Page 38 of Hellfire & Tinsel
“I was just trying to get your number, geez!” The guy huffed. “Figured you could do better than the twink.”
Kassel stared. Unmoving. Unblinking.
He didn’t know what a twink was, but the tone and the intent behind the words were clearly meant to be insulting.
The man had dared to insult his human.
Kassel allowed his magic to slip just enough to stretch the still-human body to be taller, looming over the man, who was now clearly questioning his decisions.
He looked up at Kassel, eyes wide and terrified as Kassel got closer, a growl low in his throat and another slip of magic licking at the bottom of the man’s coat, setting it on fire.
“You should take care of that.” Kassel pointed at the flames swallowing the man’s coat. The man screamed like a banshee before bolting out of there.
Kassel made sure he was out of sight before he turned to Beau, who was looking after the man with horror in his eyes.
“Did you set him on fire?” he asked.
“Just a tiny one,” he grumbled.
“Kassel…”
“He called you a name.”
He deserved much worse.
“Thank you,” he said, giving him a small smile. “But no more setting people on fire please. Promise?”
“Fine,” Kassel said. “But it’s standard procedure in Hell.”
“Did you always want to work in Hell?” Beau asked, leading Kassel farther into the fair. He peeked at him. “Isn’t there, like… a liaison position? Maybe one that commutes to Earth now and then?”
“No, there’s nothing like that. There aren’t really a lot of other options for a demon. I was born there, and torturing is the job waiting for you once you get old enough. Unless you decide to rebel and join the horde, which doesn’t have a long life expectancy. We cull it every century or so.”
“So, therearebaby demons?” Beau asked.
“Of course. We call them hatchlings.”
“Do they actually hatch from eggs?” Beau bounced a little on the balls of his feet. “Like baby ducks?”
“Sure.” Kassel tried to remember what ducks were exactly. Birds of some sort, he was pretty sure. But the specifics were hazy.
“I love ducks! They’re the cutest. Their little feet and the way they quack, quack, quack. They always look so grumpy too. It’s adorable.” He stopped himself ranting more with a blush, peeking up at Kassel again. “Do you think I’ll ever see a demon hatchling?”
“I doubt you’ll go to Hell, Beau,” Kassel said once and for all, seeing no way someone with as bright a soul as Beau’s could do anything else.
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life,” Beau said, like he was trying to convince Kassel.
“I don’t think they were that grave.”
“I stole that grandpa’s penguin earlier.”
“And then almost cried until I gave it back.”
Beau tried scowling, but it didn’t really work well for him. “Still took it,” he muttered.
“Why are you so concerned with going?” Kassel asked.
Beau looked down for a long moment. “It’d be nice to know that at least in death I’d have someone I know waiting for me on the other side.”
