Grim (Death's Apprentice Book 1)

by Scarlett Snow

  The screaming stops when the demon smashes one of the heads in the face. He bellows, and they all fall silent, their eyes rolling in their sockets. They’re looking at me, and I think they’re trying to warn me away.

  Not today, Satan. I have a job to do.

  I walk toward the gate and reach out, but it opens on its own. The demon beside me grunts in surprise. Apparently, he’s impressed. I walk forward, trying not to hesitate and doing my best not to trip. I’m nervous. The feeling of evil and dread is so thick that it’s leaving an unpleasant taste in the back of my throat. I know I’ve made a terrible mistake coming here alone, but I can’t back out now.

  I step through the gate and find myself in a vestibule, one that hadn’t been visible before. It looks a lot like a church, but the floors are made of black marble and the walls are similar to the caves. More black marble ribs hold up a vaulted ceiling, painted with lurid images of the seven deadly sins in action. Lust is particularly…shall we say…eye-catching. I don’t think they make penises that big in reality, and if they do, I don’t want them anywhere near me. The one sported by the painted devil in the picture would be fatal and probably hit the back of my teeth.

  Ahead of me, a set of double doors await. They have elaborate stained glass insets, really first-class workmanship, but they show a goat’s head in an inverted pentacle and depictions of wreaths of fire. The bottom pane shows that the fuel for the fire is human souls, blackened and in tortured positions.

  Well, isn’t that cheerful.

  The doors open with a sound like a thousand whispers. As they move smoothly out of the way, they reveal a cavernous hall with a dais at the far end and a crimson chandelier dangling from the ceiling. On the dais is a throne made of jet and precious jewels, and perched casually on top…

  You know, I thought Death was handsome. The man crowning the throne is even more devastatingly beautiful, with thick dark hair and the most piercing golden eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s wearing an immaculate black suit, just like Death always does, but he’s not wearing a tie and his shirt is half unbuttoned, displaying hints of smooth bronzed skin.

  He has the most enormous wings I’ve ever seen. They’re leathery, like a bat’s, and almost ombre in color, running from black at the ribs to dark dove gray closer to his body. His toned, wide-shouldered, broad-chested, muscular body. He’s sitting with his long legs crossed, his elbows on the arms of his throne and his hands together, fingers steepled beneath his chin. Everything about him is sexual, alluring, and dangerous. I can feel myself getting wet with sweat and, honestly, wet in lower places. I have never been one of those girls to go wild for bad boys, but this guy could inspire me to make an exception.

  I give myself a quick mental kick. Of course he’s attractive. His business is temptation and seduction. Fifty bucks says his real face is nowhere near as nice and is probably that of a goat.

  Clearing my throat, I march toward him with my head held high. The demon escort follows, slithering along the floor only to grovel at the feet of his king. The man on the throne smiles as I approach.

  “You must be Death’s new apprentice,” he states calmly, and his voice is the most panty-dropping thing I’ve ever heard. It’s not husky like Death’s, but it’s deep and resonating.

  Dang it.

  “And you must be Lucifer. Charmed, I’m sure.”

  Score! I sound calm. I guess I’m a better liar than I thought I was.

  Inwardly, however, I’m not calm. I’m scared to death, and more than that, I’m furious. This jerk has a lot to answer for.

  He spreads his arms out to the sides. Even his hands are sexy. “In the flesh.”

  “Well then. I’ve got a bone to pick with you, buster.” I storm right up to the dais, pausing just below the first step that leads to where he’s sitting.

  Lucifer looks down at me in amusement. “Really? Do tell.”

  “What do you think you’re doing, interfering with the natural order of life and death?” I growl at him, puffing my chest and wings out as far as I can. “Death said you had a truce with him and you broke it.”

  My anger bubbles up to the surface, burning my fear away. I glare into his stupidly beautiful face and point at him. “How dare you come killing innocent kids?”

  Annoyingly, my grandmother’s voice pops into my head. You mustn’t point. It’s rude. I keep pointing anyway. If there’s anybody I should be rude to, it’s the Devil.

