by Mina Carter
“Wanna bet?”
Rat snarled as he dragged the demon nose to nose and let his runes flare. As expected, the demon went as white as a sheet, closing its eyes and muttering under its breath.
“Are you…” Rat frowned and leaned in. “Are you praying?”
Realization washed through him and he looked down at the shivering woman.
“You’re not fooling me, so you might as well come out.”
“Out?” He heard the confusion in Chase’s voice but didn’t look around. Instead, he concentrated on the alleyway around them.
“Come out, or I’ll nuke your little meat puppet right here and now. And then you’ll have to go to the trouble of corrupting another soul.”
To the left, the pug that had been hiding in the trolley sidled out from behind a dumpster. It shivered, its tiny legs trembling as it looked up at them with big eyes.
“No… please don’t. What do you want?”
* * *
Adult kidnapping was rare.
Adult kidnapping where the victim was a dragon powerful enough to level a couple of city blocks was unheard of.
So Baby wasn’t expecting hard hands to appear from nowhere and grab her. Before she could do anything sensible, like fight back or scream for help, she was hauled backward.
A kaleidoscope of heat and flame whirled around her in a vortex, and before she could take another breath she was disgorged from the vortex in a rush and tumble.
“Ooof!”
The air was knocked out of her lungs in a rush as she rolled across the floor. And it was floor, not the ground, the fibers of the rug beneath biting into her elbow with fiery little tongues.
She opened her eyes to find herself in a bedroom. Ordinarily, not a problem. Apart from the fact it was definitely not her bedroom.
It was much bigger for a start. With wood paneled walls instead of the smooth pastel-painted plaster she was used to. Her metal framed bed was replaced by a heavy dark wooden four poster behemoth big enough to count as a room in its own right.
“What the f…?” she breathed, whirling around in a tight circle. She was alone in the huge room, the only sound that of her breathing and the crackle of the fire in the hearth.
Taking a deep breath, she called on her dragon side. She’d roast this place to the ground, and creation help whoever thought it would be a good idea to take her away from Rat. She’d make sure their ancestors back to the beginning of freaking time regretted their actions.
But… nothing.
Her eyes widened and she tried again. Then again.
“Nononono…” she moaned, panic beginning to fill her.
She tried again. Same result. It was like she was… empty.
Powerless.
Was this what humans felt like? To be at the whim of whatever asshole thought it was fun to take her from her home without so much as a by-your-leave? Was it better to never know power or to mourn its loss?
Anger and frustration filled her as she looked around the big room for inspiration. There had to be something she could do, surely?
Concentrating on her hand, she focused all her energy on her fingertips. Where before she could drop her claws without a second thought, the skin there remained smooth and unbroken, the claws she knew hid there staying concealed within.
Sweat beaded along her spine as she tried to call them forth. She imagined the sharp tips ripping through her skin, the small bite of pain she’d never realized accompanied the movement. The beads of blood that rolled from the small wounds to be absorbed back by her own skin within seconds.
Her heart pounded with the effort but after long minutes, the cells of her body began to respond and vicious inch-long talons slowly pushed from the ends of her fingers. Even though the slow movement hurt more than it usually did and she felt lightheaded with the effort, she grinned broadly. She wasn’t helpless after all.
The door clicked behind her as the lock turned. Quickly she folded her claws away and hid her hands behind her back as she turned to face it. She didn’t want her captors to know she had a way to defend herself. It might have been the smallest of her abilities but it made her feel better as the door swung open.
“Your Majesty!” three women caroled as they swept into the room, the door slamming shut behind them. With their flowing skirts and big hair, they looked like rejects from a mashup between the dark ages and an eighties’ catwalk. Two bustled around her, cutting off any escape to the door, while the third laid a garment bag and other packages on the bed.
Baby took a deep breath, even though her sense of smell was muted, but she didn’t need the hints of fire and sulfur to tell her the three were demons.
“Where am I?” she demanded, batting away their hands as they pulled at her robe and lifted her hair with coos of delight. “Why have I been brought here?”
The woman in front of her seemed to be the group’s spokesperson, a tall lady demon with deep, dark eyes and deep raven-black ringlets that made Baby think she should be talking about her little lamb or something. She stopped petting Baby’s hair long enough to smile. “Why to see the king, of course! And we’re here to get you ready!” she announced, leaving Baby wondering whether her being kidnapped to meet the king was the honor or whether them being allowed to get her ready was.
She let them get on with it as she thought. She’d been brought to hell to see the king… Rat’s father. She rooted around in her memory for his name but even her memories seemed blunted by being in hell, her mind sluggish to her commands.
Lakai. Rat’s father and the king of hell was named Lakai. And a whole host of other names, but she couldn’t remember those just at the moment, so she let it go as her lips quirked. Perhaps she was going to get the “what are your intentions toward my son” talk?
It would make sense. If she remembered the hierarchy in hell correctly, Rat was a minor prince. Any monarch would want to monitor a relationship with another power. Perhaps with an eye to an alliance.
