Hell Inc.

by C. M. Stunich

  I took my sweet ass time packing a suitcase. The jerk could wait for me. If he wasn't willing to give me answers, I wasn't willing to make his life any easier. I cursed to myself, slamming my bedroom door and stomping over to my closet. I took some of my anger out on the sliding mirrored doors and ending up breaking one when I thrust it open. Fantastic, another thing for my landlady to bitch about when I moved out. The woman was like a hawk, always on the prowl for someone or something to nag and complain at. I was sure she'd heard the mirror breaking, even though her apartment was four doors over and downstairs. She was that attentive. Well, attentive and part fae. What a fae, even a part breed fae, was doing managing a shitty apartment complex was beyond me. To each their own, I guess.

  I decided to pick out my outfit for my date with Terrence first. I smiled at the clothing in my closet. A long time in the making, my wardrobe consisted almost entirely of eclectic pieces that most people wouldn't even dream of wearing out. My father had always hated my taste in clothing, and if it hadn't been for my stepmother, I wouldn't have even been allowed to wear it at all. I searched through the hangers until I found a Victorian inspired skirt and top. That is, if Victorian women had worn tank tops and mini-skirts. It was a bit risqué, but I knew that this particular top did wonders in framing and enhancing my chest.

  “Let's play a game,” I told the clothing. “It's called 'Tease the Boys.'” I shut the closet doors and laid the outfit out over my rumpled bedspread. “Especially the demon prick,” I added, kicking my bed frame for good measure. Pain shot up my toes, and I cursed, sitting down on the edge of my bed and clutching my foot. “Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me?” I asked, mostly addressing my clothing and maybe my bed, too, if it happened to be listening. I liked talking to inanimate objects; it made them seem friendlier. And after all I'd seen, you never knew what might talk back.

  As far as shoes went, I considered there to be three categories: hideous, boring, and uncomfortable. I mostly owned the boring type, but from time to time, I would suffer through the uncomfortable ones. For aesthetic purposes, of course. Maybe that's what I should wish for. A never ending supply of shoes that are comfortable and attractive. Just the thought of it made me feel shallow as I rummaged around through the pile of shoes that I kept in a basket near my bed. Erin, confessed shoe-aholic, had almost had a heart attack when she had seen the brown wicker basket stuffed to the brim.

  “Why don't you get a shoe rack?” she had asked me. I had ignored her and received one for my following birthday. It was still in its box in the hall closet. It had been awhile since she'd been over, and I wondered what she would do if she saw that I still had the basket.

  The sphinx trotted in and sat down, attempting to groom itself in a very cat like manner. I stared at it for a moment and tried not to be weirded out by the excruciatingly long cat tongue that protruded from its human lips before going back to the shoes.

  “Winter's harshness is but a precursor to the warmth of spring,” the sphinx told my back as I wondered what had caused it to go from riddling questions to proverbs. I found a pair of plain, black leather pumps and decided that those would do. It could never hurt to go with a classic. I took off the bathrobe that I'd been wearing and was picking out some deliciously naughty undergarments that I'd bought in anticipation of one day wearing them for someone when Levie came back into the room. He was fully dressed in some outfit he'd no doubt pulled from the nether universe and looked heart achingly beautiful. Embarrassed by the silken, lacy panties in my hand, I stuffed them back into the drawer and slammed it shut, still naked but trying to pretend that I wasn't bothered by him seeing. I glared angrily.

  “What do you want?” I asked, hoping that he could hear the irritation in my voice just in case he was missing the body language.

  “Only to give you a simple gift.” Suspicious but curious as to what he had to offer, I took a step forward. Levie grasped me around the waist and pulled me close. I struggled against his grip, but I might as well have been pushing against a semitruck.

  “I don't want to be teased again,” I growled and stopped abruptly when he pressed cold steel into my palm. A small black dagger glittered back at me. Covered with various runes that I had never seen before and encrusted with all sorts of jewels, it looked more like a fancy bauble than a weapon.

