by G. Bailey
“One more problem, Lucifer has blocked the doors of hell,” Nick reminds us.
“Oh, I have a mirror in my shop that will take you to the island on which The Demon Academy resides. Its magic can’t be detected by Lucifer, I’m certain of it,” Uncle Harry replies.
“We have a speed boat in the pack, so once I’m there, it shouldn’t take us long to travel to the tales island and hope they will help us,” Javier explains, standing up.
“You need to tell them the new queen of hell is offering an alliance for help,” I say, picking Amethyst up as I stand, and I place her back on the sofa between her sons. “Because one way or another, I am going to be queen, and I will be vengeful to anyone who betrays me if this all goes wrong.”
“I like the queen,” Amethyst whispers to her sons, and they both just glare at her. “She is badass.”
“I will tell them, but hopefully, they might just help,” Javier comments with a small smile, standing up and walking to me. “I’m going to be okay.”
“Right, well that’s my cue to leave. The mirror only works in the morning when the fire sun of hell changes to blue. You will find my shop on street eighty, right in the middle of the city. See you tomorrow,” my uncle says before bursting into green flames, disappearing without another word.
“Lucifer has called us for a family dinner, just us three and Lilith. You should spend the night with Javier before he has to go, and we will be back here later,” Nick explains. “I don’t want you around Lucifer any more than you need to be.”
“Do you think it’s safe for you to go to a meal with him?” I ask.
“I won’t allow him to hurt my sons. Come along,” Amethyst comments, jumping off the sofa and heading to the door, where she waits. Nick kisses my cheek before walking away and Claus tugs me to him, kissing me a lot more passionately, enough to make my cheeks burn as he lets me go. “Have a good night and don’t worry. We can handle our father.”
I watch them leave, linking my fingers with Javier as I hold back the words I want to say.
The twins have no idea what kind of monster they are going to dinner with.
Chapter 65
I finally understand why Red Riding Hood followed the wolf in the woods
“How is Sera? Eike?” I ask Javier as we walk around the remaining gardens, ducking around tree branches that hang low and somehow block out the light from the fire above. I’ve noticed how the fire changes colour in the days I’ve been here. In the morning, it almost looks blue, and then it turns to orange throughout the day and finally to an almost red colour as night comes. It’s not like the sun on earth, but it’s something else, and I possibly could get used to it and my fate trapped down here. I look back at the two castles filling the cavern, how one looks like it’s meant to be here, and the other really does not. The Demon Academy should be on earth, but god knows how we are going to get it back after all this.
Javier tugs me closer, using his one hand to carry the basket full of food we made before we headed out for some fresh air. Not that the air in hell is fresh exactly, it’s more like desert weather, the lack of humidity at least. I think back to Sera’s letter, how she spoke of missing me so much and how she wishes I find some happiness down here. She spoke of how grateful she was I saved her life, but she felt perhaps I shouldn’t have because there is such a big price to pay for it. Then she told me she would be so mad if the guys didn’t figure out a way to save me. There wasn’t much more, unless her constant talking about Eike is counted, which it’s not. I can see those two ending up together, because there is a fine line between someone annoying you to the point of hating and loving them.
Kissing the side of my head, Javier murmurs. “She misses you as much as she is mad at you for giving up everything to save her life. For once, me and my sister were in agreement.”
“When you see her...just because I might not get to see her outside of hell, just tell her to live the life I saved. No holding back, no waiting,” I ask of him. He frowns, almost like he can tell I’m talking about Eike. Sera should just tell him she likes him, because I’m nearly certain Eike isn’t the same loser in an inn that I first met, the wolf running from everything. He has become alpha and changed everything because Sera simply asked. You don’t do stuff like that unless it’s for a good reason.
“Is that how you want to live now?” he asks, rubbing my hand with his thumb.
