Page 120 of Demon Demands

“There’s one in every realm, so yeah, there’s probably one with the druids too.”

“Six realms?”

“Yep. Didn’t you know that?” I began ticking my fingers down as I rambled through an explanation. “Here. The dragons’ realm. One underwater with the mer. The fae realm with the summer fae. I’m assuming there’s one in the druids’ realm. And the other one is on Earth. It’s in a strip club, if you were wondering.”

He scoffed at me as he put his shoes back on.

“I’m serious. That’s the gateway I use most often, but I've used the Underworld entrance too. They always talk about how much they love the dragons,” I prattled on as I stretched my wings out.

When I shot into the sky, Stone followed so closely behind me that I slapped him with my tail on accident. I chortled as I hovered over Dragon’s Bluff.

Turning my head to glance at him as he landed, I warned him. “Tuck your wings in when we dive.”

“What?” he questioned, but I knew he’d heard me, so I simply nodded my head.

“That’s the advice I can give.”

I dove headfirst down the lava fall, flying so close that the heat warmed my skin. At the base, the molten rock flowed through a hole that was just big enough to fit one person at a time.

Tucking my chin against my chest, I saw that Stone was right behind me. I winked at him as I sped up and folded my wings in, free-falling into the darkness.

The abyss felt like it lasted both hours and seconds, cloaking the depth and width of the tunnel until even my night vision couldn’t see where the walls were.

I popped my wings out when I felt the ground rising. Catching Stone by his wrist as he fell past me. His speed jerked us both down, and we landed in a tangled heap on the dirt floor of a brimstone castle.

He climbed to his feet, dragging me up with him. I dusted myself off as he surveyed the space around us. There were no threats in the broom closet that we’d ended up in, but I let him appease his curiosity.

I opened the door, strolling into the hall as I raked my fingers through my hair. The castle’s setup was second nature to me, and I had no hesitation about roaming. I knew where the ladies would be, or guys, or centaurs — whatever they chose to be.

The Fates weren’t hags like some of the Earth myths said, but they did enjoy taking the form of whatever they wanted, so every visit was a surprise.

They were three-fourths of the first being to ever exist.

Gods, or goddesses, depending on what gender they chose to take on any given day.

But somehow most humans only recognized their remaining sibling, turning their status into a singular name. But just like my new title was Devil, God was also a title.

When we walked into the cavernous throne room, three distinct voices greeted us, just shy of ominous as they boomed around the room.

“Welcome back.”

“We’ve been waiting for you.”

“It’s been forever.”

I snorted at the attitude in their tones. “It’s been three Earth months. That’s hardly forever.”

“Do they have names or do we call them the Fates like everyone else?” Stone whispered to me.

“We weren’t born, young demon,” a giant, naked man spoke. His voice was extremely high-pitched and child-like. “We just were. One day nothing, the next we existed.”

I shook my head, grinning at the sight. “You haven’t gotten the voice quite right for this body, Ūnus. Speak deeper.”

Duo rolled onto his stomach where he lounged on the floor, kicking his legs back and forth as he twirled his hair around his index finger.

“We’ve never had real names, but some people chose to give us names that are Latin numbers. Our dear monster has been trying to rename us for quite some time, though.”

“This is Ūnus, Duo, and Trēs, but I proposed Camilla, Matilda, and Victoria to them when I was here last. I tried genderless names, for obvious reasons, and they shot them all down,” I explained. “Does Duo look like a Matilda to you, Stone?”