Chapter 19

A vine fed into the sleeve of my jacket and wrapped around my arm, extending and growing in spirals that squeezed my biceps and tickled my forearm. Small flowers sprouted in the thickest portions, while thorns dug into my skin, as if attempting to pin me to the wall of the Labyrinth.

It was fascinating, the way these plants grew unencumbered, despite the drought conditions that plagued Jericho's kingdom over the last several centuries. I suppose what he lacked in rain, he made up for with blood. Though it would have been prudent to start gathering more tributes to make up for that deficit. For a king of all devils, he wasn't terribly logical or resourceful, in my opinion.

The magic tingled through me as another thorn penetrated my right tricep, then crawled down to my elbow, cutting a clean line as it went. I rotated my wrist, admiring the way this snakelike limb so boldly laid claim to my body. How much longer before it bore its teeth? Five minutes? Ten?

"Go on now. If you're going to eat me, get on with it." I rolled my head back against the wall, sinking into the deceptively soft leaves of the hungry parasite that grew all over the boundaries of the Green Sector. Flesh eating plants flourished here, likely because this was where the most people died, be it on Rai's horns or by the vegetation's whims. The vines wrapped around my chest and pulled me backward, and I couldn't help the wide, toothy grin that brought to my lips. I flattened my fox ears against my hair, while my thick tail twitched with amusement.

Imagine if this was how I died? The warrior, the executioner, the spy, and the elusive Teumessian Fox, himself, who not even mighty King Jericho could capture, eaten by a wall in a rainbow maze. That would be adorably tragic.

Another vine, thicker than the last, tangled itself around my neck, then started increasing pressure around my windpipe. I extended my claws, but I wanted to get more deeply in peril before I did anything. It was no fun if there was no danger, real or imagined.

Unfortunately, being myself, it was increasingly difficult to find anything that resembled real danger. There were no thrills anymore. Being clever and untouchable was only fun to a point. Where my ego thrived, my adrenaline had petered out. What I wouldn't give to get my heart racing again. Anything to upset the monotony of existence.

The plant started to fully choke me, and its leaves began dragging me deeper into its thicket. Tiny bristles on the fuzz of every stem and vine rubbed across my skin, taunting me into a poisonous sleep. Next, it would attempt to enter my mouth and tranquilize me, then it would completely ensnare me in vines, and begin excreting its digestive acid.

Predictable. Boring. I'd seen it a thousand times watching ignorant tributes and devils alike who stopped to catch their breath by leaning on the flesh eating ivy.

I closed my eyes and gave myself to the abyss, waiting for that sweet lure of death to offer me its hand.

Come on. Come ON. Closer.

The high of asphyxiation was tingling through me.

You're not even trying. Hurry up.

I was right fucking there, and my instincts were teetering on the first pings of fight-or-flight. Seconds from finding that perfect limit, feeding my body the endorphins and adrenaline from the fear of going too far—of tempting my fate and oblivion to the point of no return—I was practically begging to tip over that edge…

When the shriek of a slain vine pierced my ears, and the man-eating plant immediately retreated to whence it came. Vines released my limbs, thorns ripped from my flesh, and the tension around my neck ceased to nothing. Every scream of dying ivy was viciously amplified while my ears were partially shifted to fox form, and I hastily covered them with my hands for respite from the deafening pitch.

The blood curdling screeching was followed by the sudden "Are you okay?" of a feminine and unfamiliar voice. My inquirer didn't wait for an answer before I was being tugged free of the demon plant by a strong, warm hand.

I blinked the world back into focus, where I met the crystal blue eyes of the most lovely woman I'd ever encountered. .

"I think he's still alive, Theron." That tone, sweet as honey, was marred by that name.

I blinked a few more times, until I saw that white haired, heavily scarred demon, standing awkwardly at the woman's side. I raised both of my brows in his general direction.

Theron .

"Oh. It's you again. I should have suspected as much." I tried to hide my annoyance, but every word came out laced with thick sarcasm. "How completely out of character for you to ruin my chance to get off by completely ignoring all of the obvious signals of my pleasure."

He shook his head, and the blue lightning in his eyes sparked with an irritation equal to my own. "You're welcome , Alessi."

"Welcome for what? For ruining my morning?"

