by Amy Sumida
“I'm going to cut you into pieces and dance over your body,” Lilith declared. “Isn't that what your people do? Dance over corpses? I've been waiting for a chance to try it. I hear it's all the rage.”
Dhumorna screeched and brought both of her remaining arms together—one of them hand-less—toward Lilith's throat. But the Mother of Demons was fast; she moved so quickly that I could barely track her. One second, she was before Dhumorna and the next, she was behind her. Slice; there went the last arm that held a dagger. Now, Dhumorna was down to one arm with a stump. At least her scalp had healed and there was a nice growth of stubble on her head.
I edged over to Katila and picked up his heart. This show was too good to watch without a snack. I started munching on the tenderized meat as I rejoined our group. Odin glanced at me and rolled his eyes, but the rest of the men were too fascinated by the fight to pay my eating habits any mind.
Dhumorna wasn't. She glanced over and saw me feasting on her son's heart and went wild. Dhumorna turned away from Lilith and ran for me; her stump-arm extended. I have no idea what she thought she was going to do with it, but you gotta admire her gumption.
Lilith laughed as she severed that final, pathetic arm, and Dhumorna dropped with the blow. She came to a skidding halt in front of us and flopped around; trying to get to her feet. The blood from her wounds was making it hard for her.
I took another bite.
“I will regrow my limbs and kill you all!” Dhumorna vowed. “I will have my revenge just as he promised me!”
“Can she do that?” I asked Odin.
“Hell if I know,” Odin said. “Anything's possible.”
Anything's possible. Yeah; Katila had taught us that.
“No; she can't. She won't have the chance,” Lilith declared as she kicked Dhumorna onto her back, tore open her chest, and yanked out her heart. “Here, sweetie; have a fresh one.”
Lilith tossed me Dhumorna's heart. I caught it and threw the mangled one over my shoulder.
“Thanks!” I exclaimed. “You sure you don't want a bite?”
“Nah; I don't like to dance and eat.”
As I set my dragon teeth into my new treat, Lilith proceeded to dance on Dhumorna's corpse. I cocked my head at her. It looked awkward, but the demoness was doing exactly what she'd vowed to do.
“I should have made him beg,” I muttered.
“Minor mistake,” the Wolf said sympathetically. “You beat Eros with his arm; remember? You keep your vows”—he cast me a lopsided grin and a wink—“most of the time.”
I elbowed him and huffed, “I fixed it, didn't I?”
“Yes, you did, Mate. Even better than I hoped.”
Lilith finished her jig, put her deadly fists on her curvy hips, and stared at her husband in satisfaction. She was covered in blood and amazingly beautiful. Samael must have thought so too; he rushed forward, kicked the flattened corpse out of the way, and pulled his wife into a wild kiss.
I sighed as I ate Dhumorna's heart. It was so romantic. Chomp. Love, sweet love. Chew. There was nothing like the aftermath of a battle to stir the libido. Bite, chew, swallow, lick. I absently enjoyed the bloody heart of my enemy while I watched God's Wrath make-out with the Mother of Demons.
“I wonder who she was talking about?” I mused with my mouth full.
I know it wasn't very ladylike but what can you do when your dragon takes over?
“Which 'she?'” Azrael asked.
“Dhumorna,” I clarified. “She said she'd have the revenge he promised her. I wonder who the 'he' is.”
“Probably her son,” Azrael said with a scowl that said otherwise.
“Maybe,” I agreed. “It just sounded odd to me.”
I took another bite of Dhumorna's heart as I contemplated her last words. Last words were important; I've learned to pay attention to them.
“Lala, could you stop that, please?” Re asked as he looked pointedly at my bloody hand.
The heart was gone, but it had been finger-lickin' good.
I looked up at my fiance in surprise; a finger still in my mouth. “Sorry,” I mumbled as I jerked it out.
“This is a part of her,” Azrael said sternly to Re. “Accept it or get out.”
I gaped from Az to Re.
“You know that I accept all that she is,” Re snapped. “But watching her eat two hearts as if they were fried chicken while Lilith hacked up Dhumorna and danced on her, is a bit much.”
