by Jayce Carter
“I want to know if the people I came with are safe,” I blurted out as he turned away.
He paused, then glanced over his shoulder. “We want many things, mortal. What you will discover here is that they are all possible…for the right price.”
With that, he was gone, leaving me alone in the room, cut off from the people I relied on, and more confused than ever.
Chapter Twelve
I couldn’t take my eyes off myself. I had never been the dressy type of girl, maybe because no one noticed me even when I tried, and yet something about my reflection in the large mirror on the wall drew me in.
I wore a black dress that fit snug at my hips but flowed looser to my ankles, giving me room to move comfortably. The top had thick straps and didn’t sit too low, so I didn’t feel like that waitress at the ballroom, the one who nearly fell out of her shirt each time she bent forward.
My hair wasn’t greasy despite not having been able to wash it, but the black of it had been lightened by the ash. It was like a natural and gross dry shampoo.
My first look at the dresses had made me want to complain, but then I’d thought…what the hell?
When was the next chance I’d get to wear something like that, where I got to be the sort of girl who wear it?
So I’d thrown caution to the wind and tried on a few of the pieces, all of them fitting me to a suspicious degree. There was no way they hadn’t been put there specifically for me to wear.
Worse, the amount of clothing made me wonder just how long Lucifer expected me to be staying.
Instead of dwelling on that, I finished getting ready and drank more of the delicious water.
The bottles were glass, but somehow the water inside was cold despite no source of refrigeration that I could see. I had to guess it was magic, since everything else in hell had been stiflingly hot.
The room was no different, and even though it was immaculately decorated, the heat was worse than it had been farther away from the palace.
A knock on the door came, one that had me pulling away from the mirror and standing straight.
The knock came again, and I realized I’d never said to come in. Then again, I was pretty sure I was a prisoner, so I didn’t think manners counted for much. “Come in,” I called out.
The door opened, no creak to the hinges, but instead of Lucifer, it was a woman with long green hair and silver eyes. She was tall, thin and looked like lightness to the darkness of hell.
Her smile was wide and honest, and she walked around in her flowy yellow gown as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That was the sort of comfort in dresses I’d always wanted and never managed.
“Ava?” she asked.
I managed to close my gaping mouth and nod.
“I’m Persephone. I told Lucifer he could handle the other guests and I would see to you. He can be dreadfully overwhelming with all that glowering he does.”
It took a moment to hear anything past her name, because the Greek mythology I had taken started repeating in my head.
“Wait, wouldn’t that make Lucifer Hades?”
She paused, her smile widening even more. “Yes. Well, sort of. Everyone gets parts of the stories wrong, or they take one tiny bit of truth and make it into a tale that becomes more fantasy than reality.”
“But those are two entirely different sets of myths.”
“And there are a hundred others, all with a speck of the truth.”
I frowned at the entirely unsatisfying answer, though I’d grown used to that. “Are you his wife, then?”
“Heavens, no. I was smitten with him—who wouldn’t be?—but I got over that. Still, because of the entire pomegranate seed thing, I spend half my time here. We all do crazy things when we’re young.” She stopped just in front of me, then looked me over head-to-toe. “I’m not a fan of such gothic looks, but I can’t deny you’ll fit right in. We haven’t had such a large party in”—she bit her bottom lip—“years, at least. Lucifer has been in such a mood.”
She slid her arm through the crook of mine, standing taller than me by a good foot like some goddess.
Wait, she is a goddess…
The whole thing made my head spin, but I didn’t dwell. Sometimes there was too much change, too much new information, and trying to make sense of it all at once would drive a person crazy.
“What does he want with me?” I asked.
“What does Lucifer ever want?”
“I don’t know,” I snapped. “I’m new, remember?”
She waved off the guards when we exited the room. “No one ever knows—that’s my point. I have known him longer than almost anyone else, known him better, and I still have no idea why he does anything that he does. I have found it’s best to not try and figure it out. When he’s ready, he’ll come out with whatever he needs to say.”
“Easy for you to say. You weren’t kidnapped.”
“Perhaps not, but I do spend half my life here, away from my family and my friends and my life, so I do understand loss and loneliness.” Even as she spoke, her steps never faltered. A slight quiver in her voice betrayed her, but that light she had didn’t dim in the least, as if she refused to allow the reality to get her down.
Did I ever have that sort of optimism? Probably not…
“At least tell me what sort of party this is.”
“Lucifer loves to throw parties—at least, he used to. The wardens help bring people from other areas of the afterlife, allowing us to mingle in a way we normally wouldn’t be able to. We even get people from the living realm, such as important immortals, some of the elder ones, things like that. Oh, I love to hear how earth is doing. I’ve never been, you know? Maybe we could sit down sometime, and you could tell me everything.” Her expression turned dreamy, as if she were thinking about earth, about how badly she wanted to see it.
I could have told her it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but dashing her dreams felt rude.
