Hell Inc.

by C. M. Stunich

  In the mess of movement, he had dropped my wrist. I threw myself to the floor, ignoring the pain as I hit the ground. Blinking away stars, I grasped the knife in my good hand and swung out blindly at the bars. Just like with the Cerberus' chain, the metal parted easily enough. I cut a small square out from my position on the ground and waited as Dia crawled through. She gasped in relief as the enchantment of the cell dropped away and immediately flew at Terrence's back.

  My spell was still active. She could do no less than try to 'get rid' of him. This time, I was hoping that meant dead. With the Cerberus at his front, he didn't notice her until she had wrapped her own hand around his throat. Her orange muscles flexed as she squeezed. I looked away; I didn't want to see the spray of gore when she finally succeeded in completing her task. I'd seen enough lately.

  When the scuffle went on longer than I'd expected, I turned and saw the two of them grappling together. Dia wasn't faring as well as I'd hoped. Apparently being immortal doesn't necessarily mean that you're strong. I felt a pang of sadness when I saw the Cerberus lying still on the ground several feet away from the two of them. I sort of owed them for me even getting this far. Maybe they were just playing dead 'cause that's what dogs do, right?

  Then an idea struck me. I raised myself to my feet and ran as close to the cells as I could. Terrence's eyes caught on me, but he was too engaged with Dia to be able to do much of anything as I passed him by. When I came around the corner, the genies were milling about in confusion. The Guardians weren't much better. I supposed they were just normal humans after all. Normal people, just like me.

  “Hey!” I shouted, trying to garner as much attention as possible. “Why are you just standing here? Your chance to escape is right in front of you.” I gestured around the corner. A few curious faces glanced at the scuffle between Dia and Terrence, but when they passed this information on to the others, they looked completely uninterested.

  “Who cares?” asked one particularly pastel blue genie woman. “Here or Hell Incorporated. It's all the same. We're slaves, plain and simple. Why even bother to fight?” I looked at the milling humans. They were looking at their genies as if they were the masters now and not the other way around. Whatever happened to good old fashioned thinking for yourself? I growled to myself in frustration. Essentially, they were right. It seemed as if they'd been used and abused for so long that they'd grown apathetic to their situation. There was one thing though ...

  “How about you help Dia and me get rid of Terrence, we'll break everyone out of here, and you can all come back to Hell Inc.?” There was mumbled disapproval, but I wasn't finished. “And we'll give you prescription drug coverage and double the sick days.” It had worked for the Devil, why couldn't it work for me? This time, the mumbles were tinted with just a hint of excitement.

  “And vision coverage?” mouthed a cornflower blue genie with thick lenses situated in his skinny metal frames.

  “Uh, sure,” I said, not really caring what they wanted so long as they helped me out. Besides, it wasn't like their requests were particularly unreasonable.

  “And dental?” asked one of the humans. Do I really need to describe his smile? I'd rather not.

  “S-sure.”

  “And can we get an espresso machine in the break room?”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever you want.” I paused. I had learned my lesson on the power of words. “Within reason.”

  “Who are you anyway?” The pastel genie asked snootily, hip thrust out in defiance. I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself for what I was about to say.

  “I'm ... I'm Leviathan's new ... wife.” I wasn't sure if I was technically his bride yet or not, but the word mate just sounded obscene. I gushed on, just in case they were unsure of who Levie was. “The uh, heir, I guess, to the company. I'm his new wife.”

  “We know who Leviathan is,” the pastel genie snapped, apparently deciding that she was now the leader and voice of the entire group. She exchanged a glance with a tiny, blonde woman, her hands quivering around the violet bottle that she was clutching against her chest. “Okay, I'll help. I just need my human to – ”

  “I don't know what to do!” the woman shouted, throwing the bottle onto the floor. It bounced and clanged across the stone. “First, I get kidnapped by vampires, and now there's this weird place. I don't even really understand what's going on here.”

  “Look,” I said, holding out a hand in placation. “I know this is a little bit weird, but if you all just repeat after me, then you can get the hell out of here and wish for money or good skin or bigger boobs.” It was the humans' turn to mumble in pleasure. “Okay, so we're in agreement?” Nods. “Good. Now all you need to say is ... ” I wasn't sure if I should utter the beginning of the phrase. “The words 'I' and 'wish' followed by, you to help Ginger and Dia kill Terrence without harming me or anyone else in this room.” I took a deep rush of breath. I was going out on a limb here. I really had no experience in 'wish phrasing,' and I didn't think I'd be very good at it anyway, but Terrence had just thrown Dia across the room and into the iron bars. I was running out of time.

