Chapter 7

Beatrice

“What am I going to do?” I asked Persephone as I looked through my closet in hopes of finding something I could wear on my date. I don’t normally date, and my job doesn’t require me to dress up. I counsel familiars, and they don’t care what I wear. Their owners will put up with my worn jeans since there are few witches with my ability. They might look down on shapeshifting witches, but they’d look past it when their familiar needed a therapist. Dev had dressed casually the night before, in jeans and a t-shirt, so maybe it didn’t matter. I felt ridiculous getting this worked up over what I was going to wear. This wasn’t like me.

“We should go shopping,” Persephone suggested.

“Again?” I asked. “We just went shopping two weeks ago.”

“Grocery shopping doesn’t count,” Persephone told me.

“You’re right,” I replied with a frustrated breath. “I hate shopping.”

“Dev won’t care what you’re wearing,” she pointed out.

“I’m being ridiculous, right?” I asked. “What I wore never mattered to me before.”

“You like Dev,” Persephone replied with a smile. “This is so exciting!”

“You think everything is exciting,” I accused. It was one of the things I liked best about her. Persephone made me see the world in a much more optimistic way.

“You love me,” Persephone insisted as she grabbed my purse and handed it to me. “Let’s go. We have plenty of time to shop, and you obviously aren’t happy with your wardrobe selection.”

“Fine,” I relented as I made my way to the door.

Twenty minutes later, we were walking along a row of shops while I did my best to avoid acting like I was heading to my execution.

“While we’re out, you should get a few new outfits,” Persephone suggested.

I stopped to scowl at her. “A few? Why do I need that many dresses?”

“Dresses?” she asked with a laugh. “I thought you should get some new jeans and a few nice shirts.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” I agreed.

We were about to head into a store when I saw four small white dogs racing toward me. They were growling like demons as the crowd jumped to the side.

“Get back here!” called the woman chasing after them.

“Hey!” I shouted at the dogs, and they immediately stopped to growl at me.

Their vivid blue eyes changed to a blood-red color as they glared at me. “Who does she think she is?” one of them asked. The little dog might look cute, but he sounded vicious.

Not one of the dogs weighed more than ten pounds, and I suspected about half their weight was fur. The first who’d spoken had curly hair like a Poodle. I couldn’t figure out what breed the dogs were. With short legs, wide bodies, and large blue eyes, they looked like a mix of several smaller dog breeds.

“I like her,” another added in a dreamy voice as he shook his head to get his long hair out of his eyes.

“She’s a witch,” a third said, shaking his head so his ears flopped back and forth.

“It’s very rude to talk about me like I’m not here,” I scolded.

They all regarded me with more interest. “You understand us,” the fourth said. His tail curled around as he bounced slightly.

They all moved forward to sniff me.

“You should come home with us,” the one with the floppy ears stated.

The woman who’d been chasing them caught up and glared at the dogs with her hands on her hips. She was close to six feet tall with long black hair and dark brown eyes. “Shame on you!” she scolded the dogs.

“Lucy doesn’t like it when we run off in the human realm,” the dog with the curled tail told me.

“I imagine she doesn’t like it when you run off anywhere,” was my response.

“But we want to explore,” one whined as he shook his head to get his hair out of his eyes again.

“She’s not likely to let you explore if you misbehave,” I pointed out.

The dogs all considered what I’d said before reluctantly moving toward Lucy.

“Thank you,” Lucy told me as she leaned down to put a blue hair clip in one of the dog’s hair. She moved closer with the dogs at her side. “It’s so hard taking the Hellhounds out. My dad always wants me to keep them in the demon realm, but they get into even more mischief if they don’t get to explore some.”

“Hellhounds?” Persephone gasped. “As in Lucifer’s Hellhounds?”

When I’d pictured Lucifer’s Hellhounds, this was not the image I’d had in my mind.

“That’s us,” they all replied, even though only I could understand them.

“Yes,” Lucy replied. “I’m Lucifer’s daughter. I’m surprised neither of you recognized me.”

“We’ve both led sheltered lives,” I explained. “You’re going to have to excuse my friend while she asks you a billion questions.”

“Oh, that’s fine with me,” Lucy said with a laugh. “I’ve led a sheltered life myself. It’s always nice to make new friends. I’m Lucafina, but everyone calls me Lucy.”

“I’m Persephone, and this is Beatrice.” Persephone was even more excited than usual. I understood her excitement. Meeting the daughter of the devil was a big deal, even to me.

Lucy’s eyes widened when she heard Persephone’s name. “It’s nice to meet you,” Lucy began. “How can you understand the Hellhounds? Other than me, my dad’s the only one who understands them.”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure how I’m able to understand them. They must be similar to familiars. I can communicate with all familiars.”

“Does your own familiar ever get jealous?” Lucy asked.

“She was killed a long time ago,” I replied, feeling the same ache I always did when I thought of my familiar.

“Oh no!” the Hellhound with the floppy ears exclaimed.

“You poor witch,” another crooned as they all surrounded me, cuddling in to offer comfort.

“This is strange,” Lucy remarked. “They like you.”

“Thank you,” I told them, reaching down to pat them all before looking at Lucy. “I have a way with animals.”

“Yes, you do,” she agreed. “Where are you heading off to?”

“Shopping,” Persephone told her. “Beatrice has a date tonight.”

“That’s a pity,” Lucy said with a sigh. “I was hoping to introduce you to my dad. You seem like just what he’s been looking for.”

I let out a startled bark of laughter. “For a minute, I thought you were saying you think your dad would want to date me.”

“He would,” Lucy insisted. “Aside from the fact that the Hellhounds like you, you’re nothing like the silly sex demons who try to seduce him all the time.”

I looked down at my work jeans and sweater and nearly laughed. “I’m definitely not like any sex demon.”

“It’s not your appearance,” she began. “Trust me on this. My dad would like you.”

I almost shuddered at the thought of Lucifer being interested in me.

“I should let you get to your shopping,” Lucy told us.

“We should have lunch some time,” Persephone chimed in. “I’d love to hear more about you and your life.”

“I’m not sure you should interrogate Lucifer’s daughter,” I began before realizing how ridiculous my warning was. Persephone would interrogate the devil himself.

Lucy laughed. “Most people just make assumptions about me without asking any questions. I prefer the interrogation.”

In the most insane meeting of my life, we exchanged numbers with the daughter of the devil.

“That was crazy!” Persephone exclaimed.

“It must really be crazy for you to comment on it,” I told her.

“I like her,” she added.

“Me too,” I agreed. The fact that I’d stolen her father’s SUV still made me a little uneasy about hanging out with Lucy, but I decided there was no reason to worry. It seemed unlikely that subject would come up in conversation. It was funny how many new friends I’d made in the last year. Maybe I wasn’t nearly as antisocial as I thought.