Page 113 of Demon Demands

“Hopefully sooner, but I’ll take a month.”

“Weather permitting.” He snorted, and Sloane stopped sanding while they chortled.

“It doesn’t rain here often,” Stone explained, noticing my confusion. “We haven’t been out of the downtown area of Hell, so you wouldn’t really notice. It’s similar to Earth, though. Places like Voletan get a fair amount of rain while Motus gets very little. Stars is somewhere in the middle, depending on how the storms from the coast of Kelzark hit the mountains. Lilk gets none, even though it borders Kelzark too. Oren gets enough to keep the crops alive.”

Briggs set the empty box on the floor beside the front door, and Palmer snatched it up, whipping his pile into the tiniest vortex I’d ever seen him make. He dropped the debris inside the box, swapping places with Stone as the demon took the trash outside to burn.

Novak took the smaller boxes that had held the bulbs out to Stone, returning to help Briggs finish putting up the outlet covers. Ren peered out the window, his mouth gaping as he viewed York’s work. Then he looked around, noticing the rest of us finishing up.

“They aren’t all demons, are they?” He whispered to Sloane as Novak helped her snap the trim into place.

“Only one of them is. You wanna guess which?”

“That’s the demon,” he remarked, pointing at Stone. “You’ll have to bring them by when we get moved in. Joan and Louis will want to meet them.”

“We’ll stop by when we come back to the Underworld,” she assured him as the guys and I shook his hand and headed out the door.

He smiled at her, genuine and caring. “I mean it, Lo. They’ll be knocking on your door if you're not back for dinner in a few weeks.”

“Yes, sir,” she responded, bending to give the demon a quick hug. “See you soon, Ren.”

As we woke the hellhounds, we peppered Lo with questions about Ren. We’d all come to the same conclusion, but Briggs had put a name to our thoughts; he was her fun uncle.

“Louis teaches political science at The Devil’s Academy, Joan is a vet, and Ren is the engineer who helped us develop Paradise. They’ve been friends of Papi’s for hundreds of years.”

“What kind of demons are Joan and Louis?” Stone asked curiously.

Sloane shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never asked.”

“Why?” York prodded, and I knew he was about to make some kind of point to her.

“Because that doesn’t matter. They’re…” she paused, thinking through her words as she climbed on Lira. “Important to me.”

York scoffed at her. “What you’re trying not to say is they’re more people that you care about.”

She narrowed her eyes at the druid. “Fuck. You guys are making me soft.”

* * *

As the hellish sun began to dip lower in the red sky, the charcoal clouds gave way to brilliant stars, and Sloane announced that we’d reached our destination. We’d gone from the clean lines of Paradise to the middle of the woods, but she seemed to know where we were.

“I’ll whistle when we need you again,” Sloane called to Lira, striding to a dark cave entrance.

“They're just leaving us in the forest?” Novak asked, watching the hounds scatter.

“They’re going to hunt,” Stone answered.

Lo turned to smile at us, standing just outside the darkness as she nodded her head at the tunnel. “Come on.”

I groaned but followed, the rest of the guys filing in behind me as we traversed the narrow passage. The rock walls were filled with thin, glowing veins, but they didn’t help light our path.

Sloane held a small ball of hellfire in her hand as we walked downhill. A few minutes passed as we continued in silence, then the sound of running water reached my ears. The darkness gradually became illuminated until the tunnel spit us out in a gigantic cavern.

It was a fairytale hiding below the surface of the Underworld, mysterious and captivating. I’d never seen so many colors reflected around a space this big before. They danced across the walls, the plants, the ground, bending around my shadow.

I moved closer to the center of the cavern, mesmerized by the wildlife around me. Stunned and voiceless and awed, all I could do was observe my surroundings and soak in sights.

There was plantlife in all sorts of odd shapes and sizes. Vines crawled up the rock walls, trees towered over us, the scent of exotic flowers floated in the air. Vegetation was everywhere.