bedeviled & beyond 06 - bedeviled & befouled

by Sam Cheever

  “Bleurgh.” It’s a frunkin’ wonder I didn’t go blind from what I saw.

  Aubrey and Myra guiltily jumped apart, their angelic countenances blushing an attractive pink from being caught in a fiery lip lock.

  Myra quickly cast off her discombobulation and favored me with a glare, as if it was my fault she got caught climbing Aubrey’s delicious torso like a slut monkey. “Stop skulking around, Astra, and get over here. You’re late for your training.”

  I grinned. She wasn’t going to distract me from making fun of her. “Fortunately you weren’t bored waiting for me.” I started toward them. “Is that even legal? I mean, aren’t you guys a thousand years old? That’s just disgusting.”

  Aubrey laughed but Auntie Myra’s glare turned lethal. “Mind your own business, Astra.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, like you always mind your own business where my life is concerned.”

  “That’s different. I’m your elder.”

  “My point exactly. You’re way too elder to be thinking about doing the chunky monkey with old Aubrey here.” I grimaced, shaking my head. Her outraged gasp nearly made me laugh out loud. I was having way too much fun, despite the fact that their amorous embrace was burned inexorably into my poor retinas...never to be scoured off.

  Aubrey touched Myra’s hand. “I’ll see you later, Myra.”

  Despite her anger at me, my auntie favored her hot boyfriend with a soft smile before he blipped away. There was no trace of it left on her face, however, when she turned to me a second later. “That was uncalled for, Astra.”

  “What was uncalled for, Auntie? Me catching you in the act or daring to admit I caught you in the act?”

  Her glare deepened. “Never mind. Let’s get started.”

  I shook my head. “I just came to tell you I’m leaving.”

  “You can’t leave. We’re just getting started.”

  “I know. But I’m running out of time. I need to get back to Earth.”

  She stared at me for along moment and then sighed. “Dialle?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on but he’s changing and it scares me.”

  She expelled another breath and indicated the seating area at the front of the large space. We walked over and sat down on a couch together. She grabbed my hand and, without my having to ask, proceeded to amp me up.

  The process hurt less than it had in the beginning. Gus had shown me some tricks to make it easier, but talking helped keep my mind off what essentially felt like fingernails scraping over my aura. “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with him?”

  Myra shook her head. “I can only guess. This is all uncharted waters for us. Your father and I have talked about what’s going on at the court—”

  “Wait! You guys know what’s going on there? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because you haven’t been in a position to do anything about it, Astra. Knowing would have just made you feel worse. You didn’t need any more pressure.”

  I suddenly felt bad about teasing Myra. Despite her innate and unrelenting crankiness, she’d always had my best interests at heart and I’d counted on her help all my life. With a start I realized that was a very mature thought I’d just had. Apparently, despite all my most determined efforts, I was growing up.

  Well shit. That just sucketh.

  “But now that you have some of your magic ability back, maybe you can help Dialle work through his issue.”

  “What exactly is his issue, angel?”

  She finished topping off my battery and pulled her hand back. “I don’t know as much about it as your father does, but the gist of it is that, without your light magic connection to tether him, he’s falling prey to the darkness.”

  “You mean the loss of my daemon hickey is turning him toward the dark world?”

  “It appears that way.”

  I stood. “I need to get back to Earth.”

  Myra stood too, grabbing my wrist. “Before you go to the court, you need to visit your father.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t have time. I’ll visit with him after I see Dialle. I need to make this right somehow.”

  Her hand tightened on my wrist when I started to shimmer. “Dialle can wait a while longer. You need to go to the castle before setting off to help the royals. It’s important, Astra.”

  I held her gaze for a moment and then sighed. “Okay. I’ll go to castle Phelps before I go to Dialle.”

  “Promise?”

  My gaze slid toward her hand on my wrist. “I promise.”

