Page 2 of Discord
“No one is getting tortured. That was just some PR to keep people from summoning demons to give them bigger cocks or to lose five pounds. Weneedsouls, but we also need a balance. We don’t need people summoning demons for petty things they could do on their own, or for the sake of their vanity.”
“Hello?” Gabriel growled. “We’re in this mess because of Dorian Gray’s vanity.”
Bram just shrugged like he didn’t care about Gabriel’s attitude towards him. No one had even explained it to him. He just didn’t give a shit.
“Why don’t you let me explain before you get your panties in a bunch?”
I got out of my chair to join Gabriel, then snuggled into his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. Orion was in his usual spot, wrapped around Gabriel’s neck. His forked tongue flickered across my forehead, and then he nestled in my hair. It didn’t bother me. I wasn’t even remotely afraid of snakes.
“He’s on our side. Just hear him out!”
Gabriel grunted and set his book down. He wrapped his arms around me and glared at Bram.
“I should start at the beginning, but I think I want that blood oath. Talvath’s seer told me to come here for help, and that I could trust all of you. I can smell that I can. I can feel it too. We’re just not supposed to talk about this outside of Hell… it’s an instant death sentence. They’ll kill me, and then they’ll kill Talvath, because he’s supposed to keep me in line. They won’t care I told you in order to prevent a war. They are already going to lose their shit when they find out someone could trap Talvath.”
None of us hesitated. I think we were all dying to know what Bram was about to spill, and not just because it was going to stop some plot. Reyson was there when the universe was created. There might be things that excited him about this century, but he knew things not even Ravyn and I knew. Reyson didn’t know Hell’s secrets though, and he was a primordial god.
We all willingly gave our blood as Felix bound us to secrecy for what we were about to hear.
2
Reyson
Ihad so many questions for Bram, and so was thrilled to sacrifice a little blood to find those answers. I was dying to know who’d created an entire realm I couldn’t get into. Why did they trade in souls when the people of Earth kept inventing so many other marvelous things? My witch was a genius for suggesting I dip my Oreos into a Frosty… I got way more enjoyment out of doing that than doing anything with a soul.
Souls were wholly dull. They couldn’t speak. They were glowing balls, suspended in the aether, waiting to be reborn in another body. I knew what Gabriel thought, but you couldn’t amuse yourself by torturing one. So why exactly had Hell decided to use them as currency? Why had they not been replaced when humans invented Oreos?!
And, if he was on our team now, would he clear up all the conflicting information on shifter cock I’d read when I was picking my new name?
Bram still looked uncomfortable, even after Felix magically bound us from ever speaking of this. Granted, that spell wouldn’t have prevented me from talking, but I gave my word, and that was just as good. I might be the God of Chaos, and in the past I’d spilled state secrets as part of my duties, but never when I promised I wouldn’t.
“Okay, so all of you know Lilith created witches and warlocks, right?” Bram started.
Fucking Lilith. Why was I not shocked she was involved in this? She was a young goddess compared to me. Many of us older gods sometimes didn’t pay attention when a new god or goddess was born, but Lilith made damn sure everyone knew who she was.
Everyone in the room nodded. Felix, Ripley, and Gabriel all prayed to Lilith as a patron goddess. A different god, one who was a lot more bloodthirsty than Lilith, had created Balthazar.
“Lilith wanted to make her mark with a unique creation, but she didn’t create witches and warlocks first. No, she made demons, Hellhounds, and many of the creatures who currently reside in Hell. Most of the other gods didn’t care. Every new god makes their mark on the world by creating something.
“One of the gods had a problem with Lilith and her new creations. He made the angels and sent them after her to threaten her into destroying what she’d created. That god wanted to put her in her place, and thought she should only create one new thing instead of the several she had.”
Where had I been when all that was going on? Where had my siblings been? We were a lot of things, and we rightfully had such massive egos because we deserved to have them. Despite that, none of us would have told a baby god or goddess how to handle their creations. If we were going to do that, someone would have stopped Nosferatu from creating one that couldn’t survive without drinking blood. We even found beauty in the vampires.
If we knew some young god had taken it upon himself to police new gods and goddesses, then we would have stepped in. We were strictly hands-off with each other and our duties and creations, but we would have put him in his place if we had known. Who did he think he was, anyway?
I wasn’t all that fond of Lilith, but despite that I found myself growing angry on her behalf.
“Lilith wasn’t backing down. She was fond of her creations, but the angels didn’t stop. They told her that if she didn’t kill them, they would. Lilith was cunning, and knew when she was outnumbered. She also realized she couldn’t protect her creations all the time, and didn’t want to risk a war with that god by slaughtering his creations, even though he had no problem with killing hers.”
I made a note to myself that, when Bram was finished with this story, I was going to find that god and kick him around the cosmos. From what I knew of Lilith, she’d probably done that in her own way. I already knew roughly where the story was headed, but I hoped there’d be some beating involved.
“Thatwas when Lilith created the first witches and warlocks. She made an entire coven, then channeled that coven and created Hell. She moved all her creations there, except for the witches whom she swore to secrecy. When the angels came back, Lilith laughed in their faces. Her creations were safe, somewhere no god or angel could go unless brought there by a resident of Hell. She presented her witches and warlocks as her contribution to the world.
“The angels hated it because they knew they had been outsmarted and couldn’t do anything about it. They were already risking attention from other gods. They started whispering into the ears of their followers that Hell was an awful place and witches and warlocks served demons. They couldn’t come at Lilith’s creations a second time without risking attention from older, more powerful gods. So, they spread superstition and lore among their human followers to come at them.”
“Thoseassholes!”Ripley yelled, jumping up from her seat. “The mass grave these buildings were built on was because they started with witches. They killed several human women in the process. The rest of the supernatural community in Salem and the surrounding areas tried to get involved and were slaughtered.”
I was definitely making a trip to the cosmos to make a point. I was not okay with any of that, and it upset my witch.
