Hell Has a Library!
Flick began his tale, explaining for Luna and Chuck’s benefit that one of his skill sets was camouflage.
“I can blend my skin pattern to the environment around me, kind of like a chameleon.” He demonstrated, matching his body to the pattern of his chair before he continued.
He started by describing how he’d searched for the other demon in the expected haunts but had not been able to find him.
“I looked in all the usual places. I finally found him in the place I least expected.” Glancing around, making sure he had their rapt attention, he grinned before announcing in a grand tone accompanied by a sweeping gesture of his arms, “The library!”
“Hell has a library?” Chuck blurted, her eyebrows raised in disbelief. She glanced questioningly at Malachi, looking to him for confirmation of this apparently outlandish fact.
“Yeah,” Flick replied, rolling his eyes and shaking his head with exasperation.
“Do you really think demons are just a bunch of dumb animals or something? We have culture, too. Theaters, televisions, books, a lot of the same things you have up here.” He glanced at Malachi for backup of his indignant explanation.
“Human items are usually better quality because you all focus on more than just sin and punishment,” Malachi explained before he shrugged and turned back to Flick, waving for him to continue.
Grinning, Flick launched excitedly back into his narrative.
“Anyway, I found that big dumb idiot in the library of all places. It wasn’t quite the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen, but I gotta tell you, it was close.
I’m sure he and his buddies collectively brought the IQ of the room down to single digits.
Dude looks like an overgrown gorilla with mange and herpes!
” He contorted his features into a cross between a caveman and someone smelling the worst odor of their life.
Chuck started to ask, but Malachi shook his head, imploring her not to speak.
Thank Satan, she listened. He knew if she interrupted, Flick would never finish the story.
His cousin had a flair for the dramatic, and was easily distracted.
If he veered off topic again, it would likely be tomorrow before he got to the point.
Visibly disappointed that Malachi wouldn’t let him expand on his description, Flick’s shoulders drooped as the story continued.
“He was meeting with three other demons. Two of them I didn’t know, but they looked just as dumb as him.
Probably his inbred brothers if I’m allowed to hazard a guess.
But I did manage to hear their names, Clowdus and Tracantor.
The third one was a female. Didn’t seem quite as stupid as the others, but she’s not winning any beauty pageants either, for sure, with that horse face.
I think her name is Zyrinnia. Do you know them?
” His eyes darted to Luna when she made a noise.
The final name had elicited a horrified gasp from the small demon, followed by trembling as her entire frame shivered.
She wrapped her arms around her thin body, trying to control her quaking.
Her eyes darted about wildly as if the mere mention of her name might cause the demon Zyrinnia to appear before them.
As she rocked back and forth, a high keening sound filled the otherwise silent room.
Malachi hurried over and squatted before her, taking her pale fingers in his own.
Squeezing them reassuringly, he spoke to her softly.
“Hey, Looney, look at me, little one. C’mon, look at me.
Take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth.
” He demonstrated with a deep inhale and slow noisy exhale. “Do it with me, Lunafish Sandwich.”
The ridiculous name drew a small, choked laugh from her, and soon she was breathing normally along with him.
“There you are, good job, Lunaroo. Now, do you think you can tell us what’s going on? You obviously know that last name he mentioned. Are you able to share what has you so scared of her?”
“I think so…” she whispered. A slight shiver ran over her limbs, and her fingers momentarily clenched his tightly.
Nodding, trying to convince herself, she straightened in the chair and forced her arms to her sides.
When she spoke, her voice was thin and thready.
“Zyrinnia grew up at the Pentagram with me. We came to live there within a week of each other. She was my only friend for a little while. But then the other demons started making fun of her for it, so she eventually turned on me. She became the worst of them all so they would leave her alone.”
Running her hands over her arms, she continued, “I lost track of how many times she put cave snakes and spiders in my bed when we were little. As we got older, she and her gang would throw me into the sulfur pits if they caught me alone. Sometimes she poured acid on me, and I would be in the infirmary for days trying to regrow my wings and skin. Mainly, she became the leader of the group that tormented me the most. I was constantly looking over my shoulder, watching to see if she was near. I would have rather gone to the eighth circle and drowned in the river of boiling blood than risk any more of their… attention. If I hadn’t got that job at the intake desk… ”
A low growl resonated through the room, echoing when it was joined by another growl, nearly as deep in timbre and just as threatening.
Luna hunched down as both Malachi and Flick stood side by side, their anger pulsing from them in waves of pure unadulterated fury.
Their fists clenched, talons snicking together with a violent clash.
“Guys,” Chuck called softly, “you’re scaring her.” She wrapped an arm around Luna and squeezed gently. “They’re not upset with you, honey. They’re angry at those other demons.”
Wincing, Malachi nodded. “Yeah, sorry kiddo. It just makes me angry about what they did to you. I mean, demons aren’t known for being loving”—he glanced at Chuck and shrugged apologetically—“but they shouldn’t have harmed you for something out of your control.
