Chapter 7
Brio
Diablos appears, standing tall and as proud as anyone can be for a demon. I mean, if I were born with skin such vibrant red or horns that big, I might very well hide in a cave for the rest of my life. But to each his own. He snorts sulphuric-scented smoke out of his nostrils. It’s weird.
Demons are weird.
Leaf whips around, glaring right at us, as Mei crouches like a freaking animal under attack. It’s hard to see her as anything but a wild beast with the way she moves.
I click my tongue in distaste.
The demon immediately looks for the moron who has chosen to align himself with him in a mating bond. It is baffling, and their song is nauseatingly sappy. The throb of everyone’s conflicting melodies makes my eyes water and my ears pound. This world is loud.
“Brio?”
I shift, brushing my shoulder with Lirin, letting him know I’m okay, I’m here. But my attention wanders back to the songs and the lack thereof.
And then there’s her. And him.
Leviathan’s song is a deep bass with curling notes like an orchestra building in intensity, something I loathe that I love. While hers is…absent.
The fact that she has no song is baffling and alarming. Everything has a song. In all the worlds and all the people and creatures I’ve met, every single thing has had a song.
But not this monster. Not when we met her on the beach on our island, and not now, here in this human world.
What is she? My unease and distaste grow.
Her hair glints in the day’s fading light, and she absently scratches her arm before tracing her thumb over one of the strange markings on her skin.
Only then does she stand up, dislodging the animalistic qualities like she’s taken off a coat.
She could pass for human now, if you ignore the blood spatters and the menace that radiates off her.
This Strega should appear vulnerable, helpless, but that’s not what radiates. Instead, she appears confident and untamed. Fierce. What happened to the tiny creature who looked so breakable? Who ate from our fingers? She should have died so easily; how did we misjudge her so badly?
This thing before us is the monster who set our skies on fire.
Hartley and Diablos talk far enough away that even my incredible hearing can’t pick out the words. The human shakes his head, disagreeing, but the demon is insistent. Their song gets louder with their frustrations, then eases before turning into something revoltingly sweet.
“What do you think?” Lirin asks me in a discrete murmur.
Ronit, Canto, and Reed are standing silent, watching the demon and his partner and the Strega and Leviathan. They all have their arms folded over their chests.
“I think we haven’t come close to finding what we need; this world is new and different. Much more difficult than we anticipated. We need help. We’re running out of time,” Reed says harshly, speaking for me while he glares at Leviathan and the witch.
“We have two months, we can-”
Canto makes a harsh noise in his throat, and I snap my jaw closed on any more words that might slip out. The last thing we need is her finding out about that. Any of them finding out.
“Right!” Diablos claps his hands. He looks positively gleeful. “Hmmm, where do we start? I know, let’s start with sleeping arrangements.”
He peers at us, and I get this sinking feeling that this is going to be a terrible couple of days.
“I’ve got a big tent for you all to sleep in.”
It takes a long second for me to put a picture to the word.
“No!” I snarl out. The very idea of sleeping with her that close. Absolutely not. She would cut our throats or do some weird Nightmare stuff.
Ronit puts a hand on my shoulder, wordlessly telling me to rein it in. “When you say all, do you include them?”
Diablos nods cheerfully and flings his arms wide, indicating the thick circle of trees, bushes, and wild grasses that surround this clearing. “Of course, it will be a bonding experience.”
He announces it like we’re all going to be cheerful and happy. No one speaks, but I can feel Reed and Ronit tensing and readying for a massive fight. A low and violent growl comes out of Canto, startling me.
“We don’t bond. We murder,” he says succinctly.
“Oh, you are so cute and killy,” Diablos sings at us in the worst off-key bass I’ve ever heard. My ears feel violated.
“Your death is going to be splashed on the shores of every beach in this world, arrogant one,” Ronit says smoothly, stopping Reed from exploding in a fit of rage.
“Hm, that is not the reaction Becky and her pack gave me,” Diablos says. He glances at his mate, as if he’s unsure.
“I’m not sleeping with that thing. She will probably cut our throats in her sleep,” Reed growls out.
That’s the death I’m least worried about; there is so much worse that the Strega can do. We would know. Sleeping with her? Not a chance in hell, Nightmare, or the Black Death Oceans.