“Relationships are about compromise,” I said as I wiped my hands off on the bedspread. “I can control myself if it bothers him. He just won't be the one having wild, dragon sex with me when we get home. Will he, Azrael?”
I smiled wickedly at my death angel. He had a thing for my dragon-form; it was very similar to demon forms, and Az loved him a hot demoness. Azrael grinned broadly and held out a hand to me. I took his hand eagerly. Samael and Lilith continued to suck face. The Wolf and Odin just shrugged at each other and traced home. As Azrael and I traced away too, I heard Re call after me.
“Can't I at least watch?”
Chapter Forty-Five
There was a wild party in Hell that night. The Ice Blocks were abandoned; prisoners left to be tortured without demon supervision. The Durbs—the demon suburbs—were empty, and most of Hell was quiet. Everyone was at Satan's crib throwing back hellbrew, tapping their hooves to the wild music, and generally making a ruckus that the King of Hell would normally hate. Not that night.
Lucifer Morningstar was celebrating.
“To my son and his friends!” Lucifer cried as he held his crystal beer stein aloft. “For vanquishing our foes!”
The Demons filling Luke's normally-pristine home cheered.
“To Vervain and Trevor for slaughtering the demon-killer so viciously!” Luke went on. “And to Lilith, for destroying the Destroyer of Demons!”
Everyone cheered, and Lilith held up one claw-tipped hand as she nodded in acknowledgment. Samael stood stiffly beside her, but he wasn't immune to the praise, and finally cracked a little grin. It was the first time that this particular Angel of Death had been inside Luke's home. Samael was staring around himself with morbid fascination. A demon horde dancing and drinking inside a mansion that looked straight out of the pages of House Beautiful was something wondrous strange to behold, but I think it was the Devil himself who really threw Sam for a loop. Frankly, he was surprising all of us.
Beelzebub was drunk.
It takes a lot to get any god drunk. I've lamented that fact numerous times. To start with, you need a powerful drink, and then you need to consume vats of it. Hellbrew has done the trick for me before, and it did the same trick for Luke tonight. Lucifer didn't even care that demons were using his throw pillows as their name suggested and throwing them about the living room. He didn't blink an eye when someone broke a lamp (over someone else's head). He didn't even raise his voice when Cid threw up on a Persian rug. Probably because he was throwing up right beside Cid.
“He needed this,” Holly said as she came to stand next to me and Az.
The rest of the God Squad, my Intare, and my lovers were strewn about the mansion; having a grand time with the denizens of Hell. Except for Lesya and Zariel, that is; they were upstairs in Azrael's old bedroom asleep. The little lion girls had been worn out by all the excitement very early on.
I was tired as well; I'd had my fun already and it was giving me a bit of indigestion. I should have stopped at one heart. Why, oh, why did I let Lilith peer-pressure me into eating the second one? Damn her and her enticing ways. Without going full dragon, I didn't have the right equipment to properly process my snacks. In fact, I had been contemplating taking a flight around Hell to settle my stomach, when Holly had walked up.
“He needed to puke on a carpet?” I teased her.
“I don't think I've ever seen Dad drunk.” Azrael was staring at his father as if he thought we might still have a possession problem.
“Luke's been out of his mind with worry,” Holly said. �
��He needed to let it all go. Purge.” She waved her hand at her puking husband. “But he's going to be so upset in the morning.” She giggled. “Especially when I tell him that he's the one who stained the rug.”
“He can just make a new one,” I said.
“Most of these things are actual items that we've brought in from the Human Realm,” Holly explained. “That rug is priceless.”
“Oh,” I whispered in horror as I watched Luke stumble up to his feet and start laughing with Cid.
The men wandered off, and the next demon who walked by got puke on his shoes.
“Damn it!” The demon swore. “Who hurled on Satan's rug? He's going to be wicked pissed.”
“That is Satan-puke, my friend,” another demon called over.
“Beware the Devil's bile!” The first demon called out as he shook his foot. “Anyone got a mop?”
I chortled it up with Holly. Luke was definitely going to be pissed. It's so much worse when you have no one to blame but yourself and your best friend.
