Hellishly Ever After (Infernal Covenant Book 1)

by Nadine Mutas

  I almost stumbled. Those noises...the gremlin demons had sounded different, even when they chased me down. Their snarls had been higher-pitched, their footfalls softer, no claws, just the muted slapping of fabric-soled feet.

  Whatever was behind me seemed a lot more animalistic, primal...predatory.

  My sneakers squeaked on the floor as I rounded another bend. No time to mark the walls here. I hadn’t yet dared to cast a glance over my shoulder to see what was hunting me, but my gut told me that if it caught me, the result wouldn’t be so benign as a horde of goblin demons hog-tying me and carrying me back to my room. Our human gecko brain survival instinct was there for a reason, and right now it blared at the highest setting for me to run for my life.

  I listened without even thinking twice.

  The growls came closer. Panting, I ducked my head and ran faster, pushing myself to my limit. I had no idea how long I could keep this up. What was my exit strategy here? I couldn’t run forever, in fact it was likely the things chasing me would catch up soon. If they were anything like most predatory species on Earth, they’d be faster than a mere human.

  The walls flew by as I raced. I could swear something was literally snapping at my heels. Suppressing a shriek, I scrambled around the next corner, right into another large hall, bigger even than the one I’d seen before. Statues lined the walls, as far as I could see at a glance, not having the time to look closely. There seemed to be artworks as well, some sort of 3D paintings or flat sculptures adorning the stone.

  My gaze caught on something in between the statues. No way. This could just be my saving grace.

  I veered toward that wall, sprinted even harder, the things chasing me now almost breathing down my neck. I nearly crashed into the stone with how fast I came in, but I managed to grab hold of one of the two swords displayed on a wall mount, wrench it away from its fastening, and turn with it just in time to face the first beast lunging at me.

  Oh, my God.

  I froze in terror, my mind simply blanking at the sight of the creatures. A far cry from hellcats, these...things were an abomination, something straight out of a horror flick or the worst kind of nightmare.

  In the split second of suspended time as the nearest of them pounced right on to my raised sword, I caught a glimpse of unnaturally long limbs, dark gray skin, a body structure somewhere between canine and feline, with a twist of vomit-inducing strangeness.

  The next instant, my arms jolted from the impact of the creature upon the sword. Pain reverberated up from my wrists, into my shoulders, and I barely held on to the blade. A yowl echoed in the hall, ear-splitting and nauseating. Black blood splashed onto my face, my hands, a body thumping to the ground—right before the next beast lunged.

  I didn’t know what I was doing, I had no idea how to wield a sword, all I knew was that hacking and slashing and waving that thing around was better than rolling over and letting myself be eaten.

  I managed maybe three hits before the pack toppled me to the ground. A jaw clamped around my ankle and pulled me off balance even as I flailed with the sword to keep another beast at bay. I cried out, sharp, ripping tears shooting up from my leg before everything hurt in a kaleidoscope of pain as I hit the hard stone.

  Growls and teeth and blood and claws, closing in and crashing over me in a wave of death impending.

  A sharp word echoed in the hall, rose above the snarls, and whipped the beasts on top of me like a physical lash. With a keening whine, the creatures fell off me, scattering like cockroaches when the lights turned on.

  Breath heavy, my body aching in a hundred places at once, I pushed myself up, the sword still in one hand. My left leg, the one that had been attacked by the beasts first, almost gave out under me. I grabbed on to the nearest statue in order not to fall.

  Blinking against the pain and the drops of blood running down my forehead, I stared at the demon who’d just saved my ass.

  White-blond hair fell down to his shoulders, framing a face of ethereal, light brown beauty. Goddammit, were all demons that appallingly attractive? Figured. He could have stepped out of one of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, all masculine elven grace and subtly arrogant posture.

