Page 72 of Sweet Violence
"Lovely," I said under my breath.
Each human became a sizzling stack of goop, with smoke drifting from the edges of their body-ish-things and then …oh, hell no.The grossness fell into the crystal dish.
So. In bad news, Trett wanted to turn me and my mates to frothing piles of gore.
Inworsenews, I had a feeling we were going to have to drink the human-goop vodka.
23
When I woke up, I could still taste the rank aftertaste of the vodka on my tongue. I'd taken a sip to save face, but then I spewed some bullshit about not drinking so I could stay in control. At least Lou and her buddies understood wanting to be clear-headed to appreciate killing people.
I cracked my eyes open—and jumped when I found Trett staring back at me with dull brown eyes, his dark hair flopped over his forehead and a scowl etched permanently on his face.
I say permanently because his head had been severed and spiked to the footboard. Blood and fluids leaked down and darkened the white duvet, but honestly, who thought giving murderous demons white sheets was a good idea? They wereaskingfor stains.
For a second, I thought the severed head was a message from the big bad, or from Eidolon, but then movement made my head snap around. I sighed at the sight of Joseph shifting from foot to foot in front of the plain white wall, his hands knotted in front of him and an excited, anticipatory expression on his brown face.
I'd long compared the bond between us to a purring cat, but I hadn't expected to wake up to gifts of the corpse variety. My mistake.
"So…" I said, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, my voice hoarse and throat sore.1"You killed Trett."
"He threatened to beat you," Joseph replied, a growl slipping into his voice. "And then he wanted to dissolve you like those humans; I saw the look in his eye."
"So you hacked his head off," I murmured, unable to fight a smile. "So much for blending in."
"He deserved it," Joseph hissed, sinking onto the end of the bed and narrowly avoiding the pool of blood. There wasn’t anywhere else to sit—the room contained a wardrobe and a bed, that was it. "And I was hungry anyway, so it killed two birds with one stone."
I blinked, curiosity thrumming through my chest. "What did his soul taste like?"
"Dirt," he replied, wrinkling his nose. "And dark chocolate. Not an appealing combination."
"Oh. Sorry you had to eat that guy, then. Next time I'll pick someone nice to kill and you can eat their soul."
Joseph moved faster than light, his lips mashing to mine with a soft, throaty sound. "I love you more than life itself."
"Because I offered to kill someone?" I asked, laughing.
"For me. You offered to kill themfor me." Warmth and affection surged between us, nestled just behind my ribs. "They'll taste even sweeter for being a gift from my mate."
I gave him a look that said he was being far too cheesy, but I remembered what Dev had said. All those people I killed, those throats stuffed full of candy floss … that was why he'd become interested in me. Because it made them taste sweet when they got to Hell.
I still wasn't a hundred percent sure how it worked. Did the devil eat them, regurgitate them, and they became demons? Or did he just eat the once-human bits?
Joseph kissed me and leaned back. "I brought you coffee. I know you like coffee in the morning."
Need was a better word, but I gratefully accepted the mug my reaper placed in my hands. "Dare I ask where X is and what trouble he's getting up to?"
"He's gone to find breakfast," Joseph replied, but rubbed the stubble on his jaw. It was longer than it'd been on Earth; I was curious to see what he'd look like with a beard.
"And how long ago was that?" I asked, my eyes sparkling as I took a sip of sweetened, milky coffee and groaned.
"Not that long," he replied. Lied. I only had to raise an eyebrow before he admitted, "Alright, that was an hour ago."
"He's killed his way through the whole compound by now," I joked. Half-joked. Worried.
Ehh. I was becoming increasingly convinced Eidolon's lackeys were here in the training hall, so killing them would save me getting rid of them later. The only concerning part about that plan was there were so many of them. If we didn't have the upper hand and the element of surprise, we could be overwhelmed.
I roughly counted a hundred demons in the great hall last night. A hundred versus three, even three as powerful as we were, wasn't good odds. The levitating, hair floating power I had yesterday already began to fade. I only had a few days left of being a demon to find proof that these people were Eidolon's army, slaughter them, and hit my dad where it hurt.