“Yes,” I gently tell him, locking my eyes on his just as we come across a clear part of grass between four trees. Javier sits down first, tugging me into the gap between his legs. Resting my head back on his chest, he wraps his arms around me, and for a moment, we can just be two teenagers in love. Nothing more, nothing less. We don’t have an angel to save, we aren’t trapped in hell, we aren’t worrying about every little detail of a future we can’t control.
It’s just Javier and me, being us. A wolf and a demon that really should never be together, but we are.
“When this is all over, I’m going to knock that castle down and build you a better one,” he randomly states.
“Can you actually build a castle?” I muse. “I mean, that’s something you haven’t told me if you can.”
He laughs, and I feel his chest vibrate against my back with it. “No, but I’m good at building. I’ve re-built several of the pack houses, and I was always fixing stuff. A castle will take me a few years, but it could be our home, and we will have a long time to live in it.”
“You don’t have to stay in hell because I’m stuck here,” I remind him. “This is my price, I don’t expect you to pay it with me. Your family is on earth; Sera is there and your pack.”
“Lexi, there isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be than right here with you,” he tells me. “Turn around, look at me.” I move only my knees and turn around, letting him tug me onto his lap, holding me close to him. “As a kid, all I was ever trained to think about and love was being alpha to a pack of wolves. Those wolves never let me close to them. They saw me as a leader who had to do something for them, so they always wanted something from me. Never once did they truly just accept who I am. Sera and Eike were the closest I had ever come in my life to having someone who just wanted me. Just me, in their lives, and then I met you. I was a dick to you, I pushed you away, and I expected you to hate me as much as everyone else did, but you didn’t. Lex, you just wanted me, just me and, fuck, you stole my heart. So no, there is nothing more and nowhere else I want than to be right here with you for the rest of our lives together. I’m going to fight for you, I’m going to love you so fucking much you will never, ever think you aren’t loved, and most of all, I will always, always be here.”
I don’t think I move for a few seconds. The only thing I can do is hear my own heart beating in my chest and feel a tear rolling down my cheek, hitting my lips and disappearing as I taste the salt. When I move, I can only press my lips to his, and he fully accepts my kiss, groaning as his tongue finds mine. His large hands caress up my thighs until he finds my core and pushes my panties to the side. I moan, arching my back as his thumb finds my clit at the same time he sinks two fingers inside me, feeling how wet I am for him.
“Fuck, so wet and tight. You’re driving me mad, Lexi.” I can’t reply to him as he lays me down on the grass, removing his fingers and looking down at me like a mad man lost in lust.
And I want nothing more than for him to be inside me. I lean up and kiss him as I undo his trousers, and he kicks them off. He tugs his shirt off as I push my panties down my legs, and he rests on top of me.
“I want to see you come,” he tells me, kneeling between my legs and pushing my skirt up. Javier doesn’t give me a second to even breathe before his tongue is slipping between my folds and finding my clit, slowing licking and nipping me closer to an orgasm. He slides two fingers back inside me before sliding them in and out in the same rhythm as his tongue flicks across my clit. Glmy hands into his hair, I tug his head up and push him back onto the grass, moving myself on top of him.
“I want you inside me as I come,” I say as I feel him pressing into my core.
“Then ride me and come,” he instructs, his eyes burning with desire. I reach down between us and guide him inside me, loving how he fills me up, every single inch of him, like no one else can. I roll my hips as he undoes my shirt and pulls my bra down. He leans up, flicking his tongue over one of my nipples while his fingers play with the other as I ride him harder and faster, feeling myself getting so close to coming. I grab his hair again, lifting his head up to me and kissing him harshly as I explode into a million pieces, crashing into an orgasm that rocks me to my core, and I don’t notice anything or any noises that escape my lips. Grabbing my hips, Javier thrusts into me two times before he spills himself inside me, and we both fall back onto the grass, breathless. I chuckle with a big smile on my lips as I look at my mate.
“I like being in control with you,” I admit. I never thought I’d be this…confident with him, but it feels right, and I don’t want to ever stop doing this.
“Fuck, I like it too. Can we do that again before I have to leave?” he asks.