He rolled those annoyingly pretty eyes. "For saving you from being plant food. You're lucky Butterfly over here cared enough to help, because I would have let it digest you as slowly as it wanted."

"Saved me?" I snorted through obstinance, then stuck my hand back in the thicket and let the vines take hold again. They wrapped tightly and efficiently around me, digging their thorns in so deep that my blood dripped freely from every puncture. Then, for emphasis, with the slightest flick of my wrist, my muscles tensed, and the thorns were forced from my flesh again. Another flick, and the vines screamed as I severed them with my sharp claws. My wounds healed slowly. "I was in no actual danger, I promise."

I retracted my claws back to something vaguely human as soon as I'd made my point, and my old companion shook his head with disdain.

"If you weren't scared than why are you partially shifted?" He asked, motioning towards my tail and ears. "I don't see any reason you should need to call on your animal side if you're so secure."

"All the better to hear you with, my dear." My right ear twitched before I also shifted those into something better resembling a human. Yes, maybe I was partial shifted, but maybe , JUST FUCKING MAYBE, that was because I liked playing with my soft, fuzzy tail. Which obviously I wouldn't be admitting to Theron . But being human was too boring, and being a fox was like playing life in easy mode, so I didn't see any reason to settle on one or the other. Though it shouldn't surprise me that he was jealous he had no such alternate forms, because being unreasonable was what he was best at. "Happy now?"

"I'm never happy when I have to talk to you." He lied so unconvincingly I damn near choked on my laugh.

"You know each other?" The pretty dove sang, and I'd nearly forgotten she was there in light of… the other one.

"For better," I began.

"Or for worse," Theron finished my sentence on routine, and his whole body cringed when he realized what he'd done. Old habits die hard, I suppose.

"We're acquaintances at best, really." I dismissed it all with a wave. The last thing I wanted to discuss this morning was my rocky relationship with the Dream Weaver. Not when there was a beautiful woman begging for my attention. "It's a terribly uninteresting story in my opinion. But you are not remotely uninteresting. I'd be pleased to make your acquaintance."

She opened her mouth to speak, only to stop when Theron stepped in front of her. "You don't need to know her." The narrowing of his eyes was subtle but easily detectable if you knew what to look for. And much to my disdain, I knew what to look for.

How curious. Why would he be getting his hackles up over a tribute? If I was interested in her before, I absolutely had to know her now. Theron hated everyone and everything, myself included, so for him to be protecting someone, she must have been something special.

I stepped forward, so I was chest to chest and nose to nose with the pretty devil. He didn't fight me as I gripped him roughly behind the neck and whispered into his ear. "You know that only makes me want to know her more, don't you, Sweetheart?"

"Why are you still here? I thought you were going back to Olympus." He hissed under his breath. He spoke quietly enough that I could tell he didn't want our third wheel to hear.

"Why are you protecting one of Jericho's human girls? I thought you ‘hated' him.'" I near scoffed, but I still kept the volume between only us. "Or was it that you love him? I can never remember which with you, you send so many mixed signals."

That prompted the Dream Weaver to jerk from my grasp. Cute. And pointless. There was no world where he overpowered me. When my grip proved stronger than his neck, he shoved me hard to force me back to a safer distance.

He twisted back to the woman behind him, and after a moment's contemplation, he opted to accept the inevitability of our introduction. "Butterfly, this is Alessi. Alessi, this is—"

"Sela." She jumped in, ignoring his attempt to bridge the gap. I liked her already. "My name is Sela."

"Enchantée, Sela." I took her hand and bent to kiss her knuckles. " My name is Alessi, but some know me as the Teumessian Fox, the most elusive creature in the Kingdom." I allowed my lips to linger on her warm flesh, and I couldn't help but notice the tension in Theron's shoulders. He watched my every move like a bear with her cub. He was a protective one, to be certain, even if he'd never admit it. It was one of his quirks, and I quite liked that about him. It was likely a significant factor in our now too long friendship. Or whatever it was that we had nowadays.

As I lifted my gaze back to her sparkling, sapphire eyes, I couldn't help but notice the speckling of marks on her wrists, taunting my periphery.

Oh, that's rather interesting. And telling.

This might just be exactly the turn of events I needed.