  She looked at me a moment longer and then her pretty pink lips tipped upward in a smile. “You always were a terrible liar, Astra.”

  And just like that we were locked in a space shift and I was unable to even scream at my damnable angel as she space-napped me to my father’s house.

  ~SC~

  We landed in the kitchen and I opened my mouth to scour her with abuse. She lifted a single, blonde eyebrow and waited, obviously unrepentant. I slammed my lips closed, deciding it wasn’t worth it. “I hate you.”

  She grinned. “I know you don’t mean that, Astra.”

  “Do you?”

  She leaned in and kissed my cheek and then blipped away. Sighing, I briefly considered popping over to the court and then realized that I might as well speak to my father since I was at the castle. I turned around, intending to go in search of him, and stopped, my breath stalling in my chest.

  “Hello, Astra.”

  Tears filled my eyes. I took a step toward him and stopped, unsure how I would be received.

  Emo smiled at me and opened his arms. I flew into them, sobbing my relief. With my powers back, I could see his aura and it was more silver than gray, more light than dark. Emo had passed his Settling without succumbing to the siren call of the dark.

  “I’ve missed you so much, partner.”

  He kissed the top of my head, holding me tight. “I missed you too, boss.”

  I laughed at the old title. I hadn’t been his boss for a long time. But I hoped to return to our old working arrangement as soon as possible. I’d even asked Bob and Ralph for another office. Just in case. I reluctantly stepped back, out of his arms and smiled up at him. “You look good.”

  His dark eyes sparkled with humor. “Yeah? You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Now I know you’re lying.” Suddenly self-conscious, I turned away from his intense scrutiny.

  Emo touched my chin and pulled me back to face him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you needed me, Astra.”

  I shook my head. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel guilt. “You aren’t responsible for what happened to me, Emo. Nobody is except the bitch who magic-raped me. I won’t let you feel bad about it.”

  He laughed softly, shaking his dark head. “You can’t stop me from feeling bad, boss. But I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

  “You don’t have anything to make up to me, Emo, but I will let you come back to work at the Angel Network. I really need you. Darma is anything but a suitable substitute.”

  Something passed through his gaze but he laughed, shaking his head. “I can’t believe Darma is kicking demon ass.”

  “I know, right? And to all appearances even enjoying it.”

  “What about Slayer?”

  “Oh.” Heat flushed my face. “You heard about that, huh?”

  “I’ve been following you through Flick.”

  “Flick?”

  “He came to see me almost every day. He really helped.” Emo cocked his head, a silky black wave falling across his flawless, golden forehead. “You didn’t know he was one of my sponsors?”

  Frowning, I shook my head. The little twerp had never even hinted that he was involved. I was surprised he had the insight and compassion to help a struggling halfling through his Settling. He’d certainly never shown me any compassion.

  “I’m not surprised. They’re not supposed to tell anybody.”

  “Yeah. Well, he didn’t.” I grinned, reachi
ng out to clasp Emo’s hand. It felt large and warm and real. At last. “I can’t believe you’re here.” And that he’d beaten back the dark. Though I’d never tell him that. He’d been so close to giving in to the evil riding his soul. It was a testament to the Angels’ powers that they’d managed to pull him through. Then it occurred to me that he’d come to my father’s house first rather than coming to see me.

  Suddenly I was slightly miffed.

  “You came to my father first...why?”

  “He’s my other sponsor, Astra. He’s also my guide during the re-acclimation phase.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize you had to get re-acclimated to Earth. But I guess it makes sense.”

  “Yeah, about that phase...”

  Movement near the door pulled my attention from Emo. My father stood on the other side of the kitchen, his handsome face pleasantly blank, his blue eyes intense. Fear washed through me. I had a sudden premonition that he had bad news for me...about Dialle.

  “What’s wrong?”

  James Phelps, Seraphim and right-hand angel for the Big Guy, slid a glance toward Emo. “Can you excuse us for a minute, son?”

