Red Blooded

by Amanda Carlson

There was tapping along the outside of the door, along with quiet murmuring, which sounded a like a chant. I kind of wanted to see what a half demon, half dwarf looked like.

  But then again, I could live without it.

  I grabbed Tyler’s sleeve and tugged him back behind a partition, where all the supplies were kept. In the other mending room there had been a bathtub crossed with a bed. This one held the chair Tyler had been in, which resembled an evil-looking dentist’s chair, and contained nothing else, except a strange metal cabinet.

  “Let’s shove the cabinet in front of us,” I said, grasping one side as I moved past it. It was solid, but not crazy heavy. “I have no idea what the blast will be like, but she’s right, I don’t want to spend any time regenerating.”

  Tyler took the other side and we slid it forward, placing it in front of the entryway to the partition. Coming around the side, he whispered low, “Listen, Jess, the demoness may be right. If I was just in a holding cell, we may be in for much more. I can’t help but feel like this is all some kind of weird game.” He glanced around, eyeing everything with distaste. “Like we’re standing in the middle of a chessboard and someone is about to say checkmate.”

  He was right. It did feel like that. Wolves are upfront in everything they do. Conniving and trickery are not in our nature. There is no reason to beat around the bush when simply crushing your nemesis with your fists is enough. “I totally agree,” I said. “Something’s off. I had to go through some craziness to find you, but come to think of it, the entire city should’ve been on lockdown once you arrived. They knew I was coming. And once the demons saw me escape to the Sholls, there should’ve been a red alert issued then. We had to come back here eventually. And why are the janitors running the courthouse? You should’ve been under heavy guard. My first thought is they knew I would come to you, so this is not a surprise, but why wouldn’t the guards and beasts have been waiting for me in front of your cell? It’s all strange. Demons do their own thing, but this feels too orchestrated. But we’re not going to find the answers until it’s all over.”

  “I hear you.” He turned. “Now help me get out of this monkey suit.” He had the front zipper clasped between his finger and thumb. “It won’t give.”

  I reached up to grasp it and it gave me a little shock. “It’s spelled.” I pushed some of my magic into it until there was an audible pop. Then I yanked the zipper down and Tyler peeled it off. “After seeing you on a street corner not too long ago in your Calvins,” I chuckled, “I hadn’t thought I’d see you in them again so soon.”

  “Very funny,” he grumbled. “At least they left me my underwear. They’re very cleanly around here. They made sure I was washed daily with this weird gel. It cleaned whatever it touched. I didn’t even have to get undressed.”

  “I know,” I said. “It’s cleaned me off twice so far. It eats everything. We could certainly use some of that at home. It would make life a lot simpler. I’m deeming it the only good thing about Hell.”

  “Yeah, it works great at home, until it accidentally disintegrates my pet cat.” Tyler wadded up the jumpsuit and tossed it in a corner. His boxer briefs were black and luckily covered him well.

  I laughed. “You don’t have a cat,” I pointed out. “So it won’t be an issue.”

  “Well.” He shrugged. “You have one, so I thought maybe I might get one too. You don’t own the market on cats, you know. Maybe the rest of us are searching for our own furry cuddle pal.”

  I thumped him in the chest. “That’s not funny. My cat is going to be cranky I’m not back yet.” I missed Rourke like crazy, and for my wolf it had been almost intolerable. I had to block out her constant yearning or it would have been overwhelming. Being apart was hard for both of us, but I knew it was harder on him at the moment. Being separated from a mate felt like an open, aching wound. I just prayed that if he was coming after me, he would show up soon. I didn’t want to leave him to be here alone.

  There was a loud thud against the door, but not a blast.

  “Is that all you have, sweetheart?” Lily called. “That wasn’t very—”

  The explosion burst my eardrums and sent both Tyler and me flying backward. We smashed into the wall, the metal cabinet busting through the partition to land on top of us. It had indeed taken the brunt of the blast. Tyler kicked it off and we both sprang up and ran. “Lily!” I called, squinting through the dust the blast had caused as I sprinted toward the door. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

  She was nowhere to be found.