“Damn, Azrael!” Carmax, Warden of Ice Block 2, exclaimed as he walked up. “I had no idea your wife was so hot.”
“We've met before, Carmax,” I reminded him.
“Not like this, we haven't.” Carmax ogled me.
I had remained in my dragon half-form for the party. Azrael and I had hurried home, informed everyone that both Katila and his mother were dead, asked one of them to contact Luke and give him the good news, and then raced upstairs to have wild, dragon-angel sex. After all the screaming and clawing were done, we'd come down to hear that Satan was having a rager. We gathered the Squad and traced straight over.
“She's a dragon-sidhe, Carmax,” Azrael said proudly.
“Yeah; I know,” Carmax said as he looked me up and down. “But I didn't know she could look like this.”
“This is her half-form,” Azrael said.
“You're a lucky man,” Carmax said with a sigh.
“I know.” Azrael beamed and puffed out his chest.
“Thank you, both,” I said. “But I think I need to shift into my full dragon form and go for a flight. My tummy's a little upset.”
“Really?” Carmax asked eagerly. “You know, Salem's outside; he'll probably want to go along.”
“Dragons flying in the sky of Hell,” Lilith said wistfully as she and her husband joined us. “I would love to see that.”
“If we can find Odin, we can have a dread of dragons,” I said.
“I'll get him,” Azrael offered. “We'll meet you out front.”
“Odin is a dragon?” Lilith asked as Az disappeared in the crowd.
“He's a shifter,” I explained. “He can take any form.”
“Hmm.” Lilith's expression went lascivious and thoughtful. “That could be fun.”
Samael lifted a brow at his wife.
“For her, of course.” Lilith smirked.
I made my way through the horde; Lilith following me and announcing to everyone that Hell was about to have its first dragon parade. By the time we reached the front door, nearly all the demons were with us. Not only did Azrael show up with Odin, but also with all of the God Squad and Lucifer too.
“You're gracing us with your dragon?” Luke asked with only a little slurring.
“Yeah; you wanna come?” I shot back.
Luke hooted. “We're flying with dragons tonight, my friends!”
The Demons cheered and a sound like thunder rolled across Hell as every last one of them spread their leathery wings simultaneously. Odin made his way over to me, and I shifted from my half-form to full dragon. He gave me a wink and ducked behind my haunches to undress. I glanced over my dragon shoulder to admire his Viking body before he shifted into a shimmering, peacock-colored version of me. Odin may not have been a real dragon, but it was close enough for me. And for Salem.
The green dragon who guarded Hell roared in delight as he tromped over to us.
“Hey, Vervain!” Salem shouted. “I heard we're going flying.”
“Well, I figured that I've flown around Faerie with you; it's about time that you showed me around Hell,” I said.
“Yay!” Salem bounced on his back legs. “You wanna come, Holly? You can ride on my shoulders.”
“I would love to,” the Holy Spirit said demurely.
My lovers divided themselves between Odin and me, and the rest of the wingless gods and lions found demons strong enough to carry them. No one was being left behind on such a momentous occasion. Even Samael and Lilith were coming along. We took to the burned sky of Hell with terrifying roars and screams; a horde of demons, three dragons, a handful of gods, a Pride of lions, two angels of death, the Holy Spirit, and the Devil.
Wings of feathers and of leather pounded the cold air as hot breath churned up steam. We were soon surrounded by misty clouds; flying to a soundtrack of wing-beats and demon-shrieks. Too bad there was no one to chase; we would have made an excellent Wild Hunt.
But this wasn't a hunt; it was a victory lap. As we circled Hell, the demons behind our dread of dragons began to sing. It was a song that would have brought chills to my skin if I were still wearing skin. There had been only one other time that I'd heard anything comparable to this music; it had been in Makhon, the Fifth Heaven that Samael rules. The Song-Uttering Choirs of twelve orders of angels had sung the Trisagion; a holy chant. It had been beautiful, but this was another type of beauty. This was fierce and free and as far from a chant as you can get. The singing of Angels moved you to tears, but the singing of Demons moved you to fly.
