“Wanna be more specific?” I snapped, feeling sick. “Who’s imprisoned?” I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I needed her to say it.
“My brother. They’ve imprisoned him in Zanthia.”
“Why?” I ground out so quietly everything in the room stopped. No one even took a breath.
“They say he’s part Demon,” The Shelia whispered, backing away from me.
She was a smart Fairy. I was about to explode. The stillness and silence were gone. My power engulfed the room and everyone flew willy-nilly as the silver and golden wind picked up to a point of destruction. Explosions of Fairy dust went off making the suite look like an indoor firework demonstration. It was macabre and strangely beautiful. It was also chilling and deadly.
“Gemma,” Susu screamed as she was whipped across the room caught up in a funnel of glittering frosty-pink enchantment. “Stop. Control your magic. NOW.”
I heard her words. I knew she was right. Helping The Kev would be impossible if I decimated my small army before the fight. And the Vampyres wouldn’t be overly excited if I blew up the Cressida House. With an effort born of love for my Fairy, I tamped back the tsunami.
Screaming in pain, I dropped to my knees. I gritted my teeth and ended the shitstorm I’d brought about. The exertion made me feel light-headed and woozy. I also felt a little proud. I might not have control of when it happened, but if I could stop it, I was one step further than I was yesterday.
The silence after the storm was loud. I was surprised we hadn’t been barraged by Vamps wondering what the Hell had just happened.
“Umm… you okay?” Tiara asked as she got down on the floor next to me.
“Nope. Not even a little bit okay,” I said flatly. “Did I kill anyone?”
“All alive and accounted for, Dairy Queen,” Susu announced, looking a little worse for wear.
“Feeling a little moist,” Jane said and then jackknifed forward as her collar shocked the shit out of her.
“What the fuck was that?” Martha shouted, pointing at Jane and laughing like a loon. “Her goddamned slacks are…”
And Martha went down too.
Whatever. The words actually didn’t bother me now. I could care less.
My concern was The Kev and only The Kev.
“This is bullshit,” I hissed, looking up at The Shelia. “The Kev is not part Demon. He’s a Fairy.”
“I think something happened when we helped Satan find Fate in Kismet,” The Shelia said tonelessly.
Closing my eyes, I clenched my hands to fists at my sides. Control my magic. I had to control my magic. I needed to be alive for what I was about to do. The Kev’s actions as of late were starting to make some horrifying sense.
Slowly getting to my feet, I kept my body rigid so I wouldn’t kill the messenger or blow the back wall of the Vampyre compound into oblivion.
It was not The Shelia’s fault. It was not any Vampyre’s fault. It was not my fault.
However, I was quite certain I knew whose fault it was.
Grabbing my Chanel bag off the counter, I shook the glitter off of my Prada sheath and checked my face in the mirror. My eyes glowed a deadly shimmering silver and my face was flushed with fury. I looked like a Fairy Queen on the edge—which was exactly what I was.
“Are you going somewhere?” Tiara asked, keeping her distance.
“I am.”
“Can I ask where?” Susu chimed in softly which was totally out of character for her.
“I’m going to Hell.”
“Oh shit,” Tiara muttered. “Should I get Astrid? She’s good with handling Uncle Fucker.”
My head whipped around and I glared at her. Clearly, I was so frightening Tiara couldn’t hold my gaze.
“Trust me,” I ground out through clenched teeth as I felt Fairy dust burst from my fingertips. “I don’t need anyone at the moment. I’ll be going solo and the Devil will never be the same.”
As my words left my lips, I smiled. I believed every single one of them.
The Fairy Queen had arrived.
Chapter Six
The Kev was correct. Hell was hot.
As I wasn’t expected, I was surrounded by enormous Demon guards the second I arrived. The gnashing of sharp fangs and growling didn’t scare me a bit. On a different day it might have, but not today.
“Take me to Satan,” I snapped as a blast of silver dust exploded around me causing the Demons to back away.