  Emo nodded but I bristled. “I don’t have any secrets from Emo, Father. He can stay.”

  My father didn’t respond, he simply held Emo’s gaze until my friend touched my arm and gave me a sad smile. “I’ll see you later, Astra.” I watched him walk out of the room, past my father, and realized his dismissal made me mad. I glared at my father. “Don’t treat him like an invalid.”

  My father glanced at the door and it closed behind Emo, ensuring that Emo wouldn’t hear whatever we were about to discuss. “He is an invalid, daughter. Whatever you might want, he’s still in a delicate condition. He must be eased back into life on Earth.”

  “He seems fine.”

  I got stern face for my comment. “He’s not.”

  I’ll admit it. I still backed down when confronted with my father’s stern face. “But I need him in the office. How soon until he can come back to work?”

  “Not for a while. Maybe never.”

  I swallowed hard, feeling the blood rush from my face. My hand reached out and touched the firm surface of the long, wooden table that dominated the center of the massive, brick-floored kitchen. “He’s still sick?”

  My father took pity on me. “Not really sick. Just delicate. He’s worked very hard to win the battle against the dark influences vying for his soul. He won, he’s on the mend, but he can still revert and regress. We need to keep him as far away from stress as possible until he regains his confidence.”

  I nodded, feeling a little better. “Which means he can’t help me with Dialle.”

  “Not even a little.”

  I thought about this for a minute and nodded, feeling no resistance to the idea. I loved Emo. We’d been friends since we were kids, and partners for several years. I didn’t want to do anything that would endanger him. “Okay. I’ll stay away as much as possible.”

  “No. That’s not what I’m asking of you, daughter. Myra brought you here for a reason. He needs you now more than ever.”

  I leveled a look on my father. “Have you met me? My life is stress on steroids. Just standing next to me constitutes a walk on the wild side. How am I going to spend time with Emo without passing some of that stress onto him?”

  “I’m not saying it will be easy. But you made a great start today. You’ll figure it out.”

  Sighing, I shook my head. “My entire life is impossible, why should my relationship with my best friend be any different.”

  “Whining doesn’t become you, Astra.”

  I stuck my tongue out at my father and he laughed. “There you are. I was afraid Myra had left your backbone behind when she shifted you here.”

  “Har. Now tell me about Dialle. What in Hades is going on with him?”

  “You probably have already guessed. When prophecy foretold a great unifier, we didn’t realize that his power to walk the line between dark and light had a caveat, if you will. That caveat is you, Astra. Without you Dialle is no longer grounded in the light.”

  “Shit.”

  “Crude but accurate. Your connection with Dialle was what allowed him to become the unifier. Without you...” My father shook his head.

  “He’s being seduced by the dark.”

  “Yes. That’s bad on many levels. It’s bad for the Royal Devil Court on Earth, because as long as you and Dialle are tied to the court it will continue to crumble and degrade, until Dialle begins to heal, or...” He shook his head and went on. “The disintegration of the court is really bad for humans and, by extension, the Celestial Realm. Without the good in Dialle to restrain their baser instincts, the royals and lesser members of the court will explode into violence. Humans will be slaughtered and debased by the thousands—maybe even millions—depending on how quickly we can get the situation under control.”

  “And how will you get it under control?”

  He stared at me, pain shining brightly in his clear, blue gaze.

  “You’ll have to kill them all.”

  “Yes.”

  “Frunk me to Hades.”

  “Exactly. And it gets worse.”

  I snorted, figuring he was joking. But when I looked into his eyes I knew he was about as far from jokes as he could get. “What? Give it all to me so I know how much shit I’m gonna need to wade through to fix this.”

  James Phelps, Seraphim of the Celestial Realm, shook his gorgeous blond head. “You had to acquire your mother’s language gene didn’t you?”

  I didn’t think that needed a response. There was absolutely nothing frunkin’ wrong with my language.

