Page 15

Ash

This might be the strangest trip to a store I've ever taken. It's odd enough looking over and seeing my boss in the passenger seat, but then to have my TA in the back, next to a demon, next to a fucking Unicorn, and I feel like we're just a few vowels away from a very bad joke.

“So, what's this idea of yours?” I finally ask as we're about to pull into a parking lot.

Saladriel’s silent for a minute, fiddling with the lid on the tube of lip gloss Delaney gave him.

“I think... that when the goddess gave her those marks, she tied them to the fate of my realm. She told Delaney she had to help us, that she was the chosen one, and that she should be thrilled about it.”

“She did not seem thrilled about it,” Zac surmises.

Saladriel shakes his head. “And I don't think my goddess liked that very much. She is... vainer than other deities I've heard about. She likely took affront when Delaney wasn't jumping up in joy to be given such a task.”

I pull into a spot and turn off the car, turning to see everybody.

“I just want to know how she physically expects Delaney to be mated to that many more people. We are not exactly struggling, but there are so many of us already. Delaney’s having a hard time I think, though she won't admit it.

I think she feels as if we don't get enough of her.

And to some extent we all feel that as well, though we'd never hold that against her.

She didn't choose this, none of us did. But your goddess on the other hand...”

“There may be a way to undo the marks she was gifted.”

Rush gasps and leans forward to grab onto Saladriel’s hand. “You mean... I might not have to be terrorized by a whole herd of you?”

I snort. Saladriel looks at him kind of sideways, and then he pats the demon on the head like he's a puppy.

Apt. “Mating bonds in my realm are different.

They are given by the goddess, and they are planned by the goddess.

We do not form them on our own. If we want to be mated to somebody, we must find them on our own and just make whatever commitment we want to make. There are no marks or soul mates.

“And that's the problem of our realm—mating is unappealing to us as of now. The goddess has been trying to foist these bonds on us for years, and they seem to be getting harder and harder to make stick. She's playing with everybody's souls like they’re taffy, pulling and braiding them together, and then she’s surprised when things fizzle out and people are left even more depressed in the aftermath of it all.”

“It wouldn't harm the people she's supposedly mated to if the bonds disappeared? Because in our realm, an unfulfilled fated mate bond is incredibly painful.” I definitely wasn’t in my right mind when I thought I could just postpone ours indefinitely.

Saladriel shakes his head. “Unicorns have to want the bond in order for them to stick.

They might feel a rush of false happiness at the beginning of a bond starting, but over time, if that bond isn't fortified over and over again, it'll dissolve on its own. It goes to reason then, that if we can somehow figure out who she's supposed to be bonded to, and make them happy without her, then the bonds wouldn't work out anyway. Yes, it will hurt initially, but that’s only because you’re ripping something out of their soul. Something that should never have been there. For all I know, they might feel better, more themselves once it’s gone.”

Even aside from the tearing-their-soul thing, I don’t like how the rest of that sounds as far as Saladriel’s concerned; Delaney looked like she was getting a little used to him today.

I think she’d ultimately understand if he chose not to be with her, but…

as her mate, I don’t want her to experience that pain.

Wil scratches his forehead, clearly thinking through everything critically like he does.

“That seems... a bit underhanded. Don't they deserve happiness, too? Do you not think that others from your realm could find happiness with our Delaney? We all know she has enough heart to give out to as many people as she needs to. I'm weary of playing with things that deities give us. I don’t see that ending well.”

“Unicorns are just created differently,” Saladriel replies with a shrug, and then he climbs out of the car.

We all get out and follow, not really sure how that answers everything, but somehow it does in his mind.

I grab a cart as we walk into the big box store, and I'm thinking it's good that Leo stayed home. He surely would have been overwhelmed with everything that this place is. Also, he’d probably be highly mistrustful of a place that sells milk a few aisles over from paint for your house or clothing that would fit anybody. “What are we looking for?”

