His gaze narrowed and he stepped forward menacingly. His words were for Ethan only, but I was a Vampyre and heard everything. “You may be able to take me with your fists, but I could destroy you with a finger,” he whispered.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ethan replied cheekily.
“Do that.” Satan turned to his minions with a beautiful smile on his face. “Please make yourselves comfortable. Refreshments are being served in the dining room and the concert will begin in an hour.” He gathered a pale Amanda to his side and left the room.
“Bedroom?” I asked my bruised and bloody mate.
“Yes,” he replied.
As we made our way out we were given a very wide berth. Demons whispered and pointed. Several bared their teeth. Awesome. We had clearly become the new Power Couple in Hell. Unsure if that was good or bad, we held our heads high and walked out.
“I think everyone wants a piece of us,” I muttered as I avoided the wet blood on the floor.
“Yes, I believe you’re correct. Just smile.”
“Will do.” I smiled and nodded as we made our way through the throngs of Demons. The rest of the day would be tricky, but then again . . . what the hell in Hell hadn’t been?
Chapter 29
Business in the front and party in the back.
“What did you say?” Ethan asked as we entered the ballroom. It had been converted to a concert venue for the evening.
We had rested and changed after the fight exhibition. General George had returned with my Baby Demons and they loved and kissed on Ethan until he insisted we lock them in the bathroom. They were unhappy, but found the tub to be an excellent pool. I left them splashing, screaming with joy and diving off the showerhead. I’d fussed over my Vampyre and made him drink a good amount of my blood. The only remnant of the battle was a slight purple bruise along his cheekbone. Vamps had amazing healing power.
“I didn’t say anything. Wait, were you in my head?”
“Maybe,” he answered cagily.
“Get out of my head,” I snapped.
“Astrid.” He stopped me on the side of the room, out of Demon earshot. “When you let me into your thoughts yesterday, something happened. I’ve been able to see inside you ever since. Completely inside.”
My first reaction was anger, but I had let him in. Would I have done that if I knew he’d always have access, even without permission? In a moment of ridiculously mature adult clarity, I realized I would. My fear of rejection didn’t exist with him and I wanted him to see me.
“This could be an issue on birthdays and Christmas.” I grinned and he relaxed.
“I promise to stay out during the holidays.”
I nodded and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. He looked mouthwatering in his black jeans and icy blue long sleeve t-shirt. I loved the casual dress code in Hell. It was in direct opposition to the décor, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was deliriously happy in jeans, Doc Martens and a black fitted tee that hugged my body in all the right places.
“So business in the front and party in the back?” Ethan arched a brow for explanation.
“The mullets.” I pointed to the cover band setting up on the stage and bit back my laughter. “Do you see how their hair is short in the front and long in the back?”
He nodded and winced.
“That’s a mullet. Actually, those are some of the most spectacular mullets I’ve ever seen.”
They were works of redneck art. One of the band members literally had a blond crew cut in the front and stringy long black locks down to his ample bottom in the back. Another had a short spiky red style going in the front and permed purple curls flowing half way down his back. The boys were also tatted and pierced within an inch of their lives.
“Words escape me,” Ethan muttered and shook his head.
“Would you get a mullet if it turned me on?” I teased.
“No, I would not.” He grinned and copped a feel of my ass as we seated ourselves along the outside wall. We wanted to be able to scan the room and watch for unusual activity. Sword stealers seemed to like an audience and this was a big event.
“The crowds have gotten bigger,” I said as I searched for trouble. There had to be several hundred Demons here.
“Yep,” Ethan agreed. “What game is he playing?”
I wondered the same thing myself. “Do you think it’s a metaphor?”
“Come again?” he asked me, although his eyes were still on the crowd.
“The Sword. Is there an actual Sword or does it mean something else entirely?”
Ethan was quiet for a moment. “If it’s a metaphor I will kick his ass.”
“You won’t have to—that ass will be mine.”
