Demonica by Preston Norton Page B

babbling suddenly pieced together in my mind.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Zoey was completely captivated. Like, this guy’s eyes were the fucking English Channel, and she was swimming it. And this was why I could never take Zoey’s crush on my brother seriously. Any boy that spelled tall, dark, and handsome and it was game over.
    “Who are you?” I asked, almost accusingly. Although I had been oblivious to him in class, something in his smile made me very uncomfortable now.
    His smile grew wider, eyes glowing. “I’m new here. My name is Amon.”

9
    The Invitation
    My blood froze to ice in my veins. My body went completely stiff, and I suddenly forgot how to breathe.
    Well fuckety fuck.
    “Yes, you remember me,” said Amon. “You were just at my house the other day. Came to pick up your brother, remember?”
    Zoey glanced curiously between my frozen expression and Amon’s all-knowing smirk. “You’re friends with Casey?”
    “Oh yeah, we go way back,” he said. “Although I was originally friends with Cate. He was lucky to have a girl like her. I pride myself in my taste in girls, and she was a real treat .”
    Wow, could this asshole be any more obvious? Punny bastard. There was a slobbering hunger in his eyes. Amon was toying with me. He took another step forward and casually sat down next to me. I recoiled my arm.
    “What do you want?” I asked. My voice had melted from icy to slush. Would he attack me here? In front of the entire student body? I doubted it, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying.
    “Well, like I said, I’m new here. I just want to get to know everyone. I’m actually throwing a party tomorrow night. You two are invited. The whole school will be there, so you should definitely come.”
    Zoey shot me a wary glance. She was never one to turn down a party invite, but she had clearly detected my uneasiness like fuck on a porn star.
    “My parents are out of town, so I’ve got the whole place to myself,” he continued, filling the silence. He turned to Zoey. “Do you know Hexham Manor?”
    I was already in too much of a state of shock to react. Zoey, however, freaked. “Hexham Hell House?”
    Amon chuckled and shrugged. “I guess some people call it that. I can promise you it’s not haunted though. I’ve been living there a couple days, and it’s just your average boring old house.”
    Hexham Manor was anything but your average boring old house. The place was practically almost a mansion and had a reputation on par with the Saint Salazar Cemetery. A decade and a half ago, the last family to live there was murdered. Ever since, generations of teenagers have snuck into the place on dares. It wasn’t until the past couple years that police began patrolling the place on occasion to keep kids and druggies out. Since then, the place had become an urban legend.
    But that wasn’t scary. Not when a werewolf/Demon was sitting next to me, teasing me with hidden threats, and inviting me to his Saturday night party.
    “So you two coming?” he asked. His animal eyes narrowed on me. “Come on, Monica. Every party needs a fiery redhead.”
    Dante’s word’s echoed:
    It’d be nice if you got us invited to a party this weekend.
    “I can promise…” Amon said in a darker tone, “…if you don’t come, the party will be dead.”
    I swallowed hard against my dry throat. “I’ll be there.”
    “Me too,” said Zoey. Even as she spoke, she hadn’t completely taken her curious gaze off of me.
    “Excellent,” he said, standing immediately. “Party starts at seven tomorrow.”
    Amon began to turn and leave but froze mid-step. “Oh and one more thing.” As he spun around, his deceitful grin was wider than ever. His eyes narrowed on me. “Tell your boyfriend, Dante, that I’ve got something special planned for him.”
    With that, he turned and left.
    There was a moment of stunned silence between Zoey and me as we watched Amon vanish into the crowds of students.