Gage rolls his eyes. “We don’t really have any control over her, so don’t thank us.”
His head cocks. “Her?” Lamar asks, his tone going confused as all the guys stiffen. “The protective spirit is an actual being? And you can see her?”
He takes a wary step back as he studies them, and Jude’s lips tighten as Gage mutters a curse.
“I should return to Manella,” he says, a curious look in his eyes as the expression on his face worries me. “Beware of the riddles. Don’t treat them with no importance,” he reminds them, then turns and walks away.
He moves through the crowd, and I watch him as Gage runs a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Way to slip,” Ezekiel bites out.
“Fuck. I have no idea how I did that,” Gage says under his breath.
“What does it matter if I’m a girl instead of an it? Is hell sexist? Do they know it’s the twenty-first century topside?”
Lamar gets close to Manella’s ear, whispering something I can’t even hear. Manella’s eyes immediately cut toward us, and Kai curses as he looks away.
“And he just told Manella. Guess that gratitude only extends so far,” Kai growls.
“Not sure why you’re surprised,” Jude drawls.
Manella looks wary and surprised as he moves through the crowd like he’s searching for someone.
“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with me being a girl?” I ask absently.
The crowd parts enough for me to see who Manella is talking to, and my heart stumbles when I see Lucifer. He doesn’t look this way. He doesn’t even react other than to smile like he has a secret.
When his eyes do come up, it feels like he’s staring directly at me, though I see no recognition, and his eyes skip over me, searching around the four of them like he’s trying to pinpoint my location.
“The devil looks intrigued,” I grumble. “Someone please tell me what I’m missing and put me out of my misery.”
Jude blocks my vision, stepping in front of me. “Lamar has a lot more knowledge of the heirs and their powers. He figured out something we’ve been piecing together, but now we’re certain of it.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“That Lilith couldn’t have created an actual being. I don’t even know if Lucifer can create something like you,” Gage answers.
A chill slithers over me as I look back over to Lucifer, seeing him moving this way.
“Then what am I?” I ask so quietly that I’m not sure they hear me.
Regardless of whether or not they heard it, they can’t answer since the devil is now standing near us.
“I’m glad to see you boys in one piece. I trust there have been no further incidents?” he asks conversationally.
“No.”
The four of them bow at the waist, and I try to think of ways to calm down before I kick their asses for not addressing him as king or Your Royal Evilness or something, damn it. He’s so not the guy you want to offend.
He doesn’t seem to even acknowledge the misstep though.
“You can stand,” he says absently. His eyes land on Jude’s for a brief moment before flicking between all four.
“He’s really good at guessing about liars, and it’s not good if he suspects you of a lie,” I decide to remind them.
Jude’s lips twitch, but it happens so fast that I almost wonder if I’ve imagined it.
“Oddly enough, I couldn’t find any proof of power when I finally managed to find your very thin files. The only information I seem to have on you is your address and your soul count. I’m not even certain how you obtained your weapons.”
Gage doesn’t even bat an eye as he answers. “We were tested when we were summoned on the day our powers manifested. Damnedest thing happened, though. I think it must have been performance anxiety.”
“Why would you be a smartass to the fucking devil?” I groan, wishing I could slap the hell out of him.
Gage’s lips tug at one corner, but like Jude, he wipes it away before I can be certain.
“I see,” Lucifer, eerily amused. “During forty-seven summons all four of you had performance anxiety?” he adds, returning the smartassery with a touch of fuck-you-little-turds.
“It’s a problem. We’re working on it,” Kai says in an assuring tone.
“Just so you know, I’m almost positive I can’t protect you from the damn devil,” I point out.
I’m going to kill all of them.
Still, Lucifer manages to maintain his humored expression.
“I only got a glimpse of two of you, and I’m not certain what you did. Care to try and explain it to me? Because I quite feel like you’re being underutilized and pointlessly tested in these trials.”
“There’s not any real way to explain it, since we’re not entirely certain what we’re doing,” Jude says with a shrug. “We just know how to kill. We like it topside, but we’d like to earn access to this plane as well.”
“I’m sure you would,” Lucifer says, stroking his jaw thoughtfully. “It’s the best of both worlds to remain topside with all the perks of hell. Clearly if you had too much power, we’d have to bring you down below, since it’d be against our law to leave that much of the world unbalanced with dark influence.”
“We never really died, so we have no dark influence, since our souls are still whole,” Jude immediately points out.
Lucifer actually looks both surprised and intrigued by that confession. “Well, that certainly is another kind of imbalance, but not one that breaks any laws. And a very interesting turn of events,” he goes on, his grin spreading.
The guys weirdly seem to be tenser now that the devil seems pleased.
“But I’m afraid I do need to learn what your powers are so we can categorize you. If for any reason you’re stronger than you should be on the surface, I’ll take into account you have no dark influence. I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement.”
They all look wary now.
Lucifer gets closer to Jude, the amusement falling from his face so smoothly, as though it was an illusion all along despite how genuine it appeared. The ease of the transition chills me to the bone.
