Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,32
said as she walked with me on my right.
“Then don’t,” I snapped.
“But is there any chance you can use your hocus pocus to speed this along?” she whispered.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Despite her attempts to be quiet, I was sure that Bronx had heard her. The cold, still air carried her words too easily, but at least she was attempting to keep my secret to herself. When I rolled off the couch this morning, I was partially expecting to find a lynch mob waving torches and pitchforks outside my window. I was mildly disappointed when they weren’t there.
“No, I will not be using any hocus pocus, hoodoo, or voodoo to get us through this interview,” I growled, not caring who heard me.
“No abracadabra?” Bronx pushed.
“No.”
The silence was punctuated by the crunch of the frozen snow under our feet as we marched up the winding drive to the farmhouse. A couple inches of fresh snow had fallen that afternoon, coating the world in a twinkling blanket of white. It was like living in a cheap, dime-store novelty snow globe. A thin layer of snow underfoot, black sky above, and cliché Norman Rockwell winter scene in the foreground. Of course, I doubted that old Norman ever imagined goblins on the other side of those windows. But I could be wrong.
“You ever try to pull a rabbit out of a hat?” Bronx asked, surprising a laugh out of Serah.
Glancing over my shoulder, I glimpsed the tiny smirk that was lifting one corner of the troll’s fat lips. “Keep it up and I’ll a rabbit out of your ass.” But my threat fell flat because I was struggling not to smile as well. Bastard. Bronx always knew how to put a stop to my sulks whether I wanted him to or not.
While trolls were unattractive from a human point of view, I’ll have to say that they could have passed for supermodels when compared to goblins. Covered in pasty greenish gray skin that always looked greasy, the goblins possessed long, spidery limbs and narrow torsos, as if they spent the majority of their lives teetering on the edge of starvation. Their sunken milky orange eyes glowed, reflecting the light as if you could see the fire of madness burning in their souls. You just prayed they didn’t smile, revealing a mouthful of crooked, jagged yellow teeth.
Goblins were the stuff of nightmares and were what you thought of when it came to the monster under your bed or hiding in your closet. If you were unfortunate enough to have something under your bed as a child, there was a good chance that it was a goblin rather than the extremely rare boogeyman. He just wanted to steal a couple years of your childhood. The goblin wanted to strip your flesh from your bones while you were still alive.
Taking a deep breath, I pounded on the front door. A goblin just a few inches shorter than Serah jerked the door open and stared at us in confusion. “Appointment?” he demanded in a high, squeaky voice that sounded like he was dragging his pointed teeth along a chalkboard for shits and giggles.
“No, we don’t have an appointment,” I replied, wincing. It felt like my eardrums were starting to bleed.
The door slammed shut in my face before I could catch it.
“I believe that was the wrong answer,” Bronx said blandly.
Flipping my friend off with my left hand, I pounded on the front door with my right. The door was pulled open a couple seconds later by a different goblin. This one was my height but he was missing his right eye. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing an eye patch so you could clearly see the poorly healed hole in the creature’s head.
“Appointment?” he demanded in a rough voice. I was willing to guess that whatever had taken his eye had also tried to rip out his throat.
“No, we need information,” I quickly replied. I took a breath to explain that I wished to speak to their boss, but I didn’t get a chance.
“This ain’t a library,” the one-eyed goblin announced before slamming the door shut.
“Strike two,” Serah murmured, earning a chuckle from Bronx.
Oh, this was just fucking dandy! I was so glad that my companions were having fun while I was getting the door slammed in my face. Magic was starting to look appealing, but I’d already proclaimed that I wasn’t going to use magic. Growling, I reminded myself that I didn’t need it for