“Xalreth.” His voice drips with saccharine sarcasm, and a flare of annoyance hits me as he drops into a mocking bow.
“Bless you,” I say with an equally sweet tone, and Damien snorts a loud laugh that he doesn’t even try to hide.
“Classic,” he mutters, as the gray demon purses his lips.
“My name is Xalreth, and I am here to announce The Lucifer’s arrival.” In my many years of existence, I’ve never seen anyone look less enthusiastic than he does as he gestures his hand towards the door like a game show host. His face is completely dry and his eyes are dull, while the tick in his jaw tells me his temper is being tested.
And it’s no wonder, really, considering who he works for.
Damien gasps dramatically. “Thatbitch!Stealing my ideas…”
A blue-skinned incubus saunters in like he’s in the middle of a beauty pageant, wearing a practiced smile as he waves a cupped hand at everyone. There’s a rhythmictap-tap-tapas his clawed feet echo against the polished floor.
“Drekoth, how nice of you to join the rest of us.” A threat lies in my tone as he flashes me a dazzling row of teeth, oblivious to my anger.
How this airhead ever rose to power is beyond me. Damien may have been an annoying little shit for most of his rule, but behind his innocent doe eyes is a brilliant mind that’s always scheming. Then he did something idiotic and fell in love, and passed the power to his second in command without another thought of how it might affectme.
“Oh, Idohope you weren’t waiting for me.” He bats his lashes as he flips his long black hair, and my lip twitches in the start of a snarl as his shiny raven locks land perfectly behind his shoulder.
Iknowthis incu-bitch isn’t trying to out-diva me at my own meeting.
“Don’t worry, we definitely weren’t,” I insist with a hair flip of my own. His jealousy spreads across my skin like wildfire as my opalescent strands catch the light just right, and I revel inthe smoldering of his anger that hides beneath it. My hands land on my hips as I jut them to one side, flashing him a catty smile.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that,” he responds, nodding so intensely that his dark locks flop in front of his shoulders. His head whips to both sides as he tosses his hair again, this time with so much effort, his neck pops. “I wouldhateto be anincu-venience. Get it? Because I’m an incubus?” He laughs at his own terrible joke as everyone in the room stares at him.
Fuck this shit.
How dare he come in here and steal my spotlight?
My gavel drops to the ground with a boom, and every eye falls back on me. “Oh, whoops,” I gasp with a hand over my mouth, never taking my eyes off Drekoth as I bend over and grab it. I snap back to standing, throwing my hair in a graceful, shimmering arc over my head. “So silly of me.”
“What in the diva-loving fuck is happening here? Is anyone else seeing this shit?” Xalreth demands, and my eyes flick to his as they narrow.
Drekoth pops his knuckles and rolls his shoulders, but the dark demon grabs him by the scruff of his neck and forces him into his chair. “No. Absolutely not. I am not paid enough for this.” Silence rings through the space, the only sound the obnoxious scraping of metal legs as Xalreth shoves Drekoth’s seat against the table.
“This is amazing… I’m so fucking glad I came,” Damien whispers.
“That makes one of us,” Niklaus grunts back, but I ignore them as I run my palms over my hair and down the front of my shirt, making sure everything is in place as I collect myself.
“Now that everyone has arrived,” I say with one more pointed glare at the sulking incubus, “we can get started. As I was saying before, you’re probably all wondering why I’ve asked you to join me. It has been decades since we were together in thesame room.” My gaze moves between their bored faces. Most of them sit slumped in their chairs, eyes glazed over. Azrael is the sole exception as he sits ramrod straight, his hands clasped as he leans forward in his eagerness to learn.
“The recent shift in power for the position of The Cupid required us to refresh our knowledge on human perspectives. Humanity has gone through major transformations in the time Seraphiel held the role. While we were studying holiday lore, we came across some troubling news.”
“We did?” Azrael whispers, his eyes growing wider as he stares, enrapt.
“There is a holiday the humans celebrate… one where they have taken it upon themselves to create their own magical figure.”
I wait for their outrage, but the room is silent. My brows furrow as I glance between their faces, becoming increasingly annoyed by their lack of response. “Don’t you get it? They have invented animaginarybeing.” I pause for dramatic effect until they start to shift uncomfortably.
“Are you going to tell us what it is, or do we need to guess?” Xalreth says, and I shoot him another glare.
“Is it Bigfoot again?” Damien asks, eyes alight.
“No—”
“It’s Slenderman, isn’t it?! Did they invent a Slenderman holiday? Slenderday?! I want to take part! Nik, can we?!”
I scoff, glaring at the curly-haired menace. “For the love of God, Damien, they have not created aSlendermanholiday. They are celebrating The Easter Bunny!”
