by Vivian Wood
“Ah. I actually got you a pair of blades that go with your costume,” he said.
She wrinkled her nose. “Like knives?”
“Normally, a mistress wouldn’t even be allowed to speak, much less carry a weapon. I borrowed these from the arsenal at the Alpha Guardians’ manor.”
“Who?”
“The group of shifters that patrol New Orleans, keep the peace,” he said. “Mere Marie watches over them, so I’ve met their leader a few times. Big Scottish bear named Rhys. Makes me look friendly by comparison.”
“Sounds like you were productive yesterday.”
“Yeah, well.” Ezra moved to the kitchen counter, picking up another garment bag to reveal two thin golden blades sheathed in white leather. “They reminded me of your sword, a little.”
Aurora’s brows rose a little. She came over to examine them, each with a slim leather holster that attached to her garters and suspenders.
“Elaborate,” was her only comment.
She spent a minute examining them. Then, giving Ezra a rueful glance, she pulled back one side of her skirt and secured the knife on the outside of her thigh.
Ezra tore his gaze away as she worked on the second one, pulling a long silver and white cloak from the second garment bag. He shook the cloak out and straightened the hood unnecessarily, just waiting for Aurora to be done adjusting her stockings and garters.
“Here,” she said after a minute, holding her hand out for the cloak.
Feeling gentlemanly for the briefest moment, Ezra unclasped the single front hook and held it open for her. Aurora’s eyes flashed for a second, but then she turned and allowed Ezra to drape it over her shoulders. She shrugged off his touch immediately, moving away and pulling the hood up to cover her head.
She closed the cloak about herself, hiding the scandalous outfit beneath and enclosing her whole body in layers of bright brocade fabric.
A few wisps of copper hair escaped the hood to frame her face, and of course there was no disguising her beautiful face or those shining ocean-colored eyes. Ezra began to wonder if this ploy of passing her off as a flashy mistress might be a little too successful… and more dangerous than he’d anticipated.
“What do you think? Am I well hidden?” she asked.
Though he knew that she meant to ask if the cloak’s spell was working, Ezra only shook his head.
“There’s no hiding you,” he said.
Her astonished blush, the way her eyes went wide at the compliment…
Ezra turned away from her again. “We should go.”
Aurora trailed behind him, the cloak swishing softly as she moved.
“How are we getting there?” she asked.
“Normally we’d fly, but…” he paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder. “I had Mere Marie set up a jump point for us, so we can flash from here to a spot close by the entrance of Paradis.”
Aurora took a big breath and blew it out. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Ezra took a small piece of black velvet out of his pocket, unfolding it to show her a gleaming silver key.
“This is the jump point. I’m going to grab it and bring it along, so you have to touch it first.”
“Okay.”
He gave her one final, steadying glance. “On three. One, two, three—”
Aurora’s fingers touched the key. Her whole body went pale, then she disintegrated as she was sucked into the key’s vortex. Ezra carefully grabbed the key with one hand, the velvet with the other. As he felt himself being tugged toward the key, his body growing light as air, he released the key and gripped it with the velvet cloth.
He felt a few nauseating moments of freefall, the world around him flashing light and dark and light again. And then he was on the other side of it all, his feet suddenly heavy, Aurora stumbling against him and clutching his arm for balance.
He steadied her, looking around. “Who puts a bolt-hole in a snowy forest?”
Aurora pulled a face, tightening the cloak around her shoulders. They stood in a frigid clearing, snow falling on the trees all around them.
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet that we’re not walking far,” she said. She nodded toward the other side of the clearing, where a bright ball of molten gold hovered above a white marble pedestal.
“Tasteful,” Ezra joked.
“I guess you don’t make the entrance to paradise an old boot or something, huh?” Aurora said, moving closer.
She gave him an apprehensive glance.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“Nervous, yes… but I’m ready,” she said. “Besides, it’s cold here.”
Ezra walked over to the golden orb, which appeared to be a small rotating sea of gold liquid, hanging in the air. Faintly, he could make out a few images in the surface. The outlines of a villa house, perhaps. The sun high above the water, like a beach almost.
