“Jump scares are torture for some souls. It’s just business. Don’t be so sensitive. I can guess why Nero might be in trouble, but I’m not a snitch. My mom is a Succubus. My dad wasn’t one of those dads with these notions of right and wrong friends. If I’d rather hang out with the children of our servants than my asshole cousins, he didn’t make me do differently. My best friend since childhood is an Incubus and currently Abaddon’s favorite lover. I know what’s illegal for your kind and if you broke the law, they probably deserved it.”
“I cursed her cheating ex-lover,” Nero whispered loud enough for anyone to hear.
“Really? I’vealwayswanted to see that. Mom met Dad because she got in trouble for doing it to a demon who didn’t know what no meant. It had been law for a while and Asmodeus wanted to make an example of her. Dad usually steps in, pulls rank, and tries to give them a job on his estate, but he fell hard for Mom when she told Asmodeus he was a puffed-up chicken to his face.”
“Celix stole his toothbrush, so you can watch it in the mirror with us. Trust me, it’s graphic and you can’t unsmell it. I think it’s in my hair.”
Celix leaned forward andsniffedme.
“Your hair smells of strawberries, notthat.I have enhanced smell, so it was worse for me. But you didn’t carry it back with you.”
“Thank fuck for that.”
“Well, now that you have your shit from the mortal realm and your ex is never having sex again, you need to learn how to defend yourself. You’ll need to harness your magic and also learn how to brawl.”
“Got the brawling thing down in the eighties and a brief phase in high school.”
“Shocking,” Kujo drawled.
“I heard she assaulted you twice before she even knew she was the Devil’s daughter. That’s a good thing. You should encourage that,” Wrathhog said.
“Let her take out all that aggression on your tits instead of my nuts.”
“Nah, I actually like Wrathhog.”
“Listen, demons respect power and they are actually terrible with change. Even the upper demons are unhappy with some things, but they think shuffling the same old people who createdthe problems is going to fix it instead of letting fresher minds have a try.
“If Lucifer were here, it would be one thing, but you’re essentially taking his throne, which has never happened because none of them will give theirs up and they’re immortal. They will view you as a threat because they don’t know anything about you other than you mouthed off to them and right now, you can’t fight back.”
“Noted. Aside from blowing the roof off my house, what kind of magic can I expect?”
“You’ll have super speed and strength. You should be able to fly when your wings come in. They are also abitchwhen they come in, trust me. Telepathy and telekinesis seem to be powers they all have in addition to being able to heal people. Lucifer was given Hellfire as a curse from his father. He’s the only fallen with it. Youshouldhave it, too, because your brother had it before he was murdered. It gives you an advantage, so they will try to take you out before you get it.”
“So, when I started growing boobs, I wanted more boobs, but then they didn’t stop growing and now I kind of hate them. Is this going to be like that since you keep calling it puberty?”
“It was a little different for me since my mom was a Succubus and not a mortal, but the angel stuff doesn’t start happening until about your age. It’s alotof power and I guess that’s why it doesn’t happen like it does with the other Cambions. The telepathy is particularly gnarly when it comes in because you can hear everything and have to learn to tune it out.”
“Yeah, there were times I would wonder what someone was thinking and then they’d open their mouth and I’d realize I probably didn’t want to know what kind of squirrels were running around in their brain.”
“Oh, shit. It’sexactlylike that. You’ll hear it if someone thinks you’ve got nice tits or if they can’t wait to get home to dip their balls in pudding and then smack a cactus with them.”
“Who did that?” Nero demanded. “I want names.”
“So, Sydney doesn’t know Elfed, but he’s Asmodeus’s right-hand man. He’s an upper demon and one of the big ones on purity. He also thinks Hell would be a much better place with Asmodeus in charge.”
“I experimented in college, but is dipping your testicles in pudding and abusing them with a cactus a demon thing?”
“We don’t claim that,” Celix said.
“That all takes time, so we’ll need to teach you to use your fists first, princess,” Kujo smirked. “Whatever slap-fight, hair-pulling brawls you got into in the eighties aren’t going to be the same. And once you get a reputation for going straight for the nuts, demons will start protecting themselves.”
I snorted and squared my shoulders. I whipped my shirt off, so I was just in my sports bra.
“Show me what you got, big guy.”
Kujo gave me this evil grin, but I knew a secret he didn’t.
Icouldn’t watch. We should stop this. She needed to learn to fight, but maybe she shouldn’t have challenged Kujo to do it. He wasn’t abusive and he wouldn’t really hurt her, but hewasgoing to be hard on her and want revenge. He wouldn’t punch the shit out of her because she couldn’t defend herself, but she was going to hurt tomorrow.
