by Jenny McKane
Just when she thought he had gathered them together just so he could stare at them creepily, Azrael spoke.
“I hope that you have enjoyed my hospitality,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “I assure you, it has not been nearly as much as I have enjoyed having you.”
It was all Sunny could do not to groan at the bad joke Azrael had unwittingly made with the having you part. He literally had been helping himself to pieces of all of them as they partied their nights away as his guests.
“As much fun as this has all been,” he said. “There has been a purpose. I have gathered you here to test whether or not you were the right choices for my next project.”
The grumblings in the crowd rose a little. Demons didn’t like hearing things like that or being taken by surprised, apparently.
“I have labored far too long in the shadows of the demon realm, all the mortals having been free to squander all of the riches available and their realm,” he began again. “I have been making plans, amazing plans, that will lift demons out of the dregs and into the abundance they deserve. At the same time, we will take down our enemies, piece by piece, until there is nothing left in the angel ranks.”
Sunny's throat tightened and her stomach clenched, but she made certain not to move an inch. She was gauging the reaction in the crowd. Some of the demons were nodding in approval of Azrael's words, but not everybody was. Some demons looked downright uncomfortable, and if there had not been a row of guards standing so close to the exit, Sunny would bet that they might have made a run for it. Not that the demon tree would have let them get very far. The thing was nearly overgrown and bushy with demon energy at this point, giving the limbs of the tree an eerie life of their own.
“This is not something that we can achieve without help, though,” Azrael said. “I have been diligently working to find suitable partners for this next phase of demon existence. On top of that, I have been creating the ultimate weapon in our fight against the humans in the angels. The time is drawing close to when we can unveil everything to you, and march across the veil into the mortal realm and take what is ours.”
To the demons, it must have sounded fantastic. Many of them likely did not have much interaction with humans, but had likely been raised on stories and mythic adventures of demons raining fire and brimstone down on angels and humans alike.
“There's so much to tell you, comrades,” Azrael said. “And in the next few days, you will all know everything. If you choose not to be a part of this reckoning, I do not fault you and you will be free to leave.”
Sunny knew that was a lie the moment she heard it. She knew that the demons who did not agree to go along with Azrael would end up like the dream demons, hunted down and killed. That is to say, if they were even allowed to leave the keep in the first place. Likely, they would have been dragged down to the bottom floor and placed into one of the many torture chamber cells that Plaxo had reported on. Sunny still had not seen the bottom floor of the keep, she could only rely on Plaxo's descriptions. And from what he had told her, she had no need to go visit for herself. Nothing good came from the bottom floor.
“But for now,” Azrael continued. “We have good news. Great news for our people. As you might have noticed, my daughter, Princess Selah, returned to us a few weeks ago after doing reconnaissance in the mortal realm for us. She has returned, and it is time she assumes her duties in the shadow realm.”
Reconnaissance. Sunny wondered when and if Selah had actually gone rogue. Was she a double-crossing double-crosser? She didn't seem smart enough, truth be told. More likely, Sunny reasoned, she had been on Earth trying to pursue her own methods of getting what she wanted out of the demon realm and had gone with it. But when she returned, things likely changed. Who knows what her father offered her or what her brothers told her, to make her change course. All she knew now, was that Selah was no longer to be trusted. In fact, Selah might have well become an enemy.
Azrael continued. “As the only remaining princess of hell across all the realms,” he said, “it is my daughter's duty to marry and produce strong sons to continue our line. She has agreed to this and has told me her choice in marriage. I have approved her request, and today we are here to announce Princess Selah has chosen her consort.”
Panic bubbled up in Sunny's chest. She knew what was next, and despite how much she wanted to turn everything off, to tune out the entire world around her, she could not. She was forced to listen to Azrael say the next words.
Selah’s eyes found her next and she knew the moment the demon princess spotted Sunny in the back row. The smug smile on her face told Sunny everything she already knew--Selah’s loyalties had switched again. Or maybe they were where they’d always been--to herself.
She swallowed hard and forced herself to listen to everything Azrael said. Sunny would not let her emotions right now rule out her common sense. There was still time to refigure a way out of this all and she would do it without Selah.
Azrael spoke again. “In two days’ time, my daughter Selah will wed the demon Gideon Lafayette,” Azrael proclaimed as the crowd of demons erupted in cheers.
Sunny felt tears stinging at her eyes, knowing that a possible death blow had just been struck to the plan that she and Gabriel and Eli had worked so hard to build. Selah had just taken away any chance Sunny had to get Gideon out of the demon realm with her help.
The battle lines had clearly been drawn, and Sunny was alone on one side with the rest of Hell on the other.
Chapter Twenty-Five
As further proof that Selah had not only gone off the reservation but was completely freaking bonkers, Sunny was basically put under house arrest.
“The guard is for your own protection,” she had announced and Sunny immediately bristled. Her own protection?
“And just so you two don’t cause further trouble, we’ve had wards put up against the dream demon until after the wedding,” she said with a sniff. “You can reunite with your dream demon when you return to the human realm.”
