by Emma Shade
“Oh, yes.” Lor chuckled. “The rest may think they are unbeatable, but I have a secret weapon.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “Of course. They can’t hide from me, but they’ll try to slip by you without a second thought. They’ll be sorely disappointed.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Self-doubt had crept in like a fog lately, especially with powerful demons attempting to kill me. If it hadn’t been for Coren and Lor with the winged beasty, I would’ve died. However, Lor acted like we had a chance to win this game because of me.
“I’m going shadow, but you go around those tall red formations there. We’ll be coming around the back of the rock where our flag is located.”
“Um, I don’t know this place. You’ll have to show me what to look for.”
With a few points of his fingers, Lor explained where I needed to go to meet him. He explained it with such ease I knew where I needed to maneuver without tripping over a rock, or worse, falling off one.
The cooler temperatures felt great, but the thinner air caused me to breathe harder. There was some traffic noise from the highway somewhere near the park, but other than the glittering lights from the closest town keeping me company, the night was peaceful. Thankfully, the moon provided enough light to progress without many problems. If you didn’t count when I tripped over a bush. Twice.
When I noticed the massive landmark Lor had mentioned, I went to the left as quietly as I could. Red glowing eyes hovered in front of Cathedral Rock. What I assumed was a glow stick illuminated the blue flag, and I had to fight the temptation to steal it right then. Lor had asked me to learn mental strength, so I kept to my path.
“Little demon hunter, all alone.” Char’s voice came from my immediate left.
Because I was focused on our flag, I had failed to notice Char gaining momentum on the other side.
Her form flew by me and taunted me as she laughed. I stood still, focusing my attention on the blur of shadow as she came at me again. This time, Char was close. I lowered to the ground and kicked my leg out at the perfect moment, and she toppled onto her stomach. I jumped and landed on her back, holding her arms above her.
“Little shadow, all alone,” I whispered, playing on her words.
She sputtered, most likely spitting out dirt from her mouth.
Smiling, I removed myself from her form and stood. She rolled over and looked up at me. I said, “Mum’s the word. Remember the rules, Char.”
“You sneaky girl.” She propped herself up by the elbows and tilted her head. “How in the world can you see us as shadows?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I wish I knew.”
Char’s eyes lit, glowing even brighter in the dark surrounding us. “Go get your flag, Mara.”
I nodded and left her, knowing she couldn’t move after her capture.
As promised, Lor waited on me behind the rock formation.
“What took you so long?” he whispered.
With a grin, I whispered, “I took Char out of the game.”
He laughed, his voice echoing across the space of rocks and sparse shrubbery. “They have no one left to capture our flag. Vex has no idea all of his teammates have been captured.”
“How do we get to our flag with him so close?”
“We both go in opposite directions. You to the left, and me to the right. While Vex is busy with me, you’ll steal the flag.”
“You sure this will work?”
He nodded. “Oh, I’m sure.”
Taking a deep breath, I rolled my shoulders to remove the tension. “So, on the count of three?”
“One.”
“Two.”
Lor winked. “Three!”
We ran in opposite directions, neither of us looking back. I darted around shrubbery and rounded Chimney Rock. Lor and Vex were at a standoff, each of them in full shadow and attempting to best each other. Lor, however, hadn’t even glanced in my direction, and I assumed he didn’t want to give away my location.
The blue flag was about ten feet above the ground, the pole balanced on Chimney Rock. I’d have to do a quick climb and a long jump to reach it. After taking a deep breath, I ran. When I jumped up on the rock, Vex turned in my direction.
“Go! Go!” Lor shouted.
Vex turned and reached for me, his hands barely reaching my calf, but I had jumped. His hand caught air as mine caught the flag. I landed on my feet and held the flag above my head. Letting out a scream of happiness, I strolled over to Lor and threw my arms around him in celebration.
Vex sucked in a breath.
Looking at Lor, I realized he was still a shadow. The glow stick attached to the flag was visible straight through him. I hadn’t cared. I was so damn happy I had won.
When I finally stopped hugging my friend, I looked at Vex and chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. I can see you guys.”
“Let’s get back to the house,” Lor stated. “I assume the rest of the gang is tired of the same scenery by now.”
“I’ll round them up,” Vex said and disappeared as he took off.
Glancing up at the stars, I wondered what time it was. “I bet my friends are worried sick about me. I should be heading back home.”
Lor shook his head. “Not until we rub in the fact that my friends were bested by a human.”
“Okay.” I smirked. “Gloating first, then you take me back.”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER 22
Dance with the devil.
Coren stood in front of me with his arms across his chest, his breath heaving in what I assumed was anger.
“Do you realize how worried we all were?” he asked.
With an eye roll, I snorted. “Please. Spare me the lecture. I knew what I was doing.”
“And yet you seem to forget that Satan wants to kill you and steal your soul.”
I took a step forward until I was nose to nose with him. “I was well protected with Lor and his friends. You all act like I can’t take care of myself and make my own decisions.”
His eyes moved to my lips. “I know you can take care of yourself, but you’re also ill-equipped to deal with higher demons.”
