5. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Azizia

I’m mildly satisfied with the direction Felix is taking his podcast, but it could be better. I sense he’s still struggling to go all the way, and I hate that for him.

I’ve been listening to him non-stop, to the point I’ve memorized every word he says in each episode. His favorite words are now my favorite words.

Because I’ve been watching so closely, I’ve seen the way The Nerd Word has sky-rocketed the charts, and the reviews are flooding in. I try not to be pissed about all these people, these humans fawning over him, begging him to say things to them. That is a no. Absolutely not. This whole thing was my idea. I wanted him to say dirty things to me. If I knew how to use technology better, I'd hunt them all down and cut their fingers off one by one so they could no longer type out messages to my Felix.

On the same note, if I were better with technology, I’d find him myself to see him face to face. See what he looks like because I still have no idea. Even though his podcast is moving up in the world, he’s yet to upload a photo, and he’s since started ignoring all of my emails I’ve sent to him, begging for a photo and personalized messages just to me.

I fall asleep each night, dreaming of him speaking dirty things to me, and sometimes it’s so bad I can’t get to sleep at all. I find myself wandering around the house, going through this woman’s things. This woman who is really starting to smell, by the way. I need to get rid of her body, but I’m not entirely sure how to at this point. I’ve waited too long, and all it’s going to do is make more of a mess.

I try calling my brother for the hundredth time since I’ve been up here, not expecting an answer since he hasn’t picked up once since I left. So when I hear his voice on the other end, I jolt upright.

“Azrael?”

“Zia, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me. I’ve been calling you for like two weeks!”

“I told you the phones don’t always work to call each other.”

Oh… yeah, I think he did mention that.

“Right… I may have forgotten about that.”

“What do you need? I’m a little… busy.”

“With what?”

“Just something .”

He grunts and I hear a man’s voice in the background. Then my brother says something that’s muffled and I can’t figure out what it is.

I ignore whatever is going on down there, and whatever he’s doing, because this is more important. “Okay, well, I need your help. Lots of help, Rae.”

“With what? You haven’t been gone that long.”

“For one, there is a rotting dead body that I don’t know how to get rid of, and—”

“Zia, I asked you not to kill anyone.”

“I needed a place to stay!”

He groans. “Is there only one?”

“Yes, just one.”

“Don’t kill anyone else, Zia. I’m serious. If you get caught, we’re both fucked.”

“Okay!”“What else do you need?”

“I’m trying to figure out how to find someone…”

“Someone who? Why? You didn’t go up there to find people, you went up there to hide.”

Think, Zia. If you tell him the truth, he’ll get mad. He doesn’t want you killing people, so stalking people probably isn’t good either. So what the hell kind of excuse can I give him that’ll make him help me?

“I found a potential job.”

“You did?” He sounds skeptical.

“Yes, at a recording studio. And the guy told me to meet him there, but then I accidentally deleted the email and can’t find it. I don’t want to send him another message and look like an idiot, so I’m just trying to find out where he’s at so I can go there.”

“When is the interview?”

Interview? What is an interview?

I say the first thing I can think of.

“Two days?”

He sighs. “I’ll have someone up there to help you first thing in the morning. Make sure your phone is on and fully charged, so I can ping it to find your location.”

“Thanks, Rae-Rae. You’re the best! Love you.”

I end the call as quickly as I can.

Someone shows up at the house just as the sun is up. I peek through the little hole on the door and see someone who is most definitely a demon. He looks way too angry to be human. He’s also really big and scary looking, and that’s usually what the male demons look like. Even though he looks weird through this little hole, I can tell he’s tall. Muscular too. There are lots of tattoos up and down his arms. He even has a few on the side of his face. His hair is dark and short. The most telling thing, though, is the upside down cross necklace he’s wearing. Yep, definitely a demon. I unlock the door and step aside, giving him a bright smile.

“You Azizia?” he grunts.

“That’s me,” I say, still smiling.

He pushes past me and stops in the middle of the living room to look around. He raises his nose into the air, sniffs deeply, then lets out a satisfied groan that has me clenching the handle of the door.

Ew. Does he enjoy the scent of death? Even as demons, we don’t like the smell of rotting flesh. It’s pungent and overwhelming. And it gets stuck in your nose for way too long.

The guy moves toward the bathroom and pulls the door open. I expect some kind of reaction, but all he does is stand there, his large body taking up the whole doorway so I can’t see how bad it is. After day three, I shut the door and haven’t been in there since. Thankfully, there’s another bathroom in the big bedroom that has everything I need in it.

The guy closes the door, then turns toward me, but it’s as if he sees right through me. He walks out the door, goes to a large truck, rummages around for something, then comes back with a roll of black trash bags and a bucket full of cleaning supplies.

When he reaches me again, he looks down at me and says, “Go around back, make sure the hose is connected, water is turned on, and meet me at the bathroom window.”

He doesn’t wait for a response, just goes to the bathroom and gets to work.

I close the house door and hurry around the back to look for this hose thing he’s talking about.

When I spot it, I know exactly what it is. Something about the green tube that’s coiled into a circle that looks like a giant snake has a fuzzy memory triggering, reminding me what a hose is. It’s already hooked up to a spout, so I turn it, then find the end and press the button. I grin when the water squirts out.

