Page 37 of Demanding Discord
Every joint in my body screamed with pain, but I rolled, barely escaping the dresser drawer hurdling toward me. It splintered on the floor with the impact, and I scrambled—once again—to my feet.
Lucifer grabbed a chair and swung it, slamming it against the wall, breaking it into twenty pieces. He threw what was left in his hands at me, hitting me in the gut. I doubled over, clutching my abdomen while Discord barreled toward the King of Hell.
My demon slammed into him, tackling him onto the bed. The frame broke, the legs crumpling as it crashed onto the floor. Good thing the imp had already made his escape.
And speaking of escapes…
“Discord!” I turned to the door, ready to run, but my demon grunted. Then he wheezed. Lucifer kneeled atop him, physically choking him with one hand while lifting his other—taloned—hand above his chest.
“If you kill him, I’ll die too.” I held up my hands in surrender. “And if I die, the amulet will be lost forever. So will Hecate.”
His chest heaving, Lucifer looked from me to Discord and back at me. His demon hand morphed back to human, and he hauled Discord up as he stood, holding the two-hundred-plus-pound man as if he weighed nothing before hurling him at me.
That much muscle slamming into my body…in a not-fun kind of way…knocked me down like a bowling pin. Everything in my backpack—crystals, water bottles, cans of mystery meat—jabbed into my back, making me scream.
Discord yanked me from the ground, threw me onto his shoulder, and powered toward the door. Lucifer flicked his wrist, slamming it before we could cross the threshold. Discord set me down and clutched my face, looking into my eyes, silently asking if I was okay.
“No, not really,” I wanted to say. I nodded instead.
Lucifer snarled, jabbing his talons into the mattress and shredding it. He grabbed everything within reach, throwing and breaking things, pounding his fists against the walls in the biggest, most extravagant temper tantrum I had ever witnessed.
He let out an agonizing wail, threw his arms to his sides, and transformed. His perfectly tailored suit turned to shreds as his body grew, his skin turning deep crimson, thick horns curling from his scalp as he doubled…maybe tripled…in size.
Discord shoved me behind his back, and I whispered, “Holy shit.”
“There’s nothing holy about him in this state,” my demon said over his shoulder. “Try the door.”
I grabbed the knob and twisted. “It’s locked.”
“Can you unlock it?” he asked through clenched teeth, spreading his arms to shield me from the flying debris.
“I don’t have the key!” I whisper-shouted.
“Are you not a witch? Use a spell.”
“Crap. Right.” Excuse me for my fight or flight mode going full flight and erasing my brain. I knew a spell. What was it?
Lucifer wailed again. Claws scraped across the floor. Discord backed into me.
“Hurry, Cinder.”
“Crappity, crap, crap. Oh!” I hovered my hands over the lock and recited the spell, “Iron bound and sealed so tight, hear my call and yield to might. By flame and force, I break your core. Unlock, unbar, and open the door.”
I grabbed the knob and twisted. The door opened. Lucifer growled and sent a pulse of magic into us, freezing us to the spot. Pressure built around us, squeezing the breath from my lungs. Those damn stars made an appearance in my vision again, and darkness tunneled around me.
“Find her,” The devil snarled, and the pressure on my body reversed, making me feel like he was turning me inside out.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see. Felt nothing but agonizing pain.
A flash of orange light blinded me. I raked in a breath, nearly choking on the sulfurous stench. My knees buckled, my hands scraping on the basalt as I hit the ground outside the palace.
15
DISCORD
“Cinder!” I spun in a circle, the remnants of Lucifer’s magic disorienting me. “Cinder, where are you?”
I stood outside the palace on a gravel path. Hedges, ten feet tall with gnarled, spiked branches, towered on three sides, the path ahead allowing me to turn left or right before another hedge blocked the way forward.