“My Liege sees no one without an appointment,” the tall one in the front hissed.
“He’ll see me.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it, girlie,” the Demon said with a dismissive wave of his clawed hand.
The very same sun that warmed the Earth, Heaven and Hell beat down on my head from the sky that the entire Universe shared. For some reason the heat gave me confidence—or else I’d completely lost my mind. Or maybe I was pissed that the idiot had called me girlie. Whatever. There was no time to dissect my sanity or lack thereof. Of course, I didn’t want to blow my wad before my chat with the Devil, but it looked like I would have to show these shits who was in charge at the moment. Sane or insane, this girlie had some game.
“Really?” I asked politely as my silver eyes narrowed to slits.
“Yes,” the tall one barked, but took a few more steps back.
They were the only thing that stood between the Dark Palace and me. I was going to walk into the Dark Palace no matter what.
“That’s a damned shame,” I said, wiggling my finger and blowing up about three hundred feet of the ornate iron fence that surrounded the Dark Palace. “I was so looking forward to chatting with your son of a bitch boss. However, if he’s really that busy I suppose I’ll just have a little fun before I go. You feel me, boys?”
Without letting them answer or have the opportunity to charge me, I dropped an impenetrable wall around myself and let my freak flag fly. With a wave of my hand the two stone guard towers that flanked the entrance blew up and crashed to the ground creating a pile of rubble about twenty feet tall.
“You will cease,” the Demon roared as his eyes turned a furious blood red and he tried to smash through the wall protecting me.
“I’m just getting started,” I explained as he dropped to the ground from the force of his hit against my wall. “If I can’t see him, I’d like Satan to know I was here.”
Clapping my hands, I watched as all the Demons went slack-jawed and sprinted for cover as a thousand shimmering golden bees swarmed the sky and then dove at them. While was I at it, I blew up the row of expensive cars lining the long manicured drive and then killed every shrub and bush on the front side of the estate.
Honestly, I was having fun. Destroying a gorgeous property didn’t say much for my definition of fun, but I was angry. And I was sure I had very good reason to be. If the guards wouldn’t bring me to my reason, I would bring my reason to me.
Unsure how much more it would take, I set a blazing pink and silver fire to the front of the Dark Palace. And then my wish was granted.
“Seriously?” Satan bellowed from the enormous front door of the Dark Palace.
He threw his hands in the air and stomped his foot like a child. I almost laughed, but today was no laughing matter.
The Devil was a beautiful sight to behold—tall, dark and sinfully handsome. His beauty was absurd. Demons were an extraordinarily good-looking race, but Satan put all to shame. His black Armani suit was custom made and he wore his black shirt open at the neck. It wasn’t just the man’s looks, it was his aura—something intangible… sheer unadulterated, scary power.
I actually liked him. I’d spent some time in Hell a while back when my people were trying to kill me dead and had gotten to know the Dark Prince. I’d also had to beat off his advances regularly back then. However, now that he’d found his mate those days were over. No one wanted to fuck with Elle aka Fate… including Satan. He adored her. The Devil’s other half was a deadly force to be reckoned with.
But today? I was one Hell of
a force myself.
“The landscapers came this morning,” Satan snapped, looking around the grounds with dismay. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just fucking knock?”
“Your boys wouldn’t let me,” I called out as I let the wall around me disintegrate to a sparkling gold dust at my feet.
Satan’s eyes narrowed as he took me in. I held my head high and stared right back at him. I wasn’t an idiot. I was very aware I’d just shown up in Hell and ransacked the exterior of the Devil’s main residence. But the Devil respected power and I was going to prove I had it.
“So I’m guessing by the damage this isn’t a social call?” Satan inquired as he pointed to the craters in the ground where his cars used to be.
“Nope. Not social in the least,” I confirmed, standing my ground.
“Will this get together be polite?” the Prince of Darkness asked with a small smirk pulling at his lips.
“That remains to be seen,” I said flatly. “Invite me into your home, Satan.”
