“How are you feeling today?” he asked.
The more time I spent close to Lucifer, the less my body hurt. The previous night, he’d left the cabin to scope out the area, and my pain had intensified. When he came back into the house, it was better. I hadn’t told him, because he would have insisted we bind together so I wouldn’t get sick. I wanted him to choose me for other reasons.
“I’m feeling the same,” I said.
He leaned in and pressed his mouth against mine. My body melted into his, wanting to pull him closer. He slid his hand under my shirt, and I drew a breath. “Lucifer.”
Lucifer ran kisses down my neck. “I love the sound of my name on your lips.”
A loud crash came from the living room. Lucifer jumped from the bed, his member hanging out. I knew I should pay attention to what was happening outside the room, but my eyes couldn’t leave his body.
“You’re naked.”
Lucifer looked down and gave me a cocky smile. He grabbed a pair of pants from the floor, not bothering with boxers, as he headed for the bedroom door.
Another loud crash sounded.
“I don’t suppose you invited guests?” I said.
Lucifer shook his head as he pulled out his flaming sword. “Nope,” he hissed. “And whoever is out there is going to die for interrupting me during sex.”
“How do you know we were going to have sex?” I rested my hands on my hips.
Lucifer snorted. “I know we would’ve had sex. And the only reason I don’t have my tongue between your legs is because of the person out there.”
“Let’s go.” I grabbed my dagger from the floor and tried to get the image of Lucifer between my legs out of my mind.
“You like that idea,” Lucifer winked. “Don’t worry. We have time.”
I followed Lucifer as he walked out into the living room. It was still covered in ashes. The man from the night before stood there with at least ten little demons. They weren’t bright red—they were all purplish.
“Long time, old friend,” Lucifer said. “You creating a mini army?”
The cloaked man sneered and sent a bolt of purple magic at Lucifer, who held up his hand and batted it away. The magic flew across the room and hit one of the little demons. The thing cried out in pain before bursting into ashes.
“She was supposed to be locked away forever, and now she is going to ruin everything,” the man said.
“So you created mind-controlling notes, Erato.”
“You didn’t even blink twice when you read it.” Erato turned from Lucifer to me. “He didn’t even wait one day before he screwed someone else.”
His words shouldn’t have hurt so much since, since Lucifer’s mind had been under Erato’s control, but they did.
Lucifer’s jaw twitched. “You also did something to the Titans who locked her away.”
I wanted to throw the dagger across the room and take Erato out, but that would have been too easy for him. He deserved a long torturous death.
“You waited three hundred years to enact your plan?” Lucifer asked.
“If you hadn’t locked me away, it would’ve been years ago. But whatever Prometheus did to wake her up caused a rip in time, and I was able to escape.”
“You're not very good at the villain thing.” Lucifer twirled the sword in his hand. “You also look like crap.”
“This is all because of you and the ninth circle.”
“Ahh.” Lucifer’s lip ticked up. “That’s right, I put you in the experimental section.”
“You no longer have an experimental section.”
Lucifer walked over to one of the demons and stabbed it with his sword, and the little guy went up in ashes. Erato growled, but it didn’t stop Lucifer from taking out another demon. “What I want to know is, are you working with Prometheus?”
Erato took a step forward. “I would never lower myself to work with him. He’s a piece of shit.”
As if seeing how far Erato would go before losing his temper, Lucifer took out another demon. “You know, he’s the one who released Gemma. Your mind-controlling notes didn’t work very well.”
Three demons charged at me. Blood dripped out of their mouths. I flung the dagger forward, hitting the first demon between the eyes. His body disappeared in a burst of ashes. Two more. When the other demon was close, I kicked him, and he flew across the room and landed on the fireplace poker. Two down, one to go. With a somersault, I grabbed the dagger from the floor and took out the third demon.
Lucifer stood with a smile on his face, watching me. He didn’t raise a finger to help. I liked that. He knew I could handle the little fuckers, and he let me take care of them on my own. He winked at me. “You're sexy as hell with that dagger.”
“I came to tell you I’m going to take over hell,” Erato announced.
“It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just announce you're taking my job.” Lucifer’s eyes blazed red. “I’m the fuckin’ devil, and you’re some lowlife with mommy issues.”
“Leave her out of this,” Erato screamed as purple sparks came out of his fingertips.
“Aren’t you, like, a million years old? How can you have mommy issues?” I asked. It seemed like a valid question.
Erato charged across the room. Lucifer stuck out his foot, and Erato flew forward. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re not very graceful.” Lucifer didn’t wait for him to reply. He pressed his hand to Erato and chanted the language of the underground. Erato screamed under his hand. Lucifer’s eyes turned bright red as he kept talking in a language I didn’t understand.
The demons around them burst into ashes one at a time, and after five minutes, Erato slumped, and the purple spark in his eyes was gone.
“Where did you send him?” I asked.
“To purgatory, but only his soul.” Lucifer stood and dusted the ashes off his black pants.
I walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. “There should be some rule about demons showing up before breakfast.”
“I still can’t believe that idiot was the reason we spent so much time away from each other.”