The air was sucked from the room.
“You told your father about the dream demon?” She wasn’t sure what Selah was about, but suddenly she didn’t want to say Plaxo’s name aloud in case the walls had ears. Or the tree down the hall had its ears on.
“Of course not,” she said, as though it was the silliest notion ever. Sunny felt the need to remind Selah she’d basically gone against everything she’d agreed to so far. “I warded it myself. Didn’t know I could do things like that, did you?”
The smug look in the princess’ face made Sunny want to slap the stupid right out of her, but she restrained. Not for ever, and probably not for long now, she promised herself. Her days of restraint and turning the other cheek were almost over.
Almost.
She looked around the stupid sitting room with its terrible decorations and she tried her very best not to completely melt down with the thought that Plaxo had essentially been banished from the keep when she needed him the most. He’d been sneaking through the castle at night and “un-poisoning” Gideon’s food--plates made specially for him in the kitchen. How many more days did Gideon need to get his mind free? How could she save him now if she didn’t get the antidote to him?
What the hell was she supposed to do now? How would she manage without Plaxo?
Her breathing was thin and rapid, and her eyes flicked between the two stupid demons sent to “keep her safe” and to Selah.
She had the obsidian blade...it wouldn’t take more than a cut to get rid of Selah... her fingers itched to reach for the handle. It would be so easy…
But if she did it, Sunny reasoned, every single part of the plan would be blown to pieces and there would be no recovering the mission then. Sunny would end up locked up for eternity or dead and nobody would be able to save Gideon if she did that.
Sunny needed a miracle. Or an idea. A miracle of an idea?
She lay on the bed, staring at the domed ceiling above her. Things had certainly spi
raled out of control and she suddenly was very afraid. True, she’d been nervous a few times, especially where that stupid tree was concerned, but now she was alone and under attack. What did Azrael and his creepy sons really know at this point? How much was Selah and how much was Azrael?
The questions swirled around her head and Sunny was suddenly exhausted. Strangely, completely, and unavoidably exhausted. It was the middle of the afternoon, the dual suns were high in the sky outside, and Sunny couldn’t stop her eyes from sliding shut to save her life.
This wasn’t normal. Despite normal being something rare in her recent days, she knew what was happening to her was beyond her control and just as she moved to sit up and struggle against the power pulling her under, she slipped into the darkness and closed her eyes.
Shit, she mumbled as the lights went out.
*****
Plaxo was waiting patiently for her.
“Lady Hunter,” he said with a short bow, as he normally did. Plaxo wasn’t one for hugs. Or handshakes. Or fist bumps. Hell, physical contact in general wasn’t really Plaxo’s thing at all.
“Dreaming?” Sunny asked the obvious question.
“Yes,” Plaxo nodded. “Plaxo apologizes for pulling Lady Hunter into the dream world so violently, but there was no choice. It’s easier for Plaxo to pull you here instead of him.”
“Him?”
Plaxo held up his little hand in the universal signal for “wait just a minute.” So, she did. Soon enough, footsteps could be heard coming down a set of stairs. For the first time since arriving, Sunny looked around.
“Where are we?”
Plaxo looked up and shrugged.
“Plaxo was in a hurry,” he explained. “It was an apartment Plaxo remembers from the human realm when we were hiding from seekers.”
It wasn’t the greatest option, but Plaxo must have known it inside and out to be able to reconstruct it so quickly. It was what it was. The bigger question here was who was coming down the stairs into this shared dream space.
She saw the boots before the rest of the man appeared and her heart soared. It was Eli.
A confused and angry looking Eli, but it was her friend nonetheless.
“What the hell is going on?” He growled by way of greeting. He was looking straight at Plaxo. “Did you yank me in here?”
Plaxo gave a slight nod.
“We’re having troubles in the demon realm,” he said, and Eli’s eyes shot to Sunny.
“So, this is really you?” He asked, obviously never having been yanked into a demon dream space before.
“Sort of,” she said, giving him a half-assed explanation. “The physical me is asleep in the demon realm. My consciousness is here. So is yours. That’s actually Plaxo’s physical body and consciousness.”
Eli’s eyes widened at that, a newcomer to the awesome power that dream demons possessed.
“Why are we here? What’s going on?”
Sunny drew in a long breath. “Selah’s gone off the reservation,” she began and explained to Eli exactly what had happened over the past few days.
“Shit,” he swore when Sunny was done. “I warned Gabriel not to trust her. I never liked her.”
“She’s warded Plaxo from the keep now, too,” Sunny said. “I don’t know if we’ve already lost the battle before it really started. Or how the hell I’m even going to get out now. I’m on lockdown.”
“Not totally true,” Plaxo said, his head tilted to the side. “It’s true, Plaxo felt the weak wards the princess had put up, but they aren’t strong enough to stop a dream demon. Plaxo can still come and go as he wants, but it might be harder to stay unseen, that’s all.”