Fancy stuff these humans have up here.

I let go of the button and the water stops.

Like magic.

I step back and look at the house, trying to figure out which window is the bathroom. When I spot that guy’s grumpy face in one, I jerk away, startled. I shake out of it and hurry toward him as he opens it.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Kiza.”

“You’re friends with my brother?”

“No,” he grunts.

“Then why are you helping me?”

“Money.”

That makes sense…

He sticks his arm out the window, and it takes a moment for me to realize what he wants. I thrust the hose into his hand, then hurry back into the house.

I sit on the couch and watch as he works, but the door is mostly closed, so I only get glimpses now and then. I check my phone, looking for an update on The Nerd Word, but get nothing. I don’t want to sit here and listen to repeats while this guy is here, so instead, I just scroll through the episodes and recall Felix’s smooth and smokey voice.

So far, I think my favorite was listening to him talk about nebulophilia, and only because he said the word “aroused” seven times during the episode, which really got me going.

Would be nice if he’d accepted one of my suggestions, like pegging or spanking. Those are much easier to cover than some of the things he’s talked about. Words I’ve never even heard of before, though I do enjoy the educational aspect of his podcast too. Still, I’d prefer to hear him talk dirty to me, rather than learn about formicophilia—arousal to insects—which I think Kiza is dealing with in the bathroom right now, if the grunts echoing from in there are any indication…

Though, had Felix not talked about that, I’d not know what to call it now.

Again, I’d rather he tell me to get on my knees and choke on his cock than be taught new words, even if they are helpful.

Kiza spends quite a bit of time in the bathroom before he comes out, lugging something inside of the trash bag, which I assume is the body. He doesn’t say anything as he passes me, just heads to the truck where he tosses the bag into the back, wipes his hands on his pants, then comes back inside. He mustn’t enjoy words the way Felix and I do.

Once again, Kiza goes into the bathroom, and I figure I need to do something to keep myself busy, so I head into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Everything in the fridge is either empty or bad, so I grab a can of beans from the cabinet, pry it open with a knife and start to eat. When I turn to rest against the counter, I find Kiza standing in the doorway, staring at me like I’ve turned purple.

“Do you have any idea how to survive up here?”

“Excuse me?”

He gestures toward me. “You opened that can like a fucking savage.”

I stare down at it, not understanding what he means. The can is perfectly fine.

He shakes his head, then comes into the kitchen and pulls open some drawers and finds some weird scissor looking thing but without the sharp part.

He holds his hand out, then widens his eyes and focuses on the can in my hands, so I give it to him. Even though I don’t want to because I’m hungry and beans are delicious.

He rests it on the counter, puts the scissor looking things on the can and turns the handle.

The top of the can slowly cuts away from the sides.

“Wow…” I say in awe, smiling up at Kiza.

“This is a can opener. Use it, before you slice off a fucking finger.” He drops it to the counter. “And don’t let bodies sit for that long ever again, especially if you’re going to be as messy as that.” He points to the bathroom. He opens the fridge and shakes his head again. “And order some damn food.”

He storms out of the kitchen, and I hurry after him.

“How do I do that?”

“I’ll be done in five minutes, and I’ll let you know.”

I head back to the kitchen to eat my beans while I wait.

“So you’re telling me I can do all of this on my phone?” I ask with a smile.

“Yeah…”

Who would’ve thought?

“And the food will be here by six tonight?”

“And they won’t even bother you. They’ll leave it right on the front porch, and your phone will go off to let you know.”

“What about Felix?”

“Job interview, huh?” he says with a raised brow.

“That’s what I said.”

“Uh-huh.” He starts typing something on his computer that he’s used to show me a few things about living up here. A web page about The Nerd Word pops up, but I still don’t see a picture. “Here’s the address. Give me your phone.”

I narrow my eyes but hand over the phone. He takes a picture of the address.

“What is that going to do?”

“Now you have the address in your phone, saved in your photos. All you have to do is put it into the maps app, and it’ll give you direction. Luckily, it isn’t far. Do you know how to drive?”

“Uh, sure.”

He grits his teeth and looks up at the ceiling, shaking his head.

“Don’t drive her car, or any other car, for that matter. I’ll send you info of someone who can drive you, and will be discreet.”

“Why would I need someone to be discreet?” I ask, tilting my chin up.

“You may fool your brother into thinking you’re a little angel, but I know what you really are.”

“What’s that?” I ask, feeling slightly offended.

“A manipulative demon.” He snaps his computer shut and gets to his feet. “Whatever you do is going to fall on you and your brother, since he helped you get here. Just keep that in mind before you do something stupid.”

I frown at him. “I won’t do anything to get my brother into trouble.”

He looks at me as if he doesn’t believe me, then heads to the door, but stops and turns toward me before leaving. “I’ll send you the info of someone who can drive you once I find someone capable.” He steps outside.

“Thank you!” I call after him, but he ignores me.

I hurry to lock the door and press my back to it as I look around.

Kiza let me know that my brother was able to edit some information up here, and it now looks like the woman who was just taken away in Kiza’s truck, sold her house for cash two weeks ago and fled the country.

I am now the proud owner of a two-bedroom, ranch style home.

The only thing it’s missing is a guest.