Beasts of Hell

PART ONE DEMON LANDS: Chapter ONE

Hello and Welcome to Book TWO! Yes that's correct, if you haven't already read Hell of Earth please return to my main profile and start there or you will just be very confused the whole time.

For everyone that is in the right place, this is the sequel to my first ever book so I hope you enjoy!

------------------------------

"I ruined it."

The white paper was stained with red. She stuck her finger in her mouth, wrinkling her nose at the taste of hot metal. Opal barely started and already she'd messed it up. Her small piles of paper boxes were lopsided and awkward. Who knew it was so hard to fold paper?

The demon in front of her glanced up, green eyes going from her face to the red splattered attempt at a charm.

"Blood magic is a little beyond your scope, I think. I'd stick to the spells we are working on."

Opal smiled. That was about as close as Gabbro came to joking most of the time. He searched around him and attempted to offer her a cloth, but she waved him off.

"How do you get your edges so tight without cutting your fingers?" She examined his own neat pile of boxes.

"I'll show you."

His fingers felt cool against hers as he used them to help her press the corners. Opal looked from her hands to his face. This was not a good way to teach her and expect her to focus, but she didn't stop him either. She glanced behind her, a little nervous that someone might be watching. The cabin they'd been given after Yue announced his Candidacy was certainly larger than what they had before but it still only had two living areas. One was being used for discussions between him and some of the local leaders which meant that the rest of them were cramped in the second space.

Three of her friends sat on pillows made of entwinned reeds and soft moss. The smallest one held up a book and seemed to be reading something. Opal watched a boy, Gabbro's younger brother, roll the pen in between his fingers, watching it move as though stunned. His eyes were two different colors, one orange the other as green as his brother's. His mouth was hanging open in a child-like interest. He'd been cursed. Opal was sure under normal circumstances he would have been one of the smartest demons in the room. Those two were as close as she'd come to having family.

It had barely been months since she'd severely injured her head trying to escape from a prison, or essentially a holding pen for unwanted human offspring. Since then, she'd learned she was not even a human, joined a group of demons to escape and ended up on a quest to find a young demon prince. They'd found him too late. Opal had barely understood the magnitude of what she was doing when she bowed to Yue in that damp basement. Awe struck by the sudden terrible beauty of the furious demon, she'd vowed loyalty. She didn't regret it but even in the moment felt distinctly afraid that she would end up being useless. Now at least she managed to convince Gabbro to make good on an earlier promise to teach her a little of the magic he knew. Even if she couldn't hope to stand up to Yue's power, or any of the others, she refused to be useless.

Opal examined the new box they'd created together. Not as good as his but much better. Maybe this would work. Opal handed it over and as he took it his other hand caught hers, a thumb running along the underside of her wrist.

"It's-"

"HEY!"

Opal jumped, pulling her hands away and tucking them under her arms. But the yell wasn't directed at her. She turned as the commotion grew louder behind her.

"That wasn't on the list, dammit you're cheating!"

A wiry boy with dark hair held a reel of paper in the other boy's freckled face. Gabbro's brother, Obsidian, seemed to find this hilarious and was rocking back and forth in laughter. Opal watched the bangles on the first demon's wrists flicker with orange and yellow like rapid reflections of a burning sunset. Any second now... yep. Opal pulled her knees to her chin as smoke started drifting out from the fire demon's clenched teeth. Spark's response only seemed to amuse Obsidian more. He pointed at him.