“You realize you’re trying to kill the person you did all this for, right?” I swung again. This time, I hit him, and he flew back against the wall.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Gemma fighting off a new wave of demons. I sent a blast of magic to clear some of them away.
“She chose you, and now she will have to watch you die.” Priapus ran at me with his sword, and I moved to the side and cracked him on the back of the head.
In the distance, Gemma screamed in pain. I watched as she fell to the ground and the demons climbed on top of her. I pulled from deep in my magic and blasted the room. The brimstone smell filled the air, followed by the cries of the souls leaving the demons’ bodies.
Anger came over me as I saw Gemma lying on the ground, not moving. I charged Priapus and pinned him down. When I rested my hand on his chest, I bound his soul to hell so he couldn’t leave or move.
Footsteps sounded at the entrance to the cave. I turned to find Poseidon and Zeus standing with an army. Ignoring the gods who had arrived late, I left Priapus’s body on the altar and ran to Gemma’s side.
Her green eyes opened, and she looked up at me. “Hey.”
I let out a sigh. “Are you okay?”
“I think my leg is broken.”
I had to fight the urge to go get the immortal sword and kill Priapus for putting her in this position—one I never wanted to see her in again.
Zeus and Poseidon walked over but were shoved out of the way by Evanora. The old witch dropped down next to Gemma and held a vial of medicine to her mouth. Gemma glared at her before she drank it. The scrapes on her body turned a light shade of pink, and the blood stopped coming out.
I reached down and wrapped her in my arms. “I think Priapus deserves to die,” Gemma mumbled.
If we had at least three gods, we could have a vote. The auditors preferred if we had a full quorum, but I didn’t want to spend another minute waiting.
Zeus walked over to Gemma and placed a hand on her arm. “It’s good to see you again, Gemma. I’m sorry about what happened to you. But it’s your choice on what we do to Priapus. Do you want to take his powers, kill him, or send him to prison?”
Gemma looked up at the god, struggling to move. “Whose prison?”
“I have a room,” Poseidon offered.
“He doesn’t deserve to go to your prison.” I shook my head. “Have you seen it, Zeus? It’s like the Ritz-Carlton. Who does that?”
Fate whined. I had forgotten she was there. Zeus rushed to her side and released her binds. She walked over and smiled down at Gemma. “I knew this would happen. And you have too good of a heart.”
“You knew all of this. Gemma being locked away—hell, you being locked away.”
Fate frowned. “I can’t change the way things work out, or they might not work out the way we want. It’s hard not to mess with everyone’s Fate when I see the hardship, but everything happens for a reason.”
Gemma was back in my arms, and I didn’t plan on letting her go. “So, do you want to take him?”
“Yes.” Fate walked over to the god on the floor. She chanted in the language of the gods, and rain and wind struck inside the cave. Then his body disappeared.
“Thank you, everyone, for showing up late,” I said.
Poseidon sent a lightning bolt through the cave, destroying the altar. Now I would have to add that to the list of things to take care of. Without the altar, the abyss couldn’t take any more souls—they would all just go to the waiting area.
“Showing up.” Poseidon huffed. “My palace is destroyed again.”
Zeus coughed to cover up a laugh. I ignored everyone and left with Gemma in my arms. Someone else could clean up the mess.
13
Pandora
Running hell was something I never wanted to do again. Lucifer’s assistant dropped another stack of soul applications on my desk. Paldon walked in with her two babies and sat on the chair. My mate and Ryker were doing a favor for Lucifer. Seconds later, Daisy and Wrath walked in and sat on the couch.
I pushed the stack of papers to the side and held out my arms for one of the babies. “Hey, cutie. Have you summoned any new creatures?” Rex pressed his hand to my cheek and blew bubbles with his mouth.
“No, and if they ever think about summoning a dragon again…” Paldon gave her other baby a stern look, but I knew she was actually proud of her children. When Paldon was younger she ’d been turned into a wolf, but her magic had been passed down from our father, and her mate was a wolf, so her children were destined to be wolves as well.
