guys eat calmly, drinking some demon spirits themselves as we wait out the Abdicated asshole. “Don’t you have any regular old human wine?” I plead to Iceman. Because I could really use some Moscato to help all this sulking sperm donor crap just slide right off my back. My nerves are suddenly feeling fucking shot, I wouldn’t even scoff at a red or a cringe-worthy chardonnay at this point.
“Apologies, we don’t stock human liquors here,” Iceman tells me.
“Try the demon spirits again,” Crux offers, leaning his tanned, muscled arm forward to push an empty glass in my direction.
I grimace. “No way. I’ve tried that stuff twice, and it was awful both times.”
“Yeah, but we think your demon side was still a little blocked before you went to Nihil. Try it. We have a bet going about whether you’ll like it now,” he urges with a wink.
I bite my lip, hesitating for a second, eyeing Grumpy Lurch as he comes around and fills my glass all the way to the brim, like he’s very excited at the thought of me having to choke down this glass full of ashy ammonia shit.
“Thanks,” I say dryly as he finishes topping me off.
“I aim to serve, mistress Delta.”
Oh, it’s mistress Delta now instead of the help, huh? I give him a knowing smirk, because this bastard is good in front of the others, I’ll give him that.
“Thanks, GL,” I tell him with a wink.
I slide the cup toward me, noticing that it’s so damn full I won’t even be able to pick it up, not without spilling it. Which, of course, was Grumpy’s MO. He wants to make this as difficult on me as he can so he has another reason to be pissed at my messiness. But he has a huge error in his way of thinking. He thinks because an Abdicated is here, I won’t slurp this stuff like a toddler learning to eat chicken noodle soup for the first time, and he’s wrong. So wrong.
As soon as the cup is at the edge of the table, I lean down, press my lips against the edge, and sluuuuuuuuurp!
Taz and GL look like they’re going to have a heart attack.
Echo smirks, Crux snorts, and Jerif looks at me with his arms crossed in front of his chest like he loves how antagonistic I’m being. Iceman winces a little, but I shoot him a wink, silently reminding him that Taz won’t do shit to me.
Distracted, I’m all ready with my fork, poised to shovel chicken salad in my mouth to get the taste of the drink out as fast as possible, but then the taste actually hits me.
“Oh my Hellgate,” I groan before leaning forward and slurping more.
It’s fucking delicious.
It tastes like butterscotch and fresh bread rolls, and it...tickles as it slides smoothly down my throat. As quickly as I can, I lift it up and down the whole thing like I’m a baseball player downing a bottle of Gatorade.
“Ha!” Crux claps a hand down onto the table. “I knew it!” he says victoriously.
I wipe my lips with the back of my hand and hold my glass up. “Fill ’er up, Grumpy, and keep ’em coming,” I say brightly.
With a glower, he refills my glass, and I bask in the taste and hum a little in happiness as warm, soothing spirits hit my system. “Fuck, this is good. I can’t believe how good this is!” I say excitedly to Echo. “Here, try some!”
His grin stretches wide. “I already have some, remember?”
I look around the table and remember that, yes, they do already have some. “Oh, right. Well, let’s make a toast!”
I raise my glass in the air, waiting pointedly until they all do the same. Jerif and Taz don’t do it though, because they’re stubborn, prideful jerks, and I expect nothing less. “To demon spirits tasting fucking epic!” I say before clinking my glass against the others as they chuckle, humoring me.
I drink the delicious liquid down and shake my glass in the air for GL. His heavy brow pulls down into a deeper frown as he comes forward, tipping the bottle over and emptying the last of its contents. “That’s all there is,” he tells me, then turns on his heel and leaves the room, probably to prevent me from asking him to open another bottle.
I sip the last of it, trying to savor the taste. “Mmm. I can’t believe how awful this stuff tasted before, but let me tell you, this is