Page 141 of The Demon's Pet

“Bothering our guests, Simon?” Orpheus’s deep voice cut into our conversation, and shortly after, he appeared at the doorway. “Dinner is served. Let us all head upstairs.”

“I wasn’t bothering anyone,” Simon muttered. “Just meeting the new inhabitants. It’s been a while since—”

Orpheus shot Simon a look that shut him up and turned to leave the room, a torch held in his hand, illuminating his white hair in the darkness.

“Should we?” I asked Griffin.

“I’m starving,” he said, putting a hand on his stomach.

“Me too,” Simon said, looking at Griffin hopefully.

Griffin just went red and shook his head once again.

Simon shrugged, rolling his eyes, and turned to go out. I followed him. He seemed to be less of a danger to me than to Griffin.

Griffin stayed behind me, his hands on my shoulders so we could stay together in the dark, humid passageway we were led down.

Orpheus turned to a stone wall, pulled down on a light fixture, and we heard the loud rumbling of a wall moving.

Orpheus stepped forward, through where the wall had been, and his torch lit up old stone spiral stairs leading upward.

I ran my hand along the cold, humid stones that made up the walls of the stairwell as we climbed higher and higher. We came out into some sort of dining room with a long table and many chairs.

Three places were set at the table.

Two had plates that were full of human foods I recognized.

At the third, a large goblet of what looked like blood sat alone.

“Dinner is served,” Orpheus said. Then he whirled to leave, walking out of the room and into a nearby corridor.

Silence fell over the room, other than Simon picking up his goblet and drinking noisily.

When he’d finished, he sat back with a sigh, patting his stomach. “Amazing. This place always has the best blood store.”

He said it as though he were complimenting a fine wine.

Griffin looked pale enough to worry me, his royal-blue eyes stark in his face. So I pushed his fork toward him, encouraging him to start on the steak and potatoes on his plate.

He cut into the meat aggressively, glaring at Simon, who didn’t seem at all worried about his animosity.

I cut into my baked potato and took a bite with a sigh. The food was hot and good, and I trusted it enough to eat all of it.

Simon stayed quiet while we ate, and based on his moans of enjoyment, Griffin enjoyed the food as well.

When we were done, Simon sat forward, putting his elbows on the beautiful red tablecloth, leaning forward on the heavy wood surface of the table.

“So tell me what you two are doing here.”

Griffin cleared his throat. “We were sent by Sam—”

“Samael?” Simon cocked his head. “Interesting. Any thoughts about why he sent you here? Weird thing for a celestial to send his friends to the home of a demon.”

“Cayne is a demon?”

“All slayers are,” Simon said, looking at me like I was an idiot. “Where are you from? You don’t know anything.”

“A celestial haven,” I said.

---