  “What is this?” Levie released me, and I turned the dagger around in my hands, examining the blade. It looked sharp enough, but I had no idea how to use it. I wasn't trained in any sort of weaponry or martial arts; I didn't even know how to shoot a gun.

  “It is called a dagger in your language.” Smart ass.

  “I know that, but what am I supposed to do with it?” Levie handed me a small leather pouch with a belt attached. A sheath? I looked at him puzzlingly.

  “Wear it around; it will help keep you safe.”

  “I don't know how to use it,” I told him, staring at my reflection in the shining black metal. Levie sighed and brushed hair from his face in an irritated gesture.

  “You stab the blade into another's flesh. It will wound them.” He spoke haltingly, as if to a child.

  “You're an ass. You know what I meant.” I turned back around and began rummaging in my underwear drawer again. He isn't getting silk, I thought, grabbing a pair of plain, cotton underwear then realizing that I had assumed he would be getting something. I stuffed the panties angrily back into the drawer. Levie wasn't getting anything. It was probably for the best anyway. I should just consider Levie a silly attraction and leave it at that. I started rummaging around for a bra and tried to pretend that I believed that. I was also doing my best to pretend that I still wasn't naked with him standing at my back. I shivered and almost leapt out of my skin when he moved towards me and spoke.

  “That dagger,” he said, coming around to stand next to me. “Is spelled. It will guide you in combat.” His eyes landed on the pile of underwear and he smirked then retreated towards the door, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. “And hurry up, I don't wish to dally here any longer than necessary.” He closed the door behind him before I had a chance to respond.

  I slammed the drawer shut in irritation and put the dagger into its sheath, laying it on the bed. It might not be a bad idea to carry it around. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt. I could always use it on Levie the next time he pissed me off. I raided the top drawer of my dresser where I'd had to keep my secret stash of chocolate lest the gnomes find it and hide it somewhere strange. Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with them anymore although I did feel somewhat sorry for getting them charred to a crisp. I snapped off a large piece of chocolate with my teeth to calm my nerves and finished my underwear selection. The sphinx yawned and swished its tail back and forth.

  “I hate him, you know.” I gestured at it with the chocolate as if trying to convince it and myself that I was telling the truth. “I really do. He's just kind of cute.” I chewed another square and swallowed it, savoring the rich taste. “Actually, he's really cute,” I admitted and checked out the clock. It was getting late. I sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to wear for the rest of the evening, stopping briefly to smile at the outfit already packed in my suitcase. “But then so is Terrence.” The sphinx said nothing, which was actually kind of nice. No smart aleck remarks from the peanut gallery.

  After I was dressed and had spent half an hour fussing with hair that wouldn't listen, makeup that I didn't know how to use, and brushing my teeth, I figured I'd made Levie wait long enough. I examined myself in the mirror, admiring the deep curves of a woman's body and wondering why the modeling industry was so obsessed with stick figures. If they liked the bodies of teenage boys so much, they might as well hire some. I turned and smiled at the sphinx who was staring at me, if not approvingly, then certainly not judgmentally either. “Are you coming with?” It stared at me blankly, head cocked slightly to the side. One rounded, golden furred ear twitched and the sphinx stood, backing from the room slowly and turning to trot ahead of me d
own the hall.

  I followed it into the living room and found Levie reading a Blaze novel, his spectacles sitting halfway down the bridge of his nose. “You ready to go?” I asked him, feeling annoyed as I remembered our little bedroom romp. He didn't look at me, just licked the tip of his finger and turned the page. Apparently, my dallying hadn't bothered him a bit. I rolled my eyes and went to the door, dragging my suitcase along with me.

  The sphinx bounded outside ahead of me and down the stairs, his tail swishing. It ran right through my surly neighbor, Gene, causing her to trip and flail on the upper stair, grocery bags tumbling to the ground. I dropped my suitcase and raced forward, grasping her wrist and pulling her up to the landing. She patted her gray curls with one hand and jerked her other wrist out of my grasp. Apparently, saving her life wasn't worth a thank you. She stared at me for a moment before bending down and collecting her groceries.

