DISCLAIMER: Lords of the Underworld belongs to Gena Showalter.
~ Sandcastle Virtues ~
Upon waking and finding himself pressed up against another person - bare skin to bare skin - Torin quickly scrambled away from the woman he'd been wrapped around, falling out of his own bed and onto the floor in his panic.
"Torin?" a familiar melancholy voice called out. "What are you doing on the floor?"
Unable to come up with a witty retort for once in his life, the Keeper of Disease could only stare in horrified silence as Cameo rose gracefully from the bed and came to kneel beside him.
"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, reaching toward him.
His demon laughed and he found himself leaning into the touch against his will.
What's so funny, you stupid piece of shit? Torin growled internally. Do you want her to get sick?
Don't want her to get sick, Disease answered, still chuckling. Made her immune.
She's immune? Torin repeated wonderingly. To be able to touch someone without his demon infecting them with any manner of illness was just... nearly unbelievable after millenia of living with the beast inside him and having to isolate himself from others. Wait... did you say you made her immune? You can do that?
Temporarily.
How temporarily? And can it be renewed?
Lasts about a day. Your body has built up antibodies to fight me. It's why you don't get sick from my presence inside you anymore. You can pass on the antibodies to others through your blood or... other fluids.
He'd never heard his demon talk this much before. Mostly it just laughed or mocked him.
And you couldn't have told me this before? he asked sourly.
Had no reason to, Disease answered.
"Torin?"
Torin blinked and found himself looking into worried silver eyes.
"Yes. Sorry, I was talking to my demon. You know how that goes," he stammered out, feeling a bit like an idiot as he said it.
Cameo shrugged, and the corners of her mouth twitched - as if she were trying to smile but couldn't quite manage it.
"Misery doesn't really have conversations with me," she said. "She usually just cries a lot, or begs to watch Grave of the Fireflies." Again her lips twitched into that almost-smile. "She did say something to me last night, though."
"What did she say?"
This time Cameo managed a smirk, before she said, " 'Mine'."
~end~
Notes: As Cameo's book has not been released yet and Misery's gender isn't mentioned anywhere else in the series, I'm not actually sure whether Misery is supposed to be male or female. Although since her butterfly is pink, I'm assuming the demon is female.
Yes, I know the title is weird. It's part of a line from Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick".