Demons of the Rich and Famous (Demon Whisperer book 1)

Demons Chapter 15

Chapter 15

            I prayed under my breath that my dad was passed out in his bedroom when I unlocked the front door to the apartment.

            Slowly, I opened the door and peered in.  There was no sign of him on the sofa or in the kitchen.  I came all the way in, Dan following behind, shut the door, and tiptoed down the hall to the bathroom.  I needed to shower all of this off.

            I turned the taps and, without even waiting until it was warm or even getting undressed, stepped under the hard spray. The water was cool but I didn’t care at this point. I just wanted this gore off my skin and clothes.

            Head down, I watched as dark red swirls circled the drain until finally going down.  Unfortunately some bits were too big to fit through the small holes. I’d have to remove them by hand later when I was relatively clean.  My gorge rose again at the thought.

            I stood under the scalding liquid until the water in the tub was clear. And then I stood there even longer.  I didn’t know if I’d ever feel clean again.

            I turned off the taps, then peeled off my boots, my jeans and my shirt before stepping out and toweled off.  There were a few dark brown streaks on the towel when I was done rubbing it on my head to dry my hair.  Biting my lower lip, I peeled off the soiled bandages on my hand and tossed them in the garbage.  The wound looked all right.  At least it wasn’t all red, puffy and infected.

I gathered my almost clean clothes and wrapped them up in the towel and shoved them into the clothes hamper.  I’d have to take it all down to the laundry mat in the morning.

            After brushing my teeth and rinsing with mouth wash, (I didn’t want to even think about why my mouth tasted like sewage) I slipped on the pair of sweatpants I had hanging on the back of the door and padded out back into the living room.

            Dan was drinking a beer and eating Thai noodles with chop sticks from a white cardboard container.  When he saw me, he pointed at another cardboard box on the table along side a can of beer with his sticks.

            “Got you something,” he said around the mouthful of food.

            Grabbing the beer, I popped the tab, took a long swallow and collapsed into the chair.  I set the beer down and grabbed the box.  I opened it, looked in, and set it back down again.  I was in no mood for noodles in black bean sauce.  Especially since some of it looked like what I had just washed off in the shower.

            “Not hungry?”

            “I’ll stick with the beer thanks.”  I took another large swallow, draining the can completely.  I set the empty down on the table and leaned back in the chair.

            Dan shoveled the rest of his noodles in his mouth, then grabbed the other box and dug into that.  The demon was a glutton.  And it wasn’t just food he overindulged in.  I’d witnessed his other vice indulgences and they weren’t pretty.

            “So tell me more about the jinn.  Are there ways to kill them?”

            “Kill them, no.  They’re immortal.  They can’t die.”

            “Okay, then how do I stop it from exploding anymore people all over me?”

            “You can bind it.” He slurped in a noodle.