by Nicky Graves
And as soon as Lucifer had transferred the last essence of Cassoon, he laughed—a terrifyingly dark laugh. I heard a voice inside my head. “Our deal is complete, little reaper.”
He then shifted.
I crumbled to the floor in agony. The pain was so intense I couldn’t even be relieved that Lucifer was gone. I also knew that, no matter the cost, I had to take back Cassoon. Lucifer could not keep him.
Wiltone knelt next to me. “Breathe through the pain, Riley. Everything will be okay. Treble and I will help you get Cassoon back.”
Treble swirled inside me in seething indignation.
“What happened?” the girl asked, sitting up on the bed. Her long blonde hair fell in waves on her shoulders. She blinked and then looked at me with clear blue eyes.
“He left you alive,” I said, stunned.
“The last thing I remember was Azrael pulling the black stone from me.”
Azrael? No . . . it couldn’t be . . .
She looked around the room. “Where am I? What happened to Azrael and Lucifer? Why am I in a pink room? We were just in the demon realm, right?”
Wiltone and I looked at each other before staring at the girl.
“Ranger?” I asked.
The girl nodded.
He glanced down at himself. “Why do I have boobs?”
“Um, well, Lucifer gave me back your soul. It seems he put you into a girl’s body. Sorry.”
Ranger let out a string of curses, which seemed at odds with the petite body he was now stuck inside.
“But at least you’re back,” Wiltone said.
He glared at her.
Even in Ranger’s new form, I couldn’t help but be relieved. Ranger was alive. And that meant I had one more ally to help fight Azrael. Maybe that thought was selfish of me since I had lost Cassoon and the poor girl died, but at the moment, I was too relieved to care.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood. “Dammit. I’m short.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. He used to call me little reaper, and yet he was a couple of inches shorter than I was.
“Don’t laugh. I’ll get you back for this.”
“It’s Lucifer’s fault. He chose this body. You should thank me for saving you,” I said.
He glared at me. “What have I missed?”
“Quite a bit, actually,” I said. “But let’s get back to the dead zone.”
I glanced around me but didn’t see Wiltone.
“Wiltone, where did you go?”
She peeked out of the walk-in closet. “I figured I’d pack a bag for Ranger. He’s going to need clothes. And thankfully, the girl had a bit of style.”
“Put down the dresses and skirts or I will end you,” Ranger threatened, his eyes glowing amber.
She grinned. “I’m a life stone. You couldn’t kill me even if you wanted to.” With a beaming smile, she returned to the closet.
Ranger groaned and fell back onto the bed. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this.”
“This is probably the least of your worries. Azrael has Basole the Black. Lucifer has Cassoon the Green. And I’ve got you.”
He glared at me. “I’m not much help in this weak female body.”
I rolled my eyes. “Females aren’t weak. It’s only small-minded men who think we are. Get your sorry ass up and come to the dead zone with me. We’ve got to come up with a plan. And besides, you’re a demon. That trumps both male and female in any body.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But now every time I have to dress or take a shower, I’ll be wondering if I’m a pedophile.”
I cringed. “Well, it’s your body, so no. Don’t get weird.”
He narrowed his eyes on me.
“Hey, I lost Cassoon. Life is sucking hard right now,” I said. “So, even if you think you’re a pedophile, so be it. Get your ass to the dead zone.”
Ranger paused and looked at me. “Hang on. You lost Cassoon and I’m back. Which means you made a deal with Lucifer.”
“I’m not allowed to tell anyone.”
“Riley—”
Wiltone wheeled in a pink suitcase with kittens frolicking on it. “I’m ready.”
Ranger grabbed the suitcase and said, “Meet me at my pod in an hour.”
And with that, he was gone.
Wiltone smiled. “This should be fun.”
Now, I just had to find Lawson and explain what happened, excluding my deal with Lucifer.
That was not going to be fun.
An hour later, we met up at Ranger’s pod. Lawson, who had a hard time believing Ranger was back, stared at the girl with suspicion. It didn’t help that Ranger had decided to wear his own hulking clothes, making him look like a child dressing up in her father’s outfits.
“Walk me through how this happened,” Lawson said.
While I couldn’t tell him about my deal with Lucifer, I knew Lawson wouldn’t accept any other explanations. Because nothing I could come up with would explain this miracle.
“I can’t explain it. And even if I did, you’d only get mad,” I said.
“The only reason I’d get mad is if you did something stupid,” he said. “And this has stupid written all over it.”
“Well, yes, it does. But we have Ranger back, so that’s a good thing.”
Lawson looked at Ranger. “How do we even know this is Ranger.”
“I know it’s Ranger. Trust me.”
Lawson eyed the girl. “How did you return?”
Ranger looked at me. “I know you can’t tell Lawson. But I can. Do you want me to?”
I gave a nod. “He should know.”
“Why can’t Riley tell me?” Lawson asked.
“It goes against the rules,” Ranger said. “Riley made a deal with the devil.”
“With Lucifer?” Lawson eyed me. “Is this true?”
“I’d like to say no, but . . .”
A muscle in Lawson’s jaw twitched.
