Page 31 of Demon Demands

“Do you talk? I feel like you should talk… Would you like to help me write a song?”

The scorpion curved his tail over his body, hissing at me in a guttural tone.

“Is that a yes? I’m going to take that as a yes.” I nodded my head enthusiastically. “Hey. Are you a guy or a girl? I keep thinking of you as a he, but I guess you could be a she. I’m not sure that it’d be appropriate for me to check.”

I shrugged, deciding to call it a he until it answered me. I knew it could talk. I just had to keep trying.

“Vaughn!” Novak shouted in a panic from behind me, slamming into my new friend as the pointy end of his tail pierced the ground beside me. “What the fuck are you doing, dude? Do you have a death wish?”

As the scorpion struggled to get off his back, I turned my glare from my new eight-legged foe to Novak, and then back again. “That wasn’t nice. You could have hurt me. Friends don’t do that, so I guess we’re frenemies now.”

I pulled the trident from its strap across my back, covering it in a thick layer of ice as it left my hand, soaring through the air. Sinking into the underside of the scorpion's throat, the tips of the spikes came out of the top of his head and stuck into the ground.

It made me sad for a minute. I hated losing new friends, but at least it happened before we’d really gotten to know each other.

“Fuck yeah.” I pumped my fist in the air, once again happy about all the colors and sensations around me. I was on a whole new level.

Forget Scorp. He was a shit friend.

I could feel everything and hear the contented sigh of the sand as it soaked up the blood oozing from the giant arachnid. Sand that drank blood? Was that a thing here?

I jerked my trident from the scorpion’s head, twirling it around as I lunged at nothing. “Fuck with me. I’m ready to fight some more. Where are the rest of these bastards?”

York watched me, a concerned expression on his freckled face. The brownish dots across his cheeks moved. Sand fleas? Was that also a thing here?

I was suddenly ready to get the fuck out of the beautiful desert. I wanted to see trees and birds and maybe some creatures that wouldn’t try to kill me.

“I’m really worried about you, Vaughn. You’re not acting like yourself, and you keep mumbling your thoughts aloud.”

“Don’t worry about me, I feel fan-fucking-tastic. It’s just…” I turned to Stone. “You won’t put the pointy end of your tail in me, right?”

Novak coughed to cover a laugh. “I honestly don’t know how to interpret that question.”

Stone sighed. “My tail isn’t used for stabbing, Vaughn.”

“It swings back and forth like a cute black cat.” I thought about how Stone and Sloane’s tails lashed around without much thought. “Sloane’s tail looks like one of those skeleton cats that they sell during Halloween. Do you guys think she’d stand outside and scare trick-or-treaters? We could totally lie and say that her demon form was just a really expensive costume.” I shrugged. “It could work, and if it didn’t… well, who’s going to believe that a bunch of kids saw a real demon on Halloween?”

“Is he okay?” Briggs lifted a single eyebrow at me, speaking to Stone, and I watched as his eyebrow inched around his face like a hairy caterpillar.

“Vaughn?” Stone spoke softly to me as he peered into my eyes, or… at least I thought he was looking in my eyes. It was hard to tell where he was looking when they were solid black. “I thought you knew not to drink the green beer?”

I scoffed at him. “I didn’t drink it.”

He nodded his head slowly. “The inside of your mouth is glowing from it.”

My forehead wrinkled in my confusion. I could almost see my eyebrows. Just a little further. “What’s that mean? I can’t see my mouth.”

The demon sighed at me in exasperation, slapping his hand to his face and shaking his head. “That wasn’t water.”

“What wasn’t water?” The stars peeked through the clouds, twinkling and laughing at me as the sun illuminated them. I loved being able to see the stars, sun, and moon at the same time. The Underworld was such a magical place.

“You drank the beer,” he replied, aggravation making him sigh again. “I hope you like hallucinating.”

Shrugging, I glanced around at the vast emptiness of the Lilk desert. “I don’t mind it. Why would that matter?”

Bending down, I scooped a handful of sand up, thrilling at the way it fell through my fingers. I shoveled more colorful sand into a pile, ready to make a castle big enough to live in.

“Vaughn,” Stone snapped, “The green beer that Sloane and I keep reminding you not to drink is a hallucinogenic. It’s made with Cappa root. And before you say it,” he held up a hand to stop me, “I know that doesn’t mean shit to you. But it’s like taking three hits of human-made acid for every eight ounces you drink.”