“Why were you trying to sacrifice Blair?”

The witch shows some surprise, but I still have her heavily under my power. “She’s strong enough.”

“What does that mean?”

The older witch goes to open her mouth when the front door’s bell chimes, knocking my concentration off kilter and ending our connection.

She shakes her head and points her finger at the front door. “You need to leave, now.”

“Aw, but I really wanted a Ouija board. Got some friends in Hell I need to check in with,” Asmo whines and the witch growls.

“Out!”

Asmo steals a lollipop from the checkout table and we both leave the shop. The loud bell ringing with our departure as we head out on Main Street.

“And I’m the one who is pussy whipped?”

“Shut the fuck up, Asmo.”

He pops the lollipop in his mouth and licks it obnoxiously. I want to shove it down his throat, even though I know it won’t kill him.

“Well, none of what the old bird said made any fucking sense.” Lick.

“No, but it’s more information than what I had before.”

“Did she ask you to help?” Lick.

“No,” I say.

“Pussy whipppped.” Lick.

“Fucking, give me that.” I rip the lollipop from his mouth and toss it to the middle of the street, where a car dramatically drives over the hard candy.

“Hey! You’re more on edge than normal. You owe me a lollipop.”

“You stole it,” I say, looking at him incredulously as we continue walking to an area where we can portal undetected.

“It was still mine.”

I ignore him until we get out of the public eye so we can portal. Annoyed with him, we both portal separately to the bungalow. The only thing worse than having to come home and deal with Asmo is coming home and finding Kas sitting on our couch unexpectedly.

I groan as I pass her and Kas clicks her tongue in annoyance. “You really should work on your manners, Dax. You’ve been alive long enough to know how to treat a house guest.”

“I was just saying the same thing,” Asmo says, sitting next to Kas and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. I don’t trust her, and the amount of time it took her to get Asmo wrapped around her finger is disconcerting.

“Why are you here?”

“Rude,” she says, picking her long black nails. “I was here to tell you both that I got us an invitation to Inferno two nights from now. But seeing how you act like an animal in public, maybe Asmo, and I should just go. You don’t even have a date, anyway.”

“I’ll have a date.”

“You haven’t even asked her,” Asmo reminds me.

“I’ll go to Hex and talk to her about it. Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.”

“Oh, and pray tell, who will be this date?” Kas asks.