  “I assume you’re referring to the inability of your employer to match his lists.” Lucifer smiles. “That’s what he gets for sending underlings instead of doing his job himself.”

  “Well, he can’t go to earth, so he has to send us,” I defend. It never occurred to me until this moment that he didn’t answer me when I asked him why that was. “And that’s beside the point. We’d be matching those lists if you weren’t sending your demons to interfere, and you know it!”

  He laughs. It’s the filthiest, sexiest laugh I’ve ever heard, and my body shivers at the sound. The shivering isn’t from fear, believe me.

  “You’re very brave, Sacha Elizabeth Grey,” he purrs.

  The way he says my name makes me nervous. It’s almost like he’s gaining power over me by using it, and I remember hearing somewhere that names have power. The fact that he knows my full name is disconcerting, to say the least. Then again, he’s the Devil. What did I honestly expect?

  I lower my hand from his face, but keep frowning at him. “Thank you. I think.”

  “And very foolish.” He tilts his head and peers at me as if I’m a fascinating new curiosity. His eyes, now those of a snake, gleam like freshly polished brass. “What did you think you would accomplish by coming here in this way?”

  That’s a very good question. I wish I knew the answer myself.

  When I speak again, I don’t sound nearly as calm as I did before. He’s getting me flustered and he knows it. “I expect that you’re going to stop interfering.”

  “Because you asked me to?” he asks, smirking.

  “Well…yes. Because you have to stop, because you’re violating a truce and you’ve got no right…”

  This time, he laughs out loud. “Indeed! And what right have you to speak to me this way?” His face goes cold, and the look in his eyes is terrifying. “Kneel to me like the inferior being that you are.”

  “I’ll not your inferior. I’m just a dead girl who’s about to kick your ass.”

  How I’ll manage to do that, I have no idea, but I hold my head high. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cower.

  The demon who brought me here shoves me forward. It feels just like it did when I got hit by that bus. I go flying, and I end up landing in a graceless heap at the devil’s feet, struggling to breathe with my wings wrapped around me.

  Lucifer reaches down and grabs my chin in his hand. “You’ve come to a place where you have no authority and no power.” His voice is superficially calm. “You have overstepped your boundaries, and I would be within my rights to take your miserable soul and feed it to my demons here.”

  The demon behind me hisses and rattles.

  I try to pull away, but Lucifer is holding me painfully tight. His gaze bores into mine, so deep and wrenching it’s like he’s intruding into my soul. I wish I could look away, but I’m pinned, held captive by his stare.

  “So what’s stopping you?” I manage, thankfully sounding angry instead of petrified.

  He releases me. “Perhaps I will. But not today.” He sits back in his throne and regards me with a smile that is anything but friendly. “Perhaps it’s about time I had a little fun with you. After all, you went through all this trouble to come here and propose such ludicrous demands. Would you like to hear my answer now, little pet?”

  “I’m not your pet,” I snap, baring my teeth at him.

  “This is my kingdom,” he drawls, tugging his lips into a sinister grin. “You’re whatever I tell you to be.”

  He stands up from his throne and gives me that
mocking smile. “I don’t respond well to ultimatums, as you may know. My refusal to accept such a thing from the Higher Power is how I ended up here.” He spreads his hands out to indicate the throne room. “Not bad, I suppose. And as the saying goes, better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven. Do you think that’s true, Pet?”

  I don’t know what to say, so I stay silent, worried I’ll dig myself into a deeper hole. Lucifer strolls over to the demon who brought me here and actually strokes it on its head like it’s a big ugly dog. It purrs again.

  “Tell her that it’s not so bad down here,” he coaches his demon. He glances over at me. “You know, I can smell him on you. Death.”

  That takes me aback. Except for when he carried me to bed, I don’t think I’ve ever been that close enough to Death to get his scent on me—not that I would have minded. Besides, I’ve showered and changed clothes since then. How can I still smell of him?

