"Are there more True Immortal traits than the ones we already know?" Myrtle asked.
"What in the Hell are True Immortal traits?" Lucy asked as she eyed my bracelet distrustfully.
"God is Good, Satan is Evil, Dixie's grandpa is Wisdom, Mother Nature is Emotion, Angel of Death is Death, Angel of Light is Life, Eve is Temptation, Astrid is Compassion and Dixie is Balance," Myrtle rattled off the list by rote.
"So there are more?" Janet mused.
"I'm not sure. It doesn't say here, or it's just tied up in the language I don't understand."
"Maybe the other True Immortals running around are spare heirs," Lucy said.
"That's freakin' genius!" Myrtle slapped Lucy on the back and she went flying across the room. "Whoops. Sorry."
"You are one strong little skinny girl," Lucy grumbled as she got up.
"I said sorry." Myrtle grinned and flexed her little arms.
Myrtle was such a little shit. I grinned and rolled my eyes.
"I agree," Lucy said.
"With what?"
"That Myrtle's a shit," she replied.
"I didn't say that out loud," I stammered.
"Yes, you did," Lucy insisted.
"No, she didn't. I would have kicked her Demon princess ass if she did," Myrtle informed us. "But now that the cat is out of the bag, I'll kick your ass after the dance. I'd do it now, but I got a manicure and I don't want to mess it up. Plus she still deserves a beating for sending the baby Demons to spank my bumbum." With that she flipped us off and left the room.
"You really heard me?" I asked Lucy.
"I really did."
Was she like Elijah? Was I yelling in my head? Why didn't anyone else hear me? Damn, I was really going to have to watch my thoughts. . .
"It's five-thirty, you gals need to get a move on," Janet said and handed me my purse.
"I'll see you at eight. I refuse to be around the Things without killing them. For real killing them," Myrtle yelled from down the hall.
"Alrighty then, we'll see you at eight."
***
"I can't wait to see Hayden and you'll meet Stella tonight. Who knows? My dad might even show up. Shit, he'll blow an aneurysm when he sees his red sequined likeness," I babbled to Lucy. "Did you bring a costume? Did you know Myrtle is coming dressed as a bear and. . ." WTF?
We both froze as we entered the gym. We entered cautiously and the heavy door slammed shut behind us. Heaven was still heinous and Hell was still an abomination, but something was wrong—very wrong. The air was thick with malevolent magic and an icy wind whipped through the cavernous room. Shitshitshitshitshit.
"What are the Things’ names?" I asked Lucy frantically.
"Veronica, Velda, Vivian and Varsha."
"Are you fucking serious?"
"They're vultures. What did you expect?"
"Not that," I hissed. "Veronica? Are you guys here?" I called out.
Nothing.
Not good.
No one answered and my body tightened. The need to crawl out of my skin was intense and little sparks lit the tips of my fingers. The spot on my palm that I had sliced with the dagger tingled and burned.
"What's going on?" Lucy whispered.
"I'm not sure, but this isn't your fight. I want you to go." I pushed her toward the door, but she pushed right back.
"Nope. Not going anywhere."
"Lucy, leave," I ground out through clenched teeth.
"Dixie, no," she shot back. Her eyes glowed a brilliant green and a gauzy film of magic like I'd never seen glowed around her.
"Is Steve the only form you shift to?" I asked as I took in the power of the magic she was throwing off.
"Not even close." She snorted and rolled her neck on her shoulders.
"What else do you shift to?" I demanded. Could she hold her own in whatever clusterfuck was about to happen?
"Do you have nightmares?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Think of the most horrific nightmare you've ever had. I'm ten times worse."
"For real?" My grin split my face and I wanted to hug her and smack her.
"For very real." Her grin matched mine and I gave up on making her leave. I knew she wouldn't go anyway.
"Hello Dixie, I see you brought your dog," Cole's voice boomed and bounced off the walls. His eyes were slightly wild and he was armed to the teeth. He wore a long cheesy black cape, black pants and a red ruffled shirt. "So nice of you to come to my party."
