Page 35 of Demon Demands

Briggs groaned. “So you don’t hurt yourself again.”

Vaughn scoffed at him, dropping sand and blades of wilting grass in his lap. “And when did I hurt myself, hmm?”

“For fuck’s sake.” My shifter growled, sending goosebumps speeding across my skin. “Vaughn, just get the fuck up.”

York rubbed a hand down his face, staying calm and composed. “He’s fine, Briggs. Novak and I will help him up. Just keep going, mate.”

Novak and York dismounted from their hellhounds and pulled Vaughn to his feet. He swayed with the sudden movement, jumping back as soon as he had his balance. “Did you see that?”

York narrowed his eyes in the direction Vaughn was facing. “I didn’t see anything.”

“It was a pink rabbit,” Vaughn whispered. “It hopped right into that hole.” He pointed his index finger at a tree. Not the bottom of the trunk, where one would suspect a rabbit to hop into a hole. He pointed to the middle of the trunk, twenty feet from the ground. The enormous tree probably held all kinds of life, but there was no hole.

“Okay, dude. Get back on Helios. That rabbit is trying to beat us to the castle. We can’t let him win, Vaughn. Do you want to lose the race to a pink rabbit?” Novak questioned Vaughn seriously, and my fae was ready to go.

“I don’t want to lose,” Vaughn confessed, his voice still low. “But I want to build a snowman. Do you have any carrots?”

Novak struggled to keep his face straight. “I don’t, but I’m positive there’s some where we’re going. Why don’t you practice by making some snowballs while we’re traveling?” My vampire wiggled his eyebrows.

Vaughn gasped. “Yes! Snowballs sound fantastic.”

“Well,” Novak nodded his head toward Helios, “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

My fae appeared utterly comfortable as he draped himself across Helios, and for once, the hellhound didn’t rumble his aggravation at being ridden. It seemed that the pissy hound had a soft spot for the winter fae prince. Seeing Helios try his hardest not to jar Vaughn around was sweet.

As sweet as I’d ever seen the fiery hellhound.

Vaughn had his legs wrapped securely around Helios’ sides as he made a snowball with his right hand. He’d already dropped quite a few of them, but he was insistent on catching them when he threw them in the air.

Finishing his newest ball, he tossed it up softly, and missed again. The snowball smashed into his face once more. Like I said, he’d been dropping them. The front of his shirt and pants were soaked, but Helios was enjoying my fae’s misfortune.

He quietly sulked but continued his practice, eventually pulling all the water from his clothing to boost his snowballs, giving them a hard outer ice shell. It was ingenious, but also not. He still hadn’t caught a single one, so when he missed the new one, he groaned in both pain and frustration.

Briggs turned his upper body to face me as he narrowed his eyes. “How did you run through that passage with your wings out? I had to walk sideways to get through it, and I still scraped my elbows up.

“I tucked them back in.” Glancing over my shoulder, I pushed my wings through my skin, and then pulled them back in.

Twisting in mid-throw, Vaughn made the come here motion with his hand as the snowball flattened on the top of his head. “Let me see. I’ll heal you.”

A hearty laugh left Briggs mouth as he shook his head, dirty blonde hair falling loose from the tie holding it up. “No. Absolutely not. You’re too fucked up to be doing anything more than catching snowballs with your face.”

“He’s going to be like this for days, isn’t he?” Stone muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Hyde giggled at Vaughn’s crestfallen face. “You guys have fun with that.”

“Hey, Vaughn,” Novak called. “Is that tree talking to us or is it just me?”

Perking up instantly, my fae surveyed the trees around us. “No.” He shook his head, seriousness creasing his brow. “But do you see those huge blue worms hanging from it?”

The tree Novak had pointed out was the cousin to an Earthly Weeping Willow. It did have blue leaves on the boughs, and they were blowing in the slight breeze, so it was easy to see why his mind had conjured up worms.

I wanted to peek inside his mind, but I was worried that my presence would scare him in the state he was in.

“I wonder if they drugged Jack,” Vaughn suddenly inquired, sounding much too serious. “Does chlorophyll work on horse demons? Gods, I hope he doesn’t shift while he’s sleeping.”

Ahh, there it was.

“What?” Grim asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “No. He’s not drugged. He passed out from the pain and the rapid healing. Hannibal is a real piece of work.”