Many of the abominations his king made would never see anything other than the dark depths of the Inferno Regions. Others seemed sweet and came out deadly. He'd lost count of the different kinds of creatures Ba'al had made, or how many of them. He'd been at it for years, mixing things like plants and animals, humans and animals, unnaturals and rare magics. There were even times when Desiderus could hear the wailings of a creature from Ba'al's lab and it kept him awake. It wasn't so much that he wanted to save the creature as just kill it and put it out of a misery even Desiderus couldn't imagine, and he'd been at Ba'al's side longer than any demon walking hell or earth. "I had a tryst with an old witch and bird. You remember Undine?"
All three sets of Ba'al's lips smiled. "Ahh, how could I forget such a beautiful creature? The loveliest part of that woman is her eyes. I gave her those, did you know?"
Desiderus hadn't known. "She and I had a nice chat. She's laid claim to the humans' sister as well. I'll have to bind her soon, my king." Desiderus desperately wanted to know what the witch would want with Haven to begin with. He knew he wouldn't let her be dragged into Undine's little games, not while being bound to him. And he had no intention of letting the female go easily, which surprised him. He should have no qualms either way, after all she was just another soul, another contract. He wasn't sure what made her so different to him, but guessed, in part, it had to do with how fearless she was against him. Others begged and pleaded... Haven actually fought back, guns blazing.
"Very well, Desiderus, make it happen. I'm looking forward to meeting my new succubus." Ba'al licked his human lips and Desiderus kept himself from sneering at his king. How had he already become possessive of the female? He was loyal to his king in all ways, had been for many, many years. No matter what happened, Ba'al would have Haven, and he wasn't sure he would stop it. He reminded himself she was just another human.
"Thank you, Ba'al. I'll see it gets done. Is the human still alive?"
"Where contracts are concerned, Desiderus, you of all others should know I wouldn't do anything to harm something that would work out purely in my benefit. Of course, the human male is still alive. The cage keeps my pets from him." Ba'al winked at Desiderus with his human eye.
Desiderus felt the familiar pull of a summons. The warmth coming from it, beckoning him, made him smile. "Excuse me, a summons has come in. If it's worth anything, I'll let you know." Desiderus gave a short bow to his king. The summons wouldn't let him stay here long before it thwarted him into a mist and finally to the source of the summoner.
The demon king dismissed him with a nod and Desiderus disappeared into the ether, only to slowly come back from the mist in front of Haven and her witch friend, Adonia, at the witch's shop. Adonia worked a great deal faster than he expected. He leaned against the wall. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, pet?" He let his gaze lock with Haven's. Her breath hitched and her hand drew up to her throat, as if she could protect herself from him. "I'll assume you've fixed her, witch?"
"She's good, demon," Adonia said. Her chin flung up and she stood taller in her own arrogance.
"You have two things I want, demon." Haven narrowed her eyes. Desiderus smiled internally, glad she was getting back to normal. "My bird and my brother."
"No worries. I have them both locked away safe and sound." He gave Haven a once over. She'd finally changed out of the T-shirt into jeans and a white tank top. Her hair pulled back in a braid. It matched her well. His cock hardened at the sight of her nipples peeking at him from under the cotton material.
He stopped himself from going to her and taking the sensitive bud into his mouth right through her shirt. It wasn't that he couldn't have other women, or that he didn't enjoy them. Somehow, Haven had crawled under his skin and taken hold of his carnal cravings, guiding them unknowingly to her. Perhaps she was a witch as well and had spelled him, for his cock should not be so ready in a few seconds of being within sight of her.
"I think it's time you gave them to me." Haven walked over to him. Her eyes sparkled as if there was a lot more to this summoning than Desiderus was catching on to. He wasn't sure he wanted to know either. Desiderus didn't fear whatever they had planned. He could overcome both of them easily, but the way she smiled at him, knowing something he didn't, made him slightly uncomfortable.
"As you wish, pet." His hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist. Her eyes widened and she jumped back from him. "I thought you were ready?" He grinned.
