As I stepped across the threshold, I saw that it was the dancers who were sobbing, most partly dressed, almost every single one looking pale and haunted. I turned to the left and saw the reason why.
Sitting behind his desk was Roberto. Well, what remained of Roberto. His head now sat on his desktop like an oversized paperweight, his expression forever locked into one of gruesome surprise.
Someone had thrown up in the corner, probably one of the dancers. However one looked satisfied rather than horrified, so I’d start there.
“What happened here?” I asked softly. Unfortunately, even my softest voice caused humans to flinch away. Their hindbrain recognized a predator.
Whatever color that had remained in her face drained away, at least until Blue walked over.
“Blue…” she whispered.
“Candy.” His voice was neutral like he was talking to a telemarketer. Her emotions ran a bright, hot red. She had a massive crush on Blue Halloran, partly because of a past that would make any person with a moral compass ill, and partly because it was human nature to cling to the biggest, baddest alpha in the herd. “What happened with Roberto?”
She was shaking her head, her eyes wide. “The new girl came in and Roberto wanted to, you know? He does it with all the new girls. Wants to make sure they can dance good, then that they fuck as good as they dance.” Candy’s face twisted with disgust, as did mine. I made a mental note to send Roberto down a level or two when I got back to Hell. Blue lifted his chin, indicating she should continue. “Anyway, she seemed totally down for it. She hummed as she removed her clothes. Then, then…”
She shivered in her skin as she remembered, and Memphis waved a hand to calm her. “Then what?” Blue prompted.
“Then she went to climb on top, but Roberto hit her because he likes the girls to know who’s boss from the beginning. He makes us all watch him fuck every new girl to cement the lesson, you know? He is, I mean was, a sick fuck. The new girl didn’t like it. Her nails were so long, and she pierced them into Roberto’s neck and she must have got him in the jugular or something because he started gurgling blood. And then she ripped his head off, like clean off, like it was a champagne cork or something.” Her lip wobbled.
Blue lifted a hand and placed it on her shoulder. The girl looked like she was going to pass out, not from the trauma but from the joy of Blue touching her. “Thanks, Candy.”
He strode out, apparently completely oblivious to the “fuck me” vibes she was throwing out. It wasn’t hard to determine which way the Demoness left. Apparently, Roberto had guards. Given the entrails that we smattered around the room, she was in a fine rage too.
Blue was frowning. “This is not good.”
Gusion and Hope burst through the back door, laughing. Her hair was mussed and her cheeks were flushed. She looked young and happy. Well, she did until she looked around at the splatter painting that was the back entrance to the Tasty Treats Strip Club. Her mouth fell open, and she turned on her heel and fled back out into the alley.
“Don’t let her vomit on the ground. We can’t be traced back to the scene,” Blue yelled after them as Gusion ran after her.
I gave him a look and snapped my fingers. Every dead body in the room burned instantly. Even the blood on the walls dried and turned to ash.
“The rules do not apply here.”
Blue raised his eyebrows, though a touch of fear may have hid in the depths of his crystalline eyes. “What of the dancers? They aren’t going to forget that someone got their head torn off in front of their eyes.”
I snapped my fingers. Honestly, I didn’t actually need to snap my fingers, but I liked the theatrics of the gesture.
“Yes, they will.”
Memphis shook his head and walked out into the alley. Azriel grinned. “Show off.”
Chapter Three
It was surprisingly easy to trace an enraged demoness. The chaos left in her wake is similar to that of a mini-tornado. There were people lying bleeding in the street, thankfully with their heads still attached, cars had been destroyed, glass panes had shattered, and generally speaking, people looked a little shell-shocked. However, we never seemed to gain any ground, and quite frankly I was getting tired. The night was half over, and I was ready to relax.
“Call me if you find her,” I said to Gusion, who still had his arm wrapped around Hope. With that, I flashed to where the Sins were. I landed in Inferno, the nightclub that Orion opened up after the family moved to Boston. Unlike Dantes back in New York, with its circles everywhere, Inferno was a little more low-key. Except for the bar that was made of literal flames. How they ever got insurance for this place was true magic.
