Page 23 of Witch's Dawn
"Now this will be easy," Ash mused with a rare smile on his seriousface.
"How about you go first, Mr. Confident?" Ichallenged.
"Alright."
I blinked and he was suddenly much, much closer. His hands rested on each side of my barstool, effectively caging me in. His icy eyes were ravenous and I wondered if he aimed to finish what Raumstarted.
"I was the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden," he said, his lips inches away from mine. "I'm in the first hierarchy of Hell alongside Lord Lucifer and Beelzebub. And it was I who taught mathematics to humankind." He leaned back with a smug expression and crossed his massive arms over his chest, biceps flexing. "So which is the lie,Deja?"
I thought for a fewmoments.
"You did not teach mathematics to humankind," I said. "The ancient Egyptians developed thatthemselves."
"Wrong," he said victoriously. "The ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia actually developed it much earlier than the Egyptians." He slapped a hand on his muscular chest. "And you can thank yours truly forthat."
"So much for no ancient history lessons," Raummurmured.
"Your turn then," I said, turning to him. "Let me try for two out ofthree."
"Happily," he grinned. "The Northern Germanic people once regarded me as their god, Odin. I've stolen billions worth of treasure and valuables from kings. And," he stared at me with those dark intense eyes as his voice lowered to a near-whisper. "I can see the past and thefuture."
"Okay, that last one is definitely false," I said. "No one can have that kind ofpower."
"Ah." Behind me, Sal made a pained hissing noise. "Wrong again,Deja."
"Goddamnit!" I had already lost my two out of three and would have to take the shot. "Well I might as well hear from you, Sal," I said, turning to him now. "It's really fascinating learning about all of you thisway."
"Sure," he said with a casual shrug and paused for a moment to think of his two truths and lie to tellme.
"I've been in love with one woman for at least seven thousand years," he began, his emerald eyes locking onto mine. "I'm a Grand Marquis of Hell with fifty legions of demons under my command. And I fucking love Hostesscupcakes."
I took my time to think carefully, wanting to get at least one answer right. But the fact of the matter was I still barely knew these guys. And if they truly were immortal, that gave them many lifetimes of truths and lies to tellme.
"You have not been in love with one woman for that long," I said finally. "I don't even know how it's possible to love one person for thousands ofyears."
"Are you kidding me?" Sal cried. "Hostess cupcakes taste like ox shit dipped in sugar and stuffed with batsemen!"
Fucking hell. That meant I epically failed all three rounds. So much for not embarrassingmyself.
"I think Deja needs a special shot for this loss," Ash said a little too excitedly. "Micah! We'll a take a shot of your cheapest tequila plus salt and alime."
"Oh God," I groaned, planting my face in my hands. Tequila was definitely not my liquor of choice. Too much of it in college led to some questionabledecisions.
"You know how to properly do a tequila shot, right?" Raum asked me, also looking a bit too excited. What exactly did these guys have inmind?
"Remind me," I said bitterly, dreading the incomingexplanation.
"First you lick the salt," Sal said with a light brush of his fingers against my elbow. A surprisingly gentle touch for such a hot-tempered demon. "Then you swallow the tequila in one gulp. The last step is sucking on the lime wedge to chaseit."
"Since you lost to all three of us," Ash said. "It's only fair that you do the steps with each ofus."
"What do you mean with each of you?" I demandedsuspiciously.
All three of them only grinned as Micah came over with the shot, lime, and salt as theyrequested.
"Remember the order is lick, swallow, suck," said Raum with a slywink.
My eyes grew to the size of saucers as they each took a component of the shot and I realized what they were prompting me todo.