“When did this happen?” Lawson asked. “And what the hell did you trade for Ranger?”
I temporarily ignored the questions. “At the time, it seemed like a reasonable idea. I did have concerns and had a clause to back out. But Lucifer got the jump on me, and I had no choice but to fulfill my side of the deal. We got Ranger back, so it wasn’t all bad.”
“What did you do, Riley? What was your side of the deal?”
“While you were making out with the vampire at Michaelo’s,” I said, becoming annoyed at his prodding, “I was figuring out a solution to my problem.”
If Lawson was glaring at me before, he was now sending poisonous daggers in my direction.
“You were making out with a vampire?” Ranger asked, shaking his head. “For someone who vows he hates them, you seem to suck face with them a lot.”
“I wasn’t making out with a vampire,” Lawson said, crossing his arms. “The passion stone did affect me for Juliette, like it did with you too. But this last time, I was actually trying to defend myself against the vampire.”
Ranger glanced at me with a raised brow.
“It didn’t look like there was much resisting going on,” I told Ranger.
Lawson glared at the pair of us. “We’re not discussing vampires. We’re discussing your deal with Lucifer.”
“I was getting to it,” I said. “So, while you were making out with the vampire, Lucifer dropped in uninvited.”
“And he said he would give you Ranger back in exchange for something. What was it?”
“Ranger was a bonus,” I said.
“He broke the claim with Vance,” Ranger said.
“What did you have to give Lucifer for this deal?” Lawson asked.
“The green stone,” Ranger answered for me.
Logan looked at me as though I had punched him.
“At the time, I didn’t think I needed it,” I said, trying to avoid his hard gaze. “That stone is all about jealousy and envy, which wouldn’t help me in my fight against Azrael.”<
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Both Ranger and Lawson stared hard at me. And, yes, I had known it was the wrong decision when I had made the deal. And, yes, I felt it to my core. And, yes, I was a bumbling idiot.
“I can’t believe you gave the stone away for me,” Ranger said.
Lawson continued to glower as if he wanted to throttle me. “I take it you must have found the green stone.”
I gave a nod. “Lucifer told me where it was.”
“If Lucifer knew where it was, why did he need you?”
“He said there were charms in place that kept him out.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Lawson asked.
“You were sucking face with the vampire.”
“Get it into your head. I have no interest in any vampire.”
“Either way, I couldn’t tell you about the deal. Lucifer said I would forfeit my soul.”
Lawson ran his hands through his hair. “And now Lucifer has the green stone and will probably give it to Azrael.”
“I can’t undo this,” I said. “All I can do now is move forward. And if I have the opportunity to get the green stone again, I will.”
“I think it’s too late for that,” Lawson said. “But we still have more stones we can locate.”
“Will it even matter?” Ranger asked. “It’s obvious Lucifer is working with Azrael, which means we’re not only fighting Death, but we’re fighting the devil too. That’s not a good combination.”
I deflated into Ranger’s plaid couch, wondering how many other things would go wrong.
“Are you suggesting we give up?” I asked.
Lawson shook his head. “No, we never give up.”
“We’ll have to think of something,” Ranger said. “And while we’re doing that, we can also find me a new body.”
“Finding you a new body is the least of our concerns,” Lawson said.
Ranger crossed his arms, which might have been threatening in his old bulked-up body, but as a girl who was shorter than me, he looked like a pouting child.
“We should find him a new body,” I said.
“Finding a body like his old one will not be easy,” Lawson said. “Most men that were in his condition don’t just drop dead. And if they do die, it’s most likely because of an accident or war. The body might be tattered to shreds.”
“We can still keep an eye out,” I said.
“I don’t need the same body build,” he said. “Just give me a dude in his twenties or thirties and I’ll get the body pumped up again.”
“I’ll put the reapers on the lookout,” Lawson said. “But until then, you’ll have to stay in that form. Which actually might not be so bad. You have the element of surprise on your side. Not many would suspect you’re a demon in that body.”
He was right. The girl looked innocent.
“So, now what?” I asked.
We stared at each other, wondering who would come up with a brilliant idea.
“I’ll speak with the elders,” Lawson said. “This is growing far beyond anything that they had even imagined. Riley, you’ll come with me.”
“Last time they tried to lock me up for a thousand years. I’m not going back to that disgusting, spider-infested cell.”
“They were scared and handled your situation badly. We need to try again.”
“I don’t trust them.”
“I understand. But we need everyone. If Lucifer and Azrael are teaming up, this won’t just hurt us. This spells out death on a global scale. We have no choice but to work with the elders.”
“Fine, I’ll go with you. But I know how to use Treble, and I won’t take it easy on them if they try anything.”
“You say that like you’re able to control him,” Ranger said.
“I wouldn’t say I can control him, but we’re able to work together better. He might be stubborn, but he’s there when I need him the most. I know if the elders try anything, he will have my back . . . or Wiltone will make him have my back.”
“All right, so Riley and I will go see the elders. Ranger, you try to find out what Lucifer is up to.”
“You know that won’t be easy,” Ranger said. “The demons want my head on a spike.”