What the Hell was Cole doing here and why was he dressed like a Demon from a bad B movie? He muttered and laughed and he walked quickly in circles so his cape flowed behind him. This was bad, but I knew I could take him. He was stupid and arrogant. I was a True Immortal. He could do me damage, but he couldn't kill me. Lucy was another story.
"Didn't realize it was yours," I greeted him politely. "I would have torn up the invite and spit on it if I'd known. I'm guessing this is a family affair—you will let Lucy leave."
"But she's your sister," he sneered. "Family is family, no matter what the breed."
"I already told you, I'm not leaving," Lucy hissed under her breath.
"See?" He laughed. "Your dog likes to heel."
"Shut up, asshole," I snapped.
"I've always said you were a spoiled rotten brat and I can see things haven't changed."
I was right about Cole being a shitbag, but I still didn't understand the game. Lucy stood quietly beside me, but her body was as tense as a coil about to spring.
"Everyone should be arriving soon, so make yourselves comfortable."
"We'll do that," I said nastily.
The door we'd entered through flew open and Demons of the sort I'd never seen entered and spaced themselves around the gym. There had to be at least two hundred. The odds were looking slightly craptastic. Even though the Things were vapid and worthless, I hoped like Hell they would sense the danger in the gym and stay away. There was still two hours before innocent people would arrive. Pus and blood oozed from open sores on the faces and necks of the all male Demon army. Their breathing came out in short bursts and their black teeth protruded over bulbous lips. Rogue Demons were butt-ass ugly—and they looked hungry. Awesome.
I pulled Lucy away from the perimeter and into a clump of trees made out of coat racks and tissue paper. I said a quick prayer to my father that what happened earlier wasn't a fluke. . .
"Lucy, can you hear me?" Her eyes shot to mine and I closed my eyes for a brief moment in relief. "Cole is my father's second in command. Or he was. . .He's a powerful Demon and he clearly has delusions of grandeur or a massive death wish. I'm unsure what's going down, but all the stinky asshole wallflowers are Rogue Demons."
Lucy gave me a quick wink.
"You don't want to go at Cole under any circumstances. I'm pretty sure he has some Black Magic and he wears a Hell Fire ring. It could kill you, and if you die today I will hunt your ghost ass down and kill you again. Do you understand me?"
She gave me another wink and a smirk.
I discreetly reached into my purse and smiled. I had told them they couldn't come, but I was delighted they blatantly disobeyed me. I pulled my baby Demon salvia covered hand from my bag and patted it gently. I had no clue if they could eat two hundred Rogue Demons, but the less I had to destroy would leave me more time to deal with Cole.
"So killing me gets you what?" I asked as Cole paced Heaven with an authority and stature that belied his true status.
"Kill you?" He laughed and gave me a condescending glare. "I can't kill you. She would be upset if I did that. You've been granted a reprieve." Thank Hades he thought I was killable. He was unaware of my True Immortal standing.
None of this was adding up. Where was the Sword of Death and was I just supposed to annihilate the room of bad guys? How would that balance anything? The Kev told me to see things clearly and make a balanced decision. All I saw were badly dressed smelly evil dudes. Did they tip the balance?
The waiting was worse than anyth
ing I'd ever experienced.
And then it happened.
All at once.
The vultures came crashing through the skylights and landed at Cole's feet. He cooed to them and pet their hairless heads.
"Motherfucker," Lucy muttered. "The Things are bad guys?"
"Looking that way," I replied as I brushed shards of glass from the skylight off of my sister and pulled us farther back to the relative safety of the seven-foot papier-mâché Satan.
The Demons surrounding us wailed and moaned. They rocked back and forth—their teeth clicked and snapped ominously. The sounds and smells made my stomach roil.
"Such good little vultures," Cole purred to the Things. "You brought your daddy the evil ones right on time."
"They're related?" Lucy was flabbergasted.
"Cole's their dad?" I was shocked.
"My children are hungry," Cole bellowed. "Who will make the ultimate sacrifice for me?"
The Demons began to fight each other. Their long claws stabbed through open wounds and the screams were horrific. I felt their shrieks all the way to my toes. They pushed each other forward and fought to go back to the wall. Clearly no one wanted to be dinner.