“The thing is, you somehow penetrated the notoriously impenetrable chest of a guard. Not that you’d know that. Surface guardians aren’t privy to such knowledge, which is why you never once thought about exposing yourself.”
Jude’s jaw tics, but he remains a stone, keeping his eyes on Lucifer.
“Then you turned him to dust. They didn’t regenerate,” Lucifer goes on.
A prickling blanket of dread slips over me.
“That sort of power is very high level. It rivals Lamar’s, and he’s a very old immortal who has spent a large amount of time letting his power grow under the influence of this world.”
Lucifer gestures around, as though reminding us we’re surrounded by very powerful people who’ve been drinking the hell juice and getting stronger for a long time.
“And you don’t even have access to here yet. Makes a person wonder just how strong you’ll be if you succeed,” he says, then steps back.
His smile returns like it never left, and his face is deceptively light and amused once again.
“I’ll eventually learn just how you managed to do that.” His eyes flick to Kai’s. “And I’ll learn what you did as well, since that’s quite the mystery that intrigues me even more.”
Kai’s fists tighten beside him, and I press my hand against his back as though I’m trying to calm him down.
“You can’t punch the devil in hell. Get him topside. I heard he can die there,” I tell him, patting his back now.
The tingles make me want to turn whole, so I withdraw my hand. My job is done anyway, because Kai’s unclenched his fist, and a smirk toys with the edges of his lips.
“Good luck in the trials, in case I don’t see you before then. And enjoy the party,” he says, gesturing around, his smile growing as he starts backing up. “Hell is known for its parties.”<
br />
Two girls immediately join him, one for each arm, and he grins as he turns and walks away. Several really stunning women walk by in their lingerie or just completely naked.
I’m not really sure why I’m just now noticing this.
“So help me, after how you jerks treated me over Neal last night, if any of you try to have sex with some really hot hell girl, I will let you die,” I decide to point out. “I might even push you into a giant centipede’s mouth to see if you turn into one after transition.”
Kai shakes with silent laughter, but he ends up voicing a groan.
“Why did we use our powers?” he asks.
“It felt like I had to. I was just going to punch them,” Jude bites out.
“I was going to slam them into each other and knock them out. Instead, I killed them,” Kai tells him, clapping his shoulder.
“So we can thank you two uncontrollable hotheads for the unwanted exposure,” Ezekiel growls.
“How were we supposed to know the guards are that resilient? There was very little information on them available to us,” Kai points out.
“I’m assuming you don’t want them knowing about your power because it’s too strong to be topside? Like the devil hinted at?” I ask.
They give me a wary look.
“The devil already knows. I highly doubt I’m more of a threat to you than him even if I am out to get you,” I say on an exasperated breath.
“It’s not that,” Ezekiel says, looking around us, reminding me we’re not exactly draped in privacy.
They start smoothly moving through the party, and they make their way into a bathroom. Ezekiel checks it, and I hop up on the counter as he proceeds to investigate every stall.
He closes his eyes like he’s concentrating, and then his eyes open as Kai locks the door.
“Nothing in here to listen in,” Ezekiel says.
Gage turns his attention to me. “Partially. We sure as shit don’t want to live here full time. It’d get old. And though the parties are lavish and much more fun than the clubs, things are twice as lethal down here than up there. The ones strong enough to kill us are given limited amounts of time when they can be topside unless in mortal form.”
“Mortal form?” I ask.
“They can be born into the world as a mortal if they’re important enough or blessed by a royal, and they live until they die, then they bypass transition and return to their form that has been preserved in hell,” Kai explains.
“Awesome,” I state dryly.
“They’re not as powerful in mortal form, but it doesn’t really matter. They can’t legitimately die, so they live a fast-paced, rock star sort of existence until they get sent back to hell,” Ezekiel tells me.
“I think we’re telling her a little much now. Half of this stuff is among the things we learned from Harold just last year,” Jude growls.
They ignore him, much to my surprise.
“If we’re topside, we’re among the most powerful there on a full-time basis. Better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond when it’s a game of life and death,” Gage continues.
“But we’re getting stronger, and we have no idea what we’re doing some of the time,” Kai says quieter.
“Now you’re definitely telling her too much,” Jude snaps, looking at them like they’ve all gone mad. “Just tell her the part she needs to know and stop sharing the details we never agreed to discuss.”
“Why are you getting stronger?” I ask, even though I think I already know.
“It seems to happen every time you ‘level up,’” Ezekiel says, his jaw tightening a little as I take a step away from him.
“That’s why you didn’t want me gone,” I say more to myself than them, looking down at the sink. “That’s why you closed the books when I tried to read them, and why you got jealous about Neal, and—”
“Neal had nothing to do with the equation. That was uncontrollable blind-rage jealousy,” Ezekiel interrupts, shrugging unapologetically when I look over at him.
“You never really wanted me there. You just wanted the power boost.”
They look at me like they expect me to cry, when all I really want to do is just walk out. Swallowing my pride, since I don’t have a hell of a lot left, I just nod.
