DEMON'S DESIRE-SS-UPDATED PT 03 PG 10 - Page 5

PART 03

Geet thot if someone like Naintara could inflict Swati with illness,only someone with the same skill could lift the curse.A list of addresses and names of people and places associated with the occult and witchcraft were scribbled hastily on the notebook next to the box in the passenger's seat and her GPS was already loaded.She's gone only to say farewell to her sister on her way out of town.

The late October sun was setting earlier than she wished.She flipped on the interior lights of her car,hating the darkness.She already had a headache fm a couple of sleepless nights of research,but seeing Swati's helpless body reignited her desperation.

She had to fix this.No doc could help Swati,but maybe,just maybe,she could.

Her hope held out until sunset the next day,after she's visited the 2 dozen shops that lined Demon's Alley,the outskirts of Delhi,which boasted of its ties to witchcraft and the occult.

"Sure,we can help.It'll cost u ur soul."The clerk with black nails and pink hair burst out laughter.

"U know,that joke is getting really old!"Geet snapped.She snatched the box off the counter and left,agitated to see the sun was near setting.She's been to almost every store on the Alley with no success.The tourists had thinned out for dinner and were replaced by the vampire wannabes and fairies in heels.The locals took pride in their Alley,enough so that the street was decorated in Halloween colors and signs that read Welcome to Hell on Earth.

"They got that right,"She mumbled to herself.Her eyes settled on the only storefront she hadnt visited.The Devil's Depot was directly across the street from her car,behind a gp of teenagers dressed as fairies in cheap plastic wings.She set the box on her hood and checked her pockets for 3rd time that day,she's lost her keys somewhere along the Alley.

The clerks in all the other shops grew uneasy when warning her against visiting the Devil's Depot.She's left it for lat becoz every clerk claiming to be a vampire,witch or Demon had become strangely uncomfortable discussing the shop's owner.

He's the real Demon in the Alley,one clerk confided in her after the joke abt her soul.Geet,torn as to whether she wanted to try the store,had tried everywhere else first.After all,she needed a witch to counter Naintara's spell,not a Demon.

The Devil's Depot was her last chance.With a deep breath,Geet crossed the street and noticed the small sign on the window advertising Occult and Unnatural Incident Consultations.She knelt before the panting hellhound lying on the wooden stoop in front of the shop.It was much tamer than the barking Rottwelier hellhounds with spiked collars guarding one of the shops down the street.The Great Dane showed its age;gray trimmed its muzzle,flanks and ears.Geet waved a hand in front of milky-white eyes.The dog dint blink,but its long tail thumped,and a tongue flicked out in search of her.

"Any man who keeps a blind dog cant be too bad,"she tried to convince herself."Stay here,angel and watch out for those idiots in capes."She fished the squishy remains of a candy bar from her pocket.Her hand emerged coated in melted chocolate and coconut.

"Dammit."

Geet pinched the wrapper away with her opposite hand and handed the remains to the dog,whose nose prodded her forearm at its scent.It scarfed the candy and licked her hand clean.She rose & wiped the dog slobber on her jeans before glancing at the store name once again.

Candles flickered at her entrance into the shop,and she distinguished several rows of shelves sagging under the Wt of goods her eyes were too tired to make out.One wall glowed with her outlines of drink freezers.Her gaze lingered before she realized Coke was the last thing a place like this would stock.It smelled better than the other shops,emanating a spicy,masculine scent with an undertone of basil.

On the opposite end of the store,scowling clerks at the cashier counter looked up when the wooden floor creaked beneath her feet.She girded herself for yet another unfriendly exchange when a warm,charged current of air reached her.She glanced in the direction from which it seemed to come.The store was chilly aside from the peculiar current emanating from the corner of the right of the entrance.The darkness of the corner was impenetrable.

Someone's there.

She blinked away the eerie sense,turning when the hellhound's paws clicked on the wooden floor.It ambled into the shop,swung its massive head fm right to left,waggled and sat in the doorway.Had the 2 silent,brooding clerks not be staring at her,she wouldve retreated to pet the single friendly soul on Demon's Alley.

"Good evening,"Geet said and started towards the counter.

"What r u looking for?"One asked.

"I need a consultation on the occult,"she said.

"Consultation?"the girl glanced at the other.

"Advice isnt free.U have to buy something."

"Can u tell me if u r going to be able to helf me 1st?"Geet asked.

"Buy something then we'll talk."

Geet looked around,frustrated.Her eyes settled on the hellhound.

"Ur dog,"Geet said.

"That's Maan's.U'll hv to ask him,"the clerk said with a roll of her eyes.

"Fine.Just tell me what u want me to buy,and i will!"

"Dont worry abt it."The girl sat down with a huff and tossed a hand toward the front corner before sitting down and pulling out her iPhone.Geet watched her test someone and waited.The girl looked up."go see Maan.He's over there."

Geet held back her temper,but her pounding head was ready to explode.She started towards the corner with its impenetrable darkness.Her fear of the dark made her stop at the edge of where the light reached,a safe distance away from the inky blackness.

Light reflected off 2 chocolate brown eyes peering at her from the dark but disappeared as she blinked.Unable to summon a clear explanation among her tired thoughts,she chalked the glowing eyes up to imagination and waited for the figure in the corner to emerge.

"What kind of advice r u looking for?"The voice was soft,husky,and dark.It sent a shiver were drawn to the movement of his well-manicured hands.He poured her a cup of green-brown tea that smelled as calming as the store's incense and placed it before her.

He sat across fm her,his calf brushing hers.A shot of warm electricity jarred her,and her leg jerked upward instinctively,slamming into the table and spilling tea.She gave a grown of frustration and pain and pulled her knees fm beneath the table,rubbing one.Her face was warm.

"It's ok.I have plenty,"Maan said with another trace of a smile.

She sensed no danger from the angles and planes of his features,but she sensed no welcome either,as if they sat on a fence while he assessed her before deciding which way to push her to vampires outside or to impenetrable shadows around him.He poured more tea into her cup."Thank u,"Geet murmured.She took a sip of the sweet.hot brew.The hellhound nudged her."She likes u."Maan raised his eyebrows towards his dog.There was warmth in his gaze as he looked at the blind hellhound.It was the sign of humanity she'd seen anywhere on the street."Animals r so much better than humans,"Geet replied."I'd take a rabid dog over some of the people i met today."

"Dogs are kindred spirits."Maan said softly."It would be a nice life,wouldnt it?Eat,slwwp,roll over and have ur belly rubbed."Geet sighed.Maan chuckled,a sound as dark as the shadows.Despite his strangeness.she felt her body relaxing in his company,her emotions gaining the foothold she had denied them the entire day.She looked away before his gaze could capture her."I'm looking for some advice."

Precap-"U cant hv my soul," said Geet