“I’m sure we’ll have entertainment,” she went on. “Lucifer has been hosting more competitions lately, but fewer parties. No real ones for a long time. This is the first time I’ve seen him out from his room in months.”
I recalled Hunter talking about the shows. “Is that where people fight demons?”
“It’s barbaric,” she said. “I personally miss them whenever I can. However, he likes to make them a central part. I suspect he’ll have the competitors at the party tonight, before the first round. He likes to host those competing, to show them off like toys, to let people get their bets in.”
“First round? How long is the party supposed to be?”
“A few nights, at least. Don’t worry, we rest during the day. Given he hasn’t hosted any real parties in years, this one will be one to write home about. Everyone will be here.”
“Any chance I can get a few invites of my own, then?”
“Oh, I wish I could, but Lucifer said specifically that you were not allowed a plus one. I found it rather rude, but he outranks me here. Don’t worry, though, I’ll make sure you have fun without it.”
I blew out a breath, ready to face the disaster of surviving a few days long party in hell all on my own.
Just when I’d convinced myself I could manage it, a large set of doubt doors opened in front of Persephone and me, and the large courtyard I’d spotted through my balcony was there, full of people, who all turned to stare at me.
I am so not ready for this…
* * * *
Persephone, the cheery women who was difficult to hate, had abandoned me within thirty seconds of arriving at the party when she spotted someone she hadn’t seen in months.
It left me standing awkwardly by what was either a morbid display of body parts or a buffet table.
Or both.
Being in parties had never been my thing, but it turned out there was nothing quite as uncomfortable as doing that in hell. I didn’t know anyone and starting up a conversation with people who sometimes had hoov
es, horns and occasionally actual flames on them was outside of my realm of knowledge.
“So what do you think, Ava?”
The familiar voice was like a hug I hadn’t known I’d needed. I turned to find Gran standing there, beside the table of bloody bits, and before I had the time to even think about it, I threw my arms around her.
It felt like it had been so long since I’d seen her, since I’d been anywhere I understood, that she was a connection back to my real life, to the normal world. Funny that I never thought I’d miss my old life so much.
She was my past, the only true constant for me. I’d spent so much of my time in her occult shop, the one place I’d had where I felt as though I truly belonged. During a life of being unnoticed and unwanted, Gran was the person who had always seen me, always made time for me.
She huffed a soft laugh before hugging me back. “I take it you’re not doing so well?”
I pulled back and wiped my thumbs beneath my eyes for any stray tears that dared to escape. “It’s horrible, Gran.”
“Really? I rather like hell.”
I gave her a look that said exactly how stupid I thought that was. “What are you even doing here?”
“I’m always on the party list and given Lucifer hasn’t had a real one in ages, I had to assume you were at the root of this one. Whenever things become chaotic, I know you’re at the center.”
“What does he want with me?”
“Believe it or not, I don’t know everything.”
I crossed my arms and blew out a long breath. “I just want to go home, Gran. I’m tired of this game. Do you know I almost got chopped into little pieces and buried as plant food? I got kidnapped by a hellhound—”
“Oh, but Hunter is cute. I’d let him kidnap me.”
“It wasn’t him.”
“Pity.” Gran offered me an indulgent grin. “But you’re here, and you’re fine.”
“Fine seems like a very generous word. I’m stuck in hell, by myself, and am a prisoner of the devil.”
“You’re not alone,” she said.
“I don’t even know if Kase, Troy, Grant and Hunter are okay.”
“They’re fine. Even if they weren’t, you’d be okay.”
“You like to say that, but I’m not so sure, especially after all this.” I pressed my lips together, then asked her, my voice low, “What am I? I went incorporeal, like a ghost, and my blood is dangerous to creatures here. I know you said it doesn’t matter, but I need to understand.”
Gran’s eyes did that thing when they went white, when she stopped focusing on me and went somewhere else. Her voice took on a distanced quality, as if distracted. “You are something unique, Ava, something that isn’t supposed to be.”
“I don’t find being cryptic cute right now.”
“I’m not being cryptic. You are something that has never been, something that may never be again. How does someone explain something that hasn’t existed? I told you before, when you’re ready, you’ll know. And when you do…” She shook her head, the white clearing away like fog rolling out. “You will have choices to make, ones that will reach far and wide.”
I wanted to ask more, but the conversation was cut short when Lucifer walked up, his back straight, his hands folded behind him as before.
“Gran,” he said, nodding politely. “I see you have met our guest of honor.”
“I’ve known Ava here since she was a baby.”
Lucifer showed no surprise, but I couldn’t tell if that was because he’d already known or if his poker face was just that good. “Of course you have. Foolish of me to think such a thing could have gone unnoticed by you.” He focused on me. “I assume you are enjoying yourself? I see Persephone abandoned you. My apologies, but she is easily distracted.”
“Bloody chunks of meat, demons, the wails of the damned—what’s not to like?”