And so we did; we flew over Hell with the music of its children urging us on, and I never wanted to land.
Chapter Forty-Six
We did land eventually, and the party continued long into the early hours of the morning. The God Squad, the Intare, my lovers, and I stumbled home and fell into our beds; blissfully happy. Trevor even gave up his alpha spot in our bed and crawled up the stairs to his.
I woke up hours later—sunlight streaming into the room through the balcony—and turned over to find Re's golden rod stirring as well. I groaned and rolled the other way; too tired to deal with that yet. I came face to crotch with Kirill. As soon as my surprised breath hit his sensitive skin, he also rose to the occasion. That's when I realized that my head was at the foot of the bed.
Oh, well; might as well make use of it.
I woke my husband and fiance with languorous licks that led to something much more vigorous. We ended up in a tangle of relaxed limbs and sweaty skin, but when the sound of Lesya and Trevor's voices filtered down the stairs to us, we unwound ourselves rapidly and ran for the bathroom. It was one thing for her to see naked men and quite another to see them aroused around Mommy.
Kirill, Re, and I emerged from the bathroom half an hour later; showered and fresh. Odin, Trevor (he let the Wolf have control for half the party), Azrael, and Toby were eating breakfast at the table with Lesya. I'd made a larger dining table during the two days we spent waiting before trying to trap Katila in Hawaii. So, everyone could fit now. It was nice to have a meal with them together.
“Good morning, Family,” I said as I sat down.
They all wished me a good morning; Lesya being the loudest. I was too happy to tell her to use her inside voice. Katila and his mother were dead, the Demons were safe, and I could go back to enjoying my life. Maybe I could even start looking forward to my wedding. I glanced at Re, and he smiled adoringly at me. Yes; I was definitely looking forward to marrying the Sun God, Re, and then having our honeymoon. Now that everything was settled, I'd actually be able to—
“The Argentinians took Athena!” Hades declared as he hurried into our bedroom.
I closed my eyes, sighed, and tried not to scream.
“What do you mean; they took her?” Odin asked.
“I think I was pretty clear,” Hades huffed. “Athena went to speak with Orco Mamman and never returned. Alex informed me this morning. We came straight here.”
“She's been gone all night,�
�� Persephone added with a worried expression. “While we were partying in Hell, my sister was being kidnapped. I feel horrible.”
Her sister. Why hadn't I made that connection before? If Zeus was the father of Athena, Artemis, and Persephone, that made them half-sisters. Duh.
“Alex said that she left and never returned?” I asked. “He doesn't actually know who took her?”
“It must be them, Vervain,” Hades said with an exasperated wave. “It would have to be all three of them; the two mothers and the father. Those gods are far too weak to take Athena on their own.”
“Has anyone heard from Triton?” Toby asked.
Hades' eyes went wide as he turned to his wife. Persephone pulled out her phone and texted with rapid taps of her fingers. After a few minutes of anxious waiting, Sephy's phone chimed, and she read the response.
“Donnie says that Triton went missing yesterday,” Persephone announced with widened eyes.
“Damn it to Hades!” Hades declared; making us all blink.
“It will be okay,” Persephone said gently to her husband. “We'll find them.”
“She's right,” I said. “These are gods I can actually track. Someone call Torrent; I'm going to get dressed. We'll go to Orco's hill and follow her trail from there.”
“Thank you, Vervain,” Hades said with relief. “I feel awful about what I said to her.”
“You weren't the only one who told Athena to handle this herself,” I reminded him.
“I'll tell Donnie to meet us here, and we can all go together,” Sephy said as she squeezed her husband's hand.
I hurried into my dressing room as one of the guys texted Torrent. I hoped he was awake. He'd been pretty tipsy and still partying hard when I saw him last. At least he wouldn't be hung over; that was one good thing about the effects of alcohol wearing off quickly.
Within fifteen minutes, we were all downstairs and heading into the tracing chamber. Lesya was with Samantha and Zariel. Fallon, and all of the Intare who were awake were coming with us to Argentina. We weren't going to underestimate these gods again.
