Free The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) by J. Langland Page B

understanding how Tom could not see the obvious. “Hel- lo … there were at least a few hundred demon witnesses to your battle, that are now back in the Abyss, having been evicted.”
    “Ugh.” Tom seemed shocked. “I didn’t think about that. The demons were fighting for their lives. Are you saying they stopped to watch?”
    Antefalken shook his head in… well, Tom wasn’t sure if it was admiration or exasperation, but certainly some form of -ation. “When you and Talarius started fighting, not only did the entire Rod stop to watch, so did all the demons they’d been battling. Hell, even the Oorstemothians stopped slaying demons to watch once they figured out what was going on. Everyone outside the city, and a huge horde of people on the walls of the city watched the fight. This was like a classic grudge match, greater demon versus Knight Rampant of Tiernon. No one in their right mind would miss that.”
    Tom looked stunned. “So you’re saying that all the demons that watched came back and told people here?”
    Antefalken slapped his thighs and started laughing. “I am sure every bar in the Abyss was packed with demons hearing a blow-by-blow account from witnesses last night.” Antefalken shook his head. “Ignore for the moment the trick with stealing a deity’s mana; you defeated and then kidnapped one of the greatest knights in the Rod’s history, on several planes. That is big, my friend. Toss in the mana trick and you’re going to be the stuff of legends!”
    Tizzy buzzed up and into the conversation. “Yep! I am thinking you’re going to be mobbed by people asking for autographs next time you hit the courts. And the paparazzi are going to be jumping out around every corner!”
    “Paparazzi? You mean like tabloid photographers?” How could there be paparazzi in the Abyss?
    “Photographer? Not familiar with the word,” Antefalken said, “but mirrographers, and tabloid ballers, definitely. The Courts thrive on gossip, so tabloids and gossipmongers do great business!”
    Tizzy shook his head. “I only wish you’d told me in advance you were planning all this; I’d have figured out some way to set up a mirror feed to the Abyss and then charge admission at bars for demons to watch it.” The octopod shook a couple of index fingers at Tom. “Remember that next time and I’ll cut you in for a share!”
    Tom grabbed his horns with his hands and just shook his head back and forth. “Argh!”
    ~
    Bess purred as the gentle warm air of the fur dryer cascaded over her body from all directions, gently whipping the water from her body. She really missed the luxuries of home. The Abyss was so damn hot that it was impossible to get a decent bath, let alone a blow-dry. The Outpost, as they called it, did have air dryers but they were principally used for cool air on extra-hot days. Of course, that was every day in the Abyss; there were no seasons in that hellhole.
    She had no idea how that place had come about. It had just always been there, certainly as long as she could remember, which was an incredibly long time. Like any normal deity, she had ignored it until they’d hatched this scheme about a hundred years ago, or no more like a hundred and fifty years ago—time flew. That’s when they’d built the Outpost and she’d “revealed” herself to the “Court.” Since then, she had had to spend the vast majority of her time there schmoozing demon princes and archdemons.
    What morons. All of them, running around pretending to be evil. The evil of the demons was nothing compared to the evil of the Etonians. Now there was true evil with a capital “E.” It was hard to imagine she could hate any pantheon more than the Demi-Urge, but somehow the Etonians had managed to one up the biggest Ego in the multiverse. The Demi-Urge was just a crazed greedy narcissist, and not that bright; not bright enough to understand the concept of hypocrisy. The Etonians were a different story. They seemed to revel in