  He casually leans against the black brimstone wall, his arms folded, as if he isn’t the ruler of Hell and busy scaring the stuffing out of me.

  “He’ll want you back. He’s ever so precious about his apprentices. But now that you are here, I don’t think I want him to have you.”

  I finally find my voice. “Why not?”

  “Let’s just say that we have some history, Death and I, and there are things I need from him. Or he needs from me.” He laughs at his own private joke. “One of those.”

  “Well, if you have a message for him, I’ll gladly pass it on.”

  “Oh, no. You came all the way here. The least I can do is make you comfortable.”

  He snaps his fingers, and in the blink of an eye, a gold collar latches itself around my neck. A long slender chain connects me to the foot of his throne, giving me enough room to move but not to escape.

  “Isn’t that what humans do to their pets? Put them on leashes?”

  With my body restrained, all I can do is glare up at him.

  Coming here was probably the worst decision I could’ve made. I thought I would get some answers for Death, maybe even take the demon with me for interrogation. When I saw he’d taken me to Hell, I simply took advantage of the situation, considering there was little else that I could do.

  Now I’m Lucifer’s pet.

  “So what,” I growl at him, “are you gonna make me drink from a dog bowl?”

  His eyes gleam with wicked intent. “Only bad girls get those kinds of privileges. Are you a bad girl, Sacha Grey?”

  Those words give me a strange shiver. It trembles down my spine and into my toes. There’s something so inexplicably familiar about this man.

  Devil.

  Fallen angel.

  Secretly half-goat monster.

  Whatever he is. I just can’t put my finger on how he looks and sounds so familiar.

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to call me Sir…to begin with,” he adds with a wink, then he swings around to address one of his demons. “Kaross, take care of our new guest. She’ll be staying here for the rest of eternity.”

  With that, he flies out of the hall, and a pack of his demons slither after him.

  Kaross, a monstrous tiger demon with a blind eye and chunks of fur missing from its matted gray coat, saunters toward me. It growls, showing its sharp, blood-stained fangs, and sprawls out at the other side of the throne.

  When I attempt to loosen or pull the collar on my neck, I receive various growls from the demons around me, and the tiger chuckles.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” it warns.

  I unlock my fingers from around the collar and glare at the mutant beast. “Or what? He’ll chain my hands?”

  Another chuckle, and every feather and hair on my body stands on end. I slump against the chair and rest my chin on my knees. I’m exhausted, confused, and admittedly a little frightened.

  “What does he want with me?” I mutter, trying hard not to focus on the monsters slithering along the cave walls. “Just to sit here and look pretty?”

  “You’re wise for a human,” the creature drawls. “Rare for your kind.”

  I peer over the armrest at Kaross. “You mean, I’m right?”

  “Somewhat. I hope you enjoy your new cage, angelbait.”

  This doesn’t make any sense. I stare down at my feet, frowning. He wants to keep me here as if I’m a limited-edition porcelain doll.

  “Angelbait,” I whisper, repeating the name through my mind.

  Then it hits me.

  The high school, the demon, Lucifer…

  “I was brought here as bait,” I whisper to myself, scarcely able to believe the words unless I hear them from my own lips. “Lucifer never wanted me or any of the others. He wanted Death, didn’t he?”

  Kaross huffs but he doesn’t say anything. My heart hammers against my ribcage as realization continues to threaten me with hysteria. I feel like such a stupid, naive idiot. I fell right into Lucifer's trap.

  Death, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to Gabriel. To you. Please forgive me.

  He doesn’t reply, so I can only hope that he heard me.

  The doors open again, and Lucifer saunters in, grinning like a Cheshire cat. In one rapid swoop, he’s at my side. His brimstone scent invades my senses, making me dizzy.

  Seizing my chin again, he forces me to look into his eyes. “A little birdie told me that you dance. Is that true?”

  I want to tear my face from his grip, but the last thing I should do is annoy the monster keeping me alive.

  “Danced. Past tense. I gave that up when my dad walked out and left my family without a cent.”