He offered a half smile, as if to humor me. “Exactly. Now, the competitors for the show will arrive shortly, and as the guest of honor, Ms. Harlin is expected to greet them. It was…” Lucifer paused, as if searching for a word. “Nice to see you, Gran. Please, enjoy yourself.”
“I always do,” Gran said and offered me a wink before Lucifer gestured to follow him.
He paused and leaned in to speak to a guard. “Please keep an eye on Gran. Do not get in her way but watch her very carefully.”
I frowned when he started to walk again. “Really? With all the people and things you have here, you’re worried about one little old lady?”
Lucifer huffed, the least regal thing I’d heard from him. “There has yet to be a party she has attended where she did not kill, banish, blackmail or sleep with someone she shouldn’t have. There is only one other person who has managed to give me more headaches.”
“This is hell. I didn’t think you had ‘shouldn’t’ here.”
“We don’t, unless they end up causing me problems. Do you not recall what I told that hellhound?”
“I doubt Gran caused you that much trouble…”
“She turned one of my head generals into a goat a few years ago.”
“Yeah, the goat thing seems like her go-to move.”
He shook his head. “I would simply not invite her if that were possible. Unfortunately, she is one of the few who could attend all on her own, thus I send an official invite and she rarely shows. If I left her off the list, she would come to spite me. Somehow it does not shock me that she would come for you. You seem to have your hand in many places it does not belong.”
“To be fair, I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t abducted me.”
“I didn’t abduct you. I simply invited you.”
“Your letter transported me here without my permission. What would you call that?”
“An aggressive invitation.”
I cut him a sharp glare, and I swore I almost saw his cheek crease. That didn’t feel possible, however, since he hadn’t shown signs of having any sort of emotion.
We wound through the party, though it was an easy path since people parted for him. Near the large tree were a row of seats that reminded me of the coven’s throne room. Sure enough, at the center, a chair made of skulls. Beside it was another, smaller one, though I would have sworn it was made of other bones as well.
Lucifer pointed at the chair beside the large throne.
“I don’t sit on bones,” I said.
“It is customary for the guest of honor to sit beside me. In fact, it is a great honor that many have fought and died for.”
“Well, let them use it, because dead bodies are not for furniture or eating utensils.” I thought back to the cup at the inn.
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, which told me not to push my luck.
I reached out and plucked the pocket square from his jacket—if he wanted to kill me, he could have already, and I doubted stealing his handkerchief would push him over the edge—unfolded it and placed it on the seat. I was not going to get bone germs on my pretty new dress.
He shook his head, an almost imperceivable gesture, before taking his seat in the large throne.
The other chairs were quickly filled as well, the room falling silent as if his presence signaled something important.
To his other side was a chair that remained empty, a throne much like his, and to my other side sat Persephone.
“Sorry, Ava,” she whispered. “I hadn’t seen my friends in months. I won’t leave you again.” Almost immediately, she leaned to the other side and starting to talk to whoever sat there, despite being the only person talking in an otherwise silent room.
And despite Lucifer’s sharp look.
It seemed she wasn’t afraid of him at all.
“Thank you for coming,” Lucifer said from his throne. “It has been too long since we have done this. Now, let us see our brave competitors for tonight.”
Someone walked in, a woman who reminded me of the waitress at the ballroom, though this woman was better dressed. She wore a suit with a skintight skirt that
showed off her hooved feet. “We have six teams for tonight,” she announced. “The first team are local favorites.”
As she listed the people, they came from a door off to the side, and each one she named made me want to shift closer to Lucifer.
Which was dumb, as I’d bet he was far more dangerous to me.
The creatures—I couldn’t even call them people—were worse than the man who had almost killed me. They were large, muscled bodies scarred and twisted. Each gave me no doubt about just how lethal they were.
The woman went through the groups, one by one, while Lucifer sat impassively and Persephone chimed in to anyone who would listen about the rumors surrounding the people.
It seemed everyone ignored her breaches of protocol.
“And the last team,” the woman said, “is new. We have witnessed one fight before, a fan favorite, undefeated.”
The rest of her words disappeared as I watched Hunter, Kase, Troy and Grant walk into the center of the courtyard.
This wasn’t the reunion I’d planned on…
Chapter Thirteen
I shifted in my seat, wanting nothing more than to rush forward.
Unfortunately, Lucifer must have guessed it, because he reached over and set a hand on my shoulder, keeping me in place with what seemed like zero effort.
As soon as the woman finished her introduction, Lucifer spoke, his voice booming across the courtyard. “I welcome the competitors. Enjoy yourselves, because in one hour, there will be fewer of you.” When he’d finished addressing the others, he lowered his voice just for me. “I take it these are the ones you asked about.”
“Yes. Would you let me go, now?”
“You test my patience, mortal.” His use of the word mortal felt like the threat he probably meant it to be, a reminder that I was far weaker and at risk. It was enough to make me settle down as he gestured for the men to approach.