  There was a moment of silence before a few of the Guardians mumbled the phrase. Their genies immediately took up the cause and were around the corner and on Terrence before I could blink. There were several people who either were too scared to try or didn't believe a word I'd said. I couldn't blame them, but I also couldn't waste anymore time trying to convince them (they so weren't getting to use the espresso machine).

  I stumbled back around the corner and drew my knife out from where I'd replaced it in the sheath inside my jacket. I began to cut away at the bars of the cells. Maybe a little gratitude would inspire some of these genies to help me out. I noticed most of them had bottles in their cell so either Infernix had managed to capture free genies or they were somehow separating them from their Guardians after they were locked up. Most of the genies ignored me and kept on doing whatever it was that they'd been doing before the action started, but a few, like Liberswek, flashed me pointy grins and joined in the fray.

  The hallway was a mess of bright skin against gray, wings and smoke, blood and shouts. I slumped against the wall and waited. It was a little anticlimactic, but I was no fighter, though I could feel Dia pulling magic from me. I'd never sensed it before, but I could understand. Killing a demon business mogul had to be tough work. It was like an IV except instead of pumping cold liquid into my veins, it was pulling it out. It was a lot like giving blood actually, including the weak and shaky part. My eyes fluttered and my vision began to fade to white sparkles, but I refused to pass out, not until I was sure it was over. Not until I was out of there. I promised myself that I'd stay awake.

  I was never very good at keeping promises to myself.

  I'd been doing an awful lot of passing out lately, and it was really starting to get old. This time, when I woke up, I was in a king sized canopy bed. The curtains above my head were a luscious black silk with little burgundy whorls of color. I sat up abruptly, clutching the sheets to my chest. My right wrist was bandaged with a splint, and I was dressed in nothing but a white silk slip. I couldn't see the rest of the room because the curtains were down and tied. I eased forward on the bed, attempting to make as little noise as possible. I had no idea if the genies had been able to subdue Terrence or if I was in some freakish bed chamber of his just waiting to be ravaged. My mind was so busy working up potential scenarios that when the curtains next to me were flung open with force, I screamed.

  It was Levie.

  As soon as he saw that I was awake, he reached down and gathered me into his arms. His body was almost stifling in its heat as he pressed my head against the bit of his chest that wasn't covered by the black terrycloth robe that he was wearing. I sat there for a moment, slightly confused, before reaching out and pushing him back.

  “What happened?” I asked him. I scooted over so that he could sit next to me. “And where am I?”

  “You are in my house,” Levie said sim
ply. I waited for him to continue. He didn't, just stroked back a strand of my sweat soaked hair. I batted his hand away. “Or our house I should say.” He said this with pride as if it were something that he had been working towards for ages and had finally achieved.

  “Stop it,” I snapped, a little more rudely than I'd meant to. “This is not our house. Not yet. I'm still pissed at you.” I pointed a finger at his chest. He grabbed it and pulled it to his mouth. I shuddered as he proceeded to suck on it. “What is your problem, Levie? I'm trying to have a conversation with you. What happened to Terrence?” A flicker of annoyance crossed Levie's face for a moment before he released my hand with a sigh.

  “You are a difficult girl,” he said.

  “And you're a difficult demon,” I replied. Levie smiled a bit and relaxed into the pillows.

  “I suppose you are right. I can be difficult at times. What do you want to know, stupid girl?”

  “What happened with Terrence and Dia and all the other genies?” Levie gave me a look that was part amusement, part fear.

  “My uncle was not pleased at your business offerings. These new services will cost Hell Inc. quite a bit more money.” I frowned at Levie. Stupid fucking Devil. I go and save his employees from certain doom and that's the thanks I get? Before I could protest though, Levie threw me a bone. “But the Recall and Collections department is back up and running and you ... ” Levie brushed one of my nipples through the shift. I shuddered but refused to give in to his demands. At least not yet.

  “Stop it! I mean it, Levie!” Levie rolled onto his side playfully.

  “Your silly wish was reversed and all seems well. Humans are far too ignorant to let such a small percentage of their population change them overly much. Our business is safe and Infernix is down one CEO.” I felt ill for a moment, just a moment, that I had basically caused Terrence's demise. But he had killed Leah. And tried to date rape me.

  “He's dead?” I asked, my heart thumping against my ribcage as I waited for Levie to answer. He shook his head.

  “No, just demoted.” I stared at him

  “Demoted?” My voice came out in a squeak. Levie nodded.