  He leans in, bringing his nose inches from my own. “Admirable.”

  “What does it matter?”

  He lets go and straightens, his powerful body towering over me. On the floor around him, his shadow stretches in all manner of directions, drowning everything within his radius.

  “I want to see you dance.”

  “Are you asking or demanding?” I just manage to suppress a laugh, unable to comprehend what’s happening.

  “I’m suggesting you do as you’re told. I can be a very generous master to my pets. I can also be cruel.”

  “Pets?” I spit out. “More like bait. You’re only keeping me alive so that Death will come here to get me. That’s if he does. I’m just his apprentice, after all. He has another one to spare.”

  “So you have finally accepted your role then? You were having a lot of doubts to begin with.”

  “How do you kno—”

  “I know everything, Sacha. I know how fond you are of Death and how much you crave his lips pressed to that beautiful mouth of yours. I also know that your heart skips a beat whenever I look at you. You crave me, too. It’s inherent.”

  “Like hell do I crave you!”

  Those words are as good as an insult.

  Lucifer chuckles, the sound dark and ominous. “You’re already in Hell, sweetheart. I suggest you get used to that and start doing as I say. Or I’ll have to punish you.”

  With a flick of his hand, the chain linking me to his throne disappears. Unfortunately, the collar remains locked around my neck, the gold digging into my flesh.

  “Punish me? Is that like a sex thing or something?”

  Another chuckle, this time laced with dark conviction. I expect him to say something else but he doesn’t. He simply gestures a hand to the center of the room. Every demon in the room falls eerily quiet. No more laughing, rattling, growling, or that creepy hissing noise that they make. All eyes are on me and Lucifer.

  I hate that I got myself into this situation.

  I hate that I never listened to Gabriel.

  I hate that Death will probably have to come here and save me, unless I can find a way out beforehand. I’m surrounded by the fires of Hell. I don’t know if there is a way out, but I’ve got to at least try.

  First, I need to distract my host.

  And dancing is as good a distraction as any.

  Lucifer drops ont
o his throne and watches me as I walk to the middle of the floor. I haven’t danced in over a year. Let’s hope I don’t blow it. My life could literally depend on this.

  Kicking off my heels, I take a deep breath, and I dance as best as I can in this stupid skirt and a pair of wings attached to my back. It takes a moment for the steps to feel natural again, but when they do, I’m at school, lost in the dance studio, just me and the music. Nothing exists anymore. Nothing else matters. I do one of my favorite routines; I can do the steps blindfolded. I usually do, but closing my eyes will have to suffice down here. So will playing the music in my head.

  I’m in a confining outfit and don’t have my pointe shoes, so I can’t do the variations exactly as I learned them, but my muscle memory kicks in. The names of the steps scroll through my head. Pas de bourrée. Chaînés. Pirouette. Arabesque à la seconde.

  When I open my eyes, a swirl of blue fire crackles through the air above me, before disappearing into a puff of smoke. I gasp, trying to catch my breath, as my body trembles with adrenaline.

  Leaning forward in his throne, Lucifer’s incinerating gaze is latched on me. Hungry. Feral. Filled with an unspoken, animalistic lust.

  His intense gaze strips me of any false bravado that I was previously hiding behind. It’s like he’s a predator who’s just caught wind of his prey, and he’s plotting how to move in for the kill.

  A sudden vulnerability creeps over me. I avert my gaze to the floor and struggle not to squirm under his cold perusal. The silence is so deafening that all I can hear is my own heart racing.

  And then Lucifer is standing in front of me, and he’s touching my face, brushing his fingers down my flushed cheeks. My breath hitches. His touch is hotter than fire—hotter than sin itself—yet it’s giving me shivers.

  Why am I getting so flustered? This man…this creature is the definition of evil.

  Lucifer trails a long finger to the edge of my mouth. “I see now why he chose you. He would have been a fool not to, given your ability.”

  My ability?

  I glare up at him, refusing to let him see that he’s getting to me. “What can I say? I’m a rare catch.”