Page 62 of Dancing With Demons

“Just imagine,” I said. I threw out my hands, snapping all their heads up. “All of hell will be kneeling at the foot of your thrones with their begging bowls clutched in their bony grips.”

“Begging?” Kama licked her lips. “Oooh, I like it when they beg.”

“Yeah, princess of wrath is a nice title and all, but how much better does empress of wrath sound?”

“Empress of wrath?” Raven staggered back, releasing my collar. “Wow... I do like the sound of that.”

“And what about you over there, Eris?” I winked at her. “No one’s going to make a more gorgeous empress of envy than you.”

I swear Eris blushed.

“And you, empress of lust! And you, empress of gluttony! All of you empresses!” My enthusiasm was so infectious, Dora started clapping and cheering behind them.

That only made the peacocks puff it up some more.

“No, wait,” Raven cried, tossing her head. “This can’t be! I mean, this is... this is...” She tapped her lips, face scrunching. “This is genius.”

“Of course, it’s genius!” Ursula shoved me out of the way. “It’s genius because I thought of it first! The mortal bitch is just ripping me off again.”

I slowly backed away, reaching for Dora’s hand.

Her captors let her go easily, all of them focused on their leaders and what they were going to do next.

“No, I thought of it first,” Sauda hissed, getting in Ursula’s face. “I’ve always said the five of us should stop fighting over Ronin and just make him marry all of us. You’re the ones who never fucking listen!”

“No, the empire of sin is my idea,” Kama screeched. “I was born to be empress of lust!”

Five charged glares pinged back and forth, then Eris spun away.

“I have to make a call.”

“No, I’m calling first,” Ursula cried, scrambling for her phone.

“No, me!”

Just like that, the five of them rushed off in different directions—all of them shouting down the phone to whoever, I assumed, was going to make them an empress. Their lemmings chased after them.

“That was impressive.” Nik stuck his head out of the doorway. “I thought for sure all five of them were going to walk away with five pieces of you—each. But you completely defused them,” he gushed. “You’re amazing. Can all mortals do that?”

I chuckled. “They can if they work in the service industry.” Dusting myself off, I gestured down the hall. “Want to walk to History of Hell with us?”

For some reason, Nik looked up and down the hall—twice. “Uhh, sure, yeah,” he said hesitantly. “I think it’s okay. I mean, we are going the same way, so... yeah, yeah, it’s fine.”

My brow crumpled. “Nik, is everything—”

The hallway winked out.

In a flash, Dora, Nik, and the whole crowd of students sullenly shuffling to their next class were gone.

Coming to a sudden, abrupt halt, I was dumped on the floor.

Pitching over, I vomited right on the carpet.

Nausea and dizziness wracked my body and spun the world on its head. I’d felt like this once before when—

“Radu?” I gasped, fingers curling in the fibers. “What is... wrong with you? Just because—” Slicing off, I threw up again. Tears leaked from my eyes. “Stop doing this to m-me! There are easier ways to meet—”

“Sorry, darling.”