Page 1 of Discord
1
Ripley
Now what? We didn’t have the painting. We didn’t have a way into that storage container. We had a big, fat nothing. We had the God of Chaos here, but he was currently making sex noises as a result of taking my suggestion to dip his Oreos in a Wendy’s Frosty. Felix had joined him. The two of them were like these little aliens who just came to Earth for the modern junk food.
Bram was pacing furiously. Don’t ask me why he was so attached to Talvath—Bram was Talvath’sproperty—he was no more than a slave, a pet. I didn’t need a pissed off Hellhound in my library. Balthazar was glued to his computer, and Gabriel was digging through a book. I got up and tentatively touched Bram’s arm.
“Hey, big guy. I get you want to find him, but maybe this means you can be free.”
Bram glared at me like I struck him. What did I say wrong? We all wanted to help him. He was here for a reason.
“Iamfree. Talvath isn’t like other demons. He treats me well. He’s always been kind to me. I got all of these tattoos and piercings becauseIwanted them, not because they are his marks. I’m not branded, and I can come and go as I please. No offense, but none of you know anything about demons or Hell. All you know is what youthinkyou know because of the deals we make.”
“Why don’t you sit and explain while we figure this out? We’re going to get Talvath out of that shipping container. It’s the right thing to do, we just need to do it the right way.”
Reyson waved his hand. A Frosty and a pack of Oreos appeared in front of Bram. So, the godwaspaying attention to more than just his snack.
“This concoction is marvelous! Excellent suggestion, my witch. Eat and talk. The more I understand Hell and demons, the more I can help prevent an all-out war.”
Bram collapsed in the chair and scooped up his Frosty. Felix and Reyson were eating like they were having a sexual experience. Bram was angry eating, and was going to give himself a horrible ice cream headache if he continued at the rate he was going. He finally slowed down and swallowed.
“This isn’t half bad. We don’t have this exactly, but we do have these caramel cookies in Hell that I like to crush up in an ice cream flavor we based on cheesecake, but it is a million times better. Hell food is very rich and decadent. Sometimes, demons will get fond of something when they are here making deals or collecting souls. They’ll bring the recipe back, and we’ll make our own version.”
What was with all these men and cookies? Yeah, I could be bribed with certain foods, but these bitches right here? And I was a little jealous Reyson ate that much junk food, but somehow didn’t gain a single pound, and neveroncegot a zit. He had skin like people that drank gallons of water a day, lived off kale, and ran ten miles a day. He didn’t do any of that.
Reyson was finally focused on something that wasn’t his food.
“I tried to go to Hell once, but I couldn’t. None of my siblings have claimed credit for creating it, but I’m not close with all of them. Those of us who were born simultaneously and created the universe are closer than the gods that came later. Those of us who were responsible forall thisdidn’t create Hell, and if we had, we wouldn’t have made it a one-way system where demons could travel to our creations, but we couldn’t travel to theirs.”
Bram’s entire mood changed, and it wasn’t just thanks to the junk food. I knew exactly what had him so amused. We were in the middle of one of the most extensive supernatural libraries in the entire world. Reyson was responsible for creating the universe and could see all possibilities when he touched someone. Bram said Talvath was kind to him, but Hellhounds were at the bottom of the totem pole in Hell.
None of us knew a fucking thing about Hell, except Bram. He had more answers on this subject than the God of Chaos. Bram leaned in.
“What I'm about to say can’t leave this room. I’m only telling you this because I need your help to free Talvath and stop a war. So, I don’t want to see this all over Twitter or published in a book later. I’ll be killed if it gets out, and there’s nothing Talvath could do to stop it. No one will care I told you, as part of a bigger picture when Hell starts dying.”
Felix finally snapped to attention. Gabriel was still muttering into the pages of a book he’d pulled off the shelves, after we realized the painting was fake, and Balthazar was still stalking Silvaria and Dorian online. I knew Gabriel was researching something important, but I also knew he didn’t totally trust Bram yet.
Gabriel was on board with my theory that the spirits behind the scenes in the library. The ones that were trying to stop Silvaria were trying to help me by telling us who could help with all access cards to the library. I also knew he believed Reyson when he told us someone was a part of the team our tarot cards foretold.
Gabriel had every reason to distrust anything that came out of Hell after the way people had treated his family because of a deal. I was watching him out of the corner of my eye. As soon as Bram said he was about to spill secrets, I could tell Gabriel stopped paying attention to his book, though he was still pretending to be engrossed in it.
“We could make a blood oath,” Felix said. “I don’t particularly like the deals demons make, but they aren’t forcing anyone to take them. None of us would misuse the information, just look at what Silvaria is doing with what she learned.
Reyson slurped down the last of his Frosty and made another one appear out of nowhere. I guess the God of Chaos had found something he liked more than Frappuccinos.
“I’ll take the blood oath, even though I’m a god and my word is everything.”
Balthazar looked up from his laptop.
“I’ll do it too. I don’t particularly like giving any of my bits to witches, especially with this curse on my dick, but I trust y’all.”
Bram winced.
“You too? One got me on a job. No one forced her to make a deal with Talvath. We don’t collect payment until someone has lived a full life. She didn’t have to curse my dick because she didn’t want to pay up.”
“No one wants to go to Hell for eternal torture, even if they’re dumb enough to make a deal,” Gabriel grunted.
Bram just sat there smirking, like that wasn’t a massive deal to every single person there.
