To Hell and Back for You

Chapter 21: It's a Date, Then

"Let's just hurry up and get rid of him before anyone else gets killed," Ames stated coldly in response to my thanks as she dropped into the driver's side of her car and slammed the door shut.

I stood outside the apartment complex and watched until the woman's vehicle was out of sight. In response to my heavy exhale, Devin placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. He smiled as I looked his way. Before all the stuff with the ghosts and bringing this necromancer back, I had felt that maybe I'd found a friend in Ames. She was so kind and understanding and I really had wanted to meet up with her again. However, having her around now was just plain uncomfortable.

She hadn't pressed for any exact details on how or why I managed to let her father back into our world and I had guessed that was because she didn't see the point in fighting about it. Her last statement to me had proven that theory.

Her only concern for the time being was getting rid of him, and anything that wasn't necessary to that goal didn't warrant discussion. I exhaled again, even more loudly, then turned to go back inside the building.

My friend retrieved his hand and followed after me in silence. When we were finally in the apartment behind closed doors, he took a seat and waited patiently for me to sit as well, but when I took the chair where Ames had been, he complained, "Why you gotta be so far away? Come sit by me."

His cheerful attitude was comforting. My mind had been too focused on the whole serial killer issue to really think about it before, but it just caught up to the fact that Devin did seem to be flirting.

Then again, maybe not. He had more or less said he hated the traditional expectations of men, who were typically meant to be somewhat stoic and definitely not too affectionate; at least not with each other.

Everything he'd done that I'd taken as flirtatious were actually just things that two female friends would do with each other as purely platonic. So perhaps he was just being kind. He'd already said he didn't mean to come onto me or anything.

I rose and stepped over to the couch to join him and he threw his arm around me again, except this time, it was to pull me down onto him. With my head resting comfortably on his chest as he stroked the hair behind my ear, I was momentarily relieved of worry. I didn't fight or question it, I simply closed my eyes and smiled. I kind of wished he was flirting with me.

My only real relationship, meaning the only one that lasted longer than a couple of months, had been with Tyler. I had almost forgotten how nice being with him felt until I met Devin. What was different with him, however, is he wasn't an addict and I was clean.

With my last boyfriend, life consisted of the endless cycle of getting high, coming down, searching for our next fix, and riding out the next high. I wondered now if that was even a relationship or just mutual agony?

"So what do you think?" Devin's soft voice still sounded loudly in the quiet room.

"What do you mean?"

"About Ames' plan. Do you think it will work?" he clarified.

My lips fell straight as my thoughts returned to solemn matters. She had told us that during his second lives, McGraff usually worked within a group of related individuals, much like all serial killers.

Each victim had to exist within a certain definition in order for his dark magic to work. After he was finished with a set, he would jump to a new group of similarities. Even so, there were attributes he preferred.

The most difficult part was when he jumped because there was no indication as to what the new parameters would be. Four, she had said, was his number of power, which meant unless he planned to use eight this round, the next victim would be his last before he moved on.