Saladriel looks so stressed out, his eyes wide as he takes in everything. Yeah, maybe bringing him was a bad idea as well. “What is this place?”

Zac grabs him by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him.

“Look at me, buddy. We've kept you pretty sheltered so far, I can see how this would be a shock to you.

Can you describe to me what it is you think would help Delaney to get better?

We need to focus on that. Tell me what you think is going to help her, and we'll figure out what options we have here.”

Saladriel blinks a few times and then finds a way to compose himself. “The realm is the bigger issue. Short term though, glitter. Colors and glitter. Colorful paper. Something to make happy things with.”

“Things that make people happy? Say no more. Somebody point me in the direction of the mashed potatoes.”

I shake my head at Rush’s enthusiasm, thinking it's pretty damn lucky we live in a place where there are so many different species everywhere, because otherwise, wow. We'd be getting some looks for appearing in public together.

Rush immediately takes off in search of potatoes, but…yeah, I’m not following him.

“Someone want to keep an eye on that demon?” Zac asks, but in a way that implies he can’t be bothered to do it himself, just that he thinks it might be a helpful idea.

We think about it, really, we do, but I guess none of us are that tempted.

“Alright then. To the craft aisle?”

They’re not an overly helpful bunch, but we do manage to get what equates to a preschool’s worth of glitter, construction paper, markers, and the like. I really don’t know what exactly Saladriel thinks this is going to do to cure Delaney, but I guess I’m at least willing to give it a shot.

When we’re ready to check out, Rush has yet to find us again, so we go on a literal demon hunt through the store, only getting slightly sidetracked when we see all the lacy things that would look fantastic on our girl, ultimately deciding to wait until she knows who we all are again.

Seems like it’d be less creepy that way.

“Ooh! Demon spotted! Aisle 15!”

We all chase after Wil as he starts to speedwalk through the store, catching sight of Rush semi-hiding behind an aisle and talking to somebody that looks suspiciously like a student I’ve seen on campus before. Can’t place his name, but they’re both looking around all shifty-like.

The student, who’s got a hoodie on, catches sight of us and blanches, hissing something at Rush, who spins and gives us a goofy wave. The other student says one last thing under his breath before running off, leaving Rush to make his way over to us with a basket full of potatoes in various forms.

If he’s paying for them, I have no business criticizing him.

“What the fuck is all that for?”

Okay, apparently Zac does have business criticizing him.

Rush turns his nose up and starts heading towards the front of the store where the registers are, calling over his shoulder, “I have a gargoyle to charm and a conduit to make sweet for me. These potatoes are going to get me very far, I think. The only one that’ll be laughing when we’re through all of this is me when all of you realize how smart I am. ”

???

“How do you know Spencer?” Wil asks Rush as we start loading everything into the car.

Rush freezes for a moment, holding one, single potato, petting it like it’s a kitten. “He’s a business associate.”

“Business associate?” Wil asks, clearly confused. “You’ve been a tree, though. How do you have business associates? And why him specifically? You know he’s hangs out with —”

“My sister,” Zac snaps. “That’s how I know him. He dated my sister for a long time.”

“Is he looking for a support group for that experience?” Wil asks and then immediately slaps a hand over his mouth as his eyes go wide.

“Oh my goddess, I cannot believe I just said that.” He goes to open the car door, setting his hand purposely where the door will slam and I yank him out of space at the last moment.

“What the hell was that about? You lose your damn mind?”

“I must punish myself for speaking ill of a conduit.”

Zac snorts as he throws a random juice box for Wil to catch. He doesn’t seem mad about it though as he unwraps the straw.

“I highly doubt she’s worth putting yourself through pain for.

I love her, but oh my gods is it a relief to have some distance right now.

I thought it was going to kill me getting my secret out there, that I’d be under her thumb forever.

I don’t love that she’s locked up in what’s essentially a dungeon cell, but she’s got to learn her lesson one way or another. ”

“Wil’s got a point though,” I concede. “How do you have business associates if you’ve been cursed as long as Leo was?”