“So overdone,” Aurora murmured, echoing his thoughts.
“Yes, well. Should we go on the count of three again?” he asked.
She glanced up at him, her blue eyes wide and bright. “On three.”
“Alright,” he said. “One, two, three—”
They both reached out and stuck their hands into the warm gold. It sucked at Ezra’s fingers, splashing out and spreading across his skin.
In a flash of gold, the snowy white world before them disappeared.
10
Ezra
Even before his feet hit the ground, Ezra had to shade his eyes against the blinding sunlight. He squinted as he checked to make sure Aurora had made the journey intact. She winced at the bright sunlight, drawing her hood up further against the invading sun.
To their left and right the ground trailed out to sandy beaches. Perfect azure water lapped at the shores, the waves just the color of Aurora’s eyes. Before them rose an enormous sandstone wall, a wide opening cut in the stone, beckoning entrance. Above the arched doorway, the word PARADIS was engraved in the wall.
“Very Tuscan,” Aurora said as she stared up at the wall.
“Indeed,” Ezra said. “We should go in. Try to be inconspicuous. As quiet as you can, and stay behind me whenever possible.”
“Of course,” she said rolling her eyes. “Lest we forget your role as my protector.”
Ezra reached out and snagged her wrist, pulling her close and staring down at her.
“Don’t forget who you are today,” he said, squeezing her wrist firmly. “You speak when I give you permission. You follow me wherever I go. You eat what I give you, drink from my cup. Do you get my meaning?”
Aurora’s eyes flashed with annoyance, but she nodded. “Yes.”
“Just stay out of the way and stay quiet, let’s get in and out as fast as we can with all our limbs intact. Yes?”
“Fine.”
Ezra didn’t like the stubborn set of her jaw, but he released her and turned toward the entrance.
“Aurora,” he said, leading her toward the entrance.
“Yes?”
“Try to appear content with having me as your master,” he said, glancing back. “Or you might start getting overtures from other Kith creatures.”
She paled a little, but Ezra just kept going. His words were true enough, and it would be better if Aurora was at least a little afraid of drawing attention to herself.
“Onward and upward,” he said, more to himself than to her.
Ezra strode through the entrance, Aurora right on his heels. Before them, a miniature city spread out for perhaps half a mile. The dusty beige streets and sandstone villas seemed to rise in straight lines, from where Ezra stood all the way up to the topmost building in the city. Aragoth’s personal villa was dead center, if Ezra had to guess.
With the city laid out on the hill, Ezra could see practically the whole of it from the entrance. Thus, Aragoth could look out from one of his balconies and do the same.
Smart, especially for a hedonism demon. They weren’t known for their spectacular planning or organizational sk
ills, to say the least.
Eight smaller villas settled in a circle against the back wall, and below that was a haphazard mishmash of pueblos. In the center was a large and bustling marketplace, just as Aurora had described it.
Two humans pulled a rickshaw down the main street, heading straight for Ezra and Aurora. He pulled her to the side, ignoring the annoyed glare she shot him. The rickshaw slowed as it passed, giving red-skinned demon inside plenty of time to stare Ezra down.
Ezra shooed Aurora down the street, ignoring the fact that the rickshaw stopped, the demon standing to watch him as he moved toward the marketplace.
They walked unheeded for a minute, then two short, froglike demons appeared in Ezra’s path. Three feet tall, slimy green skin, wide warty mouths… except their mouths were filled with razor-sharp teeth.
“Fallen,” one of them croaked, his voice low and sibilant.
“Fallen in Paradissssss,” the other agreed, blinking his big yellow eyes. “Why?”
Ezra heard Aurora’s sharp intake of breath. He caught her hand before she could go for one of her knives.
“I am a Destroyer,” he said. “Lucifer sent me to cull three souls that are overdue.”
The two demons made identical burping sounds, looking at each other with alarm.
“Who Fallen cull?” one asked.
“Not Rathnu,” the other said, presumably naming himself.