“But they're so cute,” Daisy chimed in from the couch.
“Until you have to change their diapers or don’t feed them in time.” Wrath shuddered as she sharpened her sword on the couch. “I swear Riley has siren in her, because the other day, when she screamed, my ears bled.”
“Her screams are a little more dramatic than Rex’s. Now we just have to figure out how to keep them from destroying everything. Ryker put baby gates around the house. It worked for two days, and then they used their powers to blow the locks off the doors.”
Rex pressed his hand to the stack of papers, and the souls waiting for sentencing marched to their destinations, but I wasn’t the one to give the order. I lifted Rex’s hand from the sheet, and the line of souls stopped moving.
Paldon looked from the desk to me. It was hard not to wince under her stare. “Please tell me my baby didn’t just sentence those souls,” she said.
“Maybe.”
Daisy huffed from the couch. “I’ve asked Daddy numerous times to let me do that, and he said I couldn’t. And you let a one-year-old do it.”
“Not by choice.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Running hell sucked. Luckily, Lucifer owed me two favors. One of them I plan to keep in my back pocket for if he ever wanted me to run hell again.
“Daisy, how can you make decisions about the levels when you’ve never left hell?” Wrath asked.
“Wait, you’ve never left this place?” Paldon asked.
“Not by choice,” Daisy pouted.
Hell wasn’t like I’d expected. When I first arrived, it reminded me of an island—the perfect temperature of seventy-five, clear blue skies, and birds flying around. The birds were a little on the freaky side, with long talons and beaks.
“So, you’ve only dated people down here?” Paldon asked,
Wrath cleared her throat. “Oh, that’s another rule when it comes to Daisy. She’s not allowed to date, and Lucifer made that clear, so none of the guys go near her.”
“If Lucifer is your father, who is your mother?” I asked.
“He won’t tell me. One day, when he feels I’m ready, he will let me know who she is. Until then, he said it’s not worth worrying about.” Daisy tucked her legs under her butt.
Like all of Lucifer’s kids, she was breathtaking. I was surprised so many of the men in hell could stay away from her. She had light-gray eyes and blonde hair. Her hourglass shape was enough to make any man want to be with her.
“Well, when I’m done doing Lucifer’s job, you can come stay with us.” I held up my hand. “But you need to get Lucifer to agree to it.”
“Good luck with that,” Wrath snickered.
“I’m twenty-four years old. He can’t keep me here forever.”
“You think I should recheck the babies' work?” I looked down at the sheet. One hundred souls were cleared, and I hadn’t had to do anything. Rex cleared them faster than I could. I spent too much time worrying about if I was making the right decision.
Paldon wrinkled her nose. “They all did something to get here in the first place. Maybe they should’ve thought about that before committing a crime.”
“Not sure if that is the correct way to look at it, but I don’t want to be here all night.” I grabbed the next list and closed my eyes.
The first person had killed an abusive dad. I sent her to the first ring. The second person ate his brother. I sent him to the seventh ring. I re
watched each of the crimes before making my decision. A little hand yanked the paper out of my hand and giggled. Once again, a mass of souls marched across the room and to the elevator.
Paldon stood up and grabbed Rex from my arms. “You are not to play with your grandpa’s papers.”
Most of my work was done for the day. Maybe I should borrow the babies more often to take care of this part of the job.
“Did Atieno say how his meetings at the council summit are going?” Paldon asked.
Atieno and Ryker were working to clean up the rogue warlocks and shifters. But the corruption was far worse than either of the two had imagined.
The doors to the office opened, and Ryker and Atieno entered. Atieno walked over and placed a kiss on my lips. “You got through the list quicker today.” He pointed to the small stack I had left.
Paldon glared at me. “She wasn’t the one to go through the list—it was this little one.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding, right?” Ryker glared over his shoulder at me.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Rex said.