"You," Cole cried out to a smaller Demon who had landed in a heap on the floor. "You will serve me. Disrobe."
The hideous Demon disrobed reluctantly and his comrades against the walls hissed and laughed maniacally. His muscular body was covered in open wounds and dried flakey blood. My gag reflex rose quickly.
"Oh fuck no," Lucy grunted and turned her head as the Demon laid himself at the clawed feet of the Things.
The sounds were Hellish and the screams from the peanut gallery made the entire show more macabre. The vultures viciously tore into the live body of the Demon as he screamed in agony. Cole clapped his hands with delight and the Vultures ate hungrily. If this was the warmup act the evening was going to be very bad indeed.
The magic in the air of the gym thickened and Cole's eyes widened in excitement. His pacing became erratic and his cape blew around him making him look like he was ready for takeoff. "She's here," he announced loudly over the roar of the Demons and the shill keening of the vultures.
The crash through the ceiling and the explosion of glass, wood and metal made me hope for a short moment that Mother Nature was making a violent entrance, but that would have been too easy. I didn't need my grandma. I didn't need to be saved—I simply needed to figure out what the Hell was going on. A Dragon the size of an SUV barreled down from the sky holding a beaten, bloody and barely breathing Eve in her sharp talons. She wasn't dead. It would take far more than a beating to kill Temptation. The Demons danced wildly and the vultures in their ecstasy coughed up chunks of bloody Demon. The bile rose in my throat and I realized that half the battle would be to keep from vomiting.
"You're late," Cole shouted as he ran to my mother's crumpled body and pulled her from Rhonda's claws. He ran his hands possessively over her in such a sexual way I had to turn my head. Could no one deny temptation?
"Silence," Rhonda the Dragon roared so loudly I winced in pain. I yanked Lucy behind a cardboard boulder and watched the disaster unfold. Before I could act I needed to be sure. More plaster and metal fell from the ceiling, impaling and beheading several Demons. "I said silence," she screeched. The walls trembled and the floor shook, but she accomplished her goal. The room went quiet.
"You hurt her," Cole accused as he ran his open mouth down my mother's neck.
"I'll hurt you if you don't shut up. Where are they?" she demanded. She stomped around Heaven and crushed two Things to death beneath her massive feet. Cole barely noticed his feathered children had died as he was too engrossed with my mother.
"Soon. Amanda is luring him. Where is the Sword?"
Amanda, my father's consort, was luring who? Was she luring my father here? Were they planning on killing my father in front of me?
"She has the Sword," Rhonda snapped. My mother did have the Sword. It was strapped to her back. Had Mr. Rogers caved to temptation too? "Where's God?" Rhonda's beady eyes swept the room.-
"Won't be coming," Cole said as he backed away from the furious fire-breathing Dragon.
"Can you not get anything right?" she hissed as an explosion of flames burst from her nose and destroyed a clump of Demons cowering in the corner. "I have spent a year weakening and brainwashing the bitch to make her steal the Sword and neglect her job and you can't do the simple things I asked?"
"We don't need him. We'll have Satan. When he sees Eve he will break. He has loved her for millions of years. He lives for the day she will come to him and stay," he rasped as he cupped my mother's breast in his hand. "We all do. . .She will do as told or we will kill her daughters in front of her."
Well now I knew why we were here. Lucy gripped my arm and growled.
"You think that will work?" Rhonda asked so quietly my hair stood on end. "We needed them to fight over her to destroy each other. We need a heart to break so the Sword of Death will work. This is a folly you've created." She stomped her foot and took out the other two Things.
"It will work," he said as he gazed at my mother with such longing I felt ill. Was she such a temptation to all that she could end the world? Did balance mean the end of my mother?
"Her denial of him will break him?" she demanded as she advanced on Cole.
"Yes, and the lives of her spawn will guarantee her compliance. All we need is a mere second of heartbreak and the Sword of Death and Satan's life is vanquished. Forever."
They were correct. It was so simple and so very wrong. If Eve was sprung on my father and her denial of him hurt badly enough—even for a moment, it could be over. His momentary wish for death and a broken heart would be all the opening they would need.
