A Demon’s Book Of Shadows (Witches & Demons #1)

26. Amon

26

Amon

Dad’s bloodshot eyes were as thick and murky as the two black ravens sprouting from his broad shoulders. Their feathers bowed and frilled with angst. The birds were a direct correlation to my father's quirky moods, meaning one very dangerous thing.

He had been drinking.

Lucy was still in my arms, not fully supporting her own weight. I released her, but the sweet scent of her magic burning in my nose did little to comfort my panic. Dad, even in an alcohol-induced stupor, would know his eldest son had been drinking in a witch’s magic.

He stood up from his place at the bar, knocking a couple of shot glasses to the ground as he swiped his hand across the counter. He squared his hips, locking his cold gray eyes with me. It was the first time in months that I’d given my old man a stiff look. He looked like fucking hell.

His hair was disheveled, clumps of silver straying from his ponytail. What was usually a clean-shaven jaw was rough with wiry, reddish-brown hair. A purple smudge I thought might be a bruise blemished his cheek .

“Dad, why are you here?” I asked, studying his swaying movements. He had to be wasted.

“Zeeeed said he finally got a naaaame fooooor his baaaand! I had toooo come seeeeee for myseeeelf.”

Lucy giggled. “He’s drunk.”

“No shit he’s drunk. The fool can’t even walk straight.”

Zed held his drumsticks over his head. “What did you think? Loud enough to scare away a wendigo?”

My stomach twisted at Zed’s question.

Dad’s ravens erupted from his shoulders, their shadows splintering into an explosion of ebony feathers.

“Weeeeendigo? Wheeeere?” he stammered drunkenly. He spun on his heel, swinging a punch in the air.

I grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Noooot enooooough,” he growled, staggering toward the bar to grab another bottle. Dad was much stronger than I, and I couldn’t stop him from grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniels.

The brown whisky poured out, dribbling down both sides of his lopsided mouth. He tossed the bottle aside. “Come on, Amoooon. When was the last tiiiime I got to enjooooy a stiff driiiiink with my fiiiiirst boooorn? Wheeennnn youuu coooooming to Ireeeeeland with meeeee?”

“Not when you are this drunk,” I mumbled. I could only imagine the kind of drinking he did in Dublin, where the demon council headquarters were located .

Dad pumped his fist into the air. “Come on, my booooys! The niiiight is stiiiilllll young!”

Zed shook his head as he approached me. “He thinks it’s night. He’s blasted. Krim’s going to come into a real shock when he sees that Dad’s downed most of his alcohol.”

Dad always showed up unannounced. Ever since he started working overseas for the demon council, he barely set foot in this cozy little town.

“What do we do with him?” Zed asked, his green eyes flashing to mine.

“Sobering up a demon when he has this much booze burning in his blood could take days,” I said, pinching my brow. This was the worst possible way I wanted Lucy to meet my drunken asshole of a father. “Something’s happened. He’s always liked his alcohol, but I’ve never seen him like this. He doesn’t just come into town and get slammed without reason.”

Zed backed away. “This is all you. Besides, we’ve just started practice. We need to rehearse our jams for this weekend’s performance.”

My stomach hollowed.

Lucy was fast approaching my intoxicated father.

“Hello, sweeeeetheart, what’s your name?” Dad asked. “Are yoooou a wiiittttch?”

Lucy’s freckles darkened at his question. “I am. A librarian witch, in fact.”

“What doooooes thaaaaat mean? That yooooou liiiike to reeeead speeellll books? My soooon has gooootten into trrrrrouble with wiiiiitches before. One ennnnded up trying to kiiiiill him, so I had to loooock her spiiiirit into one of my griiiiimoires.”

“All right, that’s enough,” I said, sliding in between them. “Dad, what do you say I take you back to my place and get that tattoo on your arm taken care of?”

Dad’s bloodshot eyes darkened. “Laaaaacy and I weeeere just getting to knooooow each other, riiiiight Laaaaacy?”

Lucy laughed. “I think Amon has a great idea.”

I linked my arms with my intoxicated father, but he fought me. “I caaaan get theeeere myself, booooy.”

He disappeared, then manifested outside the door.

I sucked in a breath. Thank the darkness he didn’t suspect that I took Lucy into the shadow archives. Must be the alcohol.

Dad turned on his heel, his stride too quick for either of us to match. When he was out of earshot, I grabbed Lucy’s hand and tugged her toward the door just as Zed’s band began playing again. “Come on. The sooner we get him sober, the sooner we find out why he’s really in town. He’s a crazy old man, but he doesn’t drink like this unless something is really wrong. Just don’t let him know that I took you into the shadow archives, all right?”

“Why not?”

“The last time I did, you know what happened. He had to lock the vengeful spirit of a witch into one of his grimoires.”

Lucy laughed. “I’m not dead, and I’m not a vengeful spirit, am I?”

“No?”

“Well, somehow I feel like that was all just tough talk. What is involved to get him sober? ”

“You’ll see. One demon’s creative outlet is another’s sobriety.”

Lucy grinned from ear-to-ear. I half-expected Dad’s random appearance to end whatever we had going right now.

“You’re brave sticking up to him like that,” I said.

“You should have seen the crap I gave my father as a kid.”

“My relationship with my old man definitely isn’t the healthiest.”

“What’s his name?”

“Eugene. I swear, my father and I are nothing alike. He’s all bark and sometimes a nasty bite.”

“There isn’t anything wrong with being like your parents. What I really want to know is if you have as many tattoos as him?”

I shrugged. “It depends on the day. A demon’s shadows are often disguised as tattoos on his body.”

Lucy squeezed my hand. “I saw one on your back in your apartment. I think it’s fucking hot.”

My neck burned at her statement. The monster on my back didn’t always have the best appearance, and here Lucy was getting turned on by it.