Although she wasn’t sure what advantages an alliance with her could bring… there were only four shadow-dragons in existence at the moment, which meant she was queen of a very small people with no land or assets. So perhaps he was just a concerned parent…
It took the three demon women no time at all to dress her in the sumptuous black gown they pulled from the garment bag. Heavily embroidered and embellished with what she assumed were rubies, it was gorgeous.
“A gift from the king,” one of the women said with a smile as she spotted Baby making the full skirts swish gently around her ankles. “He wanted you to feel like the queen you are.”
Score one for Rat’s dad. Baby tried to hold on to that thought as, once her hair and dress met their approval, the three women led her from the room to meet the king.
Chapter 9
The corridors of hell seemed identical and endless, but in reality it took them only a few minutes to reach the throne room. It was filled with demons, the presence of so many meaning even her dulled sense of smell had no trouble picking out what they were. Unlike Rat, who smelled vaguely of wood smoke, warm spice and citrus… the demons in front of her were more brimstone and rotten eggs.
She sucked in a breath as one of the handmaidens pushed her forward gently. The demons ahead of her turned and then parted to create a path toward the throne on its dais. Looking at it in all its golden glory, she could have been in any old European court, but she had a sneaking suspicion it didn’t look like that all the time. It didn’t hold her attention for long.
Instead, her gaze fell on the man standing in front of it and her heart leaped in recognition. Rat. Somehow he’d realized where they’d taken her and gotten here before she could meet with his father.
But her steps slowed the closer she got, her eyes narrowing. The man in front of her wasn’t Rat. Sure, he was just as tall, with the same muscular build and handsome features. At first glance, even those who knew Rat well would have been fooled. Hell, even at second and third glance. But she wasn’t ju
st anyone. She knew Rat. This man’s face was just little bit off and her suppressed instincts warned her she was not seeing his true appearance.
Stopping in front of him, she inclined her head—the respect of one monarch to another.
“Your Majesty.”
“Ahh, my love! So good of you to join us!”
It was weird to hear him use Rat’s voice, the rich, deep tones both reassuring her and setting her on edge at the same time. She studied him covertly from under her lashes as he took her hand and bowed over it, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Perhaps this was what he looked like? It was so perfect… He really did look so much like his son it was uncanny. Even down to the tiny crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes.
Realization hit like a freight train. Even she—who had been locked only in human memory until her awakening—had heard of Lakai, king of demons. He was fantastically ruthless… and unbelievably vain. There was no way he’d allow himself to have wrinkles.
Which meant there was no way the face he wore was his own. Some demons were excellent mimics. She’d once ridden in the mind of a woman back in the fifteenth century. The poor thing had been duped by a demon who had replaced her husband just after their wedding day. Despite everything Baby had done to try and warn her, she’d had no clue. Baby herself had been forced from the woman’s mind the moment she’d conceived the demon’s baby. She’d often wondered what had become of Merilea. Wished she could go back and help the human woman. But, numerous as her abilities and powers were, they did not include time travel.
As though her realization had negated part of the illusion, when Lakai smiled, it flickered. She forced herself not to react as she caught sight of the demon with his rune-carved skin and horns. His own face was narrower than Rat’s, with sharp cheekbones and a long, straight nose. The eyes were set differently as well, more feline than his son’s. Obviously Rat favored his mother.
“Wasn’t like I had a lot of choice in the matter,” she replied bluntly, meeting his gaze without flinching. From the murmurs around them, she figured not many people argued with Lakai. “Why did you kidnap me?”
“Kidnap?” Lakai’s expression mocked so perfectly between shock, outrage and hurt, she was almost fooled. But then she reminded herself that the king of demons was the ultimate trickster. “How could you say that to my generous invitation?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Your generous invitation was the demonic equivalent of shoving my head in a sack and throwing me over your shoulder.”
Her words were blunt, yes, but she’d had enough of being messed about and was in no mood to bandy words with a demon.
“Something, I might add, that could be considered an act of war against a foreign power.”
The words dropped into a charged silence and she practically felt every pair of eyes in the room ricochet between her and the demon king. He treated her to a long look and then burst into laughter.
“Your Majesty is as amusing as you are beautiful.” He smiled broadly and pulled her hand to rest on his arm. “How can such an invitation to join us be considered an act of war between allies?”
She blinked, so surprised by his words that she didn’t immediately remove her hand from his grasp. “We have no alliance with demonkin,” she argued. “And believe me, I should know.”
“No, of course not. Not yet anyway,” Lakai replied, leading her past the throne to another set of double doors. “But there will be when you become my wife in a few moments. And, believe me, my love… I cannot wait.”
Whatever she had been expecting him to say, it certainly hadn’t been that. Baby stopped dead, yanking her hand away from his arm like she’d been burned.
“What? You’re insane. Utterly insane,” she spluttered, standing her ground. “There’s no fucking way I’m marrying you!”
“Language, my love,” he chided, sliding his arm around her waist and leaning in. His next words whispered against her ear froze the blood in her veins. “Either you agree to marry me, or that son of mine you’re so fond of won’t live to see another sunrise.”