“No demons, only human souls,” he said, crossing his arms. “One was sent here by Lucifer, for safekeeping. I must go to your dungeons and cull it.”
“Must see Master,” not-Rathnu said.
“Master Aragoth,” Rathnu supplied.
“Fine. Where is he?” Ezra asked.
“We take Fallen to Master, yes,” Rathnu said. “Come with, Fallen.”
The two fat toads turned and toddled off. Ezra glanced at Aurora, who looked more nervous than ever. Releasing her hand and taking her by the arm instead, he followed the two demons straight through the marketplace.
All around them, demons were moving through the riotously loud market. Some buying simple things like cloth or vegetables, some hawking drugged-looking human slaves as casually as someone might sell a puppy.
Aurora kept tensing up, and Ezra was forced to tow her along, gripping her arm hard to remind her of the role she played.
As they went, many demons stopped and stared. Were they staring at Ezra, unsure about seeing a powerful Fallen in their midst? Or were they watching beautiful Aurora, jealous and wanting?
Ezra couldn’t be sure. One tall, humanoid demon with near-translucent yellow skin darted into their path, clearly drawn to Aurora. Ezra summoned his sword, ready to run the creature through without a second thought.
Before he could even make a move, one of the froglike demons turned and hissed at the interloper. The intruder stepped back with a hateful glare, but it didn’t stop him from trailing behind them.
Ezra shifted Aurora around to walk in front of him, deciding that the two toads were the lesser evil. After they were through the marketplace, they passed lots of smaller buildings and lean-tos. Humans leaned in doorways and watched their progress, some openly smoking opium or hash, some already high out of their minds on who knew what else.
Aurora slowed and almost stopped when she saw two young girls sitting on the ground, drawing in the dust with sharp pieces of rock. Ezra put his hand on her shoulder and spurred her onward; this was not her fight, no matter what she saw here.
She resisted. Ezra squeezed her shoulder.
“Do not stop moving,” he commanded.
She didn’t even look at him this time, her gaze dropping to the ground. Once she started moving again, the march proceeded without incident, all the way up to the main villa.
Five stories high and cluttered with balconies and breezeways, it gave Ezra the impression that the architect had perhaps been a bit manic. In the center was a high set of stone stairs, leading to a main entrance on the third floor.
“Fallen, give name,” one of the toads said. “Must announce to Master, Fallen.”
“Grigori,” he bluffed, naming one of the Destroyers he knew to prefer solitude.
“Grigori!” both the demons croaked at once, as if trying the name out. “Come, Fallen.”
The two toads climbed the high stairs awkwardly, alternately using one another as support and pushing each other down. Inefficient, but what could be expected from demons that thrived in a massive drug den?
Once they made it to the main entrance, Ezra tugged Aurora back, indicating that she should stay behind him. She was quiet, her eyes on the floor. They strode through an austere beige foyer, reminding Ezra a bit of the safe house for its open windows and the brilliant blue skies beyond.
The party stopped before a large set of polished wood doors. Ezra knew that a bolt-hole could have any kind of impossible rules, but seeing the refined wood threw him off a little. Even down in the marketplace, any wood to be seen was ragged driftwood at best.
“Fallen wait here,” one of the frogs told Ezra. With the exception of defending her from the demon in the marketplace, neither demon had so much as acknowledged Aurora’s existence.
One of the frogs slid the door open and went inside, closing it after. Only moments later he came scrambling back out, flinging the doors wide in his haste.
“Master bids enter!” he groaned, looking distressed.
Ezra took Aurora’s arm and guided her forward. They stepped down into something straight from one of Scheherazade’s tales, a sunken floor covered with heaps of tasseled silk pillows. A dozen or more women reclined in the room, every different shape and skin color.
All with the clouded eyes of opium users, which made Ezra want to shudder.
In the middle was Aragoth himself, surprisingly human, except being only about four and a half feet tall and having not-quite-pink skin. He wore a loose caftan over his narrow frame, and silk slippers.
