Free Demon Hunt by A. W. Hart

carry a sword for the cover of one of the romance novels Rhi indulged in once in a while on her days off.
    But at that moment he could have been a Greek god with a dozen roses for all she cared. She struggled to her feet, her face blood red.
    “ I’m beginning get a bit paranoid when you’re around, whoever you are.” She bit off the words, her arm still burning from his touch. The flame spread to other parts of her anatomy in seconds. “Who in the hell are you?”
    “ Hope to God you never find out,” he replied. The deep smooth tone of his voice set off her alarms as the sound wound its way through her thoughts to curl up to stay in a deserted corner of her subconscious. He stood close and the feel of his breath on her cheek made her heart bounce an extra beat.
    He spun to stalk away from them. “You and Miss Douglas might want to stay at home for a few days. It would save me some trouble,” he shot over his shoulder before vanishing around the corner.
    Pam gaped at her, speechless for the first time since Rhi met her.
    So was she, Rhi decided while trying to catch her breath after her second close call of the day. The worst part hadn’t been the reappearance of her guy , but the eerie laughter in the air as she was hauled out of danger.
    “ Did you hear someone laughing,” she asked Pam, who still gazed in awe at the corner around which the stranger had disappeared.
    “ Was that guy hot or is it just me? Did you see the testosterone oozing out of his body? I wonder if he thinks he has too much – because I could volunteer to lick it off.”
    Rhi shrugged. She refused to put the word ‘licking’ and the image of Jack Blackthorne together in her mind. It had been too long since she had gotten laid and her head might explode. But Pam - someone should get something out of all of this. She eyeballed her friend, who held a hand up in denial.
    “ Don’t, I was kidding … he’s too pretty for me. And if you didn’t make men feel like they opened up an industrial-sized freezer when you meet them, you might find something besides your dog to keep you warm – like him.”
    “ You should go get him if you think he’s all that,” Rhi replied, trying not to stare at the corner longingly as well, hoping he’d reappear and carry her away.
    “ He’s too young for me.” Her face was serious.
    Rhi snorted. “I’m pretty sure he’s at least ten years older than you.”
    “ I figure all men are twenty to thirty years younger mind wise than their bodies are. So he’s just past puberty.”
    “ So you need a fifty year old man.”
    Pam cackled. “Lord no! I’d kill the poor guy, being at my sexual peak and all.”
    The bruises on Rhi’s neck emitted a quick, throbbing pain, reminding her of the episode in the casino.
    She snapped her fingers in front of her friend’s face. “Let’s get back to the subject at hand. Someone’s trying to kill me. Or freak me out. And Testosterone Guy has mistaken me for someone else because I’ve never seen him before in my life and have done nothing to make him act like such a jerk.”
    “ Are you sure there’s no drunken one night stand you want to tell me about from your days of dealing blackjack and poker on the mighty Mississippi? Maybe you went out on your weenie husband? That’d bump you up a few notches on my wild child scale.”
    “ Believe me, if I’d ever met that guy, I’d remember. And you’re right – he’s hot. But he also gives me the willies, Pam. Your ‘hot guy’ has made two appearances just in time to see me almost begin the trip to meet my Maker. He’s got a bad habit of being around for these little accidents.”
    Pam sobered and wrapped and arm around Rhi’s shoulders, heading for the bar. “There’s more to this than is dreamt of in my philosophy, Horatio my friend. We should do the sensible thing: drink heavily and discuss the invisible men attacking you while someone giggles in the background and the incredibly hot one saves