Page 27 of Monster Whisperer
“You know she will try, pigeon. She’s trying to help end this. Why don’t you chip in instead of moping all the time? It’s beneath a phoenix,”Pavlina said.
Demos was so worried about me setting the prison on fire, but every time he got angry, sparks flew off his body everywhere. He would have burned me, and there were scorch marks all over the chair he roosted in. Instead of apologizing, he got all douchy and judgemental about it.
Sparks were flying everywhere as Demos flew around his cell in a rage. I asked Hades to keep the doors unlocked so they had some semblance of freedom, but ever since Demos found out he couldn’t burn me, he refused to leave his.
He finally settled down and perched on his cot. I wished he wouldn’t sit on flammable things when he was in a mood. His bed was already covered in burn marks. His colorful wings pulled in, and now smoke was coming off of him. I was just glad the mattress didn’t go up in flames.
“Fine. I’ll teach it to call fire, but I don’t know if it will work because it’s not exactly a phoenix.”
“Her name is River, asshole. If you refer to her as an ‘it’ again, I’ll snap your neck. She’s helping you. Step up and help her.”
“I said I would help. But don’t blame me if your precious River ends up being an enemy and kills you.”
I clearly had work to do with Demos. I had a feeling I knew what his deal was. His fire was his deadliest weapon, and he couldn’t use it on me. But there were several ways for me to kill him, especially with Tryphon, Kimon, and Pavlina on my side.
Demos and I had some trust issues to work out, and my lessons with him were how I would do it.
Chapter 19
Demos
I
didn’t want to teach an unknown creature how to use something as deadly as fire. There were unique kinds of fire in the Underworld, so I was guessing she probably wouldn’t call a simple hearth fire. Phoenix fire burned a thousand times hotter than anything you could light in the hearth. It could reduce anything to ash in a matter of minutes.
I should have been more careful around her when I had sparks coming off my wings. She would have been seriously injured with just a mere ember of my flame. But she didn’t even flinch. She brushed the ash off her bare skin like it was nothing, and that scared the shit out of me.
She was half mortal. Not even the demigods were immune to my flame. I’d never met a single living being that was. But this mysterious monster whisperer Hades found was, and that made her dangerous to me. That made her dangerous to everyone in the Underworld.
I guarded Hades before I took over as Persephone’s bodyguard. I might not be huge like Pavlina, Kimon, or Tryphon, but people knew not to come at Hades or Persephone when I was with them. I could burn them in an instant. If they killed me, I didn’t stay dead, and I got really pissed off when someone killed me. I always got revenge.
I couldn’t exactly protect my team and get any type of revenge for her killing me and everyone in this jail. I could peck her to death, but my greatest weapon was useless against her.
Sure, she was helping us out, and I could get my favorite breakfast. The rest of them were falling for her deep. Tryphon and Kimon were about to urinate on her like dogs to mark their territories. I had to be honest. If she didn’t scare the shit out of me, I’d probably be joining in. She was quite attractive, and so far, she’d only helped us. I just didn’t want to risk being wrong if that help was just a ruse.
I made her go to a cell as far away from the others as possible, and I ordered Kimon to take anything flammable out of the room. When Kimon fell, he fell hard, and he was already worshipping the ground she walked on. Honestly, someone who could talk to monsters would have normally been fascinating to me until I found out that wasn’t her only power.
She just flopped on the floor like it wasn’t totally filthy and hadn’t seen a broom in centuries. What a strange creature. Did her people like lying in filth like pigs? I wouldn’t be caught dead on a dirty floor. It was bad enough being in this prison.
I stayed as far away from her as I possibly could. Fire didn’t burn me either, but I didn’t know what kind of fire this creature possessed. What if she could call flame that could burn even a phoenix? I didn’t particularly want to find out. Just because I rose from the ashes didn’t mean dying was totally painless. It was agonizing every time I died. I tried to avoid it when I could.
How could I teach her? I never had any children. I never had to guide another phoenix in how to control fire before. I was so ancient. I hardly remembered my own lessons when I was just a baby phoenix.
I just thought of something. Maybe I could use this opportunity to ask questions about her. I could determine if she was a threat or not, and perhaps we could all figure out what she was together. Shehadto be the descendent of some sort of monster if she could talk to us like this.
“How long have you known you were immune to fire?”
“Since I started cooking on my own. I accidentally started a grease fire, and the flames didn’t hurt at all. I got the fire put out, and everyone just assumed it was a miracle I didn’t get burned. But I knew. The sleeve of my shirt caught fire, and my skin didn’t burn. I hid the shirt and changed clothes before my parents got home.”
“And why you are a monster whisperer?”
“There are no monsters back where I come from. I thought I could just talk to pets and animals.”
“There could very well be hidden monsters where you come from.”
“If there were, they never talked to me like all of you do. My father could very well be from Hell.”
“Have you ever accidentally set anything on fire before?”
