Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
┏━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┓ chapter seventeen: the shining ┗━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┛
"I wish that strife would vanish away from among gods and mortals, and gall, which makes a man grow angry for all his great mind, that gall of anger that swarms like smoke inside of a man's heart and becomes a thing sweeter to him by far than the dripping of honey."
— Homer, The Iliad
Marlene didn't remember how she fell asleep after that. Perhaps, her brain was so exhausted from overthinking that it just shut itself down. Whatever the reason, she'd at least managed to get in three hours of sleep with no Devils lurking around and no bedbugs eating her alive.
That is to say, Marley still woke up with a raging headache and spent a good thirty minuted just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. Not so long ago she was sleeping in her car and gulping down demon blood. Now she was in a small town in Kansas, staying at a pastor's house and investigating a murder. Life sure threw curveballs at you.
Marlene had to drag herself out of bed when she heard cooking noises coming from downstairs. Sam was probably awake too, had been for awhile with his rigid schedule. He'd probably already had his 10 mile run and bathed in the blue lagoon of perfection.
She pulled on her black jeans, a white top topped with a thin cardigan with tiny sunflowers embroidered on it, and headed downstairs. Only when Marley opened the door, she stepped on something crunchy, like husk. Brows furrowed, she crouched down to pick it up — it was translucent and frail, with a familiar pattern of scales. Was that snake skin?
Frown still etched on her troubled face, Marlene came down to the kitchen. It was a homey, sunlit room with a small island covered with plates of pancakes, waffles and freshly made bacon. Things were certainly looking up. Sam was standing by the sink with a steaming mug of coffee. When he noticed Marley, he sent her a half-smile and took a sip. She quirked a brow at his fancy suit.
"Good morning, Emily," Tiffany greeted her with a bright grin, "Please help yourself to breakfast." Marlene thanked her and poured herself a big cup of coffee — ah, the devine smell of your pulse skyrocketing. She glanced at Sam and frowned when she saw him scratching his neck, "Did you sleep well?"
"Best sleep I've had in years," Marley answered distractedly, watching him. Sam loosened his tie a little, "Hey, do you guys get a lot of snakes around these parts?"
"Oh, yes. Too many," Tiffany put a plate of scrambled eggs on the kitchen island, "Why? Did you see one?"
"Uh...no," Marlene replied. Sam was getting frustrated, "No, I was just wondering."
"Don't you worry, Emily. They're all pretty harmless," the girl assured her, "Could you watch the pie in the oven? It's for Meghan's school fair. She's going to kill me if I burn it and I gotta get some more flour from the pantry."