“By all means,” Satan said with an irreverent bow. “I’d be delighted to have the Fairy Queen blow up my Palace. My mother blew it up last week and I’ve been dying to redecorate it… again.”
With that he turned and held the door open for me. No one could accuse the Devil of not being a gentleman. Well, they could but he had fairly decent manners.
“I’ll do my best not to blow up the Palace,” I replied with a raised brow.
“Well, then both of you should come in.”
Quickly glancing to my left and right, I gave Satan a glare. “I’ve come alone, Devil.”
“Whatever you say,” he replied with a shrug and a smile. “We’ll talk in my office. It’s been bomb-proofed.”
* * *
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted at Satan. “You made The Kev part Demon?”
He had the grace to actually blanch slightly under my ire. What he’d done was unheard of. The Devil had moved what basically amounted to his soul into The Kev’s body so he could save Elle. He ruined my love for his? Fucking unreal. My magic ripped through his massive office turning everything on its side and upside down—including his enormous desk. The wall-to-wall stone fireplace crumbled like it was made of sand. The Devil had a penchant for stealing office supplies, so I was wildly happy to have destroyed his stolen stash. I was ready to destroy him as well.
“There was no choice,” Satan said tightly, picking up a slightly damaged stapler and putting it in his pocket. “It was either do what I did… or allow the end of the world. Do you really think I would have fucked with the fate of the most deadly Fairy in the Universe if there was another way?”
“You’re Satan,” I ground out as sparks of magic flew from my fingers that itched to blow up all of Hell. “Fucking with people is what you do.”
“No,” he growled in a tone so hollow it made me step back. “I do not fuck with people unless they deserve to be fucked with. I punish evil. I don’t create it. Free will does that all by itself. You can thank my brother God for that one. He’ll be here in an hour for poker if you’d like to tell him he’s an ass.”
“You’re an ass. You fucked with The Kev and he did not deserve it,” I shot back wanting to hurt him badly.
Satan stood as still as a statue and stared at me. It was terrifying. Maybe I shouldn’t have called him an ass. I was unsure if he’d had enough and was going to end me where I stood or if he was going to explain himself. Did it even matter? What was done was done.
“Given the circumstances, Fairy, what would you have done?” he inquired tonelessly.
That gave me pause. My answer was… Shit. I knew my answer. I would have done the same and so would my beautiful Fairy.
“Did The Kev know what you were doing to him?”
Satan nodded and sighed. “Yes, to a point. I explained that there would be lingering effects and that I would owe him.”
“And?” I pressed.
“And he agreed. End of story,” Satan snapped and rolled his eyes. “Did he send you down here to destroy my office in retribution?”
“Do not make light of this,” I hissed and crushed a calculator that had escaped my earlier wrath under my stiletto heel.
Satan breathed in through his nose and slowly out through his lips. For a brief second, I wondered if I’d gone too far with the calculator. If I pissed him off enough, I might not leave Hell in one piece. Or I might not leave Hell at all.
Dial it back. Be smart. Don’t fuck with the one you need information from. Shit. This was going to be hard. There was a hole punch in range that my fingers ached to throw at the Devil’s head.
“What do you want?” Satan asked, snapping his fingers and righting his black leather couch and several other pieces of furniture.
“It is not the end of the story, as you so carelessly put it,” I ground out.
“Do tell,” he said, indicating I take a seat on the chair across from him.
Ignoring his condescending tone and his idiotic invitation, I waved my hand and melted the hole punch so I didn’t knock him out with it. “The Fairies have imprisoned The Kev in Zanthia.”
“I really liked that hole punch,” Satan pouted.
“Did you hear me?” I snarled. “He’s been imprisoned because he’s part Demon now thanks to you.”
“I heard you,” he said, crossing his legs and sitting back on the couch. “What is it that you’d like me to do about this? I’m not exactly allowed in your fair land.”
“He’s trapped there and will lose his memory in Zanthia since that’s what happens to Demons.”
“He won’t,” Satan said flatly. “He was here and I made sure that he would never suffer that side effect.”
