Page 91 of Hell Bound

“Don’t blame the sword, incubus, you just have the grip strength of a newly hatched tarphin.” Pypentha grinned at him while she spun her sword expertly in one hand, the other planted firmly on her hip.

“Your mama,” he snapped, grabbing the offending blade from the ground.

“What about her? She’s a lady of the court, she’s probably never been outside long enough to even see a tarphin.”

I giggled as the insult flew over her head.

And that was how I ended up with two—well, one and a half, since Deasley was still fumbling with his grip—blades pointed at my throat.

“Oh, shit! Pyp, cool it!” Deasley was the first to realize who they were threatening, and when the immediate flames that had flickered in her sockets cleared, those crimson eyes went huge in horror.

“I’m so sorry, my Queen, I would never—you just startled me, I didn’t mean—”

“Pyp, chill, seriously.” I held up both hands to show I had come in peace. “Don’t worry about it. I guess I should be glad you’re so ready to throw down when necessary.”

“Never, only Deasley is fool enough to throw his weapon on the ground.”

“No, no, I was saying... you know what? Never mind.”

Deasley matched my grin and nudged Pyp. “It means to fight. And I wouldn’t mess with Queen Lil. She gets down and dirty when she needs to.”

“What can I say? Sometimes the only option is to throw hands.” I shrugged, blowing on my nails and dusting them against my shoulder smugly.

“Yeah, ask Veronica Gutierrez.”

I choked on a gasp and stared at Deasley in horrified amazement. “How do you know about her?”

“How do I know about Veronica, or how do I know that she absolutely whooped your ass in eighth grade?” I could barely hear him snickering over the frantic whirling of my mind.

“Holy shit, Deas, how long were you watching me?” My brow furrowed and my lips pursed. “And what kind of big brother/little sister connection could we possibly have if you watched me get my ass handed to me like that and didn’t stop it?”

When he said Veronica had beat my ass, he wasn’t kidding.

I’d been out of school for several days afterward, with two black eyes and what might have been a fractured rib.

“Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to interfere.” He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. “But did you ever wonder why she dropped out of that school? Her parents and I decided it wasn’t the best fit for her.”

“Deasley! Did you threaten a little girl?”

“No, of course not. I threatened a middle aged man and his very unhappy wife. Totally different.”

“That seems like an excess of trouble to me,” Pyp chimed in, still spinning her sword casually. “Gutting the girl would have been much easier, and it would have sent a message to the rest of the children that you weren’t to be bothered.”

Deasley and I both looked at Pyp with our jaws dropped comically low.

“Um, okay, Pyp. Lil and I are just gonna move away from you slowly now…”

“And that is why you’ll always fail, Deasley. You run from conflict and trip over your feet on the way.”

“Oh, come on, Pyp, I bet Deasley could teach me some moves to defend myself. Just in case Tavila ever decides to try something. I could fight a human girl, but Tavila is a whole other beast. I have to learn the weak points in her exoskeleton first.”

“I’m sorry, Lilith, but if Deasley teaches you anything at all, you’ll end up on your knees in front of that bitch after the first hit. Here.” She thrust her sword at Deasley, tip pointed down, and he took it when the hilt smacked the center of his chest.

“Come over here, my lady. You’ll need room between yourself and the wall.”

The idea of training to fight hadn’t entered my mind since the first mention of it that night in the forest, but I was intrigued. It wouldn’t hurt to learn from a warrior who shifted between a badass demoness and a wolf whenever she wanted to.

“What do I do first?”

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