  She’d been right in front of the door, so it was possible she’d been vaporized. There was commotion out in the hallway and I poked my head out. It was hard to see anything, but her voice carried: “Well, what are you waiting for, idiots? Run!”

  I cursed myself and my internal human mothering.

  Tyler grabbed my sleeve and propelled us forward. “Let’s go!” He shoved me in front of him and we raced down the hallway.

  We ran hard. After maneuvering through two hallways I called, “There’s no one here. This can’t be right!”

  “We have to keep moving no matter what. This place is a maze, but I bet there’s only one front door. Here, let me go first.” He came up beside me, but I grabbed his arm.

  “Wait,” I said, slowing. “This doesn’t feel right. Maybe we should duck into one of these rooms. Something’s definitely off, just like we stated before. I bet Lily lied and there’s another portal somewhere and she directed us to right into a trap.” Once again I contemplated the Sholls. The mending room we’d come out of was close by. I could smell my scent trail, but surviving the wyverns would be next to impossible without Lily.

  “Jess, we need to keep moving. You’re right, this is too easy, but what else are we going to do? Come on,” he said, dragging me along behind him at a quick clip. He brought his nose up to scent the area. “I’m getting a read on something different up ahead.”

  I followed him cautiously, trotting along. “Different is not good in this place.”

  “You’re telling me. I want out of here so bad it hurts, and I also want a bacon cheeseburger, a regular shower, and—” He held his hand up and switched to internal. There’s movement around that corner.

  We both stopped, but I couldn’t hear anything substantial. Tyler began to inch forward again. Tyler, wait. My gut is telling me not to go. Not to mention my wolf, who had begun to howl.

  He stopped, turning to me. Fine, but what do we do? Are there any windows in this place? They haven’t exactly given me a tour.

  No windows. In fact, the sun here burns the skin. We’re going to have to duck into one of these rooms and think of something else. I moved toward a door. This one had a knob.

  It turned slowly. No movement. I braced my shoulder against the door.

  Nothing.

  Try the next one, I told him, gesturing down the hallway.

  “That one won’t work either,” an arch voice said from behind us.

  My head whipped around.

  The Prince of Hell stood very regally at the end of the long hallway we stood in. He was dressed in a three-piece suit, hair shellacked, precise in all ways.

  Except for one thing.

  A line of fingernail tracks running from his cheek to his chin.

  11

  The Prince’s wounds were closing fast, but that didn’t bode well for Lily. Drawing blood, or in this case motor oil, from the Prince of Hell was no small feat. As my brother had learned the hard way. Though the demoness was already in hot water, so maybe it didn’t matter.

  “You will not escape through any of those doors.” The Prince took a step forward. “They are impassable. I had not thought you would encounter” he flourished one of his hands—“the demoness, and that meeting has thrown everything off. But make no mistake, we have been awaiting your imminent arrival. We’ve made plans, but in your… eagerness… to make another defiant alliance you have managed to throw a wrench in them. So, I am once again forced to come here and take care of
things.”

  “My eagerness?” I scoffed. “Of course I was eager to save my brother. And I’d pair up again with anyone who would help me. And I’m sorry, but I’ve ruined everything?” I sputtered. “In this situation”—I waved an arm between us—“you definitely win the spoilsport award. If you hadn’t kidnapped my brother, I’d be home right now curled up with my mate under the covers watching reality TV. Instead I’m here fighting my way through the horrors of your world. And, by the way, this place sucks. You need to redecorate and possibly import some sunshine that doesn’t blister off the skin.”

  “The Underworld is an extremely pleasant plane to exist.” The Demon Lord continued down the hallway at a slow gait. “I took your kin, because you must face your crimes. There was no other way.”