  “The royals of the court won’t go down without a fight. Even now they plot to disconnect Dialle and you from the court to save themselves.”

  I frowned. “Disconnect?” He lifted an eyebrow and I sighed. “I’m about to become the catch of the day again aren’t I?”

  “You are. But don’t expect them to release you once you’re caught. The only way to save the court from its current, rapid rate of decline is to kill both you and Dialle and install a new king and queen as quickly as possible.”

  “That’s frunkin’ wonderful.”

  ~SC~

  Moments later, I shifted into Dialle’s quarters, hoping to find him there and avoid the other members of the court. The room was empty and looked as if a war had been fought between its walls. The stench of dark magic stained the air and scorch marks slashed across the draperies lining the walls, the thick velvet hanging in tatters along the floor. The bed where Dialle and I had made love just days earlier looked as if it had been sliced with a sword. The contents of the mattress bulged outward from the jagged rift in its center and trailed down the sides to the floor. Puffs of stuffing littered the ground, skittering past on a brisk draft.

  I shivered and my gaze slid to the long wall of windows. Two of the massive panes of glass were broken, and debris blew into the room through the shattered surface. My horrified gaze quickly scanned the room, moving to the closet and the single door leading into Dialle’s personal hygiene room. I splashed through a puddle as I pushed the door open, a power ball sizzling on my palm. The hygiene room was in even worse shape than his bed chamber was. The shower tube had been ripped from the wall and soapy water poured from the hole in a steady stream, creating a growing puddle that spread across the floor and out the door to saturate the once-beautiful carpets. The mirror over the sink was cracked, its surface used to send a horrible message, written in blood. The words scrawled across the reflective glass made me shudder. Dark. Cold. Evil.

  It was the message of a fractured mind. I only hoped it hadn’t been Dialle who’d written it.

  I hurried back out into the bedchamber, heading for the door. I would find Gerch or Brina and find out what was going on. As soon as I opened the door, though, I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.

  The halls were thick with devils, demons and gargoyles. The combined stench of s
ulfur and blood made me gag and cover my mouth. Metal clanged against metal as the dark worlders of the court fought a brutal battle, fed by a depth of bloodlust I hadn’t seen in a long time, not since the Devil had cast a magic veil over the Earth, infusing everyone with a lethal kind of anger.

  I watched the chaos beyond the door for a long moment, trying to figure out how best to move through it without being immediately skewered. But before I could talk myself into stepping into the melee, a sword blade appeared from nowhere and slashed toward my face.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Into the Devil’s Back Yard

  Alas our hero’s in a spot, his predicament so dire,

  But our young miss will fail him not, she’ll yank him from the fire.

  Without even thinking, I lifted my hand and sprayed power into my attacker’s face. He flew backward with a grunt, smacking into the wall on the opposite side of the wide hallway. A large hand grasped my forearm and yanked me out from behind the door, flinging me into the center of the roiling mess of savage dark worlders.

  I stumbled backward, ducking just as a wide, heavy blade whizzed toward my head, and spun. A lower devil dipped its head and charged, the sharp points of his curved, black horns heading right for my midsection. I spun again and had the satisfaction of watching the horns skewer the royal behind me.

  Pain blossomed in my back as the handle of a sword bludgeoned me and my breath momentarily left my lungs. I dropped to one knee, struggling to breath and just missed being impaled as a knife flew overhead.

  A roar to one side had me lifting my hands in a defensive maneuver that, infused with a jolt of my borrowed power, allowed me to use my attacker’s momentum against him. I shoved hard on the demon’s wide chest as he flung himself at me, and sent him flying over my head. He hit the wall behind me with a wet thump. I jumped to my feet and started running.

  I didn’t get far.

  At the first turn in the hallway a large, scaly red arm reached out and hooked me around the waist, dragging me into a covered alcove. I pulled power into my fingertips and then stopped as a massive paw wrapped itself over my fingers.