Sure enough, all seven of them were there, drinking in the VIP area. “Searching hard, I see,” I said, sitting down beside Pride, er, Eli. Sometimes I still referred to them as their sins in my head. So much of my happiness had hinged on these seven men and Arcadia. I owed them a lot, not that I would ever admit the debt.
“We are leaving the wild scavenger hunt to the kids. There’s enough of them to have it covered,” Lux said, tilting his beer in my direction. “Drink?”
I made a scotch on the rocks appear in my hand. “How is the search going?” Valery asked, though he was checking his watch. “Do you think they have remembered to take the cheesecake out of the oven?” He pulled out his phone and I assume called Arcadia and Ace, walking away when they answered. Eli shook his head. “So?”
I filled them in on the headless Roberto and on the debauched husband. I was quite proud of how little damage those two demonesses had done, but I guess it is all subjective. I expected them to fuck, kill and burn half of Boston. “They are being very restrained,” I told the group.
Oz leaned back in his chair and gave a booming laugh. “I guess it depends on your definition of restrained.”
Ace would say I am a little oblivious to mood, but I suddenly realized that the atmosphere in the room was a little somber. “What is wrong?”
They all looked to Eli, and he rolled his eyes. “I’ve got cancer. They are all freaking out, but it is a symptom of the human condition, no? A risk we took when we gained back our mortality. Statistically, we aren’t all going to live until we are a hundred.”
I felt his words like a punch to the heart. It was the first time that I realized I’d become… attached to these seven men as something other than a means to an end. I looked around at them, noticed the signs of age in their faces for once. How Tolliver had a good stripe of gray at his temples, the deep grooves of the laugh lines around Oz’s eyes. They were mortal now, redeemed enough to ascend, but also human enough to succumb to illness. The idea that there wouldn’t be the seven of them forevermore made me feel odd.
“Does Arcadia know?”
Eli nodded. “We haven’t told the kids yet. They’ve had enough to deal with over the last couple of years. We wanted to give them a few months of normalcy.”
“Are you undergoing treatment?”
It was Tolliver who answered. “The best money can buy. He isn’t going to die. We didn’t fight so hard for our happiness to give up one of our number so soon.”
His resolve was echoed on the faces of the others. I believed them. They escaped Hell, conquered Angels, brought Arcadia back from the brink of death with nothing but the force of their natures and love. They would do it.
“If you need anything, you merely have to ask.”
“You could always heal him?” Sam said, but I could tell he was making a joke.
I shook my head. Healing was not my purview. I could do many things with deathbed deals, but healing someone was strictly in the realm of angels. “Not unless he wants to give his soul to me again? A deathbed deal? You would be happy in Hell this time around.”
Eli shook his head sadly. “I will keep it in mind, but for now, I would rather go where the rest of my loved ones will go. Where Arcadia will go, even if I have to wait a few extra years for them to arrive.”
Tolliver made a dismiss
ive noise. “You won’t have to make any deathbed deals because you won’t get that close.”
The group went silent then, each lost in their thoughts. I put my scotch down and flashed out of the room with no warning. I flashed back to Acerezeal, my Beloved. I wanted to hold her for just a moment, appreciate her in my arms, bask in her immortality.
She was in the kitchen with Arcadia, who was still on the phone with Valery. “No, Val it isn’t cracked on top.” She stared down at the offending cheesecake. “Not crumbly or burnt. It’s perfect like always.” She smiled, though Valery couldn’t see her. So much love on her face for the former sin of Gluttony. “It’s a feast. Hopefully, the kids find the demonesses and get back here soon or I’m going to eat this entire cheesecake myself.” She frowned, and looked up at me, her blue eyes shining. “No, he just popped in here. Oh. No, tell Lux it’s fine. Come home whenever you are ready. I love you. Tell the others I love them too. Bye.” With that, she hung up the phone and put it on the bench.