Atieno and I burst out laughing as Ryker ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t say that word, sweetie.” Ryker grabbed Rex from Paldon’s arms.
Wrath glared at Atieno. They were still not on speaking terms. It bothered my mate that his longtime friend blamed him for the death of her mate. She stood and walked out of the room.
“I think she wants to stab you with the sword.” Ryker smiled as he bounced the little boy. “But we don’t stab people, do we, little guy?”
“No, they blow things up,” Atieno said. “I’m surprised Pandora was able to get this office somewhat back together.”
“Wait for when your kid comes,” Ryker replied.
“Luckily, that won’t be for a really long time,” I said.
Ryker’s brow bunched together. “You haven’t told her?” Ryker looked over at my mate.
Atieno looked at everyone but me.
“Told me what?” I demanded.
A smile spread across my sister's face. “You don’t know. Here I thought you just hadn’t come to terms with it yet.”
My heart was beating a million miles a minute. This couldn’t be right. I was on birth control. We were being careful. “There is no way I’m having a kid yet.”
Atieno cleared his throat. “I know it’s not what we talked about.”
Sparks shot from my fingertips, burning the stack of souls. They would all go to the abyss now. A wave of guilt came over me, but then I remembered that my mate had hidden something fundamental from me.
“How long have you known?” I asked. The dumb secretary walked in and laid another stack on the desk. I sent a bolt of magic at her. “No more. I’m done for the day, and if you don’t want to end up in the abyss, it’s highly recommended you don’t bring me anymore.”
She glared and stormed off in her high heels.
Atieno had stepped back. The magic still streamed out of my fingers. He took the stack of souls with him and sat on the couch. “Now, Pandora, you know things work differently for supernaturals.” He was speaking to me like I was a two-year-old.
“Someone tell me how far along I am.”
“I would say about two weeks,” Daisy said as she bounced my niece.
“You're telling me you’ve known I was pregnant since we’ve been down here and failed to say, ‘Hey, Pandora, that birth control you take doesn’t work’?”
Atieno flinched. “Well, once I figured out you were pregnant, I switched out the pills for sugar pills so the babies wouldn’t get hurt.”
Most women tried hard to get pregnant, and this would be the happiest day of their lives. I knew I would look back on this day and regret how I acted, but the hormones—combined with me running hell and my mate doing Lucifer’s other work—were sending me over the edge.
The magic burst from my fingerprints, destroying Lucifer’s paintings on the wall, and the stack of souls went up in flames. I’d sent them all to the abyss again. Lucifer was going to have an overcrowding problem soon in the abyss.
That’s what he gets for leaving me in charge—a pregnant hormonal person.
I wished I could go back to the human realm and let Lucifer decide what to do with the souls when they arrived.
“We are going to circle back to the pill thing in a second. You said ‘babies,’ as in, more than one?” I took a deep breath. “Are we having twins?”
“You know Fate would never give us more than we can handle.” Atieno let out a sigh. “I’d planned dinner and a bubble bath, and when you were relaxed, I was going to tell you this news.”
He wasn’t saying it was twins. It wasn’t possible. I couldn’t have more than two. They would outnumber us. “How many?”
Atieno walked back over and pulled me into his arms. My magic enveloped his body, holding him close.
Ryker grabbed his little girl’s and Paldon’s hands. “Come on, guys. Let’s give them a minute.” He gave Daisy a pointed stare. “You too, Daisy.”
The family of four walked out, followed by my sister, Daisy. She didn’t look happy having to leave. She probably wanted to know if Atieno and I would get into a fight.
“Tell me,” I whispered.
“Three.” He sighed. “Two boys and one girl.”
Atieno moved me out of Lucifer’s chair, sat down, and pulled me onto his lap. I rested my head against his chest, and he placed his hand on my belly. Life would never be the same in nine months. Or maybe it would be sooner, since time in hell was different than time in the human plane.
“I’m still due in nine months, right?”
