“Besides, you only defeated Satan because he was in a weakened state. Satani isn’t in a weakened state. She’s in full power. It won’t be easy.”
Again, Karen was right. Scarlett had kicked his ass easily once. Admittedly, he was stronger now, but the demon was still a force to be reckoned with. And Scarlett was terrified of Satani.
“You defeated Satan?” Veronica asked.
“Shh,” Karen hissed at her fellow Demon Hunter as she glanced around worriedly. There was no one in sight, let alone in hearing distance.
Veronica raised an eyebrow. “You need to stop being so uptight, Karen. It’s not attractive.”
“Excuse me?” Karen asked, turning to face Veronica. “Uptight?”
“You’re really pretty,” Veronica said, completely unperturbed by Karen’s hostility. She even reached out with her hand and moved away the strand of black hair that crossed down Karen’s forehead. “But you’re too uptight. You need to loosen up.”
Veronica suddenly leaned in and kissed Karen on the lips. Karen’s body stiffened, but she didn’t resist.
“You’re a good kisser, too,” Veronica commented. She then turned to face Alex and gave him a kiss. She tasted like cherries. “Don’t die,” she told him. And with that, she walked off.
“Am I uptight?” Karen demanded.
Alex shook his head. He didn’t think Karen was uptight at all. In fact, she was the complete opposite of uptight. Karen was fun, and right now, Alex would much rather have gone home with her than go with Scarlett to meet Satani.
Karen glanced behind him at the waiting white LaFerrari. He could tell she wanted to go with him. Aside from it being a two-seater car, Scarlett didn’t ask Karen to come along.
Karen leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It was a more passionate kiss than the quick one Veronica had given him. Alex kissed her back. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. Damnit, she felt so good. The urge to tell Scarlett to fuck off and instead go back to Karen’s apartment was strong.
Eventually, they parted lips, knowing Scarlett the angry demon with little patience was waiting for him. Melissa stood awkwardly a few feet away from Karen. The demon girl had always been a little awkward and shy.
“Did you really defeat Satan?” she asked in hushed tones.
Alex nodded. “Drove my sword into his chest and kicked him back down to hell.”
“Satan was in a weakened estate,” Karen muttered. “Don’t get too cocky, Alex.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “Maybe you are uptight.”
“Am not!” Karen muttered.
Alex took Melissa’s hand and pulled her in for a hug. The demon girl was the perfect dictionary definition of cute. She wasn’t as tall as the Demon Hunters, but she had a perfectly curvy ass that could actually grow bigger if she willed it to. Some demons had powers of sorts, and Melissa’s power was to grow bigger. As in she could grow taller, have bigger breasts, or make her ass curvier.
It was similar to Mystique’s powers, but only applicable for sex.
She didn’t need to though. Alex thought she was perfect. He stared into her yellow eyes. There was worry in them. He kissed her on the lips, once, then twice, then they kissed passionately. It was the car horn that caused Alex to pull away.
“I’ll take care of Melissa,” Karen told him. “You should go before the angry bitch becomes angrier.”
With a reluctant sigh, Alex waved at the two girls, then walked towards the waiting car. He undid the straps of the scabbard from around his chest. His sword sheathed in it, Alex climbed into the car and placed the scabbard between his legs. The cold handle rested against his bare chest.
“Don’t ever make me wait,” Scarlett said through gritted teeth.
“You really need to change the tune,” Alex said tiredly. “Seriously. Stop threatening me. We both know you’re not going to do shit to me.”
“I’ll chop your fucking dick off!” Scarlett hissed.
Alex rolled his eyes. He glanced down at her long red legs. The skirt was hiked right up her waist.
“You know, if you want my cock that badly, just ask,” he grinned, and deciding he could afford to be that brave, he placed a hand on Scarlett’s lap. He let out a chuckle as her face turned a darker shade of red in anger. “Drive, woman,” Alex said.