“Maybe,” I tease, and he tugs me on top of him, kissing me as I feel him growing hard under me not soon after. Javier is right, with him at my side, I will never not be loved.
Chapter 66
Usually people say jump before they push you off…but not Nikoli
Jumping down on the sofa next to me, Claus and Nick squish me between them with matching smiles before Claus talks. “I had an idea.”
Closing my book on fallen angels, I look towards him. “Oh, an idea you both had?”
“Well, since Morgan is moody and won’t talk to anyone, Javier is gone, and you’ve been sitting in here all day reading, we are going to take you out into the city you’ve never even seen,” Claus says with a big grin.
“Morgan isn’t moody, he is just struggling to control his powers,” I comment…though Claus and Nikoli do have a point. He isn’t in the best of moods at any time of the day now.
“Morgan is sitting on top of the castle, staring at the sky,” Nick comments. “Though I sent some of the other teachers up there to talk with him. Maybe they can cheer him up.”
“He won’t let me, that’s for sure,” I mutter, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. Ever since he woke up last night, he has ignored everything I’ve said to him, and then he left to sit on the roof. The three times I’ve been up to see him and bring him food, he simply told me he isn’t ready to talk to anyone and today is a bad day.
And every second, I feel like I’m losing him.
“Go and get a pretty dress on,” Claus suggests, bumping my shoulder and taking my book from me. Rolling my eyes, I head to my room and spend the next ten minutes choosing a tight, knee-length silky black dress with a slit up to my thigh. Wearing sexy dark red lipstick, my favourite Victoria’s Secret perfume, and black heels, I head back into the living room as I let my hair down from the messy bun I had it in. It falls around me in waves as Nick and Claus see me, and both of them stand up at the same time. They stare in what I can only describe as awe as I walk to them, and they both take my hand.
“You look incredible, Lexi,” Nikoli tells me.
“Incredible isn’t a good enough description. Tonight, we are going to show you everything and share you every bit of the way,” he seductively says. Or maybe I’m hearing more than what he is offering?
“Share me? You know I’m not a dessert, right?” I joke.
“Depends, I do like eating dessert,” Claus says, grinning at me, and I roll my eyes at him.
Whacking his brother on the back of his head, Nick looks down at me. “In all seriousness, we are travelling by holy fire. It won’t hurt you, but sometimes it feels odd. You ready?”
“Yeah, and then you can teach me how to travel with holy fire,” I ask, because that looks seriously cool.
“It’s not teachable exactly. You have to just do it and hope you end up in the right place. It took us about ten times to get it right,” Claus tries to explain. “We will practice another time.”
“Ready?” Nick asks, and I nod just as everything feels like it’s freezing cold, and bright green light flashes into my eyes. I hang on tightly to Nick’s and Claus’s hands until it stops, and I open my eyes to see we are on a cliff, looking over the city of hell.
“Rex! Where is my favourite kitty?” I turn at Claus’s voice as he walks into a cave and suddenly there is a giant ginger cat with white wings. I stumble back as Nick holds onto my hand tightly and wraps an arm around me to stop me going anywhere.
“This is our familiar,” he tells me, and I try not to be nervous as I take in their familiar’s large teeth that look too sharp, or the big eyes that seem to be locked onto Claus.
“He is huge, like the size of a bus!” I harshly whisper, and then I catch the cat’s attention. Rex runs at us at full speed, somehow just stopping in front of Nick and rubbing his giant head against Nick’s chest and then mine.
“Cool, he likes you,” Claus states. “Now hop on, Rex is going to drop us in the nightclub. The entrance is in the sky.”
Before I can ask a million questions about why the entrance of a nightclub is in the sky and why we need to ride a flying cat there, Nick is lifting me by my waist and throwing me on Rex’s back, letting Claus catch me. I wrap myself like a monkey around Claus as Nikoli climbs on in front of me, pressing his back into mine. “Hold on,” Claus whispers to me, almost laughing.