“Like you?”
A sad smile lined his lips. “If you truly believe that’s all I am.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I breathed. Then I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed my mouth against his.
Even if I was mad as hell that he planned to lecture me about disappearing with Lor, I forgot how handsome he was. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kiss him and feel his body against mine.
As we kissed, Coren’s arms slipped around my waist and he pulled me against him. His fingers caressed my lower back under my shirt, and little shocks of pleasure rippled through me. I moaned and his arms tightened.
A throat cleared. We looked up to see Death leaning against the wall with his eyebrow raised.
My cheeks burned as I pulled away from Coren, and I avoided Death’s eye contact. But I said, “Nice timing. Am I grounded for being caught with a boy?”
“Always the smart mouth,” Death said with a sigh. “Raven was searching Hell and Earth for you. I’m here because I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked with a frown. “I was with Lor.”
“That’s exactly why we’re worried.” Coren scrubbed a hand across his face. “He fades you out of there quicker than any of us can move, and then you come back hours later. Where were you?”
I hesitated for a moment. “Colorado.”
Coren’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You’re joking, right?”
“Why is Lor taking me to Colorado any different than either of you taking me to Hell?”
Coren opened his mouth to speak, but Death beat him to it. “Hell is on a different plane of existence. It’s the land of the dead, so to speak. It’s a quick jump to a different reality, but jumping somebody across half the country is another feat. None of us could do what Lor did tonight.”
>
“None of you?” My eyebrows hit my hairline. I knew Lor was powerful, but this brought his ability to a completely new level.
Death shook his head slowly. “None.”
“That’s another reason not to trust him. He could take you to someplace to be slaughtered,” Coren stated, his voice barbed with annoyance.
I barked out a laugh and headed to my small kitchen. “If he wanted me dead, I would be dead. Same goes for all of you, too.”
Raven’s voice floated in from the living room. She must have faded in a second ago. “She’s right. Lor could’ve killed her at any time. We have bigger problems. Lucifer asked Mara for another meeting.”
The blood froze in my veins and I stopped in my tracks. By some miracle, I still managed to appear deadpanned by the news.
“When do we have to leave?” Death questioned.
“About two minutes ago, but he’s meeting us at the coffee shop down the street.” She shuffled on her feet. “I don’t like this.”
“I don’t either,” Coren murmured. “But we have to be prepared and she’s not going in there alone with him.”
Death nodded. “That’s something I think we can all agree on.”
A few minutes later, we all made our way down the sidewalk as a unified force. I walked in front, Raven and Coren on either side of me, and Death behind me. I even thought I felt Lor somewhere close by.
The nerves inside me rattled my heartbeat, and I had to take a few deep breaths. Although my guts were a mess of nerves, I kept my face impassive and cold. I had no other choice because Satan preyed on the weak. My sword vibrated against my back and I looked up.
My boss smirked when he saw us. “Well, well. Look at all of you protecting what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours,” I growled.
“Your signature says otherwise. Now, let’s get some coffee and have a nice chat, shall we?”
Raven put her hand on my shoulder to reassure me that they would protect me if things went south. If the Devil was involved, things would definitely end badly.
He placed an order and sat at a small table with two chairs. Once I received my Frappuccino, he gestured for me to sit across from him. I hesitated until I realized my friends had sat on either side of us. I slowly lowered myself into the chair and took a sip of my drink.
“What do you want?” I asked, plopping my cup down on the table.
He stirred the piping hot coffee. “Is that any way to speak to your superior?”
“We all know I don’t deal well with management. You’re no different, except you smell like ground-up assholes.”
Raven covered her mouth with a hand. I wasn’t sure if it was to keep from laughing or because she was shocked. I was betting it was both.
He turned his attention to Coren. “Why haven’t you been giving me status updates on her progress?”
“We’ve been a little busy lately,” he answered calmly. His expression gave away his anger, though. “I’m sure you knew about the high-ranking demons wandering our realm.”
Lucifer’s black eyes practically twinkled. “I’ve heard rumors of such things.”
I snorted and his attention turned to me. “So, why am I so important that you’d risk sending them after me?”
“I never said I sent them.”
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes. “But you still didn’t answer the question.”
“I want what’s mine. If it wasn’t for Death and Raven’s meddling, I’d already have you.” His hands fisted on the table.
Twisting my cup in between the two of us, I said, “I’m beyond thankful for them. Otherwise, I’d be one of your tortured souls in your wall, right?”
His eyes bored into mine. “No, I have other plans for you, Mara.”
“Ah. And what plans are those? It’s my soul, so I’d like to know what you plan on doing with it.”
“That’s none of your concern. It’s not technically your soul, anyway.”
A shadow passed behind Lucifer. I knew I had felt Lor lurking around outside, but I hadn’t realized he had made his way inside. He gestured to himself and then pointed to me.
“Is it because I can see shadows?”
“You can see them?” My boss’s eyebrows rose.
“See, that’s the thing. When you and my mother tricked me as a child, you left a huge oversight in my contract. That’s on you.” I gave him an evil smirk. “You didn’t care about me or my abusive mother. Well, until after I was of age and she was long gone. You fucked up, didn’t you?”