He moved his hand away from her lap and leaned back into the comfortable leather seat. Damn, this car was nice. He needed to upgrade. Apparently, he had the money in the bank now to afford one of these, courtesy of being a Demon Hunter.
Muttering threats under her breath, Scarlett put her foot down. Alex didn’t get to admire the car too much as his thoughts turned to where they were going.
The Red House of Satan and the devil that awaited him there.
Chapter 9
The Red House of Satan was based in central London. It wasn’t too far away from Ignis Estate as the crow flew, but they’d hit the London rush hour period, which as far as Alex was concerned, was pretty much the whole day.
Scarlett drove her LaFerrari as if it were a Nissan Micra and not worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. She overtook cars by driving on the curb and not caring one bit as the low bumper scraped against the cement. She horned incessantly, drove over the speed limit, broke harshly to stop from crashing, and of course, she hit as many red lights as it were possible. In the end though, it really didn’t make much of a difference. Alex estimated they made it to the Red House of Satan a grand total of maybe five minutes earlier than they would have had Scarlett not driven like a lunatic.
The demon was still furious. Part of Alex was tempted to wind her up even more because he found he was a little annoyed too, annoyed at being summoned by Satani. It wasn’t long ago when Alex came to see the devil to tell her Jamie Azarath was planning to free a powerful demon that she’d locked away.
That demon turned out to be Satan, her older brother. Alex had done her a fucking favour by kicking Satan back down to hell. She should be thanking him. Instead, she’d summoned him and if Scarlett was to be believed, he was going to hell. Literally.
That couldn’t be right, could it?
She couldn’t have literally meant it literally, could she? Nah, it had to be a figure of speech. But even as a figure of speech, it didn’t seem like the thanks he should be receiving. He’d saved her ass, and probably Scarlett’s too.
Satan seemed like an evil and vengeful cunt. He would have taken his revenge on anyone that had supported his sister, and that included Scarlett. The angry demon beside him should have been thanking him, not being the angry bitch that she was.
So, deciding he was annoyed and actually not afraid of getting into a scrap with Scarlett, Alex said, “Oh wow, you got here really quickly. I mean, had you not driven around like a fucking lunatic, we would have been here,” he paused and stared down at his empty wrist, pretending to look at a watch, “a whole two minutes later.”
Scarlett had her hands on the driving wheel. Her fingers tightened around the soft and probably expensive leather. Her black claws dug into it. She turned her head towards him very slowly. Her teeth gritted, she glared at him with her black eyes. Alex felt something wash over him. It was a sort of coldness. Scarlett’s angry face changed. Her eyes narrowed and her set jawline loosened. It was a moment before Alex realised what had just happened. And when he did, he burst out laughing.
“You tried that hypnosis shit on me,” he said as he pointed a finger at her. “Did you really think it was going to work?”
Scarlett nodded like a sullen child. “Lucifer wasn’t this strong before…”
“Well, he’s a lot stronger than he used to be,” Alex said. “He’d kick your ass easily if we were to get into another scrap.”
“Don’t get too cocky, Alex,” Scarlett scoffed. “You will need every ounce of that power Lucifer gives you where you’re going.”
“Where am I going?” Alex asked, frowning.
Scarlett smiled widely. She wasn’t even trying to look evil, but that
smile had psycho written all over it.
* * *
Rubrum Domus Satanas. It translated into the Red House of Satan, or so Alex was told. It had been named somewhat prosaically. It was a towering building of a hundred floors and made of a Redstone more commonly seen in southern Asia. Wide steps of black stone led up to the building, and they passed under a column of white stone that reflected brilliantly off the steps. On the pediment, set against the white stone, was Satani’s face carved into it.
Alex pointed at it. “She’s a bit vain, isn’t she?”
Scarlett ignored him and climbed up the steps. Alex didn’t follow immediately. He stared at the top of the building. It didn’t matter the time of the day, or the weather. There were always dark clouds swirling around the top of the building.
