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That would be cool if it weren’t for the elephant in the room. “Why do you want to burn the whole world to ashes?”
Grinn turned his head to glance at her for a moment before facing the road ahead again. “Neither of us belong here. We have that in common.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am the only demon to ever be abducted by Avalon’s twisted magic. Ihatethis place, Gwendolyn. I despise it and all those who live here. All I have ever desired, all these years, is to simply go home.” He grimaced, baring his one good fang. “To be free.”
“And…you can’t?” She frowned. That sounded tragic.
“No. No power, no magic, nothing—has ever been able to unbind me from this forsaken place. I am trapped. If I cannot make hell my home, I will make my home into hell.” He shrugged. “I will reign over my own circle of destruction, if I cannot return to where I belong.”
Okay, less tragic. She sighed. “You’d kill everyone just to feel like you were home again?”
“Yes. Soon, none of this will be your problem when you return to Earth.”
“I don’t know if I can go through with that, Grinn. I don’t know if I can go home knowing you’re going to be killing everyone here.”
“I see being attacked has not knocked some sense into you.”
“One scared person who acted out of what they felt was self-defense doesn’t mean the whole world should burn.”
“Mm-hm.”
They fell into silence again as they traveled down the path for a stretch. “What’s hell like?”
“Simple. The fallen rule, each over their own circle, and we serve them in ranks. I was once the right hand to Astaroth, the Grand Duke.” He almost sounded wistful, talking about it. As if he really missed his home.
“Fallen? Like,thefallen?” She blinked. “Have you ever met them?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions.”
“Well, I don’tknow, maybe they’re recluses, or some shit.” She rolled her eyes. “Cut me some slack, will you? My whole reality got turned upside down.” She gestured at the world around her. “I’ve just learned that demons, and hell, and fallen angels arereal,okay?”
He grunted, as if conceding her point. Almost. “I have met them. I was third-ranked to the fallen themselves.”
“What’re they like?”
“They are older than you can imagine. There is a particular…strangeness that forms in a creature that has existed longer than many universes.” He shrugged. “No two are alike. Some might be kinder to you than an archangel. Some might pick their teeth with your bones on a lark.”
That made sense. After pondering over the confirmation that demons and hell really existed, Gwen made it another ten minutes before she had to keep asking questions. “I don’t get it.”
“You’ll have to narrow that down,” Grinn replied.
She sighed. “I got shot with an arrow. Can you be nice to me, please?”
“No.”
Whatever. Stupid demon. At least he was predictable. “I don’t get how this magic works. The ‘shared life force’ thing.”
“I’ve yet to hear an actual question.”
Putting both her hands over her face, she fought the urge to scream. The demon was so incredibly infuriating. She understood why nobody liked him; she really did. Sob story or not. Dropping her hands to her sides in exasperation, she stared up at the sky and begged for patience. “Would this arrow have killed me if we weren’t linked?”
“Probably. I don’t know human anatomy. But you certainly wouldn’t be yapping on and annoying me, even with the fact that elementals heal quickly.”
“What does it feel like for you?”
“I obviously have no physical wound, but I feel the pain. Half of it, to be precise.”