I stood there, staring at the Redeemer. Arcadia was my savior, although I had never admitted as much. If she’d been a different person, a person who was willing to give up Ace’s soul to save her own, or that of her unborn children or if she’d been just a tiny bit more selfish, Ace would not be here, and I would be mad with grief. I would have brought the Apocalypse that the humans feared so much right to their doorstep. It would have been the End of Days. Arcadia, though she would never know it, had saved humanity by being the purest of hearts.
But now there was a shadow over her own happiness, and I found that I could not stand it. I strode over and wrapped her in my arms, hugging her tightly against my chest, enclosing her with my wings although she could not see them.
She hesitantly hugged me back, this woman that was no longer a girl. I tried to reassure her, but reassurance was the job of angels, not the Devil. I struck fear, made deals, sold souls. I did not promise everything would be okay. I was the Great Deceiver. I couldn’t give her false platitudes.
“Am I missing something?” Ace said, though there was no jealousy in her tone. I uncurled my arms from Arcadia anyway.
Arcadia pulled away and swiped her eyes on her forearms. “The guys told Luc about Eli’s cancer, I think.”
“Oh.”
I turned to face my Beloved. “Oh? You knew?”
She nodded. “Yes, for a while now.”
I walked over and pulled my beautiful Angel against me. “And you did not tell me?”
She snuggled into my chest, fitting perfectly there as if the Father had made us as a matched pair. “They wanted to keep it a secret for a little while longer. I would have told you if I thought the situation was getting dire.”
I made a disapproving noise at the back of my throat, and she had the audacity to laugh. “Don’t sulk. A little bit of mystery never hurt our relationship.”
I didn’t deign to respond to that outrageous statement. I wanted nothing between us; not secrets, not lies and not clothes. But I could understand the necessity for two of those things.
I looked over the top of her head at Arcadia. “I cannot help.”
She smiled at me sadly, turning back to the saved cheesecake. “I know. I know you would help if you could, Luc, you big softie. Now if you are going to stand there, ice the cupcakes.”
The aforementioned cupcakes were baby puke green and I was very sure Valery would have a heart attack when he saw the color.
“Uh, no. I should check on the search.” I looked disapprovingly at Ace. “She ripped the head of an Italian mobster. This is your doing. You should go over there and clean up the mess.”
She looked at me defiantly as she smeared green icing haphazardly on the cupcakes. Valery would definitely have an aneurysm over those.
I kissed Ace one more time and then flashed away.
Chapter Four
Rella stood in front of a bar, a line of middle-aged women wrapping around the block. The place smelled of giddy excitement and a little desperation. I could garner a lot of souls for the promise of eternal beauty, or youth, or a moment where you were appreciated and not stuck in the monotonous rhythm of life, just from spending ten minutes in that line.
There was the name of a band on a massive poster stuck to the side of the bar’s brick wall exterior. “I know these guys. Mom loved them when I was a kid. The Daymakers.”
Oh, even I had heard of them. They had blasted from the speakers around the Palace for months on end. “But why is Astixia here?”
Estrella shrugged, but she walked up to the bouncer at the front door and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was made him laugh, and he let her and her entourage in. I just went invisible because why not?
The inside of the concert hall was dim. The carpets were sticky, and it smelled slightly of old sweat and strong perfume. The room was electric, the stage lit in a dull blue light. I searched the crowd but couldn’t see any sign of the demoness.
“Let’s split up,” Romanus growled. “I’m with Estrella.” That was the least surprising thing I’d heard all night.
Charlie ended up paired with me, but I wasn’t sure if he was relieved or terrified. Charlie Mulligan still had a lot of catholic guilt that was practically ingrained into his DNA. No matter how many meals we had together, how many times I caught him fucking Estrella on my favorite pool table, how many times we drank beers together, Charles Mulligan never forgot that I was Satan. I wasn’t sure if I found it endearing or annoying.