He glanced at them as if surprised by their presence, blowing out a heavy plume of dark smoke.
“Grigori,” Aragoth said, inclining his head to Ezra. His accent was curious, British mixed with something more exotic.
“Aragoth,” Ezra said, waiting.
“Seat yourself,” Aragoth said, setting aside an elaborate glass hookah. “Rathnu, take their jackets.”
Ezra shrugged his jacket off, watching Aragoth go bug-eyed as Aurora slipped out of her cloak. The demon eyes were wide as he took in her paper-thin white corset, translucent skirts, and garters.
Certainly, the attention was off Ezra now. The problem now was not his identity, but the start of something violent and dark beginning to rumble deep in Ezra’s chest.
“One of your mistresses?” Aragoth asked, not bothering to peel his eyes from Aurora’s chest.
“My only mistress,” Ezra said, trying to keep his voice mild.
Aragoth glanced at him, then cleared his throat. “She’s quite… unusual. Fine figure, nice enough face. That hair, though… that’s quite lovely.”
“One of the reasons I picked her,” Ezra said, glancing at Aurora. Her face was red, her eyes glued on her lap. Her hands were twined there, fingers gone white.
“Wild in bed too, I presume,” Aragoth said, looking her over again. “A pity redheaded humans are so rare these days. She is a real one, is she not? Upstairs and down? Not that I want to be able to tell…”
Aragoth waved a hand and called to a servant for drinks to be brought, saving Ezra from answering that question.
Ezra placed a hand on the small of Aurora’s back, running it up to nape of her neck. He gave her nape a gentle squeeze, trying to soothe her even as he showed dominance before Aragoth.
The gesture did not go unnoticed, but Aragoth was not dissuaded.
“I would trade you any number of girls, you know,” the demon said, accepting a glass of murky yellow liquid from a servant.
“I think not,” Ezra said, accepting a glass of the same and setting it aside.
“Y
ou hardly seem to have any affection for her,” Aragoth said, pursing his ruddy red lips.
“I cherish her enough to bring her with my everywhere I go,” Ezra said, leaning back. “It would not suit for a Fallen to have too much care for a human.”
“Are you sure you cannot be enticed?” Aragoth asked, wheedling now. “You have not seen Fatimah dance yet. Fatimah!”
A beautiful dark-eyed girl rose unsteadily to her feet, swaying.
“Bah!” Aragoth said. “That’s just the opium, she is very graceful. Moreso in bed, that I can promise.”
Aurora looked over at Ezra, fury in her eyes. He slid his arm around her waist, leaning down to nuzzle her neck.
“Just a little longer,” he whispered in her ear. She inclined her head.
“I’m afraid I want no other,” Ezra said, turning back to Aragoth. “Perhaps when I tire of her, an exchange could be made.”
“I would be interested. Perhaps,” Aragoth said, trying to play sly. “She’d need to be in the same condition.”
“I will think on it,” Ezra lied.
“Well, now that you are here, you must stay for the night’s entertainment,” Aragoth announced. “A feast, and music. And girls, many many girls.”
“I am here on a mission from Him,” Ezra said.
“The Dark One?” Aragoth asked, cocking his head.
“Is there any other lord you serve, Aragoth?”
Aragoth frowned. “Of course not.”
“I am here to cull three souls,” Ezra said. “I believe they reside in your dungeons.”
“Do you have a decree? I would need to see it in writing,” Aragoth said.
Ezra rose to his feet, letting his wings unfurl. Beside him, Aurora watched him in quiet amazement.
“Do you think I need a decree, demon?” Ezra thundered, releasing the full measure of the rage that had begun building in his chest the moment he stepped into Paradis.
“No, no! I… I am sure you know best,” Aragoth said. “It is only, Paradis rarely sees Fallen. Never a Destroyer, not once.”
“And you do not think you are overdue?” Ezra growled.
“Certainly, certainly,” Aragoth said, half rising. “It would be an honor to escort you to the dungeons. And of course I will insist on beginning the feast preparations, should you choose to stay after your work is done.”