"Are we just gonna hide behind a rock or are we gonna kick some ass?" Lucy asked with disgust.
"Just needed a minute to figure out who had to bite it," I snapped.
"Who did you decide on?"
"Pretty much all of them."
Lucy's grin was evil and I bit back the most inappropriate laugh that had almost ever left my body. I bit down hard and a thin stream of blood dribbled down my lip.
"Lick my chin," I told Lucy. "Now."
"What the. . .is that some kind of Demon lesbian thingie? I like guys," she stammered.
"My blood," I hissed. "Take some of my blood. It will make you stronger. Just do it." I yanked her mouth to mine and she licked the blood from my lips and chin. "You might have a quick seizure, but go with it."
She nodded and gulped. "Go kill those bastards," she choked out as her body convulsed.
No such thing as pure good and pure evil. I was both and I would own it. My power rose rapidly and with a great deal of pain. Sparks flew from my fingers and Lucy rolled away. The roar in my ears was like an ocean during a hurricane and I vaguely heard Rhonda ask about my and Lucy's whereabouts. My skin grew hot and my palm burned. I would spare my mother, but the rest had to go.
"I'm here," I said as I walked forward toward the abomination that wanted to rule the world. Cole was simply a minion—a weak worthless piece of shit that had helped to tip the scales. His obsession with my mother had been used wisely. Rhonda was the brains. Rhonda had to go.
My feet barely touched the floor as I advanced and the bracelet on my arm heated just as the scar on my palm added to the pain ricocheting through me. Instead of debilitating me, I let the pain empower me. The good inside me warred with the evil, but I controlled it. Neither would ever control me.
"Why, what have we here? A little baby Immortal with some mommy issues?" She bared her long sharp teeth and spit a stream of fire at me.
Lifting my left hand, I caught the fire and threw it back at her. The look of horror on her face was gorgeous as her own fire singed off a good portion of her shoulder.
"No," she screamed as she doubled forward and grasped her arm. As quickly as the shoulder disappeared, it grew back and her fury increased tenfold. "Get her and the other
one," she bellowed so loudly several girders fell from above.
My mother's shout of agony rang in my ears, but her need and weakness would not tempt me ever again. I focused on my prey and all Hell broke loose.
It felt like slow motion. The Demons sprang from the walls and the Dragon increased in size. I heard the delighted squeals of the baby Demons as they went to work on the meal of the century. The groaning and cursing mixed with the wet sounds of bodies being torn apart didn't even bother me. The Dragon’s claws were sharp as they tore into my skin, but the sense of calm inside me enabled me to take each blow as I dealt my own.
My hair whipped wildly around my head. I flicked my fingers and a vicious wind blew up. I laughed as Demons flew through the air into a pile for the babies. The fear in the Dragon made her fight erratically. I stilled my body and let her think for a brief second she could win. Arrogance created carelessness and I was not arrogant.
"No one shall defeat me." She came at me with hatred and desperation. I shifted slightly and her body weight took her forward into a wall. The sound of a Dragon taking down steel beams with her head was delightful, but I wasn't done.
"I'm not no one," I roared and let my body relax. "I am Balance."
From the core of my being I pulled up a magic so strong I felt sick. I raised my hands above my head and I chanted. Never before had I understood what I was saying, but now I did. My mother had left her bracelet for me on purpose. No matter how she had fucked up, she clearly felt remorse. She could not take back what she had done, but she could give me the tools to put an end to it.
My voice was strong and the storm in the room kicked up to tornado level. The wind on my skin was cleansing and healing. I smiled at the chaos around me and I spoke with my eyes and heart wide open.
"Without balance there is no peace.
Without peace there is no reason.
Without reason there is no purpose.
Good and evil shall exist, but never in its purest form.
There are no true absolutes.
Absolutes must be abolished.
And I shall, for I am Balance."
The explosions that flew from my fingertips were targeted and deadly. The Demons burst into flames and fell to dust on the ground, but the Dragon. . .the Dragon's demise was something much more fitting.
Hell On Heels Page 26