“What the hell is this, kid?! Are you tryna suffocate me right now?!” The muffled shouting did as much to wrench Lin from her nightmares as the consistent pounding on her thigh. Ripping back the covers, Lin’s heart leapt into her chest at the sight of the plastic wrap bulging with a red lump. She knew she couldn’t trust anything in that devil’s apartment. She had stupidly infected herself with some demonic bacteria and now she was going to lose her leg. How could she be so stupid?!
“Uh… I know I’m back from the dead and all, but you don’t have to cry about it, kid. I’m fine.”
Wiping the sleep (and tears) from her eyes, Lin realized that the red lump wasn’t a mass growing out of her leg and threatening to ruin her life. It was, arguably, so much worse than that. A tiny face had pressed itself against the plastic wrap, looking up at Lin with a forlorn expression.
“I don’t know if I can suffocate kid, but we’re gonna find out real soon if you don’t let me out!” If someone had told Lin that she would wake up in bed to find a fallen angel making puppy dog eyes at her, she would have called in sick to work. Thrusting her sleep weakened fingers into the thin layer of hydrocarbons made solid, the material flexed, stretching instead of breaking, clearly not understanding the assignment. Finally, mercifully, a small tear formed in the lining, and like all things, once that first rip formed, more followed, until the plastic was more hole than wrap.
Rising from the tattered plastic like a baby bird from its shell, Grizz’Bluk the torturer of the pit, the fallen angel of pain and control, floated upward on black wings of ash and charred feathers. Extending his arms outward in a massive sigh of relief, the demon looked upon Lin with a vexed smile. “Took your time getting me out of there, didn’t ya?” His voice was as gravelly as ever, but now high pitched, as if he had taken a long draught of helium.
With a mouth that felt as dry as the California wasteland, Lin replied carefully. “Well. You know how important it is that a lady get her beauty sleep.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
A pause. An eternity for Lin to think about the monumental stupidity of what she just said. ‘Beauty sleep?’ What the fuck was she thinking?! This was a demon she was dealing with here, not her old friend and regular. She couldn’t act as if this were another day at the shop. It wasn’t as if Grizz, a resurrected demon, was going to react well to her joking about his near second demise. Of all the-
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! How rude of me! I shoulda let you catch some more Z’s. You’re clearly lacking. My bad, kid!” Grizz cackled, patting Lin’s shoulder with a tiny, clawed hand. His smile melted as he met Lin’s eye.
“There’s no need to worry kid… I don’t know what is going on, but it’s me. Your old friend. Really old. Did I ever mention I was there when earth was made?”
“Several times.” Lin said, rolling her eyes with a smile. “Don’t change the subject. Are you… okay?”
Grizz looked at the ground contemplatively. “I think so… I was dead, right?” Lin nodded in response. “Right. I remember dying, which isn’t fun… But whatever the case, I’m alive now!”
He roared exultantly, letting out a tiny plume of fire, which of course attracted Avalar to fly in and scoop up the breaths of flame with excitement. It’s web of inferno began to spin and twist with a buzz that bored into Lin’s mind. Grizz itched at his ear.
“Ya’know, I may just be a glob of ink, but that’s quite the noise you’re making. So… you like fire, eh?”
Avalar paused it’s spinning, floating in front of Grizz in an awkward silence.
“… Right. Well, let me know if you want some dank flames, alright?” Grizz said, giving a thumbs up. Lin had never been so tempted to cackle at a devil before. Leaping from bed to resist exploding, she began to prepare for her day as if everything were normal and she hadn’t just created life from a needle and ink.
She was shrugging off her clothes to hop in the shower when she heard a cough from Grizz. “Right. I’m gonna go see if you have… Eggs? Is that what humans eat? I’ll go cook some eggs.” And dutifully covered his eyes as he darted from the room.
Even as Lin turned beet red, a giggle ripped from her mouth. She had just made a devil feel embarrassed. What world was she living in? This led to further, more difficult to answer questions. Would Grizz be sticking around? Did he have to return to her skin every once in a while?
Would he murder her like Cortez did to him? Or how Lin did to-
NO.
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