after chasing her for so long." Arriane twirled a strand of hair with her finger and blew a loud bubble with her gum.

I rolled my eyes at her. "That wasn't the only reason. And I was the one who suggested we wait until after college to do that, so she could do what was always important to her without… distractions."

"You're a huge distraction to her even without the sex. Just look at her now… she's a wreck. A good roll in the hay might do her some good." A sly grin appeared on her face as she nodded.

"Is that what would be good for her or you," I retorted with narrowed eyes.

Arriane punched me in my shoulder. "Shut it or I'll make things harder for you."

I didn't doubt her for a moment. "Fine. Can you just tell her I'm sorry for this and that I'm working on a solution?"

She leaned against the door way, a small smirk on her lips. "What do you think the solution is?" She gazed at me smugly, challenging me to show her I had a plan.

"I have to get access to the demon texts," I said plainly.

"Psh. Good luck with that," she said dismissively and rolled her eyes.

"Glad to see you have faith in me, Arr." I shook my head, but allowed a bit of amusement to enter my tone.

I was surprised when she didn't mock me back. She looked at me like she was telling me something obvious. "If anyone can do this, it's you. Now get going. I'm sure I'll have to scrounge up another box of tissues."

"I appreciate you. Thank you for taking care of her," I said while shoving my hands in my pockets, walking backwards towards the stairwell.

"You owe me big, Daniel!" she yelled after me before closing the door.

Walking down the stairwell, I shook my head and allowed a small laugh to come out. I didn't doubt that Arriane would make me pay for having to watch over Lucinda… again. After being practically her guardian at Sword and Cross and then the intervening while Lucinda was at Shoreline, I had to set her up on a week's vacation at the Halekulani resort in Hawaii and buy her a new car. It was a small price to pay for having someone I trusted watch after Lucinda. And despite Arriane's ways, her loyalty was something I never questioned.

The streetlight outside the apartment building was burned out, so when I walked into the balmy night air, I didn't hesitate to unfurl my wings. I glanced up in time to see Lucinda looking out her window down at me before pulling her curtains closed.

My hand fell to my heart to soothe the ache in my chest. "Sorry, Lucinda." I beat my wings and took off.

A few minutes later, I arrived at Roland's bar. It didn't matter that it was the middle of the week and most of the patrons had to be at their jobs in eight hours, the entertainment he booked had people dismissing their responsibilities in order to be at his place every night.

"D!" Rolland called out from behind the bar.

Rolling my shoulders as I readjusted to my wings inside, I walked towards him, unable to return his jubilant smile. "You have a few minutes to talk?"

Rolland looked around at the crowd dancing to the live band, down his bar at all the occupied seats, and then back at me. "Give me an hour for the crowd to clear out, cool?" He slid a glass across the counter, stopping perfectly in front of me.

"I'll be waiting in back," I said, not bothering to take the drink as I walked through the swinging door that led to the back rooms of the bar.

I wasn't satisfied waiting in one of the rooms, though. Making quick work of picking the lock, I entered the small office and hit the light switch. The strip light flickered several times before buzzing to life, shining a blinding, unnatural white glow on everything.

"How can you stand working in this?" I questioned aloud.

Apparently Roland didn't have any issues with it. His desk was neatly organized with employee files, invoices, a ledger, computer, and a pencil holder that was filled with same-sized sharpened pencils topped with perfectly pink, unused erasers. Between the small space between the side of his desk and the wall was a large bookshelf that was filled with alphabetized music CDs on almost all the shelves.

My attention was immediately drawn to the top shelf that was crammed with books, both old and new. Pushing the stack of files away from the corner of the desk, I hopped up and started browsing the titles. A few looked promising and I slide them off, making a stack in my left arm before taking one step off the desk, landing back on the floor.

I circled back to the chair, propping my feet up on the edge of the desk and began reading the first in a volume titled daemonis oeuvre. As detestable as it was to read their version of history, I forced myself to dive in and absorb the details, hoping my time wouldn't be wasted.