Page 32 of Demon Queen
I grabbed my stomach and shuddered. Yes, that’s definitely what it was. A hallucination. All that red stuff was…cherry Kool-Aid. Because I’d been working on the Halloween display, and fallen asleep and then had really vivid weird dreams.
I looked down at the wet skirt and blouse on the floor. The brownish tinge of dried blood was definitely not Kool-Aid.
I stumbled out of the bathroom and rifled through Dorian’s drawers until I found his enormous shirts including wing holes. I pulled one on over my damp yet mostly clean skin. He needed a loofa in his shower. Good thing I’d worn my lady’s tea party outfit so I could roll around in demon gore in it.
I shuddered hard and gripped my bag while I walked outside.
“You’ll never get out of here if you go up the main stairs,” Mixl said from his place on said stairs. He leapt over the railing and glided down to me before he dropped and studied me. “What did Regis do to you? Demons are terrible, aren’t they?”
I tried to hurry past him but he grabbed my arm and held me back. He let go of me before I could panic, raising his hands, eyes sincere. “I want to help you. There’s another way out. Actually there are three other ways out, but I only know of the one. Do you want to leave? I’ll help you if you let me meet the wolf queen and the vampire queen.”
“You want to meet them? Why? They’re all dangerous and unstable.” Like I could talk. Whatever was happening to me was so dangerous and unstable. If it was real. That drying blood color seemed really real. It was hard to fake that. I’d tried a lot of times.
“Sure, but don’t they have kids my age? We could all be friends.” His eyes danced because he’d probably sooner eat themthan be friends, but he hadn’t asked to meet the children, just their parents, so they could decide what would be the safest thing for their kids. Also, like I could talk because I’d eaten…
I was hyperventilating, and officially on the far side of freaking out. I’d eaten a demon. What the crap was wrong with me? Depression was on one side of insanity, but to jump off the deep end like that… What was I? Freaked out. That’s what I was.
“Okay. Sounds fair.” I swallowed because those words came out like I was breathing helium. That wasn’t on the list for this year’s Halloween display.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me back to the fireplace. “We have to go through the fire and up the chimney.”
I dug in my feet, staring at those flickering flames and thinking of Dorian. What would he think about me eating Regis? That’s who it was, right? Or just some random demon in an orange knit cap. If he wasn’t dead, because demons were hard to kill, particularly fear demons like… I wasn’t thinking about Roberta right that second. Or ever. Anyway, if he wasn’t dead, word would get around. Don’t wake up that woman, she’ll eat your face off. Literally. I could nap anywhere and no one would bug me. It would be a perk. Truly.
“Come on,” Mixl said, tugging me towards those mesmerizing flames.
“I’m not a demon. I can’t go through fire. But I might be turning into a vampire. Can they handle heat?” I couldn’t remember.
He made a disgusted sound. “You’re not turning into a vampire. Anyway, it’s Drigo’s heart fire that burns for you. It’s not going to hurt you.”
I gave him a long look. Seriously? I was supposed to jump into a fire? What was that saying about frying pans?
“Hurry up. Straldi’s going to come back any second and then you won’t be able to get away.”
I’d eaten demon and been eaten by vampire. Wasn’t jumping into a fire the next obvious step of my mad and maddening life? I put my purse over my head and across my body, took a deep breath, and then stepped into the flames.
eleven
. . .
The fire didn’t burnme except that it was Dorian, and he wrapped around me in the most delicious and sublime way imaginable, like getting a full body massage, relaxing in a jet tub, and cuddling with the love of your life, all with a bite of ecstasy that made it very difficult for me to want to climb up the chimney. I’d just stay here wrapped in Dorian’s heart flames for the rest of my life which would hopefully be short because my trajectory wasn’t looking very good. I closed my eyes, relaxing into the endless warmth and delicious life, but the little monster pulled my hair, dragging me up, which hurt my neck almost like it hadn’t appreciated holding up my body the last time a monster had held me up by my head. Thanks, Lucy.
I found purchase on the inside of the stone chimney, making my way slowly up the inside while Dorian’s flames curled around my feet, toes, until finally, I was too high, and there was no happiness or comfort in the world. Only madness. So much madness.
“Hurry up!” Mixl called from high above.
I didn’t recall there being a chimney on the abandoned-looking warehouse, and I was right. There was a vent with ametal grate over it that the baby demon was chewing through. I braced myself and kicked the vent, sending it out with a clatter. I poked my head out next to Mixl and looked at the ground far below, slick metal siding beneath us.
I sighed. “Well, that was fun. I guess I’d better go back down to the fire.”
“We didn’t come this far to go back now. Where do you want to go?”
I frowned. That was a good question. I couldn’t go to the store or a vampire or demon would get me. What I needed to do was get a look at Tom’s book about demons and find out what was going on with me. “There’s an old movie theater on the east side, close to the river. That’s where I want to go.”
“Great. When I tell you to jump, jump!”
“I’m not going to?—”
“Jump!” He grabbed my arm and dragged me headfirst out of the vent.
