Devil's Soul

Chapter 40 (the front seat is for lame losers)

In the morning, Desmond was looking cool, even without his trench coat, as he leaned against the red car with his arms crossed over his chest. If he knew that I was peeking at him through the curtains of the motel window, he didn't let on. His breath was puffing white clouds into the frigid air, and he made no attempts to rub his hands together in warmth. I had no idea how long he'd been standing there, since I'd only just woken up.

"Is something out there?" Sasha asked from behind me.

I let the curtain fall back into place and spun around to greet him. He'd been asleep when I'd crept over here. "Just a friend," I smiled. I looked over at Rumpels, who was also now awake. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleep from his face. He was wearing nothing but a pair of socks and gym shorts. His slumped, hairy body was actually in pretty good shape, which I would have found surprising, if I hadn't seen him put up such a good fight against those demons. He was no demon hunter, but he was definitely something dangerous.

"Is it the friend that saved you last night?" Sasha asked.

I looked back down at him, shocked. "You were there?"

He shyly glanced at his feet. "I can hide in the shadows," he reminded me. "I was mad that you guys were going to have fun without me, so I followed you." He clenched his fists in a sudden fit of anger. "But then you guys got attacked, and I wasn't able to do anything to help you! I was so useless!" He was shouting now, even managing to break through Rumpels' morning fog.

"Is everything alright?" Rumpels asked, propping himself up with his hands against his knees.

"Everything's fine. Just put some clothes on and get your stuff ready. We'll be waiting outside." I patted Sasha's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, okay? You weren't the only one that felt useless. We just have to accept our weaknesses and do our best to make ourselves stronger."

Sasha seemed to receive this advice with maybe a little too much enthusiasm. "I'm going to make myself stronger than every demon in existence!" he declared.

"That's great," I said, failing to hide the skepticism in my voice. "Why don't we go meet my friend?" I suggested, before I could undo whatever I had achieved with my mini pep talk.

I led Sasha outside, and we were greeted by a lopsided grin from Desmond. He didn't falter at the unexpected sight a kid by my side.

"Hey, little man. What's your name?" Desmond asked.

"Sasha."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sasha." Desmond held out his hand, and Sasha accepted the shake, already appearing taken in by Desmond's charm. "I'm Desmond."

"Thank you for letting me borrow your jacket," I said. I had it neatly folded over my arm. I tried to pass it to him, but he didn't take it.

"How about you keep it until we get the car warm?"

"Deal," I said, slipping the jacket on, grateful for its warmth. I'd been trying to do the polite thing by giving it back to him right away, but the truth was that I was freezing out here. I didn't understand how he could so easily ignore the cold. I climbed into the driver's side and pushed the button to start the car. The engine revved to life, and the vents put out frigid air.

"Hey, it's my turn to sit in the front!" Sasha protested, as Desmond slid into the seat next to me. Sasha didn't waste any time before climbing into the back and throwing himself on the console between us. "Turn the heat all the way up!" he demanded, turning the dial before I could respond.

I turned it back down to a reasonable temperature. "That won't make it go any faster," I explained.

"Yes, it will."