As the room continued to fill with beautiful people I was relieved to notice that the dampening spell had been removed. My magic was alive and tingled with the need to come out. Satan arrived with his entourage. He was dressed in jeans and a Journey concert tee. I slapped my hand over my mouth and swallowed a laugh. No one was going to believe this. No one.
Amanda and the Sins, with the tagalong Dante, made their way to the front. I was surprised to see Cole. He hadn’t healed nearly as well as Ethan, but he was able to walk and function. He shot a glance of pure hatred our way and Ethan waved.
“Are you trying to turn the concert into a brawl?” I asked as I elbowed him in the ribs.
“Just being neighborly.”
That reminded me that Mister Rogers and Hemingway would be back for lunch with God tomorrow. Was it possible that one of them had taken the Sword? My brain hurt with all the possibilities.
“Let the concert begin,” Satan bellowed joyously and held a lighter over his head. The crowd pulled out their lighters and fired up. Crazy. This was crazy.
The band was actually great. Blondie in the front with the black stringy locks in the back and the big booty was the lead singer. While no Steven Perry, he was really close. If I closed my eyes and blocked out the heinous hair, it was truly enjoyable.
“Movement,” Ethan said. My eyes shot open and I stood.
Cole was moving toward an exit on the left side of the room. Greed and Dante were heading to exit the way they had entered. Shit, were they running off for more kinky icky? Their vibe was different and I didn’t like it.
“I’ll take Cole. You take Greed and the ass,” he said, already moving.
“Yep.” I slipped out behind them and quickly cloaked myself so I could stay close. They were headed to the library. I’d passed it several times, but had never been in.
“Cole was a dead end,” Ethan’s voice rang in my head. “I’m back in the Ballroom.”
“Roger that,” I said and giggled. If I was going to play a cop, I was going to use the lingo. I could feel Ethan’s eye roll. “Over and out.”
Greed and Dante were making out in the stacks. I was grossed out and out of here. I moved away slowly running my fingers along the spines of the books. The library was as massive as the rest of the Palace, but I felt more comfortable here. The magic was different, more creative, sillier, deadlier . . . Deadlier? WTF?
Still cloaked, I hightailed it back to Greed and Dante. Greed lay in a heap on the floor and Dante was nowhere to be found. I let my cloaking fall away and squatted by my cousin. She had a pulse, but there was a nasty gash on the back of her head and she was out like a light.
“Greed?” I shook her and her eyes opened slightly. She moaned and huge tears fell from her gorgeous eyes.
“I fucked . . . ,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to hear about your sex life,” I said, searching her body for other wounds.
“No,” she choked out. “I fucked up. He has the Sword.”
Dante of big nose and dick had the Sword? “How?” I ground out. I was pissed and waited impatiently for her reply.
“He didn’t believe it was real,” she panted and winced in pain as she tried to sit up. Why wasn’t she healing? “He told me to prove it and he would be mine.”
“What is he going to do with it?” He was a human. An angry dead human with no magic . . . how bad could this be?
“I don’t know,” she gasped as her bleeding increased.
“What the hell is happening here?” I asked her as I pulled my T-shirt over my head and put pressure on her gushing head wound. Thank God I’d worn a bra . . .
“I gave him my power.” She cried even harder.
“What the fuck did you just say?” I yelled. So much for it not being bad.
“It’s only for a half an hour. He promised to use it to make me come so hard I saw stars,” she blubbered.
Greedy, stupid and sex staved was a bad combination. “Let me get this straight. You gave him your power to borrow, so you could have the mother of all orgasms . . . you showed him the Sword, he took it, beat you and left with it. He basically has the instrument to kill and the power to do it because you wanted to get off. Correct?”
“Yes,” she wailed and threw herself back to the floor. “I am so fucking stupid.”
