The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,144

new nickname. Granted, this was why I regretted calling her pumpkin out loud. It was safer when I kept that word inside my head. Mostly, for me. But, it had the desired effect. Some of the blood was starting to return to my head, and I was thinking a little bit better - but not much. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that in less than five minutes, Sia had already found ties to someone who'd gone missing.

Which meant that if I could find this kid, we’d have a better idea of what was going on. It seemed that my guess was right. This party was definitely a harvest ground - and there was no way I was going to let them take anyone else.

"So, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?" I asked. "Then you can go get yourself all worked up while making some more."

"That kinda sounds like the same thing I was thinking," she agreed before turning to the girl behind her. "Amy. This is Luke, and he knows everyone. I'm sure he can help you track down your friend. Probably just upstairs with some cute little freshman, right?"

But when Sia looked back at me, I could see in her eyes that she didn't believe that. Not at all.

33

Sienna

The girl I'd met, Amy, had come up to me asking if I'd seen a guy. The chances of that happening felt almost divine, but I knew better. No, it had been nothing more than sheer luck - on my part. Bad luck for her friend. So, my thinking was to kill two birds with one stone. I told her that over by the keg would probably be the best place to check. It also happened to be where I was supposed to meet back up with Luke. Thankfully, the guy hadn't been gone long enough for her to start panicking yet.

And while we were waiting in line, she’d told me about the other guys she'd come with, and how they were still looking for him. I promised that I'd ask the keg guy if he’d seen anyone who matched the kid’s description. Nineteen, about five-ten, and maybe 100 pounds soaking wet. To me, it sounded like the kind of guy who got overlooked easily. Thankfully, he was supposed to be wearing a Harry Potter shirt. I figured there couldn't be a lot of guys in a fraternity house wearing one of those.

So I told Amy that Luke would help her and her friends hunt for him. I said he knew a few of the guys here - it wasn't exactly a lie - and so he was the best person I could think of to figure out where her friend had disappeared to. I also pointed out how many of the neighborhood sorority girls were here and how that might have something to do with it. Amy was adamant that no girl would pick up her friend. I countered with the well-known sorority scavenger hunt, and that quite a few of the items on the list involved guys. He may not have been picked up because he was hot. They could've dragged him back to their place because he had on the right shirt.

I knew better. No, that kid was probably stuck somewhere waiting to be shipped off to Angelis and turned into a slave. Having heard so much about him, I almost felt like I knew him. That made it a little more imperative to find this kid before he was gone forever.

But when I headed back to the yard, I realized Amy wasn't the only one who was missing a friend. Between the obnoxious rounds of drunk guys screaming out Greek letters - usually followed by a chorus of cheering - I noticed a few too many people asking for someone. Nothing more than a simple, "Hey, have you seen my friend?" But it was enough. Just like we expected, the angels were rounding up their herd.

It made sense. One hundred thousand people would take a few days to steal away. If I was honest, it was probably more like a few months. Considering that Chris had gone missing around Thanksgiving, and it was now the middle of January, how many people did they already have?

I was wandering through the crowd, trying to get a feel for the flow of traffic, when someone grabbed my arm. I turned, expecting it to be Luke, but I was so wrong. Yes, this was an angel,