“There are books, but not the kind you’re familiar with,” he said vaguely. “You won’t find words or stories written in them. Do you read?”
I almost choked on my grape. What a way to die. Not by quicksand or man-eating trees or speared on the cock of the biggest dick in existence. But by choking to death on a grape because someone asked a monster fucker about their reading preferences.
“Um, yeah.”
He canted his head, silver chains spilling to the side. “Such as?”
“Um, fantasy, I guess? Romance?”
He stared at me for a beat, picking up on my panicky tone by the amusement banked in his eyes. “Was that a question?”
“I read monster romance, okay? There. You beat it out of me.”
Another knock at the door caught our attention, and Belial pushed to his feet.
“Keep eating.” He gestured to my plate.
I took another bite and craned my neck around as Belial padded across the room, his bare feet nearly silent on the floor. When he pulled open the door, I could just see a pair of skeletons standing in the hall. One was Holga, her boney arms crossed over her chest as she glared daggers at Belial, and the other was a shorter, more ancient-looking man with withered skin stretched over his skeletal-looking body.
When I registered his eye sockets, I had to suppress a gag.Were those teeth?
Snippets of the conversation trickled over, but it wasn’t enough to string together what was being said.
I couldn’t be certain, especially with her lack of facial expressions, but Holga was on edge. She hovered too close to the doorframe and fidgeted with a torn piece of her dress, her sockets bouncing between Belial and the librarian.
Was she worried about what Belial had in store for me? Worried the Lord of Bones would catch Cecil away from his post? I had no idea why she’d be nervous, but it had my anxiety spiking through the roof.
After another moment, the door closed and Belial joined me on the couch again.
“What was that about?”
“Cecil is going to bring us a book from the library,” he said.
It seemed like a lot of trouble to go to, but I fought the smile making its way across my face. He could have just taken me there, sneaking me through the halls, but I knew better. If the Lord of Bones happened across us… I’d rather not think about the outcome.
“Aside from books and ferrying souls to the next layer of hell, what do you spend all your time doing?” I asked, wondering what could possibly keep this place from getting boring very quickly. I was probably the most interesting thing to happen to the place since… Catherine.
To my surprise he hesitated, his eyes reflecting the light of the fireplace as he stared into it. I took another bite to fill the silence.
“Normally, my duties consume most of my time,” he said, his voice soft and deep. “Humans die every day, and they must be ushered to the lower levels of hell to maintain the balance.”
“Shouldn’t you be working now then?”
He paused again, his throat bobbing with a swallow, and his eyes fell, staring at nothing. “The Lord has slacked on his job over the last century or so. Things are behind. Souls aren’t being filtered down to lower levels. It’s…”
“A mess?”
His gaze swung in my direction. “A giant one.”
“Why?” I asked, popping another grape into my mouth. “Why is he not doing his job?”
I could tell by the way he shifted that Belial didn’t want to talk about the Lord of Bones, but it didn’t abate my curiosity. If he wasn’t doing his job, what did he possibly fill his time with aside from tormenting me?
Did he just stay holed up in his study all the time? Moping? Jacking off to demented thoughts?
I had no idea, and it was clear I was reaching the end of the ferryman’s patience as far as questions went.
He grabbed the bottle of wine, ignoring his untouched goblet on the table, and knocked the bottle back, taking several deep swallows.