  “That sure was a close one,” I snapped, hoping she'd say something, anything to me. Gene picked up her apples and iceberg lettuce, jamming them into the paper sack with a sniff and sauntered down the hallway. “Bitch,” I mumbled under my breath as Levie joined me in the hall, his own suitcase clutched in his left hand. He shut the door slowly, glaring at Gene's back as she unlocked her own apartment.

  “How ungrateful. Perhaps you should have allowed her to break her worthless neck. She wasn't worth your valuable time, Ginger.” Gene huffed and pursed her lips at us, retreating into her unit and slamming the door behind her. I smiled sadly up at him.

  “Thanks.” I wasn't really sure what I was thanking him for, but he smiled back at me, and we shared a moment of companionable silence. I shook my head to clear it and started down the stairs, trying not to focus too much on my ever expanding repertoire of feelings towards the unattainable demon.

  The sphinx had disappeared in the few moments I had been assisting Gene. I looked up and down the street as I unlocked my truck, but I didn't see hide nor golden hair of it. Levie opened the back door and pushed both of our suitcases inside. “Are you going to ride with me this time?” I asked him. Levie closed the door slowly and shook his head.

  “I will fly. I have been too cooped up here; I must get into the sky.” I watched him spread his wings wide, admiring the stretching of skin over bone. They were beautiful, and I couldn't help but feel a warming in the pit of my stomach when I thought about how excited he had gotten when I had touched them. God help me, I wanted to touch them again. I whirled around and made my way around the front of the truck, digging the spare key out of my pocket. It was best to keep my distance. I'd already come close to sleeping with him. I wasn't in my right mind.

  “How will I know how to get there? I don't have a GPS.” I paused. “Or a fancy phone.” I turned back around and was presented with Levie's outstretched hand, clutching a piece of paper. I took it from him slowly, suspiciously and gazed down at the familiar logo of Mapquest. What the heck? “Demons use Mapquest?” I asked, incredulous. Levie narrowed his dark brows at me, once again making me feel stupid although I wasn't sure why. I was too self conscious around him.

  “Hell Incorporated invented the Internet, you silly girl.” His chest puffed up with hubris, and his orange eyes zoned in on me, daring me to question him. I had no idea who had invented the Internet so I supposed it really wasn't too far of a stretch. Demons were tech moguls. I could believe that. I'd seen more unbelievable things with my own eyes lately.

  “Sure ... ” I held up the directions gratefully and climbed into the driver's seat. I put the keys in the ignition and looked up at Levie again, but he was already gone. I still didn't understand how a man that large could get airborne so quickly but then again, magic wasn't easily explainable.

  I pulled away from the curb and glanced down at the sheet of paper. I had only looked away for a second, but when I turned back to the road, I had to slam on the brakes abruptly, causing me to jerk forward against my seat belt. It cut into my chest, and I cursed, straining my eyes to try and see the small rounded shape rise out of the darkness. When it took a few steps closer I realized that the creature standing in the middle of the road was the sphinx.

  At about that same moment, I realized that there were no other cars passing by. There should have been at least a few by now. There wasn't even anyone walking by on the sidewalks. A chill went down my spine as the sphinx arched its back and stretched. There was something weird going on. “Drive,” my conscious warned me along with the creepy feeling in my gut. My leg tensed as I pushed down on the gas pedal. The wheels of the car squealed as they tried to accelerate and failed. Something was holding the car in place.

  I turned around slowly, feeling like a hapless heroine in a horror movie, and looked out the back window. A vampire was holding onto the car by the bumper and grinning. Oh shit. At least this time, Levie knew where I was and was hopefully nearby. I looked back out the front window at the sphinx, and my heart jumped into my throat.

  I almost screamed when I saw the scene in front of us. Levie was standing bloody and seething with anger between two vampires. Not Liam or his cronies, which was good, but then again, they had subdued Levie. Did that mean that they were more powerful than the others?