It wasn’t Alex’s first time here, but he still couldn’t get over the surreal feel of the place. It didn’t help that it was located in a narrow service road just off a busy central London street. The other buildings on this narrow alleyway were either three, four, five and even six floors high. They were dwarfed by the Red House of Satan, and yet, Alex was sure they didn’t even know it existed.
Alex still had reservations about his meeting with Satani. His scabbard was fastened around his chest and Alex touched the sword on his back. The metal felt reassuring. If things didn’t go the way he liked, he could always fight his way out.
And with that, he climbed up the steps and into the building. Once inside, he caught up with Scarlett as she climbed the steps that led to the lobby. There were elevators on both sides, but it was the golden door at the end that would take them up to the hundredth floor.
It was the only elevator that went all the way up. It was also inaccessible to Demon Hunters. Scarlett pressed the button. The doors parted silently. They stepped inside. Alex leaned against the glass mirror. His hands gripped the bar that crossed it from one end of the wall to the other. Scarlett stood a couple of feet in front of him.
The short skirt and the tightly fitting white shirt, Alex took in her figure. There was a feeling of déjà vu about this. There seemed to be a lot of that today.
“Shall we just kill her?” Lucifer asked. “We could drive the sword into her back right now and end this.”
“What happens after that?” Alex asked.
“We go up and kill Satani,” Lucifer said triumphantly.
Lucifer’s end game was to free humanity from both the demons and the angels. But killing Satani and Scarlett would only tip the scales in favour of the angels. Without demons on earth, who knew what God and his dipshit archangels would get up to. Images of the bodies of the dead demons lying in Ignis Estate’s town square flashed through Alex’s mind. Michael was a cruel bastard. Easily as cruel as any demon he’d crossed paths with.
“Fair point,” Lucifer said.
Alex hadn’t said anything, but he didn’t have to. One of the perks of having Lucifer inside his head was that it could read his thoughts. A perk for Lucifer, that was. For Alex, it felt like a total invasion of privacy. But it was a small sacrifice to pay for the benefits that came with it. Without Lucifer, Alex wouldn’t have been able to stop Satan. There would be war between demons and angels right this moment. The world would be in chaos.
The elevator reached the hundredth floor. The doors parted silently and they stepped into the lobby. The walls of red sandstone were dotted with silver scones holding black torches flaming dark red fire. At the far end of the lobby was the desk of dark wood. Behind it sat the blue-skinned demon receptionist. Alex couldn’t remember her name, but he did have history with her.
Seeing him approach, she smiled. Noticing Scarlett’s lips tightening, the smile disappeared and the receptionist continued to type away at the computer before her. The red doors parted to let them through.
The decor was different in here. The floor was of dark wood with parquet octagrams designed into it. The walls were red and had cornice mouldings of the same octagram. At the end was the staircase that led up to Satani’s quarters.
It was pitch black, the staircase. It reminded Alex of a black hole. Not a spec of light was visible as you approached the staircase. It was a darkness like no other. Not only was it devoid of light, it seemed devoid of warmth too. Alex felt a chill up his spine as he climbed the steps.
And then suddenly, he felt exhausted. Fuck, he needed a good night’s sleep, or a week’s worth. What he didn’t need was a meeting with the fucking devil.
They made it to the top of the stairs and Alex stepped into the light. It hadn’t changed much up here. To the left was an open library. There were rows of shelves stacked with large leathery books. The spines showed wear and tear around the edges. In the centre of the library was a small seating area lit by a lamp with the face of a smiling demon. It looked eerily like a Halloween lantern.
Past the library was a glass greenhouse, except there wasn’t much greenery. The plants were weird and wonderful. Most were a dark red, others were yellow, some were purple, some looked like mutated cactus plants. Pretty much all of them had sharp spikes and thorns protruding out of every leaf and branch.
In the centre a few meters away from the stairs were three antique settees. The frames were golden, the cushions were of leather. They were arranged around a dark wooden tea table on which rested three black cups and a golden teapot with a long-elongated spout.
“Sit,” Scarlett growled at him.
