Monster Whisperer - J.B. Trepagnier Page 0,30

comes from Hell.”

Maybe Demos had every right to be afraid of me.

Chapter 21

Tryphon

I

wanted to drown Demos, but he was hiding in his cell like a child. So what if she made green fire and her father might be from Hell? It meant she had more options at protecting herself. If Demos didn’t want to find out if her green fire could burn him, he needed to start kissing her ass and stop being a dick. She’d already proved she was on our side.

I started rubbing her shoulders with my tentacles. I hated this. I could feel she was scared. She’d taken all of this so well so far, but now she was frightened. And I didn’t have my human form to comfort her with a hug like Kimon properly could do. That minotaur needed to back the fuck off of my River.

It was like none of them could see we were meant for each other. I was a sea monster. She was named River. All rivers flowed to the sea. It was fate. Did we need to get an oracle in here to spell it out for them so they would stop hitting on her in front of me?

That was actually a pretty fucking marvelous idea. Maybe an oracle could ease her mind and tell her what she was. And tell those fucking monsters in this jail she was mine.

“Ask Hades to get an oracle in here, my pet. Anatolia owes me a favor.”

“Anatolia is crazier than I am, Tryphon,” Pavlina said.

Demos finally graced us with his voice. I heard him snort all the way from here.

“Did you fuck her and leave her too?”

“I don’t fuck crazy, pigeon. I went to her for a vision, and she started stalking me. I would have just eaten her, but she’s God touched.”

“I can vouch for the craziness. She stalked me too,” Kimon said.

“You’re all idiots,” Demos said. “She’s got a direct line to the Gods, and we don’t know who is on Demeter’s side. I can vouch for Anatolia being insane. She’d rat us out, and you’d lose your precious monster whisperer. Or, she’ll whip out that green flame to defend herself and kill all of us.”

“Anatolia is loyal to Hades now,” I pointed out. “Remember, he covered for her when she started going nuts over Hercules.”

I knew Anatolia was crazy better than anyone. I was the one that helped Hades smooth things over with Hercules when she left a dead goat in his bed. Everyone knew it was her. She painted her signature red lipstick on the goat. His father might not have wanted him in Olympus, but he would have taken offense at a crazy oracle leaving dead goats in his bed.

Besides, all the oracles were a little crazy.

“What is an oracle going to do?” River asked.

“She might be able to tell what you are, so Demos stops acting like a pouty pigeon,” Pavlina said.

“One day, I will burn your nasty, web weaving ass alive.”

“Enough, both of you. It’s a marvelous idea if you think we can trust her. Hades said my father wanted to tell me himself, but we might not have time for that. We need to be united, and right now, Demos doesn’t trust me.”

I heard Demos let out this long, dramatic sigh. I swear, that phoenix was such a drama queen.

“I trust that you won’t hurt us intentionally. But you’re dangerous now that you can call it and not control it. I don’t trust you running loose when one of your gifts could pop out of nowhere and kill us all.”

“Then, teach me, Demos. Teach me how to control it. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” River said.

“Those movies are probably the only pleasurable thing that came out of that century,” Demos huffed.

Demos could be stubborn as fuck. I hoped he would put aside whatever this was and teach her. The Demos I knew wasn’t afraid of anything. This wasn’t Demos fearing her fire. This was something else. Unfortunately, Demos had more walls than the labyrinth Kimon got trapped in.

“Don’t be stupid, Demos. She’s our best way out of this,” Kimon said.

Out of all of us, Demos and Kimon got along the best, just like Pavlina and I had always been wonderful friends. I guess those that ate people tended to stay close.

“I’ll teach her, but all of you need to protect her. If Demeter comes down here and she rages out of control, we could all die.”

“Wait a minute!” Kimon roared. “None of