“Alright then. So how big of a boost did you get after I reached this last level?”
“Haven’t tried it out yet,” Kai tells me. “We’ve been recovering from our stint in Hell’s throat and trying to conserve all our energy for the trials. It drains us to use too much, and the soul stones drained us in general.”
Jude throws his hands up and walks out, slamming the bathroom door behind him.
“I’m not hearing anything so top secret right now. What’s his problem?” I ask. “I’m the one who should be walking out and slamming a door. The four of you know how much I care about you, no matter how hard you deny it, and you act like it’s no big deal you’ve been using me.”
Yeah, that last part comes out bitter.
“First rule of hell: Don’t trust anyone you don’t share a bond with,” Kai says with a sardonic smile. “Yet, as you already pointed out, the devil is already onto us. However, Jude still doesn’t want you equipped with the same knowledge we have or admitting our weakness about not knowing our true powers or reach.”
“I find it worth pointing out that Jude is the only one who hasn’t tasted her,” Gage states dryly. “And he’s the only one still keeping secrets.”
He cuts an accusatory gaze at me.
Ignoring him, I turn toward Ezekiel. “What do I have to do with any of this? What’s my connection to the four of you?”
His lips purse. “We don’t know,” he answers honestly. “It could be a cosmic perfect storm of some sort, and you could have used us an anchor to…fuck, I don’t even know at this point.”
“We need to get back out there before someone takes notice of our absence and gets too curious,” Gage says, exiting.
Kai turns and follows, and Ezekiel exits with me. I even suppress a taunting grin when he opens the door for me.
He mutters a curse under his breath when he realizes what he just did, and he walks off a little briskly.
Prickly they may be, but right now, they’re mine to protect. Nothing else matters when their lives are at risk.
Chapter 26
The party has been going for a while, and we’re still waiting on the devil to lower the boom and tell us why we’re all here.
Lucifer has been on his throne for the past hour, and occasionally his eyes land on the guys.
Lamar is standing behind Manella, who is sitting in a throne three down from Lucifer. I start to go to him, when a redhead steals my breath as she lands herself right in front of us.
The guys don’t react, but I take an immediate step closer, watching her carefully. She smirks as she runs a finger up Kai’s chest, and his fists ball at his sides.
“You four seem to owe me a favor after what I did for you, don’t you think?” she asks in a voice so seductive that I expect them to shuck their clothes immediately.
Fortunately, they don’t.
“Wait. Is she talking about me?” I ask, looking at them as she slides her finger over to Gage’s chest.
He looks really tense right now, and his jaw clenches.
“How do you plan to work that off?” she asks, her finger now moving on to Ezekiel’s chest.
“Considering you left me for dead,” Kai says, drawing her attention, “I don’t feel very indebted,” he answers her.
Oh, that favor.
Her finger pauses on Jude’s chest, and she strolls back through, dragging her finger over them again as she makes her way down the line to Kai.
I take another step closer.
Her hand slides down his chest, pausing just above his belt as she steps into him. “If I had wanted you dead, I would have let you fall all the way into the hellfire before I saved you,” she says with a little too much pep.
“So I’ll ask again; what do you plan to do for me?”
Just as her fingers start to dip behind his beltline, my anger might boil over a little overly so. In fact, I feel something leak out of me without permission—power, not anything gross. Just power.
She rips her hand back, shaking it out as it sizzles. An actual hiss leaves her mouth as she glares at Kai like he’s the one who did it.
He just smirks.
“I’ll remember that,” she growls, then stiffens as though something just occurred to her. “How did you even do that?” she asks more seriously, her sexy voice gone as a commanding echo chases her words.
“I actually did nothing. I think someone is toying with you, Lilith,” Kai tells her, gesturing toward where Lucifer is staring at us.
“Turning the devil’s daughter against the devil is so not a sound plan,” I grumble.
Her eyes turn to slits as she glares at Lucifer for a moment, then turns and stalks away. Now that I’ve noticed him staring, his hands steepled in front of his face like he just witnessed all that, I really don’t feel too smug.
I feel played.
I almost feel like this party was called to test me. Or maybe it’s to test them and I’m just being paranoid.
Cain distracts him when he leans down to say something in his ear. Lucifer nods, a new smile donning his lips as he stands.
Someone taps a glass over and over, and all eyes drift up to hell’s king as he stands on his platform in front of his obnoxious throne.
“I’ve assembled you all here tonight for a very important reason. The trials lately have gotten a little complicated due to outside interference. Clearly we have to clean house, but before we can do all that, the trials must continue.”
He takes a step down, and the crowd parts for him as he starts walking.
I lose sight of him, but I can still hear his voice as it draws closer.
“So, in an effort to keep details from leaking out before I was ready for them to be leaked, we’ve decided to change the date of the trials.” The crowd parts in front of us, and Lucifer stops walking as he stares directly at us with a smirk on his lips.
Four Psychos (The Dark Side Book 1) Page 18