“And that you couldn’t keep it in your pants,” I said. It was hard not to be angry with Lucifer.
“I have no excuses.” Lucifer walked over to the fridge and grabbed a carton of eggs and some bacon. My stomach growled. He turned and raised a brow. It was so easy to fall back into the routine we’d had years before.
“I can finish making breakfast if you want to get dressed,” I said.
“I’m good this way.” He smirked as he cracked an egg and dropped it into the pan.
He only had on a pair of dress pants, and they sat low on his hips, showing off his perfect abs. It was distracting knowing he didn’t have any boxers underneath. I wanted to strip his pants off and have him take me on the counter like he used to do.
“You know, it’s a little warm in here.” I pulled the T-shirt over my head.
I heard his intake of breath before the tank top was over my head.
“You’re not playing fair, Gemma.”
“I’m sure you never play fair, Lucifer. I like my eggs over easy, and it looks like you might be overcooking them.”
Lucifer glared before turning back to the pan. “I don’t think Erato could’ve done what he did years ago on his own.”
I was sure he couldn’t have, but I knew one thing: Erato and Prometheus weren’t working together. Once we took care of Prometheus, I could worry about who had helped Erato.
He took the eggs off the skillet and put them on a plate with the bacon. I grabbed some milk from the fridge. When I turned around, Lucifer had the stupid medicine in his hand.
“I’m not taking that shit.”
“Stop being a baby. It’s helping you stay strong until you stop denying you need me.”
As long as Lucifer was near me, I felt fine, but I didn’t want him to know that yet. I grabbed the vial from his hand and drank the medicine in one swig. “We need to h
urry up and kill Prometheus.”
He walked over and pulled me into his arms. “You know, if you would give in to me, you wouldn’t need to keep taking medicine.”
“I’m not sure how your head fits in this room,” I said. “Your ego is so large.”
Lucifer pressed his lips to mine, and I leaned into his body. The kiss was demanding and full of passion. My hunger for him increased with each second as I wrapped my legs around his waist. He rested my ass against the counter as his hands roamed over my body. When his fingers brushed my taut nipple, I almost melted on the counter.
In the distance, the song This Little Light of Mine played. Lucifer pulled back and glared at me. “Is that your phone?”
For a moment, I didn’t know what he was talking about. I was still trying to learn things. The coffee pot had been easy to learn while I was cooped up in Lucifer's room. Cell phones were still strange to me, and I didn’t understand them very well.
“Pandora set it up,” I said.
“I’m going to kill my daughter.”
I rested my head against Lucifer’s chest. “You love her. And you know she does these things to show her love for you.”
The phone stopped ringing, and two seconds later, Lucifer’s started vibrating on the counter.
“You know she isn’t going to stop until you answer,” I said.
“Why is everyone stopping me from getting laid?” Lucifer pulled away and grabbed his phone from the counter. “What?” He placed the call on speaker.
“Hello to you, too, boss,” Paxdon said through the phone.
“What do you want?” Lucifer asked.
Paxdon sighed. “You were the one who sent me to the ninth circle. You know how bad it sucks down there.”
Lucifer had taken me down to the ninth circle a few times when we were dating. A shiver ran down my spine. The heat was unbearable, but that wasn’t the worst part of the basement of hell. The screams of the souls being tortured were still vivid in my mind. I’d told him I would never go down there again, and he’d never invited me.
“And…?”
“We have a problem. Half of the demons that are supposed to be down there are gone.”
That wasn’t good. Only evil was sent to the bottom. That might mean Erato wasn’t the only one after Lucifer, depending on how tortured the others down on that level had been.
“Erato mentioned a rip in the universe.”
“Yes, and I fixed that issue. You owe Evanora for that fix. Atieno and I are going to start looking for the escaped souls. Paldon and Ryker are coming down to get the babies today. I planned to ask them to stay and help. You might owe them both a favor.”
Lucifer groaned, but his eyes twinkled at the mention of his daughter. Even though he’d been with other women, I knew he cared about his children more than anything, and I couldn’t help but press my hands to my stomach. Lucifer glanced in my direction and winked as though he knew what I was thinking.
“That’s fine. Keep me posted. You don’t have to look for Erato. I took care of him. Not sure if Fate will be happy with my choice, but he’s gone.”
A few minutes later, he hung up, stalked over to me and wrapped me in his arms. “You know I would give you a child in a second.”
I pressed against his chest. “I think you skipped about ten steps. Now, let’s get ready to go visit the most beautiful city.”
“Hell’s palace is larger and better than Poseidon's fish palace.”
“Hell’s palace is nice.” I patted Lucifer on the shoulder before turning and heading down the hall to change for the second half of our trip.
Lucifer continued to grumble. My resolve was breaking down with each minute I was around him.
7
Lucifer
I hadn’t gone to Atlantis in years. The fish pods were cramped and smelled like moldy water. No matter how many Yelp reviews I left about the service, nothing changed. The fish pod jerked forward. Gemma sat next to me, laughing and watching the colorful fish swim around us. To see her smile, I would endure the dreadful trip.