  “I beg to differ. I haven’t committed any crimes that will hold up in any real court, and you know it.” I took a bold step forward, Tyler behind me, a continuous low growl emitting from his throat. “I defended myself, which is acceptable in any supernatural realm. But when you kidnapped my brother, you forced me to here—and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be involved in any demon business at all. The Underworld wouldn’t even be on my radar.”

  “It was fated you would come,” the Prince responded calmly, though I could tell I was affecting him. “It was only a matter of time. I simply sped things up.”

  “I think not,” I contended. “If it weren’t for your stubborn visits to our plane and your constant aggression, I never would’ve come here.”

  His eyes did the reptilian flash where the pupils elongated, making me curious once again as to why the demons were glamoured in their own realm. It would take much less energy to just be a regular demon, whatever that looked like.

  “It was written. Everything that is written comes to pass. Do not question our Scriptures, you lowly mutt.” The Prince took another few steps forward. “It is offensive.”

  I was tired of being called a mutt or a mongrel. If you wanted to get technical, I wasn’t a mutt, I was a reincarnated purebred. My wolf howled her agreement. “If me coming here was documented in your Scriptures, then your interference should be noted in there as well,” I countered. “Does it say, ‘The female wolf will descend to the bowels of Hell to wreak havoc, but only if she is provoked by the idiotic Prince of Hell’? Because that’s how it should read.”

  “How dare you mock me?” His eyes narrowed as he continued to stroll nonchalantly toward me. The Prince’s face had already healed. Only faint lines of dried residue marred it now. “I did nothing but seek to make you pay for your atrocities. Killing our beasts and our imps is a direct crime against us. You are dangerous and will pay dearly for your actions.”

  Jess, there’s something coming from behind and I’m beginning to hear movement behind all these doors. We are totally surrounded.

  I was laser-focused on the Prince, who was taking his time reaching us. Twenty more yards.

  Tyler continued, The bad news is I don’t know what’s coming at us from behind. They don’t smell like the regular demons I’ve been dealing with, but whatever they are, they are nasty as hell.

  My wolf inhaled while I kept my eyes on the threat. Those are the chupacabras, I told my brother, but these smell different from the babies and there’s an undertone of something else. There may be other beasts with them.

  Babies?

  Long story, but the chupacabra adults are vicious. I don’t know how we’re going to get away from Mr. Nasty here, so I’m just going to keep talking to buy us some time.

  Yeah, he chuckled, because that’s working really well for you. Why don’t you tell him his pants are on fire from being such a liar, liar?

  I bristled. And what exactly would you have me say?

  I don’t know, maybe tossing some honey on this mess would work better for us.

  It was all I could do not to turn around and gape at my brother. You want me to sweet-talk the Prince of Hell? Wolves did not sweet-talk. I can’t believe you just said that!

  Well, he said defensively, whatever works, right? How else are we going to get out of here? There’s a threat in every direction and we’re on a Hell plane with no backup. I’m up for doing whatever it takes to get out f here.

  I swallowed a softball-sized gulp. Sweet-talk the Demon Lord? Right. My wolf snapped her jaws. I know, but Tyler makes a fair point. Even if I used my combined magic to get by the Prince, I don’t think we can get Tyler out too, or defeat all the beasts coming at us from every direction. We need more time and some… sweet talk might get us… something. The question was what? Less torture? A kinder trial?

  But it would buy me more time.

  “I sense your defeat.” The Prince took an long breath in. “And it smells divine. You are finally realizing that there is no hope for you any longer.” The Prince thought I was worried. He had no idea I was incensed with my brother’s suggestion to be nice.

  I played it up. “That’s not exactly it,” I hedged. “But maybe I am having a teensy change of… heart?” I swallowed. “This has all been incredibly… overwhelming, you know? The Underworld has been almost too much to handle in such a short amount of time.” Like turning into the only female wolf on the planet and proceeding to fight off every supernatural Sect in the world had been tons easier for me than being here.

  Way to lay it on nice and thick, Tyler chuckled. The Prince is going to be putty in your hands after that heartfelt admission.

