Page 68 of Hellfire & Tinsel
Maybe he could bake or knit them something to ease their woes just a little? Lift their spirits while he was here.
There was a commotion to be heard as they continued on toward a massive gate, getting louder with every step. Beau squeezed Kassel’s neck tighter.
“This is completely unacceptable!”
“Calm down, Pete. We’ll get this all straightened out,” a deep voice said.
“It’s probably just a misunderstanding,” a brighter voice chimed in. “I was innocent too, after all.”
“A MISUNDERSTANDING?!”
They passed through the doors into what looked to be a cavernous lobby of some kind. Beau recognized the twins standing there side by side, their tails intertwined and their facessulky. Behind them, holding them by their scruffs was the big alabaster demon the twins had been salivating over, the one with all the business going on downstairs.
Beau avoided looking in that area.
The rest of the people, Beau didn’t know. He could guess, of course. Through the process of elimination the humongous red one with the horns and tail sitting on a throne of bones was most likely the devil, Luc. The little human next to him had to be the writer of the summoning book, Oren.
And the shining one with fluffy white wings and a halo over his head had to be an angel. Pete? Peter? That sounded more heavenly.
Their presence seemed to draw the angel’s attention, and he looked their way, only to gasp in horror.
“Put him down now!” he demanded.
Kassel tightened his grip on Beau and Beau held him back, scared that he was going to be ripped away. He could already feel the lick of warm energy emanating from the angel, calling to him once more.
I don’t want to, he told it silently.Please.
“I said,” Peter repeated, stepping forward with his wings flaring. “Put. Him. Down.”
“No,” Kassel said.
Luc sighed, slumping back in his throne. “This is going to go well.”
Pete pointed at him, halo glowing brighter in anger. “He is not a sinner for you to manhandle, demon!”
“No,” Kassel said again, louder this time for the people in the back. Beau tensed, worried a battle between Heaven and Hell was about to break out.
Peter certainly looked like he was contemplating it.
“Ease up on the PDA for a minute, Kassel. We don’t want a dead bird on our hands,” Luc ordered.
Kassel glared at him. At the literal devil, dead in his face, and said, “No,” again.
Beau felt like he was going to faint from the tension that flooded the room as the word echoed through the dark caverns.
Luc’s eyes turned a brighter, sulfurous yellow that looked like it could eat through anyone it landed on, and Beau could now see a hint of the true devil in him. It was terrifying. But Kassel didn’t back down—he held the devil’s gaze and kept his grip on Beau like he wasn’t ever planning on letting him go.
Which gave Beau the confidence to gather up his rather shaky courage and lean into Kassel’s ear before anything bad could happen to him. “I can stand, it’s okay.”
Kassel turned one blue eye to him, the others staying fixed on both threats.
“They’re not taking you,” he said, not caring who heard.
“I won’t go,” Beau said to reassure him. If there was any way he could avoid it, any way he could fight, he would. He’d already died for this love.
Kassel took a deep breath in before letting him slide down to his feet.
Beau took a moment, closing his eyes and breathing Kassel in. He could feel everyone’s gazes on him, burning holes all over his body.
