“WHAT??!!”
“… In fact, I was thinkin’ we might want to make your place our home away from home … If you know what I mean.”
“Izzat so?! Think just ’cause you’re in the Army you can do anything you want, do you? Well, let me tell you something, soldier-boy. I happen to be a tax paying member of this community in good standing with the authorities, and soldiers or not they don’t take too kindly to demons in these parts. In fact, I can’t think of one good reason why I shouldn’t call the police right now and have them drag you all right out of here!”
“I can,” Nunzio smiles, and nods at Bee.
At the cue, Spellin’ Bee squares his shoulders, purses his lips, and lets fly with his Dis-Spell, and …
“What the …”
“MY GOD!!!”
“Lookit …”
The reason for this outpourin’ of surprise and disbelief on the part of our crew is that, despite our time with them, Nunzio and me has failed to brief or otherwise prepare them for acceptin’ the concept of demons … which is what they’re suddenly confronted with. That is, as soon as Bee completed his spell, there was a ripplin’ in the air around the proprietor, and instead of a greasy local type, he now looked just like …
“A Deveel!” I sez, hidin’ my own surprise.
Actually, I am a little annoyed at myself for not havin’ figured it out on my own. I mean, no matter what he looked like, I had been thinkin’ that he was actin’ like a Deveel since I first set eyes on him.
The reaction of our crew to this discovery, however, is nothin’ compared to the reaction we gets from the proprietor.