He followed behind me as I moved through the crowd, the mass of bodies parting for me. Still no demoness.
I heard hushed whispers of a secret concert, which explained the line to get into the already overcrowded bar.
I found another vantage point and stood up behind the crowd as I searched. I could see Estrella’s flaming hair as she moved in the other direction with Romanus. Charlie stood so silently beside me that I couldn’t help but let out a sighed, “Are you okay, Charles Mulligan?”
Charlie looked at me and then back at the floor. He shrugged. “Being back is harder than I thought it would be. I want to see my family, hug them, tell them I’m okay. But I can’t. It’s like I didn’t know what I was missing until right at this moment.”
I regretted that I’d asked. I wouldn’t listen to Hope about ‘my need to be more open to others’ ever again. “You may have lost your life, but you have gotten the love of your life with you for all of eternity, and that must be some consolation, am I correct?” I let my eyes drift over the crowd, shooting looks at Charlie from the corner of my eye.
“Sure it is. Rella is my everything. You know how that is.” A statement, not a question. “It’s just like being stuck on the outside, destined to always look in. Even with Estrella’s family.”
I turned to look at this weird, complex human that had somehow become part of my world. “You are a part of my family, Charles Mulligan. Your soul and your afterlife are now mine to protect. I take that vow very seriously.” I ignored his shock and went back to staring at the crowd.
The lights dimmed, and the stage light brightened until it was an almost painful electric blue. A very familiar face wandered onto the stage in a long purple sequin dress, her blonde hair piled high on her head.
“She looks like Jessica Rabbit,” Charlie murmured, but I had no idea who that was. I could have snatched her back at that moment, but something stilled my hand. She had the crowd just as mesmerized.
“Hello.” Her voice was scratchy; English was not her first, or even fifth language. “This has always been a dream of mine. To sing.”
She cleared her throat and music began to play. She warbled out the first note and I winced. Demonesses were many things, but they were not great singers. The look of absolute joy on her face had me waving a hand over the crowd. The music from her lips would now sound like the sweetest of siren songs. It was because I wanted to save them the mental torture, of course. Not because I was going soft.
She looked up into the crowd, and I left the
flames in my eyes dance a little. I knew the exact moment she caught sight of me in the crowd. She stuttered over the words, but when I made no move toward the stage, she continued. Even Charles looked enraptured. I, unfortunately, was not subject to my enchantment and I was fairly sure my ears were starting to bleed by the time she got to the crescendo.
The music drifted to silence, and the crowd went insane. The noise was nearly a physical force as they stomped and clapped and cheered for Astixia. She looked insanely pleased with herself. She bowed low and moved off the stage.
“Let’s go,” I said to Charles, and moved back through the crowd. She would not run from me twice in one night, but I would not run that risk. When we made it backstage, Estrella and Romanus were already there, and Estrella was hugging Astixia. She turned in Rella’s arms to face me.
“I am sorry, my Lord.”
Hmm, she didn’t look particularly sorry. In fact, she looked positively giddy. Everybody was looking at me, wondering what I would do next I supposed. Technically the demonesses had disobeyed my authority, I should ensure I punished them with enough force that they never thought of doing such a thing again. Romanus had a restraining hand on Estrella’s arm, so I judged that the child of my Beloved thought I would do exactly that.
I looked at Astixia, the fear starting to creep into her eyes beside the euphoria. “Have you achieved what you hoped?”
She nodded once.
“Do you know where Icciria is?”
Astixia frowned. “She’s going to achieve her own goal.” I waited patiently for her to continue. “She wanted to do something, er, human.”
I frowned. “She wants to be human?”
Astixia looked like she was going to throw up. “No. She wants to get married to a, uh, Mulligan. If the Princess of Hell married a Mulligan, then they must be the best humans have to offer, you know?”
I did not know, and I chose to ignore the Princess of Hell title for now. “And how do you suppose she is going to achieve that?”
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 91