  Dressed in a mix of elegant robes and fighting gear, he stepped closer, the light of the torches and chandeliers gilding his hair. Azazel and Azmodea both had an impressive amount of power radiating from them, but this guy...he was something else. Such ancient, ancient strength and energy rolled off him, I resisted the urge to fall to my knees and cower. It was similar to looking at a mountain range that has been on Earth for millions of years, indomitable, unmoving, unperturbed by the passage of days and the hustle of life, only with this demon that feeling was multiplied by a thousand.

  “How intriguing.” His voice a deep bass, he tilted his head in a distinctly non-human way. “You are not a half-blood. Nor a damned soul.”

  Rustling behind him, a tentative female whisper. “My lord…”

  The demon held up a hand, and whoever had spoken behind him fell silent.

  Another step closer, and the powerful being was right in front of me, his violet eyes holding me spellbound.

  “Tell me,” he said—and honest to God, I was ready to tell him anything and everything— “who are you?”

  “Zoe,” I whispered.

  “And who are you?”

  “I...I’m Azazel’s...wi—”

  I hadn’t even heard him approach. One minute my entire world was zeroed in on the demon in front of me, the next instant a hand clamped over my mouth and pulled me back against a hard surface.

  “Pet,” a familiar voice said from behind me, the deep baritone rumbling through my back pressed to his chest. “She’s my pet.”

  The weird spell I’d been under effectively broken, I blinked, wanted to shake my head...only Azazel’s hand still on my mouth held me fast. His fingers smelled faintly of leather, metal, and fire, and inhaling his scent catapulted me back to that moment during the flight over here when I’d given in to the urge to lick his skin.

  Heat centered low in my belly, and I clenched my thighs to alleviate the sudden ache between my legs.

  “Pet?” the other demon asked, his curious gaze now focused over my head, on the irritatingly hot male clutching me to him.

  “A special deal we made,” Azazel said nonchalantly, and if it weren’t for the tension in his hand, I’d have believed him to be completely relaxed and in control. “She is to serve me here in her human form in repayment for a debt.”

  Excuse me?

  I widened my eyes and grabbed on to Azazel’s arm, trying to dislodge his hand from my mouth. I might as well have attempted to move a full-grown redwood tree by shoving at it. Outrage building inside me, I tried to speak, which of course came out as pathetically muffled mumbling.

  A push against my mind, a weird popping sensation in my head, and then I heard Azazel’s voice like my own thoughts, much like the hellcat’s words had somehow sounded directly projected into my head.

  You better play along.

  Out loud, he said, “Unfortunately, she is still a bit rough around the edges.” He wiped a trail of blood from my cheek with his other hand, making me quiver. “She shouldn’t have been wandering around my house on her own. More training—” now his free hand settled around my throat, and my traitorous nipples pebbled underneath my tank top and bra “—will ensure she remembers how to obey...and please.”

  His teeth closed around the top of my ear. My legs, the fiends, threatened to turn to cooked spaghetti.

  You have got to be kidding me, I thought with as much force as I could muster, hoping to push back along the same line of mental communication as he’d done. You’re passing me off as your...submissive sex pet?

  Your powers of deduction are astounding, he said in my mind.

  The other demon raised a brow, a glint of humor in his lavender eyes. “I didn’t know you had such inclinations, Azazel.”

  A soft laugh from my devious demon husband. �
�She begged to be of service. And who am I to refuse a human offering when it lays itself so sweetly at my feet?”

  Oh, no, he didn’t. Before I knew what I was doing, I bit his hand and twisted out of his hold in the second of surprise.

  I opened my mouth to—

  Do. Not.

  Azazel’s growl filled my mind, shocked me enough to falter.

  Outwardly, he was the epitome of calm, poised and in control as ever, not a single dark hair out of place, his power a velveteen caress.

  Inside my head, his energy scratched me raw. An acrid scent permeated my mental senses, and it took me a second to realize its nature.

  I closed my mouth, stared at him in dumbfounded amazement. You’re afraid, I whispered with a mental push.

  Lightning flashed in his eyes as he glared at me.

