Page 20 of Demanding Discord
“Mind your business. I’m hungry,” I said, making my voice as deep and gruff as it would go. We hung a left at the corner, and thank the goddess, Hecate’s house lay four yards ahead. At least, the magical tug that had guided me here claimed it was her house.
I couldn’t tell you what I expected to find. The vision she’d shown me had been hazy at best, more of a feeling…or knowing…than a visual image. This run-down shack with peeling paint, broken steps, and shattered windows definitely wasn’t it. Thorny brambles crawled up the walls, and fissures jutted in different directions all around the yard.
Discord stumbled beside me as we approached. He made it up the first step when he gasped, his eyes going wide before rolling back until only the whites remained. He collapsed, pitching forward onto the porch and taking me down with him.
My shoulder hit the stone, sharp pain exploding down my arm, and I groaned. Discord lay motionless, his upper body face-down on the porch, the rest of him dangling down the steps, bare butt up, mooning the orange moon.
I pushed to sitting, rubbing my shoulder as six demons approached the house. My pulse sprinting, I scrambled to my feet and reached for my knife, but the beasties stopped, turned in circles, and scratched their heads as if we were invisible. One of them pointed to the right, the others nodded, and they strode away.
Huh. How about that? Maybe we were invisible here. That would sure be a welcome relief. I turned and reached for the doorknob, but it unlatched and swung open before I could touch it.
“Please tell me this place isn’t haunted,” I muttered. Although…since I was a dead witch and he was a demon, I supposed we’d be the ones doing the haunting.
Now, how to get a two-hundred-pound, unconscious man across the threshold? I started to grab his wrists and pull, but he was naked and face down. I doubted he’d appreciate his man bits scraping across the rough stone porch, so that idea was out.
I kneeled beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Discord? If you’ve got any energy left at all, now would be the time to get up and at least crawl through the door.”
A bit of drool rolled from the corner of his mouth. Lovely.
Squatting, I braced the heel of one hand against his shoulder, the other against his hip, and shoved, using my legs as leverage and rolling him to his back. His dangly bits flopped, drawing my gaze, which was totally inappropriate in a situation like this. I needed to get him inside and comfortable before I gawked at the sheer perfection that was Discord.
“Here we go.” I hooked my arms beneath his pits and gritted my teeth, straining as I dragged him into the foyer. Once I got his feet inside and out of the way, I kicked the door shut, turning to take in the rat-infested disaster of a shack.
Only, there wasn’t a rat in sight, and the disaster…? I rubbed my eyes. This couldn’t be the same run-down hovel I’d entered.
A polished obsidian floor reflected the moonlight streaming in through the not-broken windows, and deep-blue protection sigils glowed on the gray slate walls. The air felt cool by Underworld standards, and the scents of lilacs and cinnamon provided a welcome relief from the rotten egg scent I would never get accustomed to.
A living room lay to my left, complete with a plush, midnight rug and an antique sofa with dark purple upholstery and carved cherry wood. A short hallway extended back from the living room, and I glimpsed an herb-stocked kitchen through an arched doorway to my right. My stomach growled on cue.
I dragged Discord into the living room, getting as much of his body onto the rug as I could. There was no way I could get him onto the couch, much less into a bed, so this would have to do. His chest rose and fell rhythmically, his eyes moving back and forth behind his lids. The gash on his foot was nearly healed, but unless the obsidian he’d cut it on was laced with poison, I doubted that was the reason for his current state.
He had transformed into his demon. He’d dug deep into his soul and given Lucifer’s power-stripping hold a giant middle finger. Sure, he was paying the price now, but he had beaten the devil himself, even if for only a few minutes.
And he’d done it for me. Cue the warm fuzzies.
To say I was in awe of this man would be an understatement. He was complex. Broody and lethal, full of rage, yet tender when he wanted to be.
Get yourself together, girl. You are not falling for a demon. If only I could convince myself.
I ducked down the hall and found a bedroom complete with a king-sized bed, a dresser, and an ornate armoire with lilies and the triple moon symbol embossed in the wood. Inside the armoire, I found a pillow and a blanket, so I grabbed them and headed back to my demon.
Once I got Discord snug as a bug, I headed to the kitchen. A massive wood-burning stove stood in the far corner, and bundles of dry herbs hung from a cord stretched across the ceiling. It felt weird AF rummaging through the goddess’s cabinets, but I had to do it. She wouldn’t have shown me this place if she didn’t want me to use it, right?
Goddess, I hoped not. We’d already destroyed her temple. I could only imagine how pissed she’d be about that.
First things first. We needed food. I opened cabinet after cabinet, high ones and low ones, but I couldn’t find a single edible morsel. Unless we wanted to munch on a salad of dried herbs, we were out of luck in the meal department. Damn.
I plopped onto a stool and set my backpack on the counter to rummage through it. Granola bar wrappers, an empty water bottle, a candle, and a few jars of who-knew-what herbs. If the seer were still alive, I’d get her a label maker for Yule. I found ten ashmarks in the front pocket, but that wouldn’t get me much.
I set the candle in front of me and shot a stream of fire toward the wick. As the flame flickered, I softened my gaze, allowing it to blur, and pressed my palms together. “Thank you, Hecate, for offering your home to us. I’m sorry about the temple, but if you’ll continue guiding us, I will find a way to make it up to you.”
I took a deep breath, feeling, listening, searching for a sign that she heard me.
My stomach growled again, and I closed my eyes for a long blink, loath to do what I had to do next.
8
CINDER
