Page 5 of Discord
I wouldn’t have a problem getting my Hell freak on with this entire group, but I balked at joining them. This was different from picking someone up in a bar. I couldn’t cook them breakfast and disappear from their lives afterward. I didn’t want to, either.
Ripley showed me to a bedroom, but I couldn’t sleep. Her living room was something else. I was sprawled out on this massive sectional and going through her streaming services, trying to find something to watch. I was starving, but I wasn’t about to impose and raid her kitchen.
Ripley scared the shit out of me when she walked into the room with snacks and joined me on the sectional.
“I can’t sleep,” she announced.
Neither could I, but how in the world had she made her way out of there alone? I was pretty sure there weren’t rows of bunk beds in that room! I hadn’t been there long, but I already knew Reyson thought they were getting married. I knew Ripley wasn’t totally on board with that, but she was getting there.
“How did you make it out here without bringing strays?”
“They aren’t my pets. They don’t follow me wherever I go. None of us think it’s fair that you are either.”
I shrugged. I didn’t expect them to understand this. It was just how things were. It wasn’t like it was ever going to change.
“Hell has only ever had one war, Ripley. It was ages ago, and it was Hellhounds that started it. They created demons to be cunning and have magical powers. Lilith made the Hellhounds to kill, and demons tried to control the Hellhounds after that. They have population control measures in place, so we can’t exactly rise up and change things. There are a lot of things I disagree with, but Talvath treats me more like a friend than his pet.”
“What does Lilith think about the way demons treat Hellhounds? If she made an entire planet to keep you safe from the angels, she has to have a problem with that, right?”
Why did she care about what Lilith thought about how I was treated? Lilith didn’t give a shit about us anymore. Ripley should be more concerned with what Lilith had done to her kind.
“Lilith isn’t like your Reyson, Ripley. Yeah, she created a planet for us because of the angels, but think about it… why couldn’t she just leave it at that? She made demons and Hellhounds immune to any weapons, except those she created. She didn’t do the same for you witches. She left you on Earth, with all these vulnerabilities, knowing the angels were deliberately turning humans against you.
“I was watching Reyson when I was telling my story. Okay, I watched him because I didn’t think someone could eat that many Oreos without throwing up, but I saw his reaction. He waspissed.I think your god is plotting to kick some celestial ass once we fix this mess with Dorian. He seemed to think most of the other gods would be pissed about it, too.
“Why didn’t Lilith ask for help? Why didn’tanyof these fucking gods get involved when humans got hysterical about witches? What about the mass grave we are sleeping on? She would have heard the prayers of all the witches and warlocks living here. She had an entire planet of Hellhounds and demons at her disposal that she could have sent to stop the slaughter.”
“She didn’t even tell anyone. The only people in Hell that know about the buildings here are the ones who make it a point to know. I looked it up because Talvath told me Dorian had been hanging out at the Library of the Profane before he left!”
Maybe I was angrier about that than I thought. I never really thought about Lilith, sure, I knew she created the first Hellhounds, but I was born in one of the breeding farms ages later. I never knew my parents, and I was just now getting mad about that. Lilith didn’t run Hell, but she sure as shit could have said something to change how the Hellhounds were treated.
Ripley threw her chips down and flung herself at me. Did she know what happens when Hellhounds got angry? My beast was growling in my chest. I really wanted to shift and kill something. Talvath didn’t put one on me, but most demons had shock collars on their Hellhounds to force them into submission when they started getting angry.
That made me furious. Just because it never happened to me didn’t mean I shouldn’t be upset about it affecting others. I needed to get out of there. I needed to shift and run. Surely, there was something in the woods out there I could tear apart.
Ripley wrapped herself around me like a snake wearing a hot, lacy black number. She wouldn’t let me go. Talvath never beat me, but I never had anyone just hold me like this growing up. I’d had firm ground rules drilled into me about what was allowed when I took women to my bed when I was on Earth. I could kiss, but never snuggle. There was just something too intimate about that. That was something you did with your girlfriend, and Hellhounds weren’t allowed to have those.
I should have stopped this. Ripley was insanely attractive, and she smelledgood. Talvath might treat me well, but he still paid a ton of money for me when I was a pup. I was well behaved. I never caused him any trouble. I was still his property. He wasn’t going to let me live on Earth full time because I met a witch I liked. Not when he hadn’t even made money breeding me. He was kind to me, but he stillownedme.
Fuck Hell, and fuck my rules. It wasnicebeing held. I dwarfed her in every way, but she was still squeezing me like she could put all my broken pieces back together. I wrapped my arms around her and held her back.
“I know we need Talvath to get Dorian’s painting,” she said. “I still don’t know how we’re going to break him out of that storage container, but he’s not getting out without us. Could you turn the tables and offer your own deal? We could say we won’t let him out until he frees you.”
I chuckled and rubbed my face in her soft black curls. That wouldn’t fly with Talvath. No one in Hell would accept it. If demons found out I’d blackmailed him for my freedom, they’d send their Hellhounds to kill me for it.
“I get what you want to do, but it won’t happen like that. We don’t blackmail people into deals. We come when they summon us, but demons never appear and apply pressure. We don’t have a spy network looking for people in dire situations to offer them an easy way out.IfTalvath was to offer that, then it needs to be voluntarily, with no pressure and no strings, or Hell will retaliate.”
“Hell has such weird things that they find uncouth, considering you’re someone’s property.”
“I just accepted that was my life. I couldn’t sleep after I told you all those Hell secrets and saw how angry Reyson became. It all got me thinking about Lilith. None of this would’ve happened if she had just asked for help! She’s retired, and lives a life of luxury in Hell, but she could have changed how Hellhounds are treated with a simple word. I’ve never met her, but I’ve met Reyson now. He’s not just involved in all of this because of you. He could have fucked off to paradise, but I think he really cares about stopping this, even if I think he’s kind of weird.”
“We’re all mad here, Bram. Reyson is weird in the cutest ways.”
“Why is he so curious about my junk? He stares a lot. It’s a little creepy, having a god looking at your cock like that.”
Ripley started giggling, and I couldn’t help laughing myself.
“He was obsessed with picking a new name when I brought him back. I wasn’t even thinking when I sent him over to the fiction section. The only fiction we have in the library is werewolf erotica. Patrons eat it up. Reyson reads faster than anyone alive. He reada lotof books, and people seriously make up the weirdest shit about shifter cock and the knot. Did you know I’d only just met him, and he asked me to find a wolf for him to try after we got married?!”
