Page 49 of Demanding Discord
“You make it all too easy.” She…he…laughed again. “You’re weak and pathetic, and when you’re out of my way, Hell will be mine.”
Discord’s eye twitched. “I’m only weak because my powers are bound.”
“Even at full strength, you could never beat me.”
My demon crossed his arms, his voice deepening with malice. “Tell that to Bedlam and Tumult.”
“We could join forces, you know.” I interrupted their pissing match, laying my persuasion magic on thick. “Help us find Hecate and return her to Lucifer. She’s what he really wants.”
The tulpa threw its head back, Ruin’s villainous laugh echoing inside the shed. “I don’t give a damn what he wants. His so-called love for that witch has made him weak as well. He sent you on a fool’s errand, and once you’re dead, I’ll take him down too.”
“You’re planning to overthrow the devil himself.” Now it was Discord’s turn to laugh. “Talk about a fool’s errand. You’ve lost half your team already.”
“There’s only room for one at the top.” The tulpa shrugged. “I’d have destroyed them myself if you hadn’t.”
“We can help you.” I laced my words with another wave of magic. “Hecate is pissed at Lucifer too. Help us find her, and she’ll help you destroy him.”
The tulpa looked at me, its expression thoughtful as my magic took hold. Then it shook its head. “I know where she is.”
“Then show us.” I grasped Discord’s hand, squeezing it twice and hoping to Hecate he got the message. It was time for a little truth magic. “Take us to her, become our ally, and we’ll help you overthrow your dickhead…dictator.”
My demon understood the assignment. A surge of magic washed through me, and I opened to it, sending my power into him, countering his discord and forcing the truth.
“Where is she?” we asked in unison. “Tell us now,” Discord added, sending another pulse of magic toward the tulpa.
The being inclined its chin. “I buried her.”
A hollow pit formed in my stomach. The goddess wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be. “Buried her where? Show us.”
The tulpa flashed its pointy teeth, lowering its chin in a blood-curdling expression. “With pleasure.”
The entity turned into smoke and shot upward, disappearing into the sky.
My breath came out in a rush, the only sound penetrating the unnatural quiet, and Discord tensed, stilling, listening…sensing. We waited. And waited. Nothing happened.
“Maybe our magic doesn’t work on tulpas,” I finally said.
“It should have.” He cut his gaze around the room. “Filtered, maybe, so not at full strength, but his tulpas are a part of him.”
The tension in my shoulders eased. “Tumult’s tulpas weren’t nearly as scary; they couldn’t actually touch me. I guess Ruin’s had more practice.”
Discord shook his head. “Tumult’s power was illusion. He could not bring beings into existence like this.”
“Can you?” I hung the machete on my belt and tugged from his grasp.
He glanced sideways at me. “Before I was disgraced, yes, I could. But I’ve always preferred to face my conflicts head-on, in person.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed a thread of cowardice running through the devil’s new crew.”
The moment I uttered the words, the ground shook beneath our feet. Discord clutched my arm and dragged me to his side as a three-foot-wide fissure opened in the center of the shed. The ground fell away, and the walls shuddered, the tools hanging on them clattering on the floor. The reek of sulfur and decay permeated the air, and I suppressed a cough as we backed away.
I would never get used to the smells in this realm.
As the earthquake settled, silence engulfed us, and a shaft of red-orange light glowed from below. I stepped toward the crevice, and Discord moved with me, tightening his grip on my arm as if he planned to haul my butt out of there at the first sign of movement.
I peered into the opening and let out a low whistle. “What level of Hell is that?”
Black rock extended thirty feet down on both sides of the fissure, with crimson and violet crystals shimmering and pulsing like living glitter. At the far end of the shed, a stone staircase spiraled into the depths.
