Page 23 of Blaze of Our Lives

I rolled my eyes. A small part of me was beginning to like her just a little bit. It was difficult to comprehend, but it was true. Pandora was a horrid woman. She’d tried to kill me multiple times. She’d kidnapped and harmed Abaddon. She’d succeeded at killing my mother. Granted, Lilith was still alive as a human, but by Pandora ending her immortality, I had to take over as one of the two Goddesses of the Darkness. By all rights, I should despise the Demon until the end of time. Being logical wasn’t working. Dissecting my feelings would take time I didn’t have. Going with my gut was the way to keep moving forward. Getting along with the Demon stuck inside me would make this scary trip a lot easier.

I was sure we’d get back to hating each other sooner or later… but who knew what the future held?

Sadly, it was time to chat with some fanged munchkins.

Good luck to me.

CHAPTER SEVEN

They were all speaking at once. Their voices were as high-pitched as their screams. The only good thing going was that they offered me a chunk of the broken gingerbread house along with a glass of milk. At this point, I didn’t give a crap if it was made of poisoned cookies. Hell, I might’ve eaten Tim’s nasty casserole if it had been available. I was starving. If I died from ingesting the edible house, I’d come back to life and kick their asses.

“Slow down,” I shouted with a mouthful of the front door. “One at a time.”

They listened to the directions. However, when one Brad spoke all the Brads spoke. Same went for the Warrens, the Dollys, the Clarks and the Jennifers. Sadly, the Brads enjoyed talking, and there were a lot of them.

“Follow the neon green bricks!” the Brads shrieked.

“To where?” I was taking no chances here. Solid info was what I was after. I’d learned the hard way that assuming anything made a giant ass out of me.

“The capital of Snoz,” the Dollys squealed.

“What’s in the capital of Snoz?” I pressed, wondering if I was about to embark on a dangerous version of the Wizard of Oz. Hopefully, Pandora had seen the movie. My fingers were crossed. It had been decades since I’d watched it.

“I DON’T KNOW!” the Brads shouted.

Being more specific might help. “Is the Higher Power in the capital of Snoz?”

All of them were confused. Was I even on the Higher Power’s plane? Had I screwed up? Pressing the bridge of my nose while I chewed and swallowed part of the window sill, I tried to formulate a plan. This was not going well.

“You’re asking the wrong questions,” Pandora said, sounding bored.

“You have the right ones?”

The munchkins looked at me like I was a nutjob who talked to herself. I didn’t care. Although, it did seem odd that Phyllis could hear Pandora when the fanged freaks couldn’t. Making sense out of the senseless was not going to happen.

“But of course,” Pandora purred. “I’m a Goddess.”

“And a dick,” I muttered.

“I heard that,” she snapped.

“You were supposed to,” I snapped back.

The fanged shriekers backed away. They thought I was crazy. They weren’t wrong.

“Firstly, tell them if they don’t come clean with what they know, you will disembowel them and shove their entrails down their throats while laughing hysterically,” Pandora announced grandly. “I always find starting out with the worst-case scenario to be helpful. Letting them believe you’re psychotic is also a plus.”

I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “That didn’t work out well for you, Pandora.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” she ground out, totally insulted. “I’ve ruled with an iron fist for millions of years. I’m revered by my people, bitch.”

That wasn’t true.

“Right,” I said flatly. “If you’re going to call me a bitch, I’d prefer you use my full title—Bitch Goddess Cecily. Also, with those methods, do you have any friends? Do you even have one friend?”

She was stunned to silence. It had to be lonely being Pandora. Not my problem. It was hers. My problem was finding the Higher Power and getting my unwanted guest out of me.

“What are the right questions?” I asked. “And PS, I’m not going to fry them or rip their innards out unless they come at me.”

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