"I...just wasn't expecting you to touch me." She rubbed her wrist and a flush rushed up her soft neck, filling her cheeks to reveal a bright pink tint.
"How else do you expect me to get them to you, other than taking you to them?" He knew she would prefer he brought them to her, but that just wasn't how this would play out today. He needed to get her bound to him before Undine decided to take action with her mark. Unless Adonia freed her of that mark as well. "Let me see behind your ear." He pointed toward her head.
Haven raised a brow. "Why?"
"Adonia, did you see her mark? Did you manage to get rid of it?" Desiderus looked over at the witch, whose eyes squinted in his direction. She stomped over to Haven and looked behind her ear.
"What would that witch want with her? Did you do this, demon?" Adonia asked.
"You know I didn't. Damnit. I'd hoped you had taken the mark away."
"Wait!" Haven put her arms out. "What mark? And I don't plan to go to Hell. You let my brother go and we can take care of things from there, including the bird."
"Undine has laid claim to you. I have no clue why, but I assure you, pet, she will come for you when she is ready."
"The white-eyed woman in the dungeon, right?"
Desiderus nodded. "And you can't get the bird or your brother without coming with me to Hell."
"Demon, there is nothing I can do with a mark such as this. Only the witch who cast it can remove it." Adonia let her arms flop to her side in defeat.
"We shall see about that. Once our contract turns binding, that should void it for a while."
"Hey!" Haven hollered at both of them. "I'm right here, and why would I go to Hell when you can just bring them here?"
Desiderus turned to Haven. "Two reasons. One, to avoid the white-eyed witch, and two, because I said so." He grabbed onto her wrist before she could protest and misted them together, taking her into Hell, forming solidly in front of Ba'al. "My king, the female trade."
***
Haven backed away at the first glimpse of Ba'al, King of Demons, demon-maker, humankind's nightmare, and she could see why. He was three beings all smashed together into one: toad, cat, and human. The way his eyes settled on her—all six of them—made her heart thunder in her chest. The intense heat found her adrenaline and kicked up her body temperature so high she instantly began to sweat. The only thing she could think about was that she hadn't put on any deodorant. What a thing to think when faced with demons and stuck in Hell.
Her breath came in short gasps and a lightheaded feeling overtook her. Everything spun, including the hideous King of Hell. Haven fell to her knees, trying to concentrate on the blackened ground and regain her composure. In…out…in…out. She couldn't appear weak in the current situation. Forcing her breaths to even out, Haven wiped the sweat from her upper lip, flipped her braid back, and stood facing Ba'al and Desiderus.
"I do hope she is less sniveling than her male counterpart." Ba'al's eyes blinked. She would have nightmares about this demon.
"She has spunk, my king. She will please you." Desiderus smiled.
"Now wait a minute. I will not be pleasing anyone." Haven stomped over to Desiderus and stuck her finger in his chest.
"See, Ba'al? Fire."
Ba'al nodded.
"Besides, my brother is a free man anyway. I don't need you to set him free because you—"She pointed her finger at Ba'al and his eyes widened with amusement. "—didn't fulfill your bargain. My brother still has a debt to pay and you didn't pay it like your agreement says."
"Didn't
I? I wonder, Desiderus who could have given her the information on our contract?" Ba'al's gaze flipped to Desiderus and then settled back on her, causing an uncomfortable dread to fix in her chest. "By all means, female, tell me what I, King of Hell, loyal servant to the devil, could have missed. Be sure you are right, because I do not take accusations lightly, human." His voice had deepened, taking on a menace she would never hear from any human. Only a demon could provide an octave that low, that booming, that it penetrated deep into her bones.
"You didn't pay off the gambling…" Haven's words stumbled and she cleared her throat. "The gambling debt from his friend. He was to repay the friend with a good deed, and you have not fulfilled it." She considered using his name and thought better of it. "Therefore voiding your contract with him and—" She looked at Desiderus, and a pang of disappointment threatened to make her change her next words, but she needed to go on. He was a demon. "Thus nullifying our contract as well, Desiderus. You can't keep either of us. The contracts are broken."
