“Boys, you decided to invade her personal space to try to manipulate her and find out her weaknesses because she doesn’t know enough about this world. She might not know how to throw up a mental shield, but after hearing what’s in her head, I have no desire to take another peek. And she’s already figured outyourweakness, so why don’t you give up?”
“This isn’t over,” Asmodeus snarled, pushing his chair back. “Just remember wetriedto do this the nice way.”
They stormed out so the only princes left were Satan and Abaddon.
“I get what you were trying to do, but I hope you’re ready for what you just unleashed,” Abaddon said. “A few of us have made peace with our banishment. We lost our home, but we got what we wanted and we made a new one here. The rest of us can’t see that and get completely unhinged when our father is mentioned. They are going to come for you hard for even suggesting they have daddy issues, even though it’s true.”
“Which means the timetable for you learning everything has been pushed up,” Satan said. “They’ve killed people for that.”
Ugh. They could have just gotten therapy, but okay.
This woman was actually insane. Shehadto know bringing up God to the fallen was going to piss them off even if she didn’t grow up here. I mean, they were definitely going to have her killed for that, but it was satisfying to watch.
And fuck me if she didn’t look like she had plans to do it again if they ever crossed this doorstep a second time. I could respect that because if I could get away with it, I’d do it, too. I mean, I’d make sure I was fully trained before I mouthed off first, so, clearly, she was stupid as well as violent, but I could respect that a little.
We needed to teach her to survive. She might be annoying as fuck, but she chose me to protect her, and I was going to do that. She might be our answer to stabilizing my home. I thought hergrand ideas about changing things were horse shit and she was just giving Nero hope because he was an optimist, but she might be able to plug the leaks.
The other angels didn’t like demons any more than they liked the fallen. They’d just heard so many horror stories about Hell they wouldn’t come here. If the gates of Hell blew open because a Morningstar was supposed to keep them shut and the souls invaded the mortal realm, they’d come here and slaughter all of us. And we’d been kept in the dark on how to defend ourselves if an army of angels visited.
“So, mental shields,” Wrathhog said, clapping her hands. “You couldalluse a lesson. They like to keep this a big secret, but demons can keep them out, too. Dad tried to teach Mom to see if it would work because he didn’t want anyone spying in her mind to get intel on him. Theywillbe trying to read all of you for weaknesses and locations it might be easier to get at Sydney.”
What.the.fuck?
It was just a fact of life in Hell that if you came across a prince, you probably weren’t important enough for them to listen to your thoughts, but if they wanted to, there wasn’t much you could do about it. Apparently, there had been the entire time.
The more I learned about how much we’d beenliedto by the people running this place, the more I wanted to believe in some halfling swooping in and changing everything. But that was impossible or Lucifer, Satan, and even Abaddon would have done it by now.
But for now, I was paying attention. Wrathhog was half demon, half angel, but unlike anyone else who was half angel here, her dad actually gave a shit about her, so she seemed decent. She wasn’t just teaching Sydney. She was teachingus,too. Wrathhog could have easily kept it a secret that we could shield our minds from angels, too.
“So, singing a song like you were doing works, but you can’t keep that up. They can say something you’re forced to think about instead of singing the song in your head. Once you’ve formed your mental shield, it’s always there unless you choose to drop it or something is going on with you and your body just can’t keep it up.
“This isn’t something you can do in one day. It takes time to build a mental shield an angel can’t get through. It doesn’t take a ton of magic and Sydney should be able to do it if she’s exploding things. So, we’ll start today and do it every day until you can keep me out.”
Fascinating. We were all riveted and even Sydney wasn’t running her mouth for once. Maybe she wasn’t completely stupid, and I wasn’t going to have to choose between my life or hers.
“So, you’re going to want to imagine a net around your mind. You can make it out of whatever you want because we’re going to reinforce it. Just as long as you have your entire mind secure in this net.”
Thatshouldbe easy, but I was thinking about material. I hated the fallen. I’d never say it to their faces, but I was certainly thinking about how a lot of them were doing exactly what they rebelled against and should probably see a therapist about that. I didn’t even want anyone peeking when I had a stray thought about how nice Sydney’s ass was. Because she’d probably smash my nuts again and that shit hurt. I also didn’t want anyone to think just because I thought she was hot didn’t mean I thought she wasn’t insanely annoying.
Best to tamp that shit down with a mental shield.
“Don’t think too hard. All of you look constipated. It doesn’t need to be a net from the strongest material available. It just needs to be a net that covers your mind, and it needs to be secure. The net is just the foundation. We’ll be building onto it.”
Made sense. And a vein in my forehead was starting to throb because I was thinking too hard. My eye would start twitching soon and then I’d have a headache. That usually happened when I was around my mother and was thinking up all the creative ways I’d like to kill her.
Wrathhog let us go for several minutes. I didn’t know what everyoneelsewas doing, but I decided on a mesh net and made sure it was secure. She was right. It was easier when I didn’t think that hard about it.
“How are we doing?” Wrathhog asked.
I was done, but everyone else agreed they were, too. I was ready to get on to the next step, but, apparently, we weren’t doing that.
“Every night before you go to bed and when you wake up, you’ll want to imagine the net being coated in a layer of metal until it’s so thick, nothing can get through it. This can’t be rushed and you’ll get a massive migraine and be out of commission for days if you try.
“We’ll be moving on to telekinesis and pressure points next. Telekinesis is more like a muscle. You should have a little, but the more you practice, the stronger you’ll get. We’ll save pressure points for last because it’s a lot more complicated. The first one you’ll learn is between the wings and I’m the only one here you can practice on. I’d be too cranky after that to teach you anything else. So, telekinesis first.”
Yeah, we could do that, but I was actuallydyingto learn how to take on an angel. If I could do that, I could take on any asshole in Hell.
Telekinesis could be badass and I definitely had plans to abuse it. If I could actually figure it out. We weren’t at bending spoons yet, Wrathhog just wanted me to move it. Which I was failing spectacularly at. I was giving the spoon some grade-A stink eye, and it was just mocking me.