“I don’t know if you’ll find anyone in the demon realm,” I said. “I went back to the dark lands trying to find Lucifer. That entire area is abandoned.”
“Do some research on that,” Lawson said to Ranger. “See what you can come up with. The more information we have on Lucifer and his motives, the easier it will be to try to stop him.”
Ranger gave a nod.
“Where did you find the green stone?” Lawson asked me.
“It was in a realm that some crazy shanlete had. He made it look like heaven, but it was all props that were falling apart. The entire world was held together by the green stone and machines. As soon as the green stone changed forms, the world began to fall apart.”
“Someone held a world together by a stone?” Lawson asked.
“I think so. The man couldn’t handle the stone once it transformed. And then his world started falling apart. I was barely able to save Cassoon.”
“How did you save it?” Ranger asked.
“I touched it and bonded with it,” I said.
“Then how did you unbond with it?” Lawson asked.
“Lucifer tore it from me.”
“Tore it from you?” Lawson asked, studying me. “That sounds painful.”
“More so than anything I’ve ever experienced. It still feels like a part of the green stone is inside me.”
“Can you sense his presence at all?” Ranger asked.
I shook my head. “No. It’s just the feeling of loss. As if there might be a ghost or phantom of the green stone. A whisper. But it’s nothing that could help us.”
Lawson gave a nod and held out his hand. “Let’s go see the elders.”
With reluctance to go to the Lost King realm, I held onto his hand as he shifted us.
We appeared in front of the massive stone building where the elders held court and imprisoned innocent female reapers. I was not thrilled to go back inside.
No one stopped Lawson or me as we crossed into the building. Not even the guards who stood sentinel at the gates.
We walked down the white-marbled hallway toward a large mahogany door at the very end.
Entering the deserted court room, we walked to the antechamber in the back. Lawson stood just outside the door until he heard someone say, “Come in.”
Lawson proceeded in first, and I followed him.
A desk sat prominently in the middle of a circular room. A squat, narrowed-eyed man perched in a chair behind the large worn desk. I recognized him from my sentencing. He was Supreme Elder Buzzarly, and I didn’t trust him one bit.
“You brought the female,” the elder said to Lawson as he eyed me.
I scowled at him.
“After all this time protecting the female from us, I’m surprised you brought her here.”
I glanced at Lawson. Protecting me?
“Well, sit down,” the elder said.
I glanced around the room for chairs but didn’t see any until the elder waved a hand. Two chairs formed from the wooden floor, twisting the floorboards as they took shape. I was not going to sit on that. It was probably a booby-trap. However, Lawson sat down and indicated I should as well. So, I sat down and crossed my arms, staring at my judge and jury.
“I can see you’re still upset with me,” the elder said to me. “I will not apologize. We thought we were doing the best for all of the reapers.”
Lawson leaned forward. “We’re not here to rehash the past. We’re here because Lucifer is working with Azrael.”
If the elder was surprised, he didn’t show it. Instead, he looked blandly at Lawson. “I see.”
“You have to know what this means,” Lawson said. “Nothing good can happen from Lucifer and Azrael working together. It could mean devastation for the entire universe.”
The elder gave a nod of under
standing, but he didn’t seem to have the same opinion.
“Azrael already has Basole the Black. Lucifer has Cassoon the Green. If Azrael assembles the remaining stones and joins forces with the demons, you know what that will mean.”
Again, the elder gave a nod. “Yes, I do.” His gaze shifted to me, and I could sense his hatred.
“An ancient prophecy has been brought to my attention,” Buzzarly finally said. “It is said when the heir to the throne of Death is born, it will cause chaos throughout the universe. The heir will create unbalance, and the worlds will perish.”
“Old prophecies mean nothing,” Lawson said. “Lucifer and Azrael are working together. We have no choice but to stop them.”
“Azrael and Lucifer are the ones who have kept the universe balanced so far. And they have done so since the beginning of time. But now the heir is here and already the unbalance has begun. Because of her, the end is coming. And when it does, none of us will survive.”
“What are you saying?”
“That the elders do not acknowledge this girl as the rightful heir.”
“How can you say that?” Lawson demanded. “She is the rightful heir. Denying it doesn’t change that fact.”
“But it does,” Buzzarly said. “And as an imposter, she is the enemy to all reapers.”
Before Lawson or I could argue, Buzzarly waved his hand. The chairs we were sitting on wrapped around us, lifting us off the floor. With another wave of his hand, we were propelled out of his office, down the hall, and past the guards.
We were dropped unceremoniously on the pathway. The wood retreated into the building, curling in on itself.
At least I wasn’t thrown back in prison.
I picked myself up off the ground and said, “I have a feeling you thought this talk was going to go a different way.”
The guards who were standing sentry at the door now blocked re-entry with their scythes.
Lawson cursed as he stood. “We’re screwed.”
14
“What do you mean Buzzarly sided with Lucifer?” Ranger demanded as he paced Lawson’s living room. He stopped mid-step and cocked his head to the side, making his long, silky hair sway on his shoulders. I tried not to laugh, but he had no idea how adorable he was. “Has he lost his mind? I understand wanting to side with a winning team, but this is ludicrous.”