Page 46 of How Not to Date a Demon

She twined her fingers tightly with Galen’s and glued herself to his side. From the corner of her eye, she watched him smile down at her.

And who was he to make her melt like that, huh?

A wing sidled up on her right, effectively giving her a Galen-shaped shield.

She wanted to cry.

Their steps moved in sync as Maeve let Galen start their journey. They went straight down the hallway, and they only passed a few doors before Maeve was peeking around Galen’s wing to see what was inside.

It was so… weird. It was just people sitting there staring blankly into space.

They passed a pair of demons, whose conversation trailed off as they approached. Maeve was struck silly. They looked different than Galen. Their horns were a different shape, and one was short and stocky while the other was thin and waiflike.

“Galen,” the small one said, nodding his head in hello. The other followed suit. Their gazes flicked to her, their hands, and then away before they beelined to their destination. She frowned.

Oblivious to her musings, Galen continued. “It’s like I told you. Hell isn’t what you think it is, but the point is to suffer. I mean, dipping people in lava is fun and all, but then there’s the screaming and the ones that panic could get really loud and it’s just… there’s an easier way to do everything, yeah?”

Maeve stared up at him. “Did you dip people in lava?”

Galen glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Uh… From your tone I’m gonna go with… no?”

Her mouth dropped open, and Galen winced. “Listen, it was my job, okay? But we’re all past that now, and look how peaceful it is. You hear that?” he asked, lifting his hands to gesture to the endless, plain hallway.

“Uh… no, I don’t hear anything,” she said. Nothing but the sound of her racing heart.

“That’s my point,” Galen said with a smile. “It’s quiet.”

Maeve didn’t know what to say.

“The lava stuff was centuries ago. We don’t do that anymore. Now, each person gets their own personal hell… inside their head. That’s the best way I can explain it. So the only lakes of fire and lava now are brought on by their own horrors.”

Tugging him to a stop, Maeve pointed to the next room that they passed. Inside, a middle-aged woman sat on the same metal chair that was in every room. “Centuries, huh? We’ll be revisiting that. What’s she doing?”

Galen stepped forward, his wing bumping Maeve to come with him. She jumped at the soft contact and followed him into the eerily silent room.

All he had to do was look at the woman before he answered, “She’s stuck in a crowded supermarket with a list of items that are across the store from each other.”

That’s it? “Okay… but why is she here?”

He winced. “You sure you wanna know?”

Without giving herself time to rethink it, she nodded.

“Well, she didn’t care for the animals she was in charge of, resulting in her own death, and many of those inside the kennels.”

She gasped. “That’s awful.”

“And to her? So is the supermarket.”

Those poor animals. And their owners? “The supermarket doesn’t seem bad enough.”

He glanced to her with a proud gleam in his eye. Should a demon’s praise give her butterflies?

Probably not, but their wings fluttered in her belly just the same.

“To her it is. Want to see?”

Maeve met his gaze, unsure of her answer. But it was just a supermarket.