The world stopped turning, her heart falling sickeningly through the pit of her stomach as she looked up at him. Her voice almost failed her, her words forced out in a shocked whisper. “You would kill your own son to get your way? You fucking monster.”
He shrugged. “I have many sons, but there is only one of you. It’s a sacrifice, yes, but one I am prepared to make.” He smiled down at her, the expression cold and ruthless. “What will you sacrifice to save your precious prince? Or is he not that important to you?”
Tears filled her eyes as her heart shattered in two right there in the middle of the throne room. If she said no, Lakai would kill his son.
The man she loved.
She tried to drag a breath in over the lump in her throat. What did she do? Looking around the crowded room provided no answers. Half the faces around them were eager, for bloodshed or a wedding, she couldn’t figure out which… While the other half were hard-eyed and suspicious. They didn’t like her, she could tell. Why would they? She wasn’t a demon. Whichever, there would be no help forthcoming from either camp.
Her heart twisted as she realized that without her powers, she was stuck. She was on her own. There would be no rescue. Some PPA agent she was, falling at the first hurdle. But… she could save Rat. Say yes and save his life, even if she could never see him again.
Lifting her gaze, she met Lakai’s eyes with a look hardened by every ounce of fury and hatred in her draconic soul.
“I will marry you,” she announced in the cool tones of the queen she was. “But only to save him. And if anything ever happens to him… I will slaughter every single demon and raze hell out of existence itself. Do you understand me?”
* * *
Sneaking into hell had been easier than Rat had thought. They’d portaled into one of the lower levels, below the pits, and worked their way up. Some minor demons had scuttled out of their way. One look at Rat’s hard face and runes was enough to have them fleeing in terror.
“Aren’t you worried they’ll tattle on us?” Chase had asked, blades already in her hands. “I can track them down and make sure they don’t talk.”
“No need,” he’d replied. “They’re so low down the food chain no one that matters will listen to them and they know it.”
So they’d pressed on, working their way up past the pits and to the upper levels of hell. These levels were where the higher-level demons and demon nobility made their homes. And the corridors were deserted.
Unusually deserted.
“It’s kinda quiet around here. Isn’t it?” Chase murmured, looking around. She hadn’t resheathed her blades, not that Rat could blame her. Without demon blood running in her veins none of her draconic abilities would work down here. All other races were impotent within hell’s gates.
“Yeah. Too quiet,” he murmured, a horrible sense that something was very, very wrong gripping him.
He sped up until they were almost running down the corridors toward the throne room. The only things that would clear the upper levels like this were either a public execution or a torturing…
He snarled at the idea. If his father had kidnapped Baby to torture or kill her, then king of hell or not, he’d rip his father’s spine clean out and use it to beat him to death with.
They reached the throne room without challenge, the double doors guarded by gigantis demons. Both paled as Rat approached and nodded in acknowledgment.
“Talek, Johan… we’re not going to have any trouble today. Are we?”
The two demons exchanged glances and then looked back at Rat. The three were old acquaintances and, despite the fact they looked both ferocious and terrifying, both gigantis were teddy bears compared to Rat, and they both knew it.
“Can’t let you in there, Your Majesty,” Talek rumbled, shuffling slightly on his feet. His expression said plainly that he’d rather be anywhere else.
Rat shrugged. “Well, you don’t
have to let me in. I could always incapacitate you and leave you tied up in the corner if you prefer. I warn you,” he grinned. “I’ve got a cocked and loaded dragon and I’m not afraid to use her.”
“Hey.” Chase grinned and wiggled her fingers where they were wrapped around her sword hilts in a little wave. “How you guys doing?”
Johan, the slower of the two demons, frowned. “But dragon powers don’t work down here—”
He stopped talking as tendrils of shadow detached themselves from the walls behind the two demons, slammed their heads together, and then dragged them off into the shadows.
Rat shook his head. Johan hadn’t been picked as a guard because of his brains. That was for sure. Stepping forward, he pushed the door to the throne room open and stepped in. It was empty, but the roar of voices from the second hall, a chapel his father had had built centuries ago to mock the big man upstairs, tipped him off to where everyone was.
He and Chase ran lightly through the empty throne room and slid through the doors of the chapel.
It was packed. Standing room only. What the hell was going on?
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today—” A voice rang out from the front and Rat frowned, sharing a startled glance with Chase. A human wedding ceremony?
“Oh, bloody well get on with it!” a voice snapped. Rat recognized it. His father. He pushed through the crowds, and they parted enough to give him a glimpse of the dais and the altar that had been erected there. A scared looking human priest clung to a huge bible like it was his last chance of redemption but he wasn’t what held Rat’s attention.
Baby stood next to his father, resplendent in a black gown. Black with blood-red rubies… a demon wedding gown.
Ice slithered down his spine. The deserted corridors and the packed chapel made sense now. His father wasn’t torturing or killing Baby. He was marrying her.
“Shit, what do we do?” Chase murmured at his side. “I take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right?”