  Shut up. Don’t forget, this was your idea. The least you could do is back me up.

  The Prince of Hell stopped walking.

  He stood only ten feet from us. My wolf wove our magic around us like a shield, readying us for a fight we knew would happen. I loathed sweet-talking the Prince of Hell, even if it bought me a few more moments, but I knew this wasn’t going to end without a fight.

  “A change of heart?” he said, cocking his head at a weird angle, only the way a supernatural could, mimicking a bird listening for worms. “Do my ears deceive me? The great female wolf warrior is giving herself up? Without a fight?” The Prince spread his well-manicured hands wide. “This day must be recorded in our history.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t say that… exactly. But perhaps we’ve both been a bit”—I managed—“overzealous in our attempts to”—I took in a big breath—“win this battle between us. Maybe if we both come at this from a different angle it could be”—I exhaled—“beneficial to us both.”

  “Oh, and what angle would that be, pray tell?” he snickered, obviously not buying anything I was selling. “The angle where you come willingly and I don’t kill you or your kin? Or the angle where I bring you down no matter what?”

  This is a shitty-ass plan, I said to Tyler. We’re going to have to fight our way out. There’s no other way.

  Just tell the Prince something he wants to hear, Tyler urged. Something that will get us an escort out of this fucking hallway and hopefully toward better odds.

  Like what?

  Like you don’t want any trouble and you’re just here to clear your name.

  I’m here to free you, remember? I said. I’m not here to clear anything.

  That’s good, add that too.

  That’s really helpful.

  The Prince had his gaze locked on me. He wasn’t smiling. He knew something was up. I would have given anything to have my ghost pal Ben here to help me right now. There was nothing better than being inside the head of your enemy to win the advantage. But I hadn’t seen or heard from Ben since we’d left New Orleans.

  “No,” I said, clearing my throat. “The angle where I admit to your head council that I did… some wrong, but that I ultimately want nothing to do with your kind and pose no further threat. I will then… pay restitution to the demons… and promise never to visit this plane again.”

  “You will pay restitution.” The Prince grinned. “In whatever form the court deems appropriate, and if I hazarded a guess, it would involve something where you are… laboring”—he eyed
me up and down—“… quite hard… for a very long time.”

  Ew. I wasn’t sure if that was a double entendre or not, but it was still awful.

  My jaw clenched and my wolf howled, gnashing her teeth. “Listen,” I told him, shaking my finger in a scolding way as I took a step forward. “You’re not going to get any more from me than I just offered. I will come with you… willingly. But it’s not possible for me to be held here indefinitely and you know it. My team will come, or I will break free—but whatever happens it won’t bode well for you or your kind. There will be damage once this is over. Lots and lots of collateral damage. So I would advise you to listen to what I’m telling you and come up with a new plan, one that takes me as a cooperating visitor, instead of a prisoner. I know we can work this out so everyone will be happy. If not”—I grinned, because I couldn’t help it—“you’re not going to like the repercussions.”

  You were doing pretty well there until that last part, Tyler piped in as I felt his power jump. He was readying for the fight we both knew was fast approaching. I think it’s safe to say that wolves weren’t meant for sweet talk. You were terrible at it.

  Whatever. I’d like to see you give it a try. It burns like sandpaper being scraped against my tongue, and with that last compromise, the honeypot is officially dry. The only one who was ever going to get sweet-talked was my man, and when I did it for him, I would mean it.

  The Prince’s pupils elongated and stayed that way.

  Power pinged between us up and down the hallway.

  Get ready, I told my brother.

  Already there.

  “You are outnumbered in force and power,” the Prince raged. “You cannot possibly escape. You will come with me, as you stated, willingly, or you will come harmed. But you will be leaving on my terms one way or another. I am the master here, you will do everything I decree.”

  I made a split decision and pivoted in a blur, swinging my leg around and plowing it, along with my demon power, into the door nearest to me. If there were things behind these doors, then they were about to become my newest diversion.