“But you wouldn’t take the Demon out of him?” I demanded.
“That, my dear, is not possible. So again, what do you want me to do?”
Shit. I didn’t really think this out well. I had no clue what I wanted him to do.
Damn it to Hell and back. It had seemed like such a good idea to go to Hell and kick Satan’s ass. Now? Not so much.
I was no one’s Queen. I was an idiot with a death wish.
My fury at myself caused an explosion of Fairy dust that took out all of Satan’s pilfered mesh wire organizers and pencil cups along with a printer and a fax machine. Why did he even have a fax machine? No one faxed anymore.
Glancing around in horror at all the damage I caused, I wanted to cry. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “That last little tornado wasn’t aimed at you. It was aimed at me.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better about the death of my fax machine?” Satan inquired with a raised brow and a twinkle in his eye.
“Umm… yes,” I answered with a giggle. “Fax machines are old school anyway.”
“I’m old,” he replied with a smile.
“I really am sorry. Not that you’re old. I’m sorry that I demolished your stuff. You look great for being older than dirt,” I said and then wanted to punch myself in the head like Susu. I should have stopped after sorry. Why in the Hell did I just tell the Devil he was older than dirt?
“Are you quite done destroying my abode and insulting me?” Satan inquired, clearly amused at my babbling.
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“Good,” Satan said with a relieved sigh. “Come have a seat. We’re going to have a little chat now.”
“Will I owe you for this?” I asked, not trusting the motives of the Devil.
His bellow of laughter made me grin. Holy Hell, the bastard was charming.
“That, my dear, is a fine question and most don’t think to ask until it’s too late. The answer is no. You will not owe me. Sit.”
I did and I waited until the silence grew deafening. My knees were bouncing and I wanted to be anywhere except where I was right now. Michael Jackson could save me. I silently got through all the lyrics of Rock With You and Beat It before I couldn’t take the strained silence anymore.
“Umm… am I supposed to go fi
rst?” I asked, feeling way out of my depth.
“No, I just like my guests to be off balance. Did it work?”
I wanted to smack him. I didn’t. I’d already insulted him and was still breathing. Smacking Satan would be pushing my luck. Astrid was the only one that I knew who could get away with that. “Yes. Yes it worked really well.”
“Great,” Satan said with a wide grin. “So do you have a plan?”
“A plan?”
The Devil rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “Damn good thing you came to Hell,” he muttered. “Do you have a plan to get The Kev out of imprisonment?”
“Umm… not exactly. Do you?” I inquired hopefully, not feeling Queenly at all.
Satan shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. “You truly want the Devil to hatch your plan?”
“Probably not, but I’m gonna go with my gut… so yes,” I told him, feeling pretty good about my decision.
“Fine. Listen closely and tell no one that I helped you. I will deny it—not good for my reputation if people think I’m nice. Understood?”
“Totally,” I promised. He was nuts, but for some bizarre reason I trusted him. Hopefully, I wouldn’t live to regret this decision, but I didn’t have many other avenues to take at the moment. He was the freakin’ King of the Underworld and was older than dirt—literally. He had to know something.
“Your power. Can you control it?” Satan asked.
“No.”
“I call bullshit on that,” he replied smoothly.
“Take a look at your office,” I snapped sarcastically.
“Again, I call bullshit,” he said. “You wanted to destroy me and had to opt for my office and the exterior of my Palace instead. Correct?”
“Okay. Yes. But I don’t have control of when happens. I get pissed and it reacts,” I told him honestly.
“Hold that thought for a moment. I know you can fight and kill. I saw you do it in Kismet,” he said thoughtfully as he found a stray paperclip and began shaping it into a puppy. “My guess is that you don’t want to go to Zanthia.”
“Is it that obvious?” I asked, somewhat embarrassed. It had to look pretty bad if the Queen didn’t want her Queen-dom.
Fashionably Fabulous: Book Eleven of The Hot Damned Series Page 7