Zac returns the cart, and we all get buckled in, heading back towards campus. Just knowing I’m about to see Delaney again has my palms itching, my heart racing.

Pathetically adorable, I know.

Rush is only silent for a minute, holding his emotional support potato.

“Remember I told you I could transport myself to hell if I needed a break? That had a few perks. I had access to a phone occasionally if I needed one, as well as other people that could work for me. Hell’s influence on earth doesn’t stop just because I’m a tree.

I still had shit to do. Souls to damn. Glitter to incinerate,” he says with a stink eye to Saladriel.

Saladriel puts his hands in the air. “Hey, you asked what would help, and this is it. Not my fault glitter makes you squeal like a pig. Not such a tough demon, are you?”

“Children,” I chastise. And they stop.

We park without further incident, but before any of us get out of the car, Wil blurts a nervous, “Wait!”

He’s usually quiet unless he’s defending Delaney, so I’m curious about what he has to ask.

“I need advice. It would be less… embarrassing, I suppose, if Delaney were not around for me to seek it. I considered just taking you all one or two at a time into a separate room, but then I thought to myself no, maybe that would be suspicious, or she might get to thinking I’m—”

“Wil, what do you need?” I very much doubt his request has anything to do with his studies; he’s an excellent student.

“A few weeks ago, when Delaney informed me that…” his face has gone bright flaming red, and I feel like he’s about to shout, ‘never mind!’ and dart from the car. I help him out.

“When she kissed you and told you you were one of her mates? Is that what we’re referencing?”

He nods, his voice very quiet so we all have to lean close to hear him.

“I guess what I wanted to know, that is to say, do you very much think it would be wrong of me to kiss her again? I’ve been tormenting myself over it.

I know she understands my hesitations, but I find that I, well, want to.

And I figured the goddess would take exception if I were to, seeing as how we’ve already done it once.

Or is it a sin each time? I’m not sure. My head’s all fuzzy. ”

I tap on the steering wheel wondering how best to go about this.

I haven’t spent much time around Delaney’s parents, but if her mother truly is the voice of the goddess, then the goddess is freaky as hell.

“I know you’ve been raised in a very strict religious home,” I begin cautiously, “but I’ve got to tell you, the way the fundamentalists view courting and kissing is not the way most others do.

“And I know that can feel like a point of pride when you’re in the thick of it.

I had friends when I was younger that were fundamentalists.

But you have to think about this logically, Wil.

What do you, Wil, believe in? I want you to forget about rules that somebody told you were important.

We know what the goddess wants of us because she’s mated us to Delaney.

“You do you know that Delaney feeds off of sexual energy, correct? That that’s how she fuels her magic? If the goddess wanted her to refrain from kissing before she got mated, how would she even be here? She’s been holed up for years because she couldn’t control her magic.”

I turn around so I can see him better instead of looking at him through the rearview mirror.

“And furthermore, I had to learn the hard way that she needs physical touch. She’s hardwired to seek that out because it’s important to her.

That’s how she connects to us. Of course she’ll understand if we’re not ready for any of that, and I’m not saying this to pressure you into something you’re not ready for, but it’s physically impossible for Delaney to develop a deep relationship with somebody without having that physical aspect.

“She needs to feel that energy to understand how we feel about her, it’s how her magic works.

I messed up in the beginning thinking I had to go about things a certain way because of what I had been told and grew up with.

My advice to you is if you feel compelled and comfortable to kiss her or touch her or do whatever, then just do it.

“There are not going to be any negative repercussions for that, from anybody. You need to let go of the guilt you've been taught to feel over desires you can’t control. She is your mate. Maybe not officially yet, but you’re fated.

That doesn’t begin with some arbitrary start line.

You need to spend time together, learn each other.

“Once you guys are committed, you’re stuck for life. Now is the time to have fun and play and make each other laugh. Kissing is important. Intimacy is important. Whatever that looks like for you two, that’s what you need to do.”