Ba'al's eyes turned red, veins popped out on his foreheads, even the frog's. They seemed to move beneath his skin like snakes. Ba'al seemed to be considering her words though, as he had not struck her down yet. He had to know the truth was there. Ba'al closed his eyes, all of them. His body twitched and his faces moved in and out of each other, as if he were searching for something in a dream. Ba'al's eyes popped open and they were no longer red. "You are right, female. But what makes you think I will let him go just because the contract, as you say, is void?"
She hadn't really thought of that. He could keep them both because he was Ba'al. Hell, Desiderus could have drug her to hell kicking and screaming, but he hadn't. So what was keeping them from it? Could it be pride in their word? Haven couldn't even try to assume what it was, so she did the best she could to swing it, rationalizing it in her brain as a good an answer as any. "The fact that you would have another chance to get both of our souls." She kept her eyes on him even though she wanted to avert her gaze. Such a disgusting creature. She almost felt sorry for him.
"Your brother, Jeremy. Why would I want a soul that snivels so much? He's like a baby."
"All the more reason to just let him go, since the contract is broken anyway. Perhaps over time, he will become more. You stand to gain more by letting us go than by killing us now, or keeping him in such a weak state of being. People change over time. Maybe not always for the good, but it's the thrill you seek, is it not? The fact that you can turn somebody into something they are not?"
Ba'al smiled. She could hardly believe it, but here she was watching him do it. "You do have a point, female."
"You will let us go?" Haven tried to keep the astonishment from her voice, but feared she had failed.
"Jeremy is free, but you and I have no contract." He turned to Desiderus and glared at the demon.
Desiderus stood there, making no comments, barely acknowledging the king of Hell's dagger of a look, which told her he had somehow failed his king. She swallowed. She hadn't meant to get him into any kind of trouble, and with demons trouble meant pain, torture, the kinds of things she couldn't fathom. But she was not here to save him; she was here to save her brother and herself.
"Where is Jeremy?" Haven asked, looking around the room, which was blackened, as if many fires had burned the walls, the floor, even the seat Ba'al sat on. Ba'al's attention flicked back to her. He snapped his fingers and the sound of rock moving against rock echoed throughout the chamber. Then came Jeremy's voice, calling out for mercy. So small, barely whispering, but there. She'd know his voice anywhere, and it made her heart jump.
She was too scared to turn around right away. What would she see? Had Ba'al stripped off all his flesh? Tortured him in some other way? Perhaps turned him into a demon anyway, and she would somehow have to get him back to human? Her mind went on and on as she tried to muster up enough courage to turn and face her brother. She let out a breath, took in another, counting to three, and then turned.
Haven saw the black cage first, with something hunkered down, sobbing quietly in the middle, in the fetal position. His clothes were burnt in so many different areas with red burn marks on the revealed flesh. His hands lay out before him, the skin so burned she was sure they had been stuck inside a fire. What had they done to him? Haven took a few tentative steps toward him. "Jeremy?"
"Please, my king, do not torture me with her." His voice, so low… He didn't bother to look up at her.
"It's not Ba'al, Jeremy. It's me, Haven, your sister."
"She wouldn't be here. She can't be here. Let me alone. Feed me to your under-dwelling monsters, but please stop using her voice."
Could Ba'al do that? Pretend to be another person? Haven didn't want to find out. "Look up, brother. Please…" She walked closer to the cage and into his line of sight. Jeremy's head came up slowly, and one swollen eye looked at her with a tear sliding down his cheek. "What have they done to you?"
"Don't feel so sorry for him. He brought it on himself, female. He could have stayed out of the cage, could have been let loose as a demon for a time, could have done a great many things and served me well in the short time frame he has been here, but he's...frankly, a pussy. A sniveling worthless piece of flesh. I do hope he changes over time. I'd love to break him in," Ba'al said.
"Let him loose."
"Very well." Ba'al snapped his fingers and the door flew open.
"Come on Jeremy, let's get you home." Haven grabbed his arm and pulled him free of the bars, which had singe marks up and down them, as if they were what burned him.
