The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers by Angie Fox Page A

every hotel does have a thirteenth floor
—
it's
the way they keep the magical folk away from everyone else. And that can be a
very, very good idea
.

Chapter
Six
     
    "Move, move, move!" I grabbed Phil by the belt loop of his white
tuxedo as he tried to sniff the hibiscus along the circular drive of the
Paradise Hotel. As far as I was concerned, it had taken too long to get Phil
off the back of Grandma's bike. The sooner we got him inside, the better.
    Wrought-iron railings lined the front entrance and the balconies of the art
deco building. According to Grandma, this was one of the oldest hotels on The
Strip. It also boasted a magical floor, not that I'd ever seen one of those. I
hoped Dimitri and the Red Skulls would be waiting for us there.
    As curious as I was to see the hexed thirteenth floor of the Paradise, if we
were lucky enough to find our friends in the lobby, I'd be even happier to skip
out of town.
    Pirate nosed the inside of my arm. "You mind letting me down?" he
asked, still dangling from the biker dog carrier strapped to my chest. "A
dog feels better when he's on all fours."
    "Hold on, bub," I told him as I took Phil's elbow and squeezed the
three of us into the same partition of the hotel's revolving door.
    Pirate licked Phil's hand. "Mmm, you taste like pancake syrup. Oh, shoot.
You just gave me a craving for the Shoney's breakfast bar."
    Phil rubbed his sausagelike fingers over Pirate's head in a smushy pet.
"I knew a fairy once who tasted like buttercream frosting."
    We made our way past the curtain-draped lobby and into the heart of the
Paradise. It reminded me of a tropical explosion.
    "Pretty!" Pirate said, with the same awe he reserved for the Three
Dog Bakery.
    Bold floral wallpaper competed with gold lame accents and a barrage of
bright lights from the overhead signs cramming the walkways. Feathers sprouted
from oversized vases and sky blue velvet curtains framed the entrance to a
loud, clanging casino that instantly swallowed us whole.
    I doubted the biker witches would come back without Dimitri. "You see
them?" I asked, scanning the lobby. Luckily, the Red Skulls would be hard
to miss.
    "No," Grandma said, checking her cell phone. "No word from
them, either." She shoved the phone into her back pocket. "Okay.
We'll hole up on the thirteenth floor."
    Pirate ran his nose along the inside of my arm. "Well as long as we're
waiting, I think I might have a snack."
    "When we get upstairs," I told him. Heck, I'd even pay minibar
prices to get out of this lobby. Danger tickled at the back of my brain. I
focused hard on the room around me, opening my demon slayer powers as much as I
could. This place made it difficult to instantly spot something odd.
    A slight tingling in the air stopped me. Grandma felt it too. I reached for
the emerald that had—thankfully—morphed back around my neck.
Of
all the times for Dimitri to go off on his own
…
    Grandma saw my worry. "Dimitri's a big boy, Lizzie. He can handle
himself."
    "Yeah, well right now, he's screwing everything up."
    I didn't want him in town if he was susceptible to the she-demons. I didn't
want him trying to risk himself for me or for Phil or for anybody, and I really
didn't appreciate him running off like he did. We'd be able to hit the road now
if we knew how to find him—or the Red Skulls for that matter. As it
stood, we were stuck in a hostile city with twenty-five succubi, not to mention
an angry demon fiancee on our trail.
    Pirate's tail thumped against my stomach. This probably wasn't the best time
to have him attached to me. I unhooked him, and he belly flopped straight into
Phil's arms. So much for doggie devotion.
    I brought a hand down to my switch stars. The last time I'd faced a member
of Satan's unholy army, he nearly killed me. And that was just one demon.
Twenty-five would require serious backup. I had nothing but a geriatric biker
witch, a disloyal dog and a fairy godfather who smelled like a Cinnabon store.
    "Let's get out of here."