Eve of the Witching Hour

One information dump later

The information provided by Woody the demon pigeon could be summarized as such: Thizzes the 3rd Devil had plans to soon officially announce his next line of wine. Xazuth the 6th Devil and Tineva the 8th Devil would sign a peace treaty to end the war between them. One that would likely be broken by the end of the week. And lastly, Lakurm the 12th Devil was now engaged to what would be his 5,209th wife. There were other tidbits of rumors and news, but those were the biggest and most important.

From what Blair had told him before, John remembered that two of those Devils, Xazuth and Tineva, were also the ones who had fought at the start of the Devils’ alliance and subsequently had torn it apart. He stretched his arms, they had listened to that entire thing for about twenty minutes.

With his part of the deal now done, Woody took the few animal crackers that were left over and flew off with them after a quick goodbye. The long report notwithstanding, he was gone almost as quickly as he had arrived. John sunk into the couch and closed his eyes. However, he couldn’t get very comfortable, due to the fact that he was still in full plate armor.

He thought about what he wanted to do next. First, since he had already told his mom that he would stay the night outside of their home, he actually needed to ask Blair if he could crash here. He hoped that she would agree, but just in case, he began to consider alternative options.

With the money he had left over, he could probably easily afford to sleep at a cheap motel for this one night. But if he could assume that she did say yes or if he went for the alternative, then his next immediate worry came to mind: what exactly would Wentworth expect from him at midnight?

Does she want to know how I spent the money she gave me? No… that’s probably not it. She could have just waited until tomorrow if it was just that. Hmmm. He mentally sighed, because when it came to Wentworth, he just couldn't read her. Now, he wasn’t an expert on reading people by any stretch, but to him, Wentworth’s intentions were a complete and utter mystery.

When he heard Blair stand up from the couch, John opened his eyes and looked at her, which also put a pause on his train of thought. She walked away to the kitchen where Ganzac still was, and he soon heard the sound of cooking utensils and a stove being turned on.

For a moment he considered whether he should go and volunteer to help, but in truth, his lack of cooking knowledge and skills would most likely lead to him just being in the way. But at the same time, he didn't want to feel rude and remain idle, so perhaps he could at least help set up the plates or something basic like that.

Half an hour later

By this time, John had unequipped the platemail armor and was now back in his normal school clothes. As the three of them ate the brown rice and baked chicken wings in front of them, John did some math in his head. The drive from here to the bookshop was around half an hour, and although he hadn’t droiven from the shop to Ashcroft before, he could estimate that it would probably be somewhere around 20 minutes, give or take. 

As such, if he wanted to be there on time, it would be safer if he left before 11 P.M. It was currently 7:56 P.M., which meant that he would need to leave in three hours. And since he would also need to call a Bluber, and wait for it, he might actually need to probably call it around 10:45 P.M. instead.

After he swallowed the rice inside his mouth, he stole a cursory glance at Blair. Ganzac had just excused himself to use the bathroom a few moments ago, so now would be John’s best chance.

“So… Bair. I, uhhh, can I ask you for a favor?” he almost mumbled. After a simple yet affirmative nod from her, he continued, “Well, in all honesty, me and my mom kinda need a little time apart from each other. And I was just wondering if you wouldn’t mind if I stayed the night here. Oh! And I have to meet with someone tonight, so I’ll need to leave by 11, but hopefully it won’t take long. ” Blair rubbed her hand against her chin and stared off as she thought about it.

“Eh, sure, I don’t see why not. But on one condition…” She leaned in closer until her lips were almost directly pressed against his ear. “You’re going to sleep with me in my bed,” she seductively whispered before she leaned back away and winked. Even that was enough for John to feel some of the blood in his head start to travel down. But before his libido could have its chance to take over, he heard the bathroom door open. As such, he forcibly quelled that part of himself and nodded to Blair in agreement.

Soon afterwards, as they finished up dinner and began to clean up, Blair’s phone rang. She took it out, and after she looked at the number, she answered.

“Y’ello. I just finished eating so not really… now? Really? Do you mean now or is it actually now? Like, can it not wait until tomorrow morning? Oh… a class C case you say… alright. Text me the address and I’ll be there ASAP.” As soon as she hung up, she began to put on her coat and boots.

“Sorry, a work thing just came up. Hopefully today will be a good day and I can get done with it quickly, but I’ll be gone for at least an hour or two. So… you two better play nice until I come back!” she quickly said as she finished getting ready and almost ran out the door as soon as she finished, with no time to let anyone else get a word in edgewise.

The moment the door closed behind her, John heard knuckles being popped. He swallowed, and knew that the next couple of hours were not going to be fun.