  “But my uncle's ... ” He paused, trying to select the right word. Never a good sign. “People are looking for him. Don't fret.” When somebody has people at their back, you know it's time to be scared. I figured there wasn't much else I could do at that point and tried to be grateful that I was still alive and no longer a target for supernatural animosity.

  “Where's Dia?” As if on cue, my genie flung back the curtains and grinned at us.

  “Girl, you sure scared the crap outta me. You're lucky you've got so much magic inside of you.” She poked a finger under my chin just as the sphinx leapt onto the bed.

  “I thought I was out of trouble with 3rd Century Realty?” I blurted at him. He blinked contented eyes at me.

  “You are. I just like you.” From the silence in the room, I was guessing that I wasn't the only one that was shocked.

  “You can talk?” I gasped. The sphinx sat up and licked his shoulder.

  “Of course I can talk. What do you think I've been doing all this time, giving you such amazing advice. I certainly wasn't pretending to be mute.” Okay, so that was true but still ...

  “But, but, you've seen me naked.” The sphinx frowned at me.

  “And? Your point? I was also present during your coupling with the demon. Don't worry, if the two of you wish to do so again, I won't make a sound. Though I can't imagine why you'd want to go through with such a dreadful act more than once a year.” Levie snarled at the sphinx and batted him off of the bed.

  “You will do no such thing. Go on. Get out.” The sphinx stuck his tongue out at Levie and trotted to the door, now visible as Dia was in the process of tying back the curtains. The room was massive with wall to wall rugs, tapestries, and massive pieces of dark furniture in a wood I didn't recognize. It was just to my tastes. Rich, baroque, dark. I turned to Levie and studied his face. Maybe we would work together as a couple ... “And you,” he said to Dia. “Can make yourself scarce as well.” Dia raised her eyebrows at me, and I turned my own lour on Levie.

  “And why is that?” His eyes were warm and inviting when he gazed back at me. I flushed to the annoyance of Dia who threw up her hands in surrender.

  “Whatever.” She stomped from the room and slammed the heavy doors behind her.

  “Ginger,” he said softly, running his fingers along the side of my face. “I was worried about you.” I rested my hand across his lap and felt him getting ... excited.

  “You were worried?” I asked, leaning back from him. “Or just certain parts of you were?” Levie laughed; the sound was deep and low and rich. I felt my own body respond despite my injury.

  “All of me, Ginger,” he said, placing a hand on my chest and pressing his lips against mine. I kissed him back without thinking. It felt too good not to. When he leaned back, he was all confidence and smirks. It was annoying. “Does this mean that you'll be my bride?” I gave him an, 'Are you freaking crazy?' sort of a look before responding.

  “No way, Levie.” The look of absolute horror on his face was too much for me. I laughed and grabbed his cheeks between my hands. “I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you. I just don't want to get married yet. We can date.” He scowled at me.

  “I refuse to live in that hovel of yours. We will have to find ourselves a more suitable residence for the remainder of your time on Earth.” God, he was dense. I loved him anyway.

  “I never said we were going to move in together.” He gave me another look of sheer horror before I silenced him with my lips and pulled him on top of me. I was done talking. There would be plenty of time to talk about life's possibilities later. The one thing I did know however, was that my new life was going to be one hell of a ride.

  If you enjoyed this book, look for more by C.M. Stunich!

  ... The Third House of Faerie is Missing Their Queen ...

  A Houses Novel Book 1

  Books by C.M. Stunich

  The Seven Wicked Series

  First

  Second

  Third

  Fourth

  Fifth

  Sixth

  Seventh

  Houses Novels

  The House of Gray and Graves

  The House of Hands and Hearts and Hair

  The House of Sticks and Bones

  Indigo Lewis Novels

  Indigo & Iris

  Indigo & The Colonel

  Indigo & Lynx

  Stand Alone Novels

  Suicide Girls

  She Lies Twisted

  Hell Inc.

  Zombie Hunter Lulu

  About the Author

  C.M. Stunich was raised under a cover of fog in the area known simply as Eureka, CA. A mysterious place, this strange, arboreal land nursed Caitlin's (yes, that's her name!) desire to write strange fiction novels about wicked monsters, magical trains, and Nemean Lions (Google it!). She currently enjoys drag queens, having too many cats, and tribal bellydance.

  She can be reached at author@cmstunich.com, and loves to hear from her readers. Ms. Stunich also wrote this biography and has no idea why she decided to refer to herself in the third person.

  Happy reading and carpe diem!

  www.cmstunich.com