“At least you won’t have to put up with the scent of rotting fish!” she shoots back. “Seaweed, decay, and brine. No one can sleep with that.”
Lirin opens his mouth but changes his mind at the last minute and turns away. She is all bristling fury, defiant and untouchable.
She was living in our house for three months. How? The whole thought of it just sends homicidal thoughts crashing through me, making the song in my head discordant.
“Are you scared?” Reed says with a vicious smile.
She flicks her hair over her shoulder and shifts her weight. “Oh, I’m terrified of you. But I think you all might be a little bit more scared of me.”
“No, we just wonder whether we’ve got lice or mites.”
“I’ve heard fish things can survive if I cut off limbs, anyone want to volunteer for an experiment?” She shoots back, and my eyes bulge. Who is this monster?
Reed growls; she retorts in kind.
“All right, enough!” Hartley says. “We’re going to get another tent. Boys in one, and-” Hartley looks at her and hesitates.
I snicker.
She stiffens and shrugs. I’m almost offended on her behalf. She is, despite everything else, very beautiful and clearly female. “I don’t need this tent.”
And to my astonishment, she walks to a massive tree and scales it as easily as if she were walking upstairs. She slouches in the branches, making herself completely comfortable while Leaf circles the base, trying to work out how to get up there.
I scratch my head and look at the ground, trying to hide my conflicted feelings. She’s killed us; she might not know it yet, but she has. But the innocence, the strangeness of her…I don’t think she knew what she was doing.
And where is her damn song!
Diablos grins broadly as if it were his idea. “Perfect, perfect. See, I told you we only need one tent.”
Hartley grumbles and walks away to sit on a fallen log, with his chin on his fist. He’s the one who is watching. For some reason, he finds her less threatening than us.
I am dangerous, I will admit, but far less so than my shiver. It is right the human should fear us. But I’m not sure that’s the feel leaching from him, instead, I think he feels almost contemptuous. Like he finds that we are the bad guys in this story.
“Mei, won’t you come down and do bonding activities?” Diablos says with a fake smile, his hands clasped under his chin.
She looks down and sneers.
“No.”
Diablos’ smile drops. “You agreed.”
“I can watch from my tree. Please proceed with the instruction, O great and wise mentor.”
Diablos mutters under his breath, and black smoke pours out of his nostrils as his eyes flash red and black.
“Fascinating,” I murmur, listening to the crashing, chaotic song of this demon. “He’s got colour-shifting eyes.” It would be wise to discover as much information about the other species inhabiting this planet as is possible. Also, it does look pretty, I will give him that.
Canto sits down and covers his face with his hands as if it’s all too much.
“Hurry, Demon, time is precious,” Canto murmurs. “You have thirty minutes until sunset. If I’m still listening to your futile efforts to coax us into sharing a tent, I’m going to start hunting anything that moves.”
It’s a bluff. Kind of. Canto won’t hurt the animals; he will just hunt down demons or Nightmares and kill indiscriminately.
He sounds completely and utterly calm and bored, but through the bonds, I can feel the dark rage that is Canto slowly fixing his unwavering focus on our newest companions. Like the rest of us, the lion’s share is set aside for the Strega.
Ronit walks over to the tree and stares up at the witch.
“I thought you said that your curse would keep us together. How did she leave?”
“It will bring you back together over time,” Diablos says dismissively, “but you can separate for, oh, I’d say four hours or so.
The more you hate each other, the shorter the time apart.
It would slowly worsen until uncomfortable becomes downright painful.
Eventually, it would kill you. That’s all. ”
The demon is disgustingly flippant.
The witch looks like she’s asleep, lazily hanging in the branches like she’s got not a care in the world, but as Ronit turns and walks away, her head turns just so, as if she’s listening to him. Without making a sound, she leaps to another tree and disappears into the foliage.
I make notes in my head about her skill at disappearing and almost silent movements.
Diablos turns around. “Now, Mei- Where did she go?” he snaps.
No one noticed her leave. Even Canto, who is normally on top of our enemy, has been caught unawares.
Reed stomps around, being his unbearable self. There is something about this place that has stolen the peace and happiness from him. I can’t understand it, but I don’t care to. Reed’s wrath and bitterness is something that has been with him since we met.
Lirin lies down on his side, sitting up on his elbow and watching Hartley.
“Tell me about these people.”
“Humans,” Hartley says.
“Humans, then.”