She showered, dressed, and headed towards Telal's office in under an hour. He'd acted so odd last night, but seeing that part of him gave her hope. Her father wanted this demon specifically to be there for her. She'd long accepted that and now wanted to see what was there between them. Because something was. The attraction between them wasn't just one-sided, and she needed to see just where it would lead.

The elevator to his office floor opened and she paused. No guards stood at the door. Odd but refreshing. Maybe he'd ordered them off after their little breakthrough last night. She laughed, yeah right. Knowing him, his kindness had merely been a lapse in judgment brought on from the stress of the night. And it had been one hell of a night.

Flinging the door open, she found the lights off inside. Next she found the bedroom the same. A prickling feeling settled over the back of her neck. Lily took the elevator down to the lobby of the main floor.

The guard behind the desk looked up at her as she approached. “Where is he?”

“Mr. Demuzi?”

She glared. “No, Santa Claus.”

“I believe the North Pole, ma'am.”

Her lips twitched but she refused to laugh. “Try that attitude again with the mood I'm in and see where it gets you,” she said in a cold voice.

The guard narrowed his eyes on her and sized her up. She knew what he saw—a short, small woman. But she still had power, enough to kick his ass if need be.

Finally, he shrugged. “I can't tell you that.”

Lily threw up her hands and stalked back to the elevator. “Fucking idiots,” she mumbled. That sickly feeling told her something was wrong. He had to be in the building, she just knew it. So she punched in floor two and made her way down the halls one floor at a time looking for him.

By floor ten she was cursing. “Fucking place is huge.”

By floor twenty she wanted to pull her hair out. It wasn't until she reached floor thirty-five that the layout of the floor shifted completely. This looked totally different from the other floors. The elevator opened to a short white hallway with a single door. Her gut clenched in warning and she knew she'd found him.

The small keypad above the door handle lit up with a red light and she paused. She tried the door but it didn't budge.

“Well, shit.” She wasn't a hacker by any means. Still, she started entering a random variety of numbers hoping to get lucky. After a few minutes of trying, it didn't work.

Sighing, she made a fist and banged on the door. “Telal! Are you in there? It's Lily.” Quieter she mumbled, “Yeah, I'm sure that'll bring him running.”

Defeated by a door with a numbered lock, she slid to the floor. Lily contemplated all the ways she could get the door open starting with bribing a guard for the code. She had just gotten up to bombing it when the elevator dinged open.

Telal's bodyguard, Kearnyn, came through. A small smile formed as he saw her. “Keeping him safe?”

She scoffed and stood up. “Not really. Can you get me in?”

The smile died and he stared shrewdly at her as if trying to deduce what she was up to. She held her hands up innocently.

“I think something's wrong,” she said.

If anything his face shut down even more, hiding everything, showing nothing. “Why do you think that?”

“I may not be a witch like Rosa but I have similar strengths. Visions, feelings, things like that. Is he in there?”

He took a deep breath and eyed the door with a grimace. “The reports say he hasn't left.”

“Left since when?”

The big Irish man shrugged. “He's been in there since last night.”

“Damn. Get me in there big guy, and I'll fix him up.” Her stomach formed twisting knots of worry. Her claim was also a bold faced lie. She didn't know if she could help or not, but she'd die trying.

He took a deep breath then gave her a hard, penetrating stare. “You get five minutes, then I'm coming in to see what's going on.”

She nodded fast. “No problem.”

He crossed in front of her so she couldn't see the digits he entered, but they each made a sound to correspond to the number and she mentally memorized it. Four, two, five, seven, one. She just hoped her short-term memory remembered it. He pulled down the door handle then turned back to her.

“Be warned.”

She took a step back. “He's that bad?”

He didn't nod or disagree but opened the door for her. Lily took a deep breath and stepped inside. A large recreational room greeted her. The ceiling towered high in a dome shape and the walls were bright and white. The room had a decent-sized kitchen, a large bar, TV, radio system and pool table. A man's lounge.

A movie played on the TV, some gaudy looking flick with unattractive boys and really sexy women. Not the kind of movie she'd think he'd be interested in. Slowly, she made her way through the room finding the main area empty. A leather chair faced the TV but it was empty too.

She stepped next to it and could still see the dimpled impression from where he'd sat in it. Bottles were scattered on the ground around the chair. Beer cans, bottles of hard liquor and a wine bottle—all empty.

“Telal?” she called out.

Hell, the TV was so loud she probably wouldn't hear him if he called back anyway. She grabbed the remote and turned the volume down. Two more rooms lead off the main room. She went to the one on the right and found a surprisingly large workout room with padded mats on the floor, weights and other workout equipment.

She flicked on the light but he wasn't there. “Telal?” she tried again.

As she made her way across the polished white floors, her gut tightened, coiled with worry. She never did get the unique feelings quite like her sister Chloe did, but she'd described them before, and yup, it sucked. It felt like a mixture between severe anxiety and nausea.

The worry pushed her and she forced herself to walk fast to the other door. The door stood ajar and a faint glow came from inside.

Flashes crossed her mind as to what she'd find. A dead body? Though she couldn't see the strong demon taking his own life, she didn't know him well enough yet to be sure. Just how fucked up was he from his trip to the rift?

She realized she'd soon find out as she pushed the door open and found the room empty. It looked like a spare bedroom complete with a closet, dresser, bed, and mirror on the wall. Another door connected to the room sat to the right, the glowing light coming from there. Her stomach twisted even more and she bit her lip as she made her way towards it. Somehow she was too scared now to call out to him, afraid he wouldn't answer her.

Reaching the door, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, held it, and pushed the door open.

Telal's mouth felt like he'd been sucking on cotton balls the whole day. His tongue was dried and damn near crispy and his head throbbed like a hammer had been taken to it a dozen times. The worse was trying to walk. Nothing stayed still long enough for him to figure out which direction was which.

Slowly, he hunched forward in his seat, but in the process his legs kicked out and the bottles around him were knocked to the ground. Even the sound of the bottles hitting the floor sounded too loud to his ears, which had somehow gained hypersensitivity from the alcohol.

Bracing his hands on the arms wrests, he lurched forward, stumbling to keep his feet on the ground. It didn't work and his foot caught on one of the bottles. He shouted as the floor went out from under him. His ass landed hard on the floor, making his teeth clang together and his spine feel like it just got jacked up into his face.

“Ahh, fuck,” he groaned, his hand wiping over his pounding face.

He never drank. Didn't like the feeling of being out of control, but now he rejoiced in it. It dulled out all the shit that had happened last night. Shit he didn't want to think about for at least a hundred years.