Alex frowned at the demon. She was kidding herself if she thought he was going to listen to her. He folded his arms and leaned against the railing. She glared at him with cold eyes, but Alex stared back evenly.
“I said sit!”
“Oh, sorry, I’m not deaf,” Alex told her. “I heard you the first time. I’m not listening to you, dumbass.”
“I will fucking kill you with my bare hands!” Scarlett said with teeth gritted.
Her body began to shake. She held her hands out by her side. The black nails extended, becoming more like claws. Alex had seen that happen before, but what followed was definitely new.
At around six and a half feet, Scarlett was already a tall demon. But she began to grow even taller. Alex rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. It was like someone was pressing the zoom button on her. Her body grew evenly in all areas, longer legs, longer arms. The only thing that didn’t grow were her clothes. The short skirt ripped at the waist and fell by her ankles. The buttons from the white shirt popped. One came flying at him. Alex moved his head to the left just in time. His eyes watched as the button flew past, missing him by a hairline.
Once he turned to look back at Scarlett, it seemed she’d completed her transformation. She was now almost ten feet in height and she stood naked, all her clothes having torn off her.
“That’s how it should be,” Alex muttered. “Completely naked. The Hulk makes no sense.”
“The fuck are you talking about?” Lucifer asked.
“The Hulk? When he grows in size, all his clothes tear off apart from his trousers?”
“Who's the Hulk? I don’t know of that demon.”
“He’s not a demon… When… when was the last time you inhabited a body?”
Alex felt Lucifer shrug. It was a strange feeling. It caused him to shudder just a little. If Lucifer didn’t know who the Hulk was, he probably hadn’t possessed a human any time recently. The dude had missed out on a lot of good movies.
Standing before him and looking as angry as ever, but now roughly thirty percent bigger, was Scarlett. She held her hands out by her sides, much like men in the olden days would as they faced off in a duel. Except, instead of having guns, Scarlett only had her claws. Alex didn’t doubt they were as lethal, if not more.
But he wasn’t afraid. Not in the slightest.
“Did…” he paused to squint at her. “Something's different. Have you grown?” he asked, mockingly.
Scarlett let out a roar. It was like none he had heard before. It was primal and actually a little terrifying and
definitely loud. Alex drew out his sword and held it before him, ready to battle the demon. Scarlett roared again, and this time, Alex noticed her teeth. Fuck. She had teeth like that alien in the identically named movie, Alien. They were long and sharp. Black too. And in rows of four. Scrap that, they were not like the alien’s teeth. Scarlett’s were much more terrifying. Alex took a step back, not keen on the idea of being bitten.
Scarlett leapt towards him, her claws out, she aimed for his stomach. Alex moved out of the way and at the same time, tried to slice her head off. She ducked underneath his strike and he turned to face her once more.
“That’ll be enough, thank you,” a voice said.
It was Satani.
The devil stood at the other end of the settee. Alex had no idea how she had gotten there, or even how long she had been standing there. Despite his general animosity towards the woman who stole his soul, Alex felt something for the devil. It wasn’t affection, but it wasn’t the anger that he felt towards her when she wasn’t present.
He knew why the feeling came about. The devil some sort of power. Scarlett could use compulsion; Satan grew into a fucking giant. Satani apparently, had the power to make everyone love and worship her. Alex had felt that way about her before, loving and wanting to worship.
He didn’t feel that now, and he imagined Lucifer was to thank for that. But still, staring at Satani, he found it difficult to be angry with her. It didn’t help that she was also absolutely gorgeous.
Satani wore a black satin dress that hugged her gorgeous figure. It came down to her knees, but was cut on the side to expose one leg up to her thighs. It had a plunging neckline that showed off her perfect breasts.
Beside him, Scarlett began to change once more. Within a couple of seconds, she was back to her normal size, but now completely naked as her clothes had torn off during the transformation. Unsure of what was going to happen next, Alex decided to keep his sword in hand.
The Devil's Apprentice: Book 2: Descent to Hell Page 6