Jackass. Air gets caught in my throat, stopping me from screaming as Rex runs and jumps off the cliff, smoothly gliding his way across the city like it’s nothing at all. My stomach feels like it’s fallen out somewhere along the way as Rex takes turn after turn around the high towers of the city before getting to one of them and stopping right next to it.
“We need to jump. Don’t worry,” Nick whispers to me, turning himself around and picking me up as I’m utterly terrified.
“What do you mean ‘don’t worry’? You just said we need to frigging jump!” I all but screech, and the dickhead just smiles before shoving me off Rex’s back. This time, I do scream as I fall, and suddenly white light surrounds me, like a tunnel, gliding me down until I roll out onto a soft carpet, with flashing lights trailing across the ceiling of the room I’m in. Blasting music fills my ears, so loud that I can’t focus as I sit up in the dimly lit room and look around.
It’s a hidden nightclub. With a falling entrance. I’m going to kill the twins for this one. The twins come down the tunnel in style—of course they do—landing with grace and standing up smoothly. It’s only then they notice I’m still sitting on my ass, and Claus tries not to smile as Nick offers me a hand, picking me up with a small grin. Pressing my body into Nick’s, I ask, “Next time, can we go somewhere we can just walk into?”
“No,” he tells me, wrapping his arm around my waist and leading me into the crowd of dancers. After a few seconds, I realise the twins are good dancers.
Wait, more than good. They move their bodies in a sexy way, all the time keeping me in the middle of them, never once commenting on how I’m not as coordinated as they are. Claus’s lips move to my neck, where he presses a gentle kiss as his hands move to rest on my hips. Turning me around, Claus kisses me as the music blasts away in the background and the world falls away. I’m aware Nick can see us, I’m aware we are in a nightclub full of demons, and not a single part of me really cares about any of that. I just want to lose myself in this moment, this part of my life when I can truly just be free with two of the guys I’m in love with.
We dance a few more songs before we are all out of breath and need a drink. Claus and Nick hold onto my hands as they lead me through the dancers and to one of the bars in the room. We all slide onto stools as Claus calls the bartender over.
“Claus, my man! It’s fucking good to see your pretty face down here,” a waiter with bright purple hair and big golden eyes says. He is short, just coming above the bar, and he has a strange tartan suit on that feels
like it’s from the 1950s. “Tell me the rumours are true and it’s free drinks on the house.”
“It’s always free drinks for the princes of hell,” Claus replies with a cheeky grin, and they both laugh. “I’d like to introduce you to someone, Peter. This is Alexandria Cameron, soon to be queen of hell.”
“Shit, your majesty—”
“It’s cool. Nice to meet you, Peter,” I say, offering my hand to him over the bar, which he takes and kisses the back of before Nick pulls my arm away.
“Ah, I see how it is,” Peter says, winking at me as Nick leans in closer, not giving one shit about his possessive move. Peter picks up a microphone and grins. “Now, the queen of hell is in the house. Drinks are free!”
The crowd cheers and rushes to the bar, and Peter gets to work offering us drink after drink as I meet a dozen people I will never remember the name of.
For one night, we get to be normal-ish teenagers, and it’s just what I needed.
“Demon drinks are unfair. They give you a hangover like an hour after drinking one,” I whisper as I tip toe into the lounge in one of the twins’ shirts and little else.
“I did warn you. Hold on,” Claus says, rushing into the kitchen of the flat we are in. Nick is passed out, sleeping in the bedroom, and Claus was sitting on the couch, looking out the window until I came in. The window here is massive, stretching across the one wall, and we are so high up in one of the high rises that the view over the city of hell is stunning. Taking it all in, I sit on the couch and pull the fluffy white blanket over me.
Claus comes back a few minutes later with a steaming drink in a purple cup, which he hands to me before sitting at my side. He rests his arm around my back as he tugs the blanket over his lap, his thigh pressing into mine. I can’t help but stare at Claus, the way his black hair is so dark, yet the blond tips clash with the lights of the city, brightening his face up. His green and purple eyes have always fascinated me with the way they clash yet look like they were always meant to be that way.