The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,49

twice?"

"Probably a better choice than where I would've picked," he admitted. "The plateau over Hell is a rather popular spot for demons."

"Is that where Luke took you for your date with him?"

He nodded. "My first date ever, actually." Letting out a sigh, Ron limped closer to the plant. "It's weird, you know? I've been on Tyrnigg long enough that I keep expecting this thing to try to eat me."

"They don't do that, do they?" Because in truth, I honestly wasn't sure.

"They don't," he promised. "But where's the.." Ron bent, peering into the leaves. "There it is."

"Is it still alive?" I asked.

"And bigger." He pointed.

Hurrying up beside him, I followed his hand to see that he was right. It wasn't drastically bigger, but the flutterbee had grown enough to be obvious. The solar-panel wings I'd made still flapped lazily, and its little prehensile tail allowed it to hang in the middle of the bush. Clearly, it was a lot more than a sprite.

"Think anyone else knows about it?" I asked.

"No, and I'd rather they didn't," Ron said. "Some demon would try to kill it just to see if he could, and..." He reached up to drag a hand down his face. "I'm willing to bet this plane is still leaking aether."

"Should I fix that?"

Because I honestly wanted his opinion. Now that I wasn't angry, I felt kinda bad about leaving so many demons trapped here with no way to figure out how to save themselves. I'd taken the best aethersmith with me, along with the only theoretical scientist this plane had ever known. No one else I'd talked to when I was here seemed like the type of person who'd even bother trying, except Azrael, and I'd left him a gigantic mess that would probably take up most of his time.

"I think," Ron said, "That you should make another flutterbee. Or just change the first one so it will reproduce. After all, it doesn't hurt anything to have too much aether, but too little is crippling.”

I lashed my tail as I thought about that. "Promise you won't tell Nick?"

"Not at all," he said. "But I will promise that I'll make sure he knows it's the smallest working I could talk you into."

That was all I needed to hear, so I reached my hand into the branches and stretched out a finger. The tiny little grasping legs attached themselves to it the same way any insect on Earth would've, and it was all the contact I needed. Letting my eyes close, I felt the pattern of this thing's little life, and then nudged it just a bit.

It was easy. Maybe even too easy. Still, something inside the flutterbee changed, and I could feel it. But along with the ability to lay a nest of eggs, I also added the urge to disperse and find more zerky plants after they were born, and to protect the eggs. Most of all, I made sure that the amount of aether it could create would balance everything I was asking of it.

Then, just because I could, I made sure that they wouldn't all be born blue. Some would be pink, others lavender. A few would come out metallic gold or completely black. I'd made the first one blue because I'd been completely smitten with Nick. Now, well, I liked the idea of spreading the love between all of my guys. I figured this was my own way of showing that I didn't need to have a favorite.

12

Sienna

I hadn't meant to get distracted with the flutterbee. Although, it was probably good that I had, because I'd completely forgotten about the tear in the Daemin veil. It had been a little crazy lately, and it seemed my birth control wasn't the only thing that had slipped my mind. But I was here to fix Ron, and I was honestly trying to limit what I did with my ability. After all, I was going to need my Muse power if I was going to lock the angels away, so I had to take care of it.

That didn't mean I'd leave without at least trying to fix Ron. So, once we knew that the flutterbee was still acting normal - which basically meant that it hung there and flapped its wings every so often - I turned my attention on him. With a devious little smile, I pointed his way and made a circle in the area of his body.

"I think it's time for you to strip," I told him.

Reaching