I couldn’t disagree, but I needed to stop her bleeding. I was unsure if I had healing magic, but it was worth a try. She was in for a world of hurt with her father if we all made it through this. I closed my eyes and wished her healthy and whole. I felt the magic leave my fingertips and wrap her in a warm glow. The bleeding stopped, but her strength remained weak. I supposed that would come back when her power returned to her . . . in a fucking half hour. Shit, an angry dead guy could do a lot in a half hour.
“Where did you find the Sword?” I demanded.
“Den of Iniquity,” she answered unsteadily.
Shitshitshit. It was the Sword . . .
“I’m leaving you here. You’ll be okay.”
“Thank you, Astrid. Can I ask one more thing of you?”
“Go ahead.” She personified her name.
“Would you please kill him? I’ve had quite enough and if I can’t have him, no one else can either”
I laughed. Hard. “You are all insane,” I muttered as I raced out of the library. “Completely insane.”
***
Chaos ensued.
The ballroom was a shit show of enormous proportions. Someone using magic who had no clue how to control it was dangerous. Add the Sword to the combination and it was horrifying.
Demons were dying left and right—exploding and turning to dust. Terrorized screams and frantic running made seeing where the danger was difficult. I pushed through the throngs and saw Dante on the stage. He was wailing in fear and moving his arms wildly. He held the Sword and paced erratically. OMG, he had caused this and couldn’t stop it. He shrieked at the Sword and covered his eyes with his hands to avoid the massacre his avarice and stupidity had spawned.
The Guards had surrounded Satan in a protective wall, but even they were exploding and turning to ash. Satan’s lips moved and I knew he was chanting a spell, but time was of the essence. I spotted Ethan and Cole. They were removing Demons and tossing them to the exits. Their animosity forgotten, they worked together like a well-oiled machine. My relief that he was okay was profound, but I had a Sword to retrieve and a psycho to stop.
Too many Demons blocked my path. I hadn’t wanted to show all my party tricks to the population of Hell, but emergency bred necessity. I jumped and flew to the stage, landing and tackling Dante to the ground. I grabbed him by the neck and squeezed.
“End this bloodbath. Now,” I said and squeezed tighter.
“I don’t know how,” he gasped and dropped the Sword to the ground. “I don’t know how.”
His wail of grief went right to my toes. If I destroyed him would the magic die with him? I had no freakin’ clue. It would have been lovely to get to ask someone, but everyone was busy at the moment. Could I override his magic? I was unsure how much longer he even possessed it, but at the rate Demons were dying, even a minute was too long.
“What exactly did you plan to do up here?” I shouted in his face. Maybe if I knew his plan I could untangle it and stop the death.
“I wanted to humiliate him,” he gasped. “Like he humiliated me.” His voice grew stronger as his delusions of grandeur and ego took over. “I am the greatest writer of all time and he has made me look like a fool,” he hissed. His eyes were wild and he truly was nuts. “I wanted to show him I could steal his precious Sword and kill him any time I liked.” His eyes glazed over and he laughed.
“You were going to kill him?” I shook him back to the present.
“No. Never,” he told me. “I just wanted to show his people how weak and laughable he was.”
“You showed them alright,” I screamed at him. “Look at what you’ve done.”
His shrieking was pathetic as he watched the death and destruction of innocent people before him. I looked up and to my horror and darkest nightmares, I saw a family of Demons with small children and a baby detonate and blow up in front of me. Time stood still for the briefest of moments and the world tilted on its axis. A red-hot rage blasted from my soul and my skin turned sparkly black. Dante’s eyes widened in fear and he tried to escape. He keened and groaned like an animal and grabbed for the sword to kill himself with the Sword. He sliced his skin several times and nothing happened. WTF? Another fake. All of this and the damn thing was counterfeit? The bastard was already dead, but right now I wanted him deader.
I put my hands on Dante and let the chant find me. Sacrifice the one who sins for the lives of the innocent. Would his death bring those children back? Probably not, but there were hundreds of others in the room who could perish in the twenty minutes or so he still had Greed’s power in him.