” Turning to face Flick, Malachi tunneled his fingers in his hair, his frustration plain. “So, then what?”
“Um…” Flick mumbled as he scratched his head, having lost his place in his story. The joy with which he’d recounted his tale earlier was now gone in the face of the raw terror on the small demon hybrid before him.
Malachi softened slightly at the anger in his cousin’s demeanor.
For all his antics and knuckle-headed behavior, he knew Flick was, at heart, a decent guy.
For a demon. He’d still tempt someone into sin and eat their soul given the opportunity.
Clapping him on the shoulder, he leaned in.
“Keep telling it. We’ll get them back after we figure out what this is all about. ”
Blowing out a deep, measured breath, Flick nodded and cleared his throat.
“Right. The dumb fucks. Let’s continue.” Moving back to his perch on the sofa, he scooped up Reena, who had trotted over and rubbed her back along his ankles with a sleepy grumble, offering comfort in her odd wheezy way.
Rubbing his fingers over her ears, he massaged her head as her eyes closed in blissful relaxation.
“So. The dumb fucks,” he repeated on an angry rumble.
“They were definitely behind the torment against you, Luna. I heard them gloating about it, but I didn’t know to what extent.
They didn’t mention you by name, but there can’t be that many Nephilems who worked at the front intake desk before they escaped topside.
They were trying to drive you here, no doubt about it.
Someone outside their group seems to be directing the plot, but they never mentioned who or why.
I’ll definitely need to follow them around more.
It seems their plan is going along as they hoped, which leads me to believe they wanted you to run to Malachi.
Someone was dropping his story around you on purpose to nudge you in his direction.
Seems like you’re just a pawn in this and Nick and Amaryllis are the ultimate target. ”
“I’m sorry!” Luna shrieked as she leaped to her feet. Her fingers flew to her lips as they blanched white. Frantically, her eyes darted about the room, looking for an escape. Her toes pointed toward the front door, and she had just lifted one foot to run, when Reena barked sharply from Flick’s lap.
It was a sharp, shrill sound that froze the demon in her tracks.
Reena’s tiny upper lip lifted in a ferocious snarl—as ferocious as a six-pound brindle menace with an underbite could appear—and she glanced pointedly at the chair recently vacated in Luna’s frenzied rush.
Her gaze clearly instructed Luna to sit her demonic ass back in that seat forthwith or face the wrath of the Chuglet.
Reena huffed in wheezy satisfaction when her new bestie complied.
She settled back into Flick’s lap with a relaxed grumble, opening one eye to glare at him when he did not automatically resume petting her ears.
Chuck’s mouth quirked as she tried valiantly to hold back her laughter. Her shoulders shook as she raised her chin. “It would seem Reena has called our meeting back to order.”
“Of course she did,” Malachi cooed and scratched under her chin. “My princess knows what’s best.”
“It’s because you’re always spoiling her,” Chuck muttered under her breath.
She glanced at Luna and shared a sarcastic grin with her.
“He really does treat her like a princess, and it’s a little nauseating at times.
” Turning her gaze back to Malachi, her lips curved in a softer smile. “But he treats me like a queen.”
“It’s true,” Malachi agreed with a roguish wink.
“Seriously, Delulu, stay. No one is mad at you or blames you for any of this. We’ve been unwitting pawns in these plots before.
It sucks, but you have to remember demons are just assholes.
Present company is excluded. Well, not Flick. He’s definitely an asshole.”
Flick scoffed and tossed his hair over his shoulder. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Anyway, so don’t even think about leaving until we figure this out.
Flick,” Malachi turned back to his cousin.
He studied him with a furrowed brow; his mouth thinned in a tight line as he thought hard.
“Did you get any indication they were planning to do anything else tonight?” As Flick shook his head, Malachi tapped his lips with one finger.
“Okay, then let everyone get some sleep, and we can pick this back up tomorrow. No arguing, Lunatic. Go to bed!” He pointed now with a stern glare, like a father scolding a child.
Meekly, Luna nodded, mumbled a hurried good night, and rushed to the guest room.
Facing the others, Malachi let his shoulders relax slightly and sighed.
“That girl can’t possibly be half-demon.
She’s scared of her own shadow. But with good reason.
I’d like to toss that Zyrinnia bitch in a sulfur pit myself.
” Groaning, he raised his arms over his head and stretched, then he shook his hands out and tugged down the hem of his shirt that had ridden up with the movement.
He grinned as he caught Chuck’s hurried attempt to avert her eyes.
“Ready for round two? I was watching the weather earlier. The forecast was slightly grabby with a high chance of penetration.”
Chuck burst into laughter and clapped a hand over her mouth while she rocked back and forth like a demented seal, snorting behind her palm, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You… I can’t… where…” she stuttered and howled again, wrapping her other arm around her stomach.
Flick groaned in disgust. “You guys have some really weird foreplay!” With a rude noise, he disappeared from the room, leaving a small cloud of sulfur stench behind.
“It worked!” Malachi crowed, pumping his fist in the air in victory.