"Not so fast my pet, we have other matters to discuss." Desiderus put a hand on her shoulder. Haven jumped back, not expecting his touch.
She glared at him and reached for her brother. Before her hand could touch him again, Desiderus was there, his finger lightly on Jeremy's head. Mist enveloped her brother as she watched him disappear in front of her for the second time.
Chapter Sixteen
It took seconds for Desiderus to make Haven vanish with him. When all the world came back to them, Haven found herself in a bed chamber. The caladrius nested on a bed with blood red sheets. Of course they were red, what other color could a demon possibly want for bedding? Though she was surprised to see a bed at all, given Ba'al had nothing but charred stone around him.
"I didn't want Ba'al to know I had the bird, so getting you out before you managed to pop off at the mouth was a priority." Desiderus walked around the bed, eyeing the creature.
Haven shrugged. He was right; she probably would have managed to say something she shouldn't. She was certain she didn't want to know what Ba'al might do with the bird. He'd probably torture it. And she'd lose her job. Neither one was exactly the best of outcomes.
"So, what? I grab the bird and you mist us out of here?"
"Not exactly." Desiderus stalked over to her, his body a breath away from hers. He seemed bigger, a bit more menacing than before. He was trying to intimidate her. Well the tactic would fall short. She was sick of it, and him, and Hell. They didn't have a contract anymore. Jeremy was free, so she had nothing to worry about. Haven stood her ground.
"Demon, give me the bird and get me out of here."
"What if I say no?"
"You have no rights to keep me here. We are no longer contracted."
"There…" his voice fell to a whisper as his fingers came up to brush the side of her cheek, "is where you are wrong."
Haven flinched from his touch, surprised he dared to touch her. She glared at him. "You heard me. No contract with Ba'al means no contract with you."
"Actually, pet, our contract was on your brother being freed. I have done that for you." He smiled.
"I did that for myself." Anger boiled up from her gut. How dare he try to keep their contract anyway? He was a demon. She should have known he would pull some kind of stunt and not honor the boundaries.
"No. Our contract said I would help you get your brother free and in return you would be bound to me. I helped you free
him."
"How?" He didn't even lift a finger to set him free. Haven could hardly believe what she was hearing. The demon actually thought he'd done his end.
"You came to me for the information on the contract. I gave it to you. Which then lead you to find the loophole. You. Are. Mine."
Her stomach sank, as if she had hit the top of the roller coaster able to see everything out before her. So beautiful, so free, and then it fell, the entire thing, all the plans, all the images rushing by as she plummeted. "No. No. No!"
Desiderus grabbed Haven's wrist as she tried to turn away from him. "Come now. I honored my end. Now it's your turn." He drew her into him.
Haven pulled herself free and tears threatened to spill over her cheeks. She clenched her jaw, trying to keep them in place, but the anger mounted, firing right up her middle, through her arms, into her fists, and she slammed her hands into his chest, pissed that he would keep her. Pissed that she didn't see it coming. How could she have let it happen? Did she have to go willingly?
"How could you?" She didn't even know what else to say to the demon. Haven remembered bits and pieces of him helping her in the Celest camp…how could he just turn on her? Hadn't he been her savior then? Where were his wings now? She wanted to look up and see them behind him as she did at the compound, wanted him to tell her he was joking and he'd let her go. But the instant her eyes met his, she knew there would be no such freedom for her. He was set on having her play out her side of the contract, and the tears fell despite the bite in her lip to keep them at bay. Haven tried to wrap the anger around her, to wear it around her heart, but the anger dissipated into a sense of despair. She couldn't do this. Haven had to fight it, she couldn't give in. Haven hit Desiderus harder and harder until her hands started stinging with the force.
"Haven, calm down. It can't be all bad." Desiderus tucked her hands beneath his arms, holding her still. She thrashed her head back and forth, panicking. She would never see anyone again. She'd be stuck in the lower depths of Hell with demons, with Ba'al. What about the bird, her job, her fucking life?
Impure Bargains (Impure series Book 1) Page 12