I pulled from inside and I let my darkest of magic come to the surface. A sharp pain erupted inside my head and I dropped to my knees. A cage made of shimmering black and crystal white blades trapped the traitor and contained his stolen magic. The death and destruction around me stopped. The howling and weeping did not, but that would go on for eternity. Dante writhed in agony inside the cage and I watched him dispassionately as my pain disappeared and I slowly got back to my feet. I didn’t care and that made me worry. I knew if I simply flicked my fingers he would be gone forever. I was unsure if I should actually show him that much mercy. Did he not deserve to burn in the Basement? Was I his judge? Did I want to be?
“Will you kill him?” Satan whispered in my ear and I jumped. Ethan had appeared on my other side and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did he lead a good life?” I asked as I watched him convulse.
“He did indeed,” Satan said. “As you know, he’s a card carrying member of my brother’s house.”
Right then I knew what I would do. He was stupid and driven by ego. His mistake came with a hefty cost, but the area was so very gray. I hated this and I wanted no part, but I was going to end him. Not for Greed, not for Satan and not for myself. He had committed unintentional manslaughter. He had not come in here to kill. He was distraught with what his greed had wrought. Should he spend an eternity in the Basement for deaths he did not maliciously cause?
“You’ll send him to the Basement?” I asked.
“Without a doubt.”
I flicked my fingers and Dante turned to ash like all those he had killed today. He was no more. Should I have ended his suffering? I thought so today. Hopefully I’d feel the same tomorrow. To separate the man from the destruction he’d caused today and base his judgment on the body of the whole was harder than anything I’d had to do yet. But I did it. I bent down and picked up the sword. I held it out to my uncle and he glanced at me with questioning eyes.
“It’s a fake.”
“Really?”
“Trust me.”
“And he got this and the deadly magic how?” he demanded.
“Ask your daughter, Greed.” I threw her under the bus where she belonged. I was done here and I wanted my bed. I was wearing my bra and I was a fucking mess. I honestly was
beginning to question the existence of the Sword. I wanted to meet God and I wanted to go home. Satan could find his own damn Sword. I was done.
Chapter 30
God was so beautiful it was almost impossible to look at him.
After a sleepless night, we’d dressed formally and made our way back to the miraculously repaired dining room for lunch with God. The General had spent a good portion of the morning with us and the Baby Demons. I’d found out a number of alarming things . . . he had taken my Babies to a strip club and they been thrown out for lewd behavior. What that constituted in Hell was mindboggling so I decided to push that one aside for another time. However, the real kicker was when I learned that the gestation for a Demon was two years. I offered to pay for the hole in the plaster, but the General insisted he could have it fixed at no charge.
Ethan paled at the thought of me being pregnant for years and I nailed him with a vase. Luckily he ducked and I simply added it to the growing list of things I’d destroyed in Hell. The only consolation I had was that my baby was half Vampyre and since he was the first of his kind, maybe the gestation time would be shorter. I refused to even contemplate that it could be any longer. There weren’t enough items in Heaven and Hell put together for me to break if I really let my mind sit with that little nugget.
After calming down and locking the little monsters in the bathroom with a firm promise from them that they would stay, we went to the luncheon.
The dining room was laid out with the finest china and crystal I’d ever seen. An army of servants wearing all black hustled around and saw to the needs of the guests. This event was the first of its kind and clearly the Devil took it very seriously.
“This is one out of fucking control shindig,” Myrtle said as she offered me a puffy looking pastry. Her grin was contagious and I wanted to hug her. Her total lack of manners and couth made me happy.
“You are correct.” I smiled and took a pastry to be polite. “Are you, Carl and Janet working?” I sniffed the pastry and was delighted to find out I didn’t want it.
“We’re in charge,” she said proudly. “Moby used to be, but Carl kicked his mean old Demon ass yesterday and now we’re running the show.”
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