A Hand in Hell

Chapter 14

"So, where are we going?" Lauren asked as she languidly reclined in the passenger's seat and adjusted the sunglasses perched atop her nose. Sleek, simple, black, with the lenses shined to perfection — one of my favorite pairs.

I shrugged, gently easing the car to a stop at a red light. "I thought we could go shopping or something. Maybe catch a movie, get some lunch. What do normal people like to do when they go out together?" I squinted at the light through the sun's glare. I was glad that the ache in my head had started to subside. The light would've killed me otherwise.

"Haven't you stalked enough of us 'normal people' to know what we like?" she teased, but I could hear the wary truthfulness beneath her playful tone, and I frowned as I accelerated through the intersection. Of course, what right did I have to be offended by it? Stalking was what I'd done — and then some. If I had the chance to do it over again, I would do it just the same, and I'd never regret it.

"I only know what you guys do in bars," I retorted lightly. "What the hell am I supposed to do with you in shopping malls?"

She laughed, grinning at me, the white of her teeth glowing almost supernaturally in the sunlight. "If you're buying, we can do whatever you want. I never say no to free stuff."

I smiled and turned a corner — gently, of course, so as not to jostle my human. I'd heard that throwing women out of car windows was bad for the date. "Shopping it is, then. Even though I thought you were supposed to be impressing me this time," I joked, tossing her a playful wink over top of my sunglasses.

She pursed her lips. "Oh, I will," she said darkly. "Believe me, I will."

"Is that a threat?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Maybe," she said with a mischievous smile.

I chuckled. "Well," I began, making another gentle turn, "we're here. I hope you have some idea as to how you're going to win my love, you little harlot."

She slid her sunglasses off and dropped them in the middle console. Her eyes flicked to the mall that loomed ahead of us, bright and cheery even as it waited to swallow us up into its belly of clothing and assorted electronics, and her smile faded. "What happens if we see someone I know?"

The question startled me, but I only glanced at her and shrugged, then whipped nonchalantly into a parking space. "Introduce me as your girlfriend or friend or whatever you'd be comfortable with. You know I can act any part you give me." She opened her mouth to speak, a familiar playful glint to her eye, and I shot her a look as I put the car in park and turned the key in the ignition. "Within reason, of course. And I really wouldn't recommend introducing me as your demon captor, because we both know that I can play that part particularly well, even in widely populated public spaces."

She nodded sullenly and said in a sigh, "Yes, master."

"Oh," I all but moaned. "I prefer mistress, but I'll take whatever I can get." With a wink, I shoved the door open and slid out into the afternoon sunlight.

"Do you have to be so creepy all the time?" she asked as she shut her own car door, and I smiled at her over my shoulder as I started toward the big brick building.

"Are you honestly trying to tell me that you don't like it?"

"Yes," she said with a decisive nod. "Yes, I am."

I scoffed. "Liar," I said, then took her hand and pulled her after me through a set of glass double doors.

"So, what is it you plan to do here, exactly?" she asked as she followed obediently behind me, and when I looked back, she was looking in a sort of wonder at all of the glass-walled stores around us. But why? I was sure that she'd been here hundreds of times before. All of the humans had. So what was so special about it this time?