Page 63 of Demon's Bluff
“Ahh…” Elyse gave me a sharp look and I shook my head, not wanting to leave a digital footprint, either. “We’d rather walk out with it today if we can,” I added, and Sylvia nodded.
“That will limit you. Let me see what we have.”
Again the big screen shifted as Sylvia swiped and tapped, her slim fingers moving fast to fill the upper boxes with several choices.
“Do you have anything to match her aura?” I said as I inched closer, aching to try the tablet out myself. “Purple and red.”
“Mmmm.” Sylvia swiped everything in the trash and started again. “I’ve got three in stock that will hang right.”
My gaze lifted to the large screen, and I stifled a wince at the price. “Um, the one that starts red and fades to purple at the hem,” I said, and Sylvia moved the robe into the larger display box. There was minimal embroidery compared to the other two, but Elyse was going to play the part of the familiar.
“Kind of plain, isn’t it?” Elyse said, finally interested.
“We’ll up the pizzazz on the sash,” I promised. “Mine should be gold deepening to black at the hem. If it has a little red in there, even better.”
Sylvia sorted and clicked. “How about this?”
“Perfect,” I said, though it had less decoration than Elyse’s.
“Seriously?” Elyse hung over the back of the couch, eyes fixed to the large screen. “We’re going to look like university dropouts.”
“I’m not done yet,” I said sourly, then turned to Sylvia. “Sashes. Any with bells on them?”
Brow furrowed, Sylvia cleared the search box of robes. “Better selection there. You want to match the robes or go with a simple black?”
I thought of how Minias had once put me in a robe identical to his, and then Al’s flamboyant enthusiasm in dressing me as an individual. “Black,” I said, and Elyse made a heavy sigh. “But something flashy for both of us. Embroidered, lots of little bells.”
“Oh, this is going to be nice,” Sylvia said as she brought them up. “We have stars, flowers, or esoteric symbols.”
“Symbols,” Elyse said immediately.
“I’m a flower kind of girl,” I said, and Sylvia added them to the generic models on the screen. “Any chance of the hats having the robe colors and the scarf embroidery?”
Sylvia sighed as she scrolled. “If you can wait three weeks—”
“Those aren’t right,” I said as she brought up a screen of traditional pointy hats. Looking at them, I wondered if perhaps they were originally designed to thumb their noses at their demon kin. Demons wore flat-topped hats; witches wore pointy. “Ah, I need a flat-top, round, heavily embroidered…”
“Like this?” Sylvia said as she cleared her workspace and brought up the men’s hats. “It’s not a traditional hat for ley line practitioners.”
“Yeah.” I scrolled through the pages, searching. “I know. These are perfect,” I said as I found two. They weren’t the right color, but it was the best there was on short notice.
“Okay.” Sylvia added them to the models, not caring one whit that we were straying from tradition. She’d probably dressed Weres as vampires and vampires as dryads. As long as she didn’t know we were going for ancient demon, we would be okay. “We have enough to get you in a room,” she added, smiling. “Want to try them on? It’s easier to add to it from there.”
“Absolutely.” Eager to see how it would look, I stood.
“Great. I’ll put you in the big room. You can try them on together.” Sylvia handed me the tablet and walked to a wide arch at the end of the lobby. The hall was brightly lit beyond it, doors spaced in recessed alcoves like upscale hotel rooms.
I sighed as I saw the running total—which was probably why Sylviahad handed me the tablet. Elyse peered over my shoulder, snickering. “That’s going to raise some eyebrows when it comes across Vivian’s phone.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I pushed into motion to follow Sylvia. “My treat,” I added sourly.
Five steps ahead of us, Sylvia half turned. “We can also do this in synthetic fibers.”
“Silk,” I said, wondering if I had enough time for them to sew bells onto the hats.
Elyse swung her arms, apparently finding joy in the fact that I was broke. “Sylvia, can you bring out that red robe, too? Matching scarf. I don’t care if it has bells on it.”
“Of course!” Sylvia pushed open a door, glanced inside, and then slid the indicator tooccupied. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back with your items. Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee? Tea?”