Free Demons Undone: The Sons of Gulielmus Series by Holley Trent Page A

every day. It’s not unheard of for that area. I just want to make sure I pick a place to live that I’m going to be happy with for a while, because moving sucks.”
    “I’ll take your word for it. This is my first move, and obviously I travel light.”
    “Hey, if you’re going to go, that’s the way to do it. I could probably do with downsizing a bit. Starting over, even. Some of the stuff I’m bringing with me, I — ” Whatever it was she was going to say, once again, she let drop. She put the coffee mug to her lips and stared into the junk pizza box.
    He wanted to reach across the table and hold her, let her press her face against his chest and cry it out, whatever it was. Something she’d left behind in California must have broken something in her, and without knowing what it was, he couldn’t fix it.
    Fix it? That’s not your job.
    He pushed back from the table and strode to the entertainment center. Inside on a low shelf, he found a channel guide and a remote control. “What are you in the mood for? I thought maybe you could continue my pop culture education.”
    She made a
give it here
gesture with her free hand.
    He handed her the remote and guide, and she skimmed an index finger down the channel listings in search of something specific. She giggled when she found it.
    “Okay. You’re going to love this. It’s all about living excessively and being famous for not much of anything.” She mashed the power button and toggled the station to a lifestyle channel. A loud, garishly dressed woman sat in front of the camera, complaining about her uneven wax job.
    John picked up another slice of pizza and turned his chair to face the screen. His jaw slacked more the longer he listened. The woman kept going on and on about how the wax had caused a burn and how she was mortified at showing it to anyone.
    During the next commercial break, he turned to Ariel. “Why is she so upset about her floors? She can just strip them and do them over.”
    Ariel’s eyes goggled. “Her floor?” Then her jaw dropped, too. “Ohh, okay.” She pressed a hand over her mouth and giggled until her eyes watered.
    It was hard for John to be offended when she was so sweet about it. To her, he must have been like some sort of alien learning human customs for the first time. That’s sort of what he felt like.
    He hadn’t been
completely
closed off at the compound, but what exposure he’d had to media was limited. Sometimes, he and some of the other boys would sneak into the office and watch old reruns on the black-and-white set, but the people in those shows were …
normal
. Conventional for the most part. They certainly hadn’t worn so much jewelry that the combined worth of their accessories could have balanced the state budget.
    “No, Hitch. Wax is what some women use to … ” She giggled again, her face burning red at the cheeks as she fought for control. “Some woman use depilatory wax. It’s hot. You go to a salon and have it applied. The technician puts a paper strip over it to yank it up, and when they remove it, it takes off body hair.”
    “Hot wax?”
    She nodded.
    “And … women use that … ”
    “All over.”
    Masochists. The whole lot of them. Hmm
. He cocked his head to the side and eyed her smooth legs crossed beneath the table.
    As if reading his mind, she said, “I’m a razor girl.”
    “Ah. Those I understand.”
    They watched in silence for a while, with Ariel occasionally nudging his knee with her foot under the table and bobbing her head toward the television in an
isn’t that crazy?
fashion, and John staring at the screen, but really struggling to concentrate.
    Every time she laughed or groaned or talked back to the screen, he zoned out, thinking too hard. Thinking was going to get him in trouble, and not just with Gulielmus.
    The scenario seemed far too ideal to him — him and Ariel at the table, relaxed and watching silly things. It seemed like a thing a real couple would do, not that he