My mate ran his hand up and down my arm. “I’m not sure. We can have one of the local doctors come and let us know.”
I sighed. “At least our week is almost up.”
“Gemma is still sick,” Atieno replied.
A few hours earlier, I’d talked to Lucifer. They had defeated the guy trying to steal the powers of the gods, but Gemma barely made it out of the fight. Though he tried not to show his emotions, Lucifer was taking it hard.
I didn’t understand why Gemma was fighting the mating pull. She and Lucifer were right for each other, and she would help keep balance in hell, unlike me. I accidentally sent everyone to the abyss when I got stressed out. Hell, the babies did a lot better than I did.
Atieno’s phone vibrated in his pocket. The first time, he ignored the call, but when it started to vibrate again, he groaned and shifted me to the side so he could pull it out.
“What?”
There was a significant issue going on with the West Virginia council, and they needed Atieno’s help. I knew my mate didn’t want to leave my side, but I also needed a break from everything that was going on.
“I need to go. One of the council leaders has been controlling another. They need me to go make a judgment.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
Atieno ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure it’s safe.”
My week in hell was starting to make me so mad. “I’m coming. Paldon can sit in for me for a while. I need to get out of here. And I really want to see a human doctor.”
“You’re not going to let this go?”
“Nope.”
Atieno called Ryker and let him know we had to go take care of business, and Ryker said they would handle things while we went to the other plane. We walked over to the portal in Lucifer’s office, and I placed my hand on the wall. It came to life, and I stepped through, followed by Atieno.
We arrived at the edge of the woods in front of a large warehouse. I followed Atieno. It was a lot colder in West Virginia than in hell. My tank top did nothing to protect me from the wind, but I was out of hell and no longer smelled brimstone. Atieno pulled open the door.
The large area was empty except for one fairy at the counter. “Gideon said you were coming. He’s in the lower level.” She giggled and tossed gold glitter in the air.
Atieno grumbled, and I smiled back at th
e young woman before following him. It wasn’t long before we were in the lower levels and Atieno pulled open the doors to a medical room. A man was tied to a chair. Three large men stood around the room. I could tell they were brothers. They looked the same except each had a different eye color.
A man in long robes approached us and stuck out his hand.
“Gideon.” Atieno nodded at the man before turning to a young woman with long black hair.
Gideon said, “This is Conley, Kirin, and Kia.”
“You must be Nyx.” Atieno stuck out his hand.
Nyx went to shake hands, but Conley tugged her back.
“Asshole.” Conley stepped forward and punched Atieno in the face.
This happened every so often—my mate had pissed people off over the years—but it made the magic in my body come to life. Pink sparks shot from my fingers. Atieno rested his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.
Kirin sighed next to him. “You know he’s the king of the shifters, right?”
Conley turned and looked at his brother. “No, Atieno is the king of the shifters. Mac is a cheating asshole.”
Atieno let out a laugh. “Mac is the name I used when I fought. I didn’t want people to know who I was, so I didn’t use my real name.”
“Another lie,” Conley grumbled.
“You said we couldn’t shift. I didn’t.” Atieno shrugged. “If you want, we can find a ring for a rematch, and I can beat your ass again, or I can deal with the man you have strapped to that chair. Because I want to get my mate back to—”
“We have an issue at home,” I cut in, not wanting to let everyone know nobody was really running hell at the moment.
Nyx placed her hand on Conley’s arm. “We need this to be over.”
The man looked like he was struggling with which option to choose. He nodded to the woman.
Nyx said, “It might be easiest if I show you.” She stepped toward the man in the chair. He struggled with the tie-downs as she pressed her hand to his arm.
A movie played across the wall. A young girl was created in a lab. The movie skipped to when the girl was older and her parents were being killed. When she got to the part where the man in the chair took control of Gideon, the air thickened. Atieno reached out and put his hand on me, keeping me balanced. When the woman let go, her body slumped, but Conley caught her in time.
Fated Mates of the Underworld, Books 1-3 Page 36