“I never make mistakes, my dear girl.” Satan shoved his untouched coffee away.
I laughed and then went serious as my hand slammed the table between us. “Don’t test me. I’m not in the mood. You gave me this ridiculous time limit, and for what? To try to figure out how to kill me?”
He leaned forward with a nefarious grin. “If I wanted you dead, you would be dead.” His hand gestured to my friends. “And them, too.”
“I’m done. This meeting is nothing but a waste of time.” I stood and Lucifer snatched my arm.
The fires of Hell flicked up my wrist, burning my skin. I groaned in pain but held his gaze. My friends stood to protect me, but I shook my head at them. I wanted to hear what this coldhearted jerk had to say.
“I could rip the soul from your body right here and nobody could do a thing about it,” he hissed. “I’m being generous by allowing you to stay here for a while longer.” His arm tightened as he pulled me forward and he whispered so low I barely heard him. “Just a little tug is all it would take. For you or your friends. ”
“Fuck you,” I growled. “You can kiss my—”
The shadow behind me surprised us both. Her arms wrapped around me and barely tapped the Devil’s fingers. She severed the contact between Lucifer and me with a simple touch. The heat faded away in an instant and her cool hands wrapped around the same wrist my boss had grabbed. I let out a sigh of relief at the cooling sensation.
Shaking out his hand as if the touch hurt him, Lucifer looked around. “Shadow, show yourself.”
I smiled. “Which one would you like to see?”
Sure, there were only three of them right now, but he hadn’t known that. My attention darted to my friends for a second, and they seemed relieved that Fable had saved me. I doubted they knew it was Fable and not Lor, or if they knew how many were in the room with us.
I did. Lor stood behind Lucifer, Fable still had her arms wrapped around me in a protective stance, and Zen stood next to Lucifer. Zen held so much fury it vibrated the air around me. While I hadn’t spotted Char or Vex, I assumed they waited out of reach in case we needed them.
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll resume this another time, Mara. Don’t forget what I said about how easy it would be.”
In front of everyone in the room, humans included, he faded back to Hell. All he left behind was black smoke rising to the ceiling.
Fable slipped away from me.
“What a damn coward,” I muttered.
Coren stood with my friends to check on me, but froze mid-stand. I frowned at their reaction.
“I think the term pussy fits better,” Fable chimed in as she strolled in from the hallway near the restrooms.
Zen and Lor soon followed behind her. I mouthed, “Thank you” to them for not appearing out of thin air in front of a couple of humans left in the coffee shop. I was lucky they didn’t freak the fuck out when ol’ Luke disappeared.
“Who are you two?” Raven finally asked.
Coren stood next to me. “Yeah, I’d like to know that myself.”
Death, on the other hand, tilted his head as he stared at Fable. “I know you. How do I know you?”
“I met you long ago when you were a reaper in training. I was sent to deliver a message.”
With a frown, Death said, “But that was well over a millennium ago.” His eyes widened as he gasped. “The prophecy. That was you?”
“What?” Raven cried, her shocked gaze landing on Fable
as well.
“I didn’t write it, but I was tasked with its delivery. The scroll was supposed to go to William the Conqueror, but I knew he’d use it for war and power. Then I saw you helping a sick woman cross, and I knew what I had to do. The rest is history.” She winked at me.
I blinked a few times in shock. “How old are you people?”
Death shrugged. “I’m roughly fifteen-hundred years old. Raven is two hundred. I have no clue on the rest of them, but I have a suspicion they are old.”
My eyes swung to Fable. “You?”
“You never ask a lady her true age,” she answered, her nose rising with pride.
“Please. She’s about a thousand years old.” Zen scoffed. “Same with me. Lor is the baby. What are you, Lor? About eight hundred now?”
He tilted his head in agreement.
Sitting down in my chair, I took a deep breath as I stared down at the grain in the hardwood of the table. I fingered the smoothed knot under the polished wood. These people around me were old enough to see the most amazing and terrifying events in history. And here I was, barely a blip in their lifespans. Why did I matter so much? After all these years, why me?
“Coren, how old are you?” Raven asked, the curiosity in her voice causing me to look up.
“I’d rather not say,” he hedged. Coren glanced at me, his eyes unreadable. “You ready to go hunting? The sun is almost set.”
I knew a change of subject when I saw it, but I’d press him for his age later. Maybe he’d be more comfortable in private. My eyes swerved to his crotch, and then I cursed myself for thinking of the word private. Cheeks burning, I headed in the direction of the exit. The rest of the gang, shadows included, were quick to catch up.
*****
Once we were back at my tiny apartment, I said goodbye to Fable, Zen, and Lor for the time being and headed into my kitchen for some wine.
I rarely drank, but I needed it after dealing with the nightmare of a boss. Sure, there were many horrible bosses out there, and people may believe their jobs were hell. But my boss was from Hell, and I may end up there before my shift was over. So there was that.
Coren was currently on my balcony with the phone pressed to his ear, and Raven leaned up against my kitchen counter.