In the distance were the bright lights of Atlantis. Legend had it the city had sunk into the ocean. That was false. Poseidon had the city built underwater. He felt like it was a good way of defending it. Well, it did stop people from visiting. “Nothing has changed in years. With all this technology created, a sea horse is still pulling us.”
The horse reared and jerked the pod.
“It’s nice that something hasn’t changed.” Gemma had her face pressed to the window. She looked at every fish we passed. It was totally worth the trip, even if I might end up having to kill the god of the sea, take his palace, and give it to Gemma. Maybe that would win her over and make up for my years of not looking for her.
“Let me handle Poseidon.”
“Why?” Gemma asked, pulling her face from the glass and turning in my direction. “It had better not be because I’m a woman. I hated that years ago, and I don’t want to deal with it now.”
“I would never pull the you are a woman card. If you want to fight, go for it. Now, the fact you are the one person who could take Poseidon's powers away—that’s a different story. He’s not going to like that I brought you here. Hell, he’s not going to be happy I’m here.”
Besides the Yelp reviews, Poseidon didn’t like the fact I’d blown up part of his palace. We’d been drinking for days, and Zeus had challenged me to a fight. At the time, it sounded great. Kind of. But it was a dumb idea. We’d both been so drunk on rum that we’d destroyed a large part of Atlantis.
“If I remember correctly, he’s not that bad,” Gemma said.
“For an ancient god set in his ways!” I exclaimed.
“Aren’t you an ancient god set your ways?”
I leaned back in the leather-cushioned seat. “But I still know how to have fun. I bet he hasn’t left Atlantis in over a hundred years.”
The carriage slowed and came to a soft landing. The guard opened the waterproof capsule and let us out. We were inside the bubble of Atlantis, where it was dry. “If you follow me, I will take you to the king.”
“King of the goldfish,” I muttered.
Gemma shoved her elbow into my side. “Don’t start shit. We need him to listen to us.”
“Or we can use your powers take over Atlantis and have a new kingdom,” I pointed out.
“You’re ridiculous. Let’s get this over with.”
“Where is your sense of adventure?”
“It’s slowly dying along with me.”
I stared down at her. “You are not going to die,” I huffed.
“You can keep saying that all you want, but… my body isn’t healing. I’m tired, and Evanora said it herself. When was the last time that witch was wrong?”
Never. Evanora was the oldest witch around, and I valued her opinion—up until she told me Gemma was dying. Then I thought about throwing her into a lower pit of hell and calling it a day. “Let’s go see the self-proclaimed king of the sea. Maybe he will be able to help us figure out a way to save you and take down Prometheus.”
The guard opened a large pearl-encrusted door. It was the one that led to Poseidon’s office, the same one I’d sat behind last time he lectured Zeus and me. Neither of us had paid him any attention.
“Your Majesty, your guests are here,” the guard announced, like we were walking into an evening ball hosted by a king.
Gemma giggled next to me and curtseyed. “It’s good to see you, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t bow to him. He’s nothing but a second-rate god.”
“And you're nothing more than a playboy who brought a god killer with you,” he sneered as he turned his eyes toward Gemma.
She held up her hands. “I’m here because someone is after you.”
Poseidon rolled his eyes. “I’m a god. Someone is always after me.”
I reached out and grabbed Gemma’s hand and walked toward the large god sitting behind his seashell desk. My desk was made of bones from the men I’d
killed as they were trying to betray me. It was so much better than the seashell one Poseidon had. We sat in the chairs, ignoring the growl coming from my old friend.
“You’re not being a very good host,” I said.
“I didn’t invite you here.” He leaned back in the chair and stroked his long beard. I was a little jealous of his amazing beard, but I would never tell him that.
“I thought you would like to know Prometheus wants your powers.”
“Last I checked, we had working phones.” Poseidon reached over and picked up the phone. “Still working. A phone call would’ve worked just fine.”
“I don’t know your security. The phone line could be tapped.” Fire sparked from my fingertips. “I’m not putting Gemma in danger because you still aren’t over Zeus’s and my little fight.”
“You destroyed half my palace,” he shot back. “And I assure you, my phones aren’t tapped.”
Gemma sat forward in her seat. “Poseidon, I know you don’t like me because of my powers. But someone is after the gods.”
“How do I know it’s not you? If anyone has an ax to grind, it would be you, since you were held in the catacombs for so many years.”
Flames shot from my fingertips, causing the paper on Poseidon's desk to catch fire. “You knew they were going to lock her away for years?”
Poseidon poured water on the paper, and lightning blasted from his trident. “She stole powers from a Titan. We couldn’t have someone going around being her own judge.”
“She didn’t—”
Gemma placed her hand on my arm. “Poseidon, whose powers do you think I took?” she asked.
He leaned back in his chair. “You tried to take Mnemosyne’s powers but failed. That was when the gods met and decided to lock you up.” He glared at me. “You were there that day. How could you be around someone like that after hearing what Mnemosyne went through?”
“There wasn’t a meeting.” I pinched my brow. “Think back to that day. Do you remember how you got to the meeting and where it was?”
Fated Mates of the Underworld, Books 1-3 Page 32
