Page 5 of Hellfire & Tinsel
Luc simply sighed lovingly at him, cheek in hand, showing no signs of stopping him. In fact, he seemed more interested in winding his tail up into places they didn’t belong than anything else.
“Now,” Oren continued, pushing his glasses up and carrying on like he wasn’t getting publicly felt up. His ability to multitask was admittedly impressive. “Where was I? Oh yes, vacation. So, if you look at this box here…”
A sudden tug in Kassel’s stomach made him jump in his seat and he slammed his hands down against the table, making everyone jerk their heads toward him. The twins bolted upright in Zorun’s lap, snowy hair tousled and red eyes narrowed and droopy as they searched for the cause of their interrupted nap.
“We were having…” Tarik started.
“…a great dream,” Azoth finished, cuddling up closer to Zorun’s chest and matching his brother’s glare.
“Sorry,” Kassel said, placing a hand over the spot where he’d felt the yank.
“You okay, Kas?” Oren asked, worry written clearly on his face.
“Fine,” Kassel said, feeling the sensation ebb slowly until there was no trace of it anymore. “Slight… pain.”
“You don’t really feel pain,” Zorun said, wings drawing up behind him.
Which was why Kassel felt unendingly confused. He frowned to himself, looking down at the offended area.
“We didn’t do it,” Tarik and Azoth declared sulkily. “You don’t all have to look at us like that.”
Kassel grunted when he felt it again. Stronger this time, more forceful. It made him want to get up from his seat. Move. Leave the place he was in and just go… somewhere. He wasn’t even sure where.
“What’s going on?” Luc demanded of the room, finally out of dreamland.
“Is it your chest?” Oren asked, pointing to a spot on his own skinny body, underneath his colorful sweater vest. “Like right around here?”
“Yes.” Kassel nodded, feeling the sensation disappear once more. “It’s gone now though.”
“Completely?”
“Yes,” Kassel said. He was leaning back to settle in again when another yank lifted him clear out of his chair, his vision flickering.
Some of his eyes were still watching the meeting room and his fellow demons, but a few of them, just on the periphery, were catching something completely different. Lights. Silver. Gemstones. Snow. A book.
A human.
“KASSEL!” He heard Oren screech, and he focused whatever eyes he could on the meeting room. “You’re being summoned!”
“Oh shit,” Luc said.
“What?” Kassel grunted as he felt the tug intensify.
He could almost feel himself flickering out of the room. Fewer eyes were seeing the meeting room, more and more of them staring at a lone human holding a book in his lap.
He felt himself fade even more.
“We’re not done with the meeting!” Oren called after him.
“I’m not controlling this, Oren,” Kassel said through his teeth, his own voice sounding echoey and distant.
“You need to file a formal request to attend to a human summoner and ask for approval,” Oren yelled after him, waving a paper in the air. “This is breaking protocol!”
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Kassel said.
“You can’t predetermine a summons, hon,” Luc said reasonably.
“But… I color-coded them…”
