Page 6 of Discord
I fell about laughing. Talvath made sure I got an education and learned to read. Everything they taught me about Lilith was that she was powerful, cunning, and very elegant. Based on everything they taught me about Lilith, I came to realize that she was way too refined to read those kinds of books and try to proposition shifters for clarification.
“Reyson is nothing like I pictured any of the gods, except in appearance.”
“I was so mad when I realized I’d been tricked into raising him, but he’s grown on me. He gave Felix his human body back, and they are adorable, especially when they're enjoying all the food Felix never got to eat when he was a cat. Oh, shit! His birthday is tomorrow, and I completely forgot what with everything else going on. I always gave him a can of tuna on the day he showed up as a kitten, and I found out he was my familiar. I can’t give him that now, not when he can eat anything he wants!”
I liked Felix, and I got his enjoyment of new foods. I wanted to help. I enjoyed snuggling with Ripley, and it would be nice to have more friends than just those who lived at Talvath’s estate.
“If you can get the ingredients, I can bake a special Hell cake.”
Ripley rubbed her face in my chest.
“What is it with the men the library sent me? I suck at baking… I burn store-bought cookie dough every time! Reyson bakes, and so do you. I get the feeling you’re just as good at it as he is.”
I stood up and stretched. I told myself I wasn’t in competition with Reyson. He was a god, and I was a Hellhound, so It wouldn’t even remotely be a fair fight. I knew trying to impress Ripley might be pointless because I’d have to go back to Hell if we pulled this off.
Still, I was going to bake a better cake than the God of Chaos.
4
Felix
Iwent to bed spooning Ripley. Don’t ask me what happened while we were asleep. I woke up snuggled into Reyson and fucking Balthazar was nuzzling my neck. That bastard better not have considered sneaking a bite in when I was half asleep. Where was Ripley? How did she even get out of bed without waking us? If we got to sleep next to her, you could be damn sure we were holding her all night.
I wasn’t the only one that was confused. Reyson had been holding her, too. Gabriel seemed concerned she wasn’t in bed. Balthazar wasn’t fully awake and seemed really confused about who he was actually snuggling with. I nudged him off of me and got out of bed.
“You don’t think Bram took her, do you?” Gabriel asked.
Gabriel still didn’t trust him, even after everything he’d told us. Ripley might be off somewhere with Bram, but it was going to have been her idea if she was.
“Ripley had one of the best battle magic teachers in the entire country. If someone came in here last night, we all would have woken up to the sounds of fighting. She snuck out of bed because she wanted to. When Ripley gets stressed, her insomnia kicks in. She probably fell asleep on the sectional watching movies.”
“Why didn’t she invite us?” Reyson pouted.
“Mate, if you want her to marry you, you can’t be up her arse all the time. Give her some space, or she’ll tire of you real fast,” I said.
Balthazar finally woke his ass up. He got out of bed and stretched. I was super glad we were still at the boxer snuggling stage, because I had a feeling he liked to sleep totally nude. I really didn’t want to deal with that because I was only half convinced he was confused about who he was snuggling with.
“She’s in the kitchen, with Bram,” Reyson said. “She’s not in distress, but she wouldn’t be. He’s on our side, Gabriel. He didn’t have to tell us anything last night. There was a lot of that I didn’t know, and plenty I don’t understand. There were so many times in that story we would have gladly helped Lilith, but she never reached out.”
“Well, we can’t change that now. Thanks to her, demons are stealing souls to save their sun, and many witches are dead. Why didn’t any of you step in when humans started targeting witches?”
I think all of us were just a little furious with Lilith, even if we were more furious with the angels for starting things. Reyson was more upset about the story than any of us, but Gabriel asked a question I also wanted to know the answer to. I could see the other gods not knowing Lilith was being bullied and stepping in if she didn’t ask for help. I could even understand not getting involved with the information going around about demons and Hell.
It became pretty public knowledge when they started their witch hysteria and started killing people. Where was Reyson’s rage then?
“I’m sorry. Most of us older gods were no longer walking the Earth by the time that happened; we had retreated to the aether. When I sensed I was needed somewhere, it was never that. The only person who can hear the prayers of someone is the one who created them. We don’t so much hear humans anymore because they don’t follow us. The witches were probably crying to Lilith for help, and she didn’t answer. If I had known, I would have stepped in.”
Knowing a god was just so…bizarre. They taught us they were all-powerful and all-knowing. Clearly though, Reyson wasn’t either of those things, or we’d have a lot more answers, and this would already be over. I accepted Reyson’s answer as to why he didn’t step in, but what was Lilith’s excuse? I prayed to her when I had the sweat, and I still died an agonizing death.
I didn’t want to think about gods and their shortcomings. I was hungry, and I wanted to eat. There were certain things Ripley was miserable at cooking, but she excelled at a few dishes. Reyson had been doing all the cooking. Maybe I could make her a proper English breakfast while she was passed out on the sectional.
We didn’t bother with trousers or shirts. Ripley had seen us all in our boxers, and she liked looking. And I liked the way she looked at me.
I was shocked when I stepped into the living room; they’d decorated it for a party. Ripley and Bram were just sitting there, waiting for us to come out. Bram blew a streamer at me, and Ripley flung herself at me. She pulled out a can of fucking tuna, with a bow on top, from behind her back and kissed me on the nose.
“I don’t expect you to eat this. Bram baked a cake. I hope you didn’t think I was going to forget your birthday.”
Ripley and Ravyn were probably the only witches who threw birthday parties for their familiars. I showed up on the same day as Ravyn’s familiar. They did it every year, and they always had. Ravyn was probably doing the same thing at her cottage with Killian, her bat.
