Chapter Five
“Wake up. Wake up, girl!”
I bolted upright, throwing off the covers.
Sabrina hovered at the bottom of the bed, staring me down with her slitted eye of judgement. “Now that you’ve finally finished mating, can we get on with what we’re here to do?”
My brain was too busy struggling to catch up to call her on that mating comment. Sweeping around, I saw that psycho jerk was nowhere to be found, but the chair blocking the door was removed. Seemed after sleeping like the dead on my chest, he popped up and went out without so much as a word.
My face heated remembering last night. All the guy did was sleep, but humiliation lived in my skin at having a man—no, demon!—that I didn’t know, using me as his pillow. And of all the demons, it had to be the one who stole my patch and almost got me killed.
I tried for what seemed like hours to wake him up, shake him off, or wiggle out from under him, but his sleep was too deep, and his grip even tighter.
I scrambled off the bed and grabbed the towel still lying there on the floor where I lost it. “What is wrong with that guy?” I cried—my voice hitting new, undiscovered octaves. “Are all demons like this!”
“Yes.”
I huffed, fuming. Stomping over to my luggage, I picked a case at random, threw it open, discovered it was nothing but books, then shoved it aside and grabbed another one.
“Because of him, I wasted hours that I could’ve used searching for Dora.
” I whipped around, looking for a clock.
The dorm was windowless, so I had no idea what it looked like outside, or what nightfall and day rise looked like in a world with no sun or moon. “What time is it?”
“Time is a human obsession. Not a snake’s.”
“Fair enough.” I popped open the second case and found bound books with blank pages, and writing utensils. “Hell has pencils,” I muttered to myself. “Wouldn’t have expected that.”
“Why not?” Sabrina slithered over to me.
“I told you demons are humans fated to punishment in the afterlife. They are reborn in this realm without memory of the human life that cursed them to be here, but they still have the same capacity for reasoning and creativity. If they were an inventor in their previous life, there’s no reason they cannot be one in their next. ”
“Huh. That makes sense. It’s even pretty interesting,” I admitted.
“If I was here under different circumstances, I’d be so fascinated by all of this.
We humans wrestle with the concept of an afterlife every day.
Is it real? Do we believe in it? How far will we go to defend our version of it?
I’m answering so many seemingly unanswerable questions right now. It’s fascinating,” I repeated.
“You are only facsssinated, human, because you’ve secured your passage out of this realm,” she hissed. “But if you were here under different circumstances, delightful curiosity is the last thing you’d feel.”
I pressed my lips together, feeling the reprimand keenly. This wasn’t a fun holiday or a theological expedition. I was in the worst place any human—dead or alive—could be. If Sabrina was here to do anything, it was to make sure I didn’t forget that.
I helped myself to a notebook and pencil, and lucked out on the third case I opened.
Inside were the accessories. A small leather backpack, belts, socks, and a row of watches.
Picking them up, I was relieved to see the normal clockface and hands that I was used to.
Said hands ticked down to seven o’clock.
“Roman numerals?” I heard myself say. Twisting around, I flipped through the case with books and found textbooks underneath the notebooks. “History of Hell, Intro to Torture, The Great Invasion,” I read aloud. “These are English!”
“They are not,” Sabrina sliced in. “Lord Lucifer would’ve given you fluency in demonic languages. One word of your human tongue spoken here would’ve seen that tongue ripped out of your head.”
“Graphic.” Her words hit me. “So wait, am I speaking demon right now? Have I been doing it all this time?”
She inclined her smooth head.
“Wow. Magic really is something.” I tossed the books back and moved on to another case. A mess of fabric greeted me when I threw it open. “Finally, some... clothes...” The blood drained out of my face. “Oh no...”
I TRUDGED OUT OF THE room and locked the door behind me. My head hung so low, I could’ve dragged my nose across the floor. Deep in the bowels of my shirt, Sabrina’s snickering hisses assaulted my ears—deepening my blush. She was very much enjoying her lord’s evil and spiteful sense of humor.
That horned, winged beast packed me clothes to wear for sure, and by that I meant he trolled the centuries for the worst fashion trends from every era, and shoved them into my suitcase.
An itchy, old-fashioned green tunic with ruffled lace attacking my neck and oversized puffed sleeves, clashed dangerously with bright pink bell-bottomed pants, and jester shoes complete with the curled toes and bells.
