“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I’m absolutely livid. I’ve been summoned, and not just by anybody, but by the asshat gargoyle. I stand there and glare at him. “What the hell do you want?!”

“Well hello to you too.” He smirks.

“What the hell do you want?” I repeat.

“I want the book and seeing as though you won’t give it up, and I have no idea what is really going on around here, I thought that, well, I thought that we could work together,” he says, mumbling the last bit.

“He wants to work with you now? I wonder what made him change his mind.” Vee muses.

“Mmmhmm. . . . I’m thinking exactly the same thing.”

I can’t believe he wants to work with me now. Does he really think that I’m going to just say ‘Okay! Let’s do this!’

“And what makes you think I want to work with you? As I recall, you knocked me back not once, but twice when I offered so nicely for us to partner up. So before I tell you to go fuck yourself, why do you want to work with me, why the change of heart?”

“Because since you left, I’ve had more demons crash the place, looking for the book. A book that is no longer here because it’s with you. Where is the book?”

“Hmmm, interesting. Well, I’m sorry, but no. . .Oh, and go fuck yourself.”

“Where is the book?” he barks at me.

“I was reading it back at my place, and then my ass was summoned back here. By you.” I go to leave, but I’m stopped short by the gargoyle.

“You are in a trap, so there is no use trying to teleport out of here this time. You need my help, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me to begin with, so why are you changing your mind this time?”

“He’s got a point there.”

I mentally growl at Vee.

I look down and sure enough, there, clear as day, are the placement of five crystals in the shape of a pentagram with runes painted on the inside. This gargoyle has done his research since our first encounter. I’ll give him a C for effort.

“Look, you don’t trust me and I get that. I’m a demon, we aren’t to be trusted. But I really don’t want to try and convince you that I am not trying to fuck you over and that I will never hurt you, like we’re in a relationship and you’re some needy chick. So that’s why I retract my previous offers. I don’t want to have to constantly reassure you.”

He sighs and says reluctantly, “Look, I can’t watch the church the whole time and during the day I revert back to being a stone gargoyle sitting on top of the church. I need another set of eyes and a body that is free to walk around in the day to help me.”

“Wow, are you actually admitting to needing me gargoyle?” I ask, relishing the moment.

He grimaces, his jaw clenching tightly as he nods.

Oh this is sweet.

“I wanna hear you say it. Tell me that you want me, and need me. . . Desperately” I say seductively.

He just sits there, glaring at me.

I hold up my hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll work with you.”

I step out of the trap that he had placed and walk over to him.

I bask in the moment of seeing the shocked expression on his face, and shrug. “What? You really didn’t think a trap like that could contain me? Oh please, I’m much more powerful than those weak little traps. I guess, now that we are working together, I will need to be here in America, which means I need a place to stay. Where do you live?”

“You aren’t staying with me. I may have agreed to work with you on this because you are useful, but you aren’t staying with me.”

“Fine, well I’ll need a hotel then. I’m Esmerelda by the way. What’s your name?”

“Quinn.”

“Quinn? Isn’t that a girl’s name?” I laugh

“It’s a unisex name!” he bites out through clenched teeth, sounding more like he’s constipated than pissed off.

“Okay, okay! Whatever you say.” I lift my hands up in an act of surrender.

“Wow, he’s sensitive,” Vee says.

“It’s so a girl’s name right Vee?”

“Right.”

“So, where are the good places to stay around here?”

“You can stay at the Washington Hotel uptown.”

“Cool.” I pull out my phone and search on Google for the hotel, finding a map of the place. “Let’s get going.”

“I’m not going with you,” he says flatly.

“I don’t know about you, but I actually like this world and hope to live in it for as long as possible, which means that we need to act on this ASAP.”

I take his hands in mine, I feel him pull away but I hold my grip. Without saying a word, I teleport us straight to the outside of the hotel. We show up behind a tree so that we won’t be seen. I am so used to teleporting that I forgot what it’s like the first time. I smile as he keels over, resting his hands on the tree, his face sheet white, looking like he’s going to vomit.

“You okay there Quinnie boy?”

“Don’t. Call. Me. Th…” Retching sounds meet my ears as I watch him throw up the contents of his stomach.

“You’ll be fine. Give it a few minutes and you’ll be okay. The first time is always a little painful.” I say giving him a wink.

A few minutes later he is good to go and all the colour that had previously left his body like it was repulsed by him has returned.

I conjure up two sets of luggage, garnering an odd look from Quinn. “It’s about perception Quinnie boy. If we go in there and book out a hotel room with no luggage, you are going to look like a man who has just paid a prostitute for a root.”

We walk into the grand lobby of the hotel, marble flooring stretches out as far as the eye can see. It is all white with only a splatter of colour here and there, browns and maroons mostly. To the left is a little sitting area where people can sit and chat. A set of steps lead to the front reception area which we make our way to, shoes clicking along as we walk, echoing thrughout the expansive hotel lobby. We are pretty much the only ones there, allowing us the luxury of walking straight up to the reception desk without having to wait in line.

“Hi, welcome to the Washington Hotel, are you checking in?”

“Yes, we are.” I answer sweetly

“Okay, wonderful. Now what kind of room are you looking to book with us?”

“A suite if you have one available.”

“Fantastic! We have three different types of suites available. There’s the penthouse suites, business suites and the honeymoon suites.” She winks. “Which one are you looking to book and for how long?”

“I’m not sure how long we’ll be here but best to make it a couple of weeks for now. And we’ll take the honeymoon suite thank you.” Batting my eyes at her, I cuddle into Quinn’s arm. He stiffens against my touch.

“Relax, it’s for appearances only. Now pretend we are in love okay?”

“Esmerelda, how are you—?”

“Telepathy numnuts. Now, act normal until I have booked and paid the receptionist.”

“Wonderful, okay, so for 14 nights that comes to a total of $30,000. I’ll just need some form of identification and your credit card to put on the file please. This will be used for any charges made to your room, which will then be added to your card at the end of your stay.”

The woman smiles widely, she is not well put together and the ghastly red lipstick that she’s wearing has stained her teeth. Her hair is pulled back way too tight and it has stretched her skin taut, making her look like she’s taken a ride on the Hollywood celebrity surgery train. I give her a polite smile and using my powers, create a credit card and drivers licence. I take it out of my purse and hand it over to the woman whose name tag states her name is Tiffany.

She taps away on her computer and once everything is finalised she hands me back my credit card and drivers licence, along with an electronic room key and a little paper slip which has the name of the suite on it and the password to the hotel’s Wi-Fi.

“Okay, so the lifts are to the left there, you will need to use your room key to access your floor, just tap on the touch pad and then press the button to your floor. Your room is on the thirtieth floor. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact concierge.”

She motions to someone behind me and next minute, there is a man dressed in a suit with a tag that says Trevor on it. “Good evening ma’am, Please allow me to take your luggage for you.”

I give my thanks and, still clutching Quinn’s arm, make my way to the left behind Trevor and into the elevator. I am thankful when we aren’t greeted with the horrible sound of elevator music. I don’t know what is with humans and their constant need to fill the void of silence with noise. I would much rather stand in an elevator in silence than listen to some stupid piano music. We finally arrive at my floor and the elevator doors open straight into my suite.

It is a sight to behold.