“How did you manage to fall into the marsh?” Iceman asks, and I turn to glare at him next.
“Because you have some hidden steep embankments on part of your land!” I snap at him. “Put up a fucking warning sign, why don’t you!”
Iceman immediately shoots a hand up to cover his mouth, and I can tell by his shaking shoulders that he’s trying, and failing, to hide the fact that he’s fucking laughing at me. I stare at him incredulously. A couple more snickers fill the air as the others start to not so silently crack up at me too.
That’s fucking it!
I grab the first throwable thing in front of me, which just so happens to be a plate full of food. I pull the sandwich off the plate—because you don’t just throw away a perfectly good BLT—and then chuck the white china at the blue dude first. He ducks, so the plate shatters against the wall instead, which appeases me somewhat because the sound of it breaking is very satisfying. But that satisfaction loses its effect when Crux shouts, “Opa!” without missing a beat, and the demons break out into another giggle fest.
“I hate you guys,” I seethe, before yanking out the chair and sitting my muddy ass down.
I think this was Jerif’s seat, and this is his sandwich I’m still clutching in my dirt-encrusted hand, because I hear him make a little noise of disapproval as I start mowing down the BLT while the other assholes continue to yuck it up. I hope the mud sludge ruins the upholstery. I hope I also ruin the rug and that I can figure out how to fucking smite these four assholes. But before I can focus on a way to tap into potential demon qualities and kick their fine asses, my murderous, evil thoughts get dulled down by the taste of the food.
Damn, that’s a good sandwich.
I take another huge bite, not at all caring that I’m eating like a pig in front of them because my hunger is taking precedence over looking cute, and let’s be real, my cute ship sailed even before the sludge incident. After I manage to inhale the rest of the sandwich in record time, I wipe my mouth with the fancy cloth napkin and plop it back onto the table, with smears of mayonnaise and filth.
The demons are still looking at me with glittering amusement, and I lift my chin, eyeing them haughtily. “I fail to see what’s so damn funny about this. You trick me into working for you, tell me I’m a powerful demon, don’t even come after me when I run away, and now you think it’s hilarious that I was attacked?”
“We did not trick you into working for us,” Crux argues as he bites back a laugh.
“You did so!” I retort, sounding a bit like a kid arguing on the playground.
“How?”
Is this beach-bum-looking demon for real? “Umm, hello? You put a damn ad online for a security position at a graveyard. I’m pretty sure it didn’t say anything about Hellgates and demon attacks!” I say, somewhat frantically.
“Well, technically it is a security position, and besides, every other demon would’ve known what it was for,” Echo puts in, his pale finger tracing over the rim of his glass as his black eyes watch me with mirth. “You have grass in your hair,” he adds, and I have to curl my hands into fists to keep from launching at him.
“Well, I don’t want this. So whatever you did to me that forces me to see demons now, turn it the fuck off, okay? I have a whole new appreciation for the expression ‘ignorance is bliss.’”
The room is quiet for a moment as they share another look. I’m getting real tired of those looks.
“Um. We can’t turn it off...we didn’t do anything to turn it on,” Echo states.
“Yet...” Crux adds, his smile salacious and his green eyes twinkling with sinful promises.
I give him a look that says fuck off with the flirting. He just smiles even wider.
“How is it that she’s never seen demons before?” Jerif muses behind me, while looking to the others.
Iceman shrugs. “I’m not sure. Something must have activated her demon blood, but I’ve no idea how any abilities would have been blocked in the first place.”
“Well, deactivate it or reblock me or do whatever you need to do, because I can’t go on living like this!”
“You’re right about that,” Echo says. “You’re going to have to stay here.”
I rear back. “Excuse me?”
“Echo,” Iceman chastises. I still can’t completely commit to calling him by his actual name—Rafferty. He’s just so...blue. Iceman makes more sense.
I shake my head, feeling like the walls are starting to close in on me a bit. “Look, something obviously happened when I came here to work. I’ve never seen anything that wasn’t human until the night I stumbled into all of you. Now I’m getting attacked, and I’m afraid to look too closely at anything, so just reverse whatever you did so I can go home and pretend none of this ever happened. Please.”
“We didn’t do anything to you,” Jerif tells me, his frustration clear as he swipes a hand through his hair.
“Bullshit,” I argue, feeling more and more tightly strung by the second, like I’m going to snap at any moment. “Don’t lie,” I seethe as I jump to my feet and stare Jerif down. “Just fix it!”
“Whoa,” Crux says, standing up and thrusting his arm between me and Jerif. “Let’s calm down and not anger the Duo demon, alright?” I ignore him, staring daggers at the orange-eyed demon like this is all his fault.
“Delta, we have no
