Page 17 of The River of Fire

“Yes, Ethan?” I ask warily as I finish approaching my little group.

“I heard you got a dose of demon di–”

The blast of wind I send his way knocks him on his ass and interrupts the very obvious thing he was about to say.

“Really, Kevin?” I say to the culprit between gritted teeth.

Kev raises his functional arm in a gesture of surrender, his bound one making it look like he’s about to swear in for presidency over a bible.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to say!”

To his credit, he looks regretful, with his eyebrows furrowed and bottom lip pouting out, and I can’t really stay mad at him when he’s technically right.

“I thought it was implied.” I glare at him.

“Hey, everyone knows Evander bangs every succubus he encounters on patrols,” Jessica says in a soothing voice, her eyes somewhat giving away the mirth she feels at my situation. Evander’s a team leader and a bit of a himbo.

“I don’t care if every winged creature in the realm took a turn riding Evander’s pogo stick,” I reply grumpily. I know it’s too late to stop the rumor mill – curious glances were already being thrown my way from every corner of the field since I stepped out of the fortress. “This was different and we all know it.”

I groan when I see everyone within earshot now obviously struggling to catch my words and perhaps a salacious little nugget of information that distracts from the humdrum of daily life in Purgatory and Hell.

“Twenty laps around the field,” I say to my team in my best ‘I Am Your Commander’ voice. “You guys are going to make up for two of us being benched.” Whines and pitiful looks are the reactions I expected and got, but I have no mercy on them – evenon Liam, who minded his own business like he usually does. He’s a goody-two-shoes. Cracking the proverbial whip works on lightening my mood, and I drop unceremoniously onto my ass in the dirt, Kev joining me.

“I really am sorry, Lan,” he says quietly. “Figured you’d know I’d blab to them ASAP.”

I sigh and pat his good shoulder, “It’s okay, the chances of keeping this under wraps were slim anyway.”

“Why are you this upset though? Jess was right about Evander and, uh… I may or may not have dallied with a succubus or two on solo patrols,” he says, blushing at my stunned expression. He can’t take the eye contact and looks at our teammates ribbing each other while jogging around the field, clearly wishing he was there and not under my scrutiny.

“I’m not judging, Kev,” I hurry to say. “I’m just surprised. And it is different. Succubi and incubi, while far from innocent, normally leave humans alive. Weak and sex-addled but alive,” I add with a twist of my lips.

I grab a dried out husk of a stick and start drawing squiggles in the sand, needing to occupy myself so I feel… less.

“He’s likely thousands of years old, party to countless atrocities, and probably picks his teeth with the bones of innocent babies in his free time,” I mutter into the ground, far more embarrassed than Kev was about his demonic horizontal tangos. Despite not initiating the encounter and knowing I was unlikely to break free, it’s not like I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoyed it more than the demon did, and I’m sure that was a purposeful move made to compound my guilt further. Speaking of baby bones, I quickly drop the hollow stick.

I look up at my squad, Liam now laughing as Jessica tries to trip Ethan up so she can take the lead. The normality makes me smile and gives me the courage to look at Kevin. He gulps, shakes his head, and says, “I’m not sure what to say, Lan.”

“It’s okay,” I repeat, even though it’s not, but it’s obviously the motto of the day.

???

I’m sparring hand-to-hand with Jess, finally back in fighting shape after what feels like an eternity. Her long blonde hair’s up in a ponytail that keeps slapping me in the face as she turns.

I sputter and say, “Do you have a weapon permit for that whip?” making her stop mid-move and laugh.

I take advantage of her distraction, drop to my hands, and swipe my leg out low, tripping her. Standing up, I give her a smirk. “Don’t get distracted, girly-girl.” She flips me off, still lying on her back, and now we’re both laughing.

Long hairisa distraction in a fight. In the last few years, I managed to singe the ends of mine, and also slice off a significant amount of the ponytail it was in at the time with my own damned sword. We’re still clinging to the dredges of normality, though.

Also, demons and manifestations of evil souls – being amorphous – don’t exactly resort to hair-pulling in a fight. The former usually come equipped with claws and razor-sharp teeth, the latter burn like acid if you happen to graze against them.

I just finish helping Jess stand when a blanket of oppression covers us. It’s like storm clouds descended all at once, and static electricity sparks over organic matter. I know this feeling, though this is a hundred times more powerful, and not at all pleasurable.

All at once, two dozen cloaked figures materialize at the outer edge of our training field. The corner closest to my team, naturally. Our Fallen mentors burst out into the field and stop a step in front of us, their pupils automatically positioning themselves behind them, team leaders first.

Akira, Corson’s team leader, intones quietly, but loud enough for the front row to hear him. “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” He’s quoting Shakespeare.

He’s right, because it’s obvious that a good amount of Hell’stop demonarchy is here, and not in their own regions.

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