  I didn’t hear what the other demon said next, my thoughts racing, putting the pieces together.

  Azazel didn’t want his visitor to find out the true nature of our relationship, that much was clear. And the taste of panic underlying his snarled warning not to divulge the truth hinted at the reason why… I thought of how both Azmodea and Mammon had taken the news of my “tricking” Azazel into a marriage contract as something to be weaponized against him, albeit with familial affection and a teasing intention.

  What would someone outside his trusted family circle do with this information? If this was enough to get him a hundred years of being lovingly picked on by his sister and nephew, what would the revelation of this secret do to his reputation among other demons?

  At first, I’d thought he was trying to humiliate me by passing me off as his sex pet. Now, though, I realized it was the other way around—he was the one who didn’t want to be humiliated in front of his peer by his shameful secret getting out.

  Talk about a chink in his armor. This was much more than that. All this time, he’d appeared so invulnerable, like nothing could truly faze him. He was in control, he held all the cards, and I had literally no power in this farce of a relationship.

  Well, that was about to change.

  Chapter 8

  A slow, wicked smile spread on my face. All these thoughts had run through my head in a matter of seconds, and now I stared at him with the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster.

  He narrowed his eyes the tiniest fraction, imperceptible unless one was watching him closely, which I was.

  What do I get in return? I pushed along the mental line between us.

  What? His energy was a whip across my senses.

  While he exchanged some more chit chat with the other demon, I continued our silent communication.

  You want me to play along and hide the fact that I’m your wife, your very human wife who tricked you, the mighty Azazel, into an embarrassing contract you can’t get out of. I’ll do it, but there’s a price for everything. What was it you said? Nothing in Hell is free except the illusion of kindness. I want something in return for my trouble, sweetheart.

  It was disconcerting how he could carry on a conversation with someone, seemingly at ease and unperturbed, while his mental focus was directed at me, his power searing the edges of my mind. And that burning sensation got all the worse at my last volley, at the proverbial glove slapped across his face.

  Your price, he snarled inside my head, is that I won’t string you up in my dungeon to be snacked on by the hellrats.

  I’m tired of your threats, I hissed back. No, honey, if you want me to save your face in front of your friend here, you will agree to my demands, or you’ll find out just how fast I can retell your tale of woe and ruin your reputation.

  Maybe I should have felt bad for holding his image on a knife’s edge like that, for playing on his fears and threatening to make him the laughingstock of Hell. Then again, he’d shown me time and again that he didn’t care about my fears or needs, that he didn’t give a shit whether I’d lose my mind in a gilded cage of isolation. He fully knew what loneliness would do to me, and yet he kept me cut off anyway.

  Tit for tat, then. I would take a page out of his playbook and counter his cruelty with my own.

  His voice echoed with rolling thunder in my head. What do you want?

  Visits to Earth, I shot back. I don’t care how much you have to pay for them, but you’ll take me whenever I ask you, as often as I want.

  There are limits, he replied with a growl. Physical limits for you and for me. You can’t stay too long, and you can’t visit too often.

  Fine, then within those limits, as much as I desire. You’ll take me there, no tricks, no excuses.

  Within reason. I do have a life and tasks that need my attention here.

  I narrowed my eyes. All right, but you will not use that as an excuse to avoid taking me. You agree to facilitate my visits to Earth unless you are truly needed down here, for a task of real urgency or a commitment you cannot postpone. Using your work or personal appointments as a pretense to avoid taking me to Earth is not allowed.

  I had the inkling that it was important to spell out my demands in as clear a way as possible, leaving him no space to wiggle out later. If the lore about demons and deals was even a bit true, then he’d have to abide by a contract made, in all its literality. If the words were too vague, he’d exploit that for sure.

  Agreed. His mental voice sounded distinctly as if he were grinding his teeth.

  I felt his attention fully shift to the other demon, and I hurried to add, One more thing.

  The quicksilver in his eyes burned me as he brought his gaze back to me.

