These demons clearly weren’t humans of my generation becausethey’dbe mocking me, too, and they weren’t. I needed a little motivation.
“I don’tfeelmagical. I don’t feel any different. I exploded my roof because my ex was being a turd and I was having a bad hot flash. I haven’t even had a hot flash since I got here.”
“I’m not sure you were having them in the first place. You can’t go through human menopause if you aren’t even fertile yetas the child of a fallen. Of course, it’s complicated, and no one has actually studied this, so youcouldbe. Or you couldnotbe and the reason you aren’t experiencing them now is because the atmosphere down here is what you needed to stabilize you. I’m sure you can findsomethinghere to get pissed about.”
“If you promise to focus on the spoon instead of my testicles, I’ll poke you, princess.”
Yeah, if there was one thing that got me pissed was guys that werethathot and that was all they had going for them. Every time they opened their mouth, it just ruined it. If he wasn’t such a raging asshole, he could poke me in other ways. Alas, that was a shagging that was never taking place.
“Do it.”
“Fine. Yeah, I was checking out your tits in the shower and they are nice, but you ruined that as soon as you opened your mouth. I don’t think you’ll actually be able to move the spoon because you can’t concentrate on anything longer than two seconds.”
Damn. He was good. I could work with that. As long as I focused on the fucking spoon. Everything I ever accomplished in my life, I did because someone told me I couldn’t. Mom always told me I could do whatever I put my mind to, but some authority figures didn’t quite believe that. This wasexactlywhat I needed.
“Tell me more about how you think I can’t move the spoon,” I growled.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Celix asked.
“No, she needs this,” Nero said.
“We’re just letting Kujo be mean.”
“Yeah, and she needs that to move the spoon.”
“You think you can just waltz into Hell and be good at everything because your father is Lucifer? We all had toworkfor our magic. Daddy’s DNA doesn’t give you a pass from actualwork. I don’t think you’ll be able to move that spoon because you think you deserve to move that spoon.”
Damn. Playing on my daddy issues. Kujo was good. The spoon shot across the table and hit Kujo right between the eyes. His eyes flashed black, and he snarled at me.
“Okay, so I can apologize when I need to and I didn’t actuallymeanto hit you with the spoon. I’m sorry. And thank you because that was exactly what I needed.”
“I’m so confused,” Celix moaned.
“I’m not,” Kujo said. “Some adults in the mortal realm treated her like the Furies treated me. They told her she couldn’t do something and were assholes about it. She either did it or she didn’t, but shetried.It’s not right and no one should do that to anyone, but if you have it done to you enough, it’s a decent motivator. And I’m sorry, too, because I didn’t enjoy that.”
“Okay, so that was riveting,” Wrathhog said. “If we need Sydney to do something, we just tell her we think she can’t and be mean about it. You do know that’s fucked up, right? My dad would never.”
“Neither would my mom. Some of my teachers had other ideas. Like grade school through college. Mom was the one who told me to do it, anyway.”
“I like your mom. So, what were you feeling when you moved the spoon?”
“I was pissed, and I refused to let Kujo be right.”
“Obviously. My first time, I moved the spoon like, a centimeter. I didn’t turn it into a weapon. We might be able to speed up your training a bit. Try moving the spoon again,” she said, yanking it back from Kujo who looked like he might want to scoop my eye out with it.
I did it once and I could do it again. I focused on the spoon again. It didn’t have the same explosive effect as before, but Ididmove it a little.
Felid demons had magic, but we were much better with fangs and claws. I wanted to be supportive and help Sydney, but I’d never be able to do what Kujo did and insult her like that. It just wasn’t in my nature and I wasn’t sure I understood it. The upper demons told me I couldn’t do shit all the time, and I didn’t find it motivating at all.
Icouldlearn how to even the score if she was ever outnumbered by angels. I knew it was taboo to learn this, but I wasn’t going to let them hurt her. I knew all three of us were paying attention, but I had the least amount of magic out of the three of us. I was focusing on how I could help her physically.
“So, Dad knows I’m teaching you this, and he approves. He said if I trust you, then he does. Just don’t betray my trust anduse it against my family or I’ll gut you. I’ll draw it out, too. You know torture is my whole thing, right? I will fuck you up. Don’t test me.”
“I thought I grew out of that phase where I’d say ‘Satan is rad,’ but Satan is pretty rad,” Sydney said. “I don’t intend to do anything to your dad.”
I hadn’t exactly been a fan of any of the princes before we ended up on the call that got Sydney. I’d also never met any of them, I’d just heard stories from people who had also never met them. Satan and Abaddon seemed the most normal. I didn’t intend to hurt them unless they came at Sidney.
And I honestly didn’t think they would.