And that was the least embarrassing outfit I could pull together. It was like the madman went shopping through the ages, and made sure not to match tops, pants, and shoes to the same one.
“My clothes don’t matter, my clothes don’t matter, my clothes don’t matter,” I mumbled to myself, trying and failing to drown out Sabrina’s laughter. “I’m here for one and one reason only. Nothing else mat—”
I collided with someone’s back, knocking their books out of their hands.
“Oh, sorry about—”
“Argh!” Spinning around, thick, blunt claws ripped from callous fingertips and flew at my throat.
“Ugh!”
He clamped on my neck and popped me off my feet, slamming me against the wall.
I scratched and pounded on his hand—feet desperately kicking at any part of him. My lungs screamed for air.
The enraged face of that beautiful, scarred werewolf filled my vision. “Watch where the fuck you’re going, you filthy dem—” He blinked. Leaning back, he raked me up and down—anger bleeding away and astonishment taking hold.
“Heh.”
My jaw slackened.
Slapping his hand over his mouth, the beautiful stranger took one proper look at me, and snorted so hard he blew his hand right back off his mouth.
“Hahaha!” Laughing his ass off, he released me and fell to the floor—guffawing so hard he had to hold his sides to stop from ripping through his skintight black tee.
I ran.
Hitching my backpack up my shoulder, I burst into a run—flinging myself down the stairs and tearing away from the howling werewolf.
I was so freaking ugly and insane-looking, a bully couldn’t get through tormenting me before collapsing in a fit of giggles.
And no! I did not think that’s the outcome Lucifer was going for when he turned me into this walking clown wart!
I burst downstairs into the first-floor dorm wing and caught half a dozen demons as they came out of their rooms—all with badges on their chests and books stuffed under their many-differed arms.
Three of them burst into laughter immediately.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you?” a lynx demon called to me. “You look like what I found on my cock two days after leaving the brothel.”
“Nah, man,” a damp, scaly, fish demon shot back from across the hall. “No genital wart looks as disgusting as this worm.”
I picked up the pace, blowing past them as fast as I could.
“And what the fuck are you wearing? You look insane.”
“I’d kill myself if I looked like that,” oozed a deeply familiar voice. I didn’t need to look behind me to know it was that cat demon who threw me to my death. “Someone should do it for him. Put him out of his misery.”
I picked up the pace. I didn’t know what the hell that guy’s problem was, or why he set his sights on me, but I wanted nowhere near him.
“I’m out of here,” I shrieked, rounding the corner and coming out in a long, dark hallway. “I don’t care what it takes. I’m finding my sister and getting out of this place today!”
“Where will you sssstart?”
That slowed me down. “I’m not sure,” I confessed, “but that’s what this is for.” I held up my notebook even though she couldn’t see it through my shirt. “I’m going to map every inch of this place and mark off every nook and cranny as I search it.”
“A lengthy and laborious task.”
I lifted my chin, marching off in a new direction. “That’s why I better get started.”
Gooooonnnnggg!
I hissed, clapping my hands over my ears as a loud, ear-drumming sound ripped through the echoing laughter. “What was that?”
No sooner was the question out of my mouth than it was snatched away and drowned out under clomping, pounding, thundering footfalls. A horde of demons pushed and shoved into the hallway, and came straight for me.
I pressed against the wall to let them past, but thankfully, they weren’t interested in yelling insults or death threats at me. They hurried quickly, but violently, down the hallway and took a left past a suit of armor. Their shouting and carrying on echoed long after they left.
“You need to follow them, human,” Sabrina said when she could be heard. “They could be going to your lessons.”
“I’m not following them, Sabrina. I’m not actually a student here,” I reminded. “I’m here to get Dora and get out. I’m not wasting my time on anything else.”
“How does it work in your human schools?” She shot out of my shirt, startling me. “Can you refuse to attend your lessons and still expect to be a student of that school?”
“I... Well, no, but—”
“Precisssely,” she sliced off. “Every student of Abaddon must attend every one of their lessons. If you miss one, you’ll be expelled.”
“What!” I cried. “Expelled for skipping one class? That’s insane.”
“It is only insanity to a human,” she said. “Demons are selfish creatures. Nothing but their own wants and needs interest them. Abaddon must be harsh in their enforcement of the rules, or not a single demon would follow them.”
“But I don’t have time for this,” I burst out, frustration bleeding through my pores. “I’ve already wasted a whole day and night. I need to search for Dora!”