  I want to move freely in your house.

  His power scraped along my senses like cut glass over my skin. So you can get torn apart by inferni? His eyes dropped to the still bleeding wounds on my legs. Have you considered, in that impertinent, naive little head of yours, that keeping you in your rooms was a means of protection? If you’d stopped for one second and looked past your own impulsive ego, you might just have realized that not every perceived slight is an act of cruelty. And that traipsing around in Hell as a vulnerable human without powers makes you easy prey.

  I sucked in a breath, my smug smile slipping. Damn if his words didn’t ring true. I hadn’t considered that, and it smarted. Then again—

  And seeing as I am a lowly human without mind reading powers, I mentally spit at him, you could have just explained your reasoning to me to help my naive little head understand the situation. Being upfront with why you’re keeping me under lock and key would have gone a long way toward my acceptance of it.

  I am not in the habit of having to explain obvious circumstances to shortsighted fools. He cast me a cold glance before focusing on his visitor again. It’s settled then. You’ll remain in your rooms unless I take you to Earth.

  The fuck I will. I wrenched his attention back to me with my snarled riposte. If going out alone is too dangerous, you will provide me with protection. I don’t care whether that’s a hellhound or a demon bodyguard, but I will have someone or something at my disposal to help me move freely and safely through your house.

  That, he said in my head, his voice a whispered menace, will be your final demand. I agree to your terms, and this negotiation is hereby completed.

  Deal. I gave him the mockery of a smile.

  Try it with less teeth, my love. A smoldering look from his hooded eyes. We don’t want our guest to think your supplication anything less than genuine, now do we?

  Of course not, I clipped back, and modulated my smile into something less aggressive.

  Oh, and one more thing. Azazel’s mental voice was a purr that stroked me in places threatening to purr back. On your knees.

  Excuse you?

  We have a deal. You’re my pet. Pets belong at their owner’s feet.

  My nostrils flared.

  Chop, chop.

  I would murder him. Somehow. But because he was right, and I’d agreed to this bargain, I swallowed the insult to my pride and sank down to my knees, wincing at the pain in my legs.

  His hand
settled on my head the next instant, and warmth flowed from his touch. I gasped softly as I realized it wasn’t just the usual heat of his body, but his power running in rivulets over my skin, into my cells, fusing what was torn. A glance at the gash in my arm confirmed that my wounds were healing right before my eyes.

  The throbbing of pain in my legs eased, vanished, and I couldn’t help sighing.

  I wouldn’t thank him. Would. Not.

  And yet, some of the involuntary gratitude I felt must have leaked out of my thoughts because his dark voice murmured in my head.

  You’re welcome.

  His fingers stroked over my scalp, and to my dismay I almost melted on the spot. I never had been able to resist the allure of a good head massage.

  It wouldn’t do to leave my pet bleeding.

  Aaaaaand there he went again, making me want to stab him.

  Are those your favorite pants? I asked along our mental line.

  I sensed his confusion and smiled sweetly just before I rubbed my still blood-streaked cheek against his leg. Human blood might not have shown on the dark red fabric, but the black goo of the things that had attacked me stained the pants just so.

  He ran his nails over my scalp in a move not quite painful, but definitely not a caress either. You’re going to pay for that.

  Out loud, he said, “I’m afraid Zoe here is in dire need of a bath and a change of clothes, so if you’ll excuse her, she’ll be heading to her quarters to wash up.”

  It was amazing how he could sound both courteous toward his visitor and mildly threatening to me, with something as innocuous as an instruction to retreat to my suite.

  He made a sweeping gesture with his arm, indicating the other side of the hall. “Hekesha will escort you to the room, Lord Zaquiel. I’ll be joining you shortly.”

  The other demon—Zaquiel—inclined his head and made as if to turn away. Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder. “Do bring your pet when you join us, Azazel. It’d be a shame to hide her.” His violet eyes gave me a once over. “I’d like to see her all cleaned up.”