  The female vampire on Levie's right leered at me, revealing her fangs. Her skin was completely colorless and made the fact that her entirely dilated pupils were bleeding black into the whites of her eyes all the more obvious. Her waist was insufferably tiny, and I realized that she must actually practice tight lacing. She was wearing a hat covered in bird feathers with tight blonde ringlets hanging over her shoulders and a very period emerald green dress and gloves. What was it with these vampires and human era costuming?

  The male vampire holding Levie's other arm was just as pale, but his eyes remained normal and were a startlingly bright blue. He looked more somber and in control and was wearing a top hat and suit with coat tails. His outfit reminded me of the butler's uniform that Vae had been wearing.

  A knock on my window startled me out of my observations. “Miss Malloy,” she said, her smooth voice muffled through the glass. “If you would exit the vehicle without issue, we would be most pleased.” I turned back to look at Levie. He was pissed but determined.

  “I guess we're not going to make it to your parents house tonight,” I said softly, more to myself than to Levie, as I opened my door and prepared myself for my second vampire kidnapping in as many days.

  The vampires took the keys from me and asked, rather cordially, if we might accompany them in their limo. I followed them, just glad that they weren't trying to touch me. I couldn't help but stare at Levie though. There was so much blood down the front of his clothes and on the side of his face, and all of it was his. The trio of vampires looked utterly unscathed. They hustled us both into the limo, ushering me in ahead of them. I scooted down the posh leather seats and ended up next to a fourth person in a hooded cloak. With the poor lighting in the limo, I could only make out his lips. They were soft and rounded and vaguely familiar. I stared at them for a moment before he turned towards me, flashing white teeth. No fangs. A chill ran up my spine. There was no way that this guy was a vampire. There was a sense of barely controlled passion around him. Heat. Like Levie, like the Devil. Demon.

  I turned away from him and tried to catch Levie's eyes. It wasn't difficult; he was already looking at me. He was sitting in the center of the same two vampires that had held him on the street, his wings smashed between them. As sensitive as they were, I couldn't imagine he was comfortable, but I also doubted that his captors would care enough to allow him to use his spell either. I tried to take stock of his wounds, but the sheer amount of red on his face and chest made it difficult to tell. What I could see however was a particularly gruesome looking gash on his neck that was bleeding profusely. The cut was pumping blood in little spurts that made me feel absolutely nauseous. His face was calm, but he could have been dying for all that I could see. I'm going to throw up. My stomach spasmed, and I leaned forward, intending to em
pty my stomach onto the floor of the limo. God Ginger, how attractive. The vampire sitting on the center bench seat, dressed oddly enough in jeans and a faded yellow T-shirt that said 'Bite Me,' leaned over and grasped my shoulder.

  “Hey there cupcake, can you keep it in for awhile?” She said, her lip raised at the corner with disgust. I sat back, trying to reign in the contents of my stomach. Try not to piss off vampires. Or demons. Try very, very hard. I nodded, irritated at the fact that they didn't seem to mind the excessive amounts of blood that Levie was leaking all over their leather seats.

  “You're not going to let him die, are you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual, though there might have been a slight waver or two in there. The female vampire in the feather hat laughed a low, wicked laugh that reminded me of having gravel rubbed into an open wound. I purposely avoided her eyes by focusing on her hat instead and was surprised to see that it wasn't just feathers that adorned the brim but rather an entire bird. A dove if I wasn't mistaken. How nice.

  “I haven't had demon blood in such a long time. The smell is just driving me crazy,” she cooed, and I got the feeling she was trying to taunt me. Not wanting to rise to the bait, I turned my gaze to the vampire in the top hat. His pinched face and beady eyes made him appear not only bored but mildly irritated. I'm the one that should be irritated, thank you very much. I frowned at him, but he wasn't looking at me, his gaze was fixed on the bird hat vampire whose waist couldn't have been more than eighteen inches around. She would have put any runway model to shame.