It wasn’t a cure, but things were better than Sunny had originally thought.
“Explain,” she insisted, and Plaxo did.
“Plaxo simply cannot cross the wards too many times without them sending an alarm to her that they are being triggered. But Plaxo can stay unseen while there. It’s no big thing.”
Eli was running his hands through his hair and for the first time since seeing him, she noticed he looked awful.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, the alarm evident in her words. “Why do you look like crap?”
He inhaled slowly and blew a breath out. “Increased demon activity lately,” he admitted. “We’ve been getting our asses handed to us daily in the north. Gabriel said Seattle’s close to falling.”
Her heart stopped at that. Her hometown. Kitty. They were under assault?
“Camael?” The question was pretty obvious, but with all their dealings with Azrael lately, it could have been him just as easily.
“We think so,” Eli said. “It’s bad, Sunny. It’s really bad on this side. I wouldn't suggest random jumps over, either. No telling what sort of shit show you’ll wind up in if you’re weak or wounded, so keep that in mind. The war is beginning--at least that’s what Gabriel thinks.”
She opened her mouth to ask another question but was violently ripped from the dream scape before she could manage it.
Her body was shaking.
No, that was wrong. Her body was being shook. Two sets of claws were in her shoulder and she was bouncing up and down on the mattress. A garbled voice was yelling her name. No, that was wrong, too. Not her name. A name.
“Mistress Layla,” the voice said as her head bounced on the pillow under the pressure. “You will be late and the master will not be pleased with either of us. Move it.”
Sunny let out a pained groan of frustration at being ripped from the dream by this pain in the ass of a demon.
“Get off me,” Sunny growled, her eyes still closed. When Nesta didn’t immediately release her, Sunny’s anger flared to life. “Get your fucking paws off me, servant!”
Her voice was feral and Sunny hardly recognized it. She could only imagine how inhuman it sounded on the other side of the glamour. Nesta physically blanched and stepped back, the anger and aggression in Sunny’s voice new to her.
“Be ready in five minutes,” Nesta said with a sneer, recovering her unfriendliness. “You nearly missed dinner.”
To hell with dinner, Sunny thought miserably. She was surprised to see the dual suns low in the sky. How long had she been out? It seemed like just moments in the dream scape, but time had passed. A handful of time, it seemed.
Five minutes. She had to hurry to make it to another round of “let’s kill a small percentage of our dinner guests and hope nobody notices” downstairs with Azrael and the Bloodthirsty Gang. Sunny was tired. Not the same sort of fatigue that pulled her into unconsciousness under Plaxo’s call, but a soul-deep tiredness that was making moving forward with all the scheming and planning going on around her a real pain in the ass.
Never again, she promised herself, would she complain about a day spent at home on the couch with nothing to do. This pressure and high stakes was taking years off her life and she promised herself that when she returned, she would make up for lost relaxation time. Movie streaming and chilling. Sitting on the couch doing nothing all day with Gideon beside her.
No more scheming for her life and for his life and no more playing the role designed for her day after day. It was wearing Sunny thin and the constant fear and worry was making her miserable. She feared she was reaching some sort of breaking point soon.
“Deep breaths,” she whispered to herself as she zipped up the black boots that went to her knees. She was playing a part, so she’d play a part. They wanted a demon? She’d be a demon hellbent on getting what she wanted--Selah be damned.
She turned to shut the closet door and yelped in surprise to see Plaxo standing there. His small finger was up to his lips as he motioned for her to stay quiet. Right. Constant watch. They had no privacy anymore and Plaxo was supposed to be warded out. Without a word, he held out his small hand and waited for Sunny to open her palm. When she did, he dropped another vial of the crimson antidote and a small dropper.
With a stern look and a nod, he sent Sunny on her way, as if to say we
still have a job to do.
They did. And Sunny wasn’t going to fail.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sunny wasn't late, but she arrived with less than a minute to spare before Azrael and his entourage found their seats. Selah and Gideon arrived together, but Sunny noticed how uncomfortable Gideon was looking recently. He hadn't exactly jumped up and applauded the announcement of his engagement the day before, when Azrael had dropped the news in the giant hall surrounded by all of the demons present. Sure, Selah looked ready to celebrate herself and throw a parade, but Gideon had hardly reacted.
As it turned out, getting the antidote into Gideon's glass was much, much harder than it had been previously. Now that she was being scrutinized by not only Selah, but also by her psychotic brother Vitaly, having an excuse to walk past the table where the royal family was sitting was nearly impossible.
Sunny’s mission was saved by small talk.
She found herself lucky to be caught up in a conversation with a flame demon sitting beside her during the main course. He went on and on about the holdings he had in the fire realm, as though he was trying to impress Sunny--actually, as though he was trying to impress the Lady Layla, a noble demoness with a supposed fortune hidden somewhere in the northern realm. Fine-demon-dining did not include traditional ballroom dancing, thankfully, but Sunny noticed that pairings of demons would wander out into the foyer from time to time to grab more of the silver champagne together.
