by Eve Newton
“Fair enough,” he mutters.
That’s it. I flame out and onto the top wall of the arena just in time for the Daily Dealings, bringing Babe to my hand.
I look down at the crowds, cheering and booing the Demons lined up for me to punish.
I’m in the perfect mood to issue some serious pain.
I walk down the steps until I reach the ground and smack the feet out from under the first Demon in the queue with my bat.
“And how naughty have you been?” I ask him sweetly, leaning down to peer over him as I swing my bat to and fro.
The crowd goes wild, baying for blood and I give an evil laugh, perfectly in my element now and happy to be here.
9
Elijah
I thump my head against the wall. It doesn’t help, so I do it again.
“Fucking idiot,” I snarl at myself and throw a punch at the unforgiving stone.
I draw back and take in the destruction of my desk. I groan and drop my head into my hands. It has been a really long time since I’ve had a fuck and even longer since I had one that fucking good. I’ve been around about six hundred years and I’ve never encountered a female who could make me kneel for them. But I’d do it again and again if it gave me the chance to be with her once more. I knew that I’d let the beast out the second I saw her wings pop out. From the moment that I saw her in the form she lets us see, I was lost to her. She’d been an absolute vision. My She-Devil Queen in all her glory.
I’d been teasing her before to rile her up. Seeing her eyes flash with annoyance and have her bite back had brightened up my day, but as soon as I’d crossed the line, she’d let me know. But I’m starting to figure her out. She doesn’t want someone like me. She wants little followers who will do what she says, when she says it. She wants weak Demons that she can push around and make sure that she stays on top. I find her fascination with the Incubus a bit of a mystery as he doesn’t seem weak, but on reflection he is probably desirable because he is unavailable. It’s the chase for her. She would never end up with a male that beds other women. Never. She is territorial, I know that about her somehow.
I crouch down and stare at the drawers, stacked on top of one another, still mostly intact. I smile. I’ve never fucked a female that was completely indestructible before. The things I could do to her… she would not only survive but want me to do it again.
I pull the bottom drawer out and stare down into the emptiness. I wave my hand over it, disabling the cloaking spell and then pick up the wooden box that appears. I dump the drawer and stand up. I walk over to my bed in the far corner and open the box. I disable the secondary cloaking spell inside to reveal a large iron key. I pick it up and look at it.
“What do you open?” I murmur, flicking it over in my fingers.
I’d lied to Annabelle before. Luc had come to me days before he died and gave me this box. It had been empty at the time, but on the day he died, this key appeared. He’d told me to keep it from his daughter until exactly one year after his death. I don’t know why, and I don’t know why I’m remaining loyal to the previous Ruler of Hell when the current one is pissed off that I didn’t help her. She has obviously been led here; she knows I’m hiding something.
I replace the key and re-enabling the cloak, I slam the box shut. I open the drawer in the nightstand, which is the only other furniture in this sparse space that I live in, apart from the bed. I like it that way. Clutter irritates me.
“I’ll take that box,” a cool voice says from behind me.
I spin, not having heard anyone approaching. “Shax,” I growl. “What are you doing here?”
“Protecting my sister’s interests,” he says, giving me a level look.
He is leaning against the wall, all casual, twirling a knife with a jet-black handle and wicked looking blade that flashes even though there is limited light in here.
“Give me the box,” he says.
“What box?” I ask, even though I’m not fooling anyone. He clearly saw me with it.
He gives me a sneer and pushes off from the wall. He stalks over to me. He is shorter and slighter than me. Lean but muscled. He is immensely powerful; I can feel it radiating off him. Not as powerful as his twin, but then she has the power of Hell on her side. I’m not afraid of him, even though he could annihilate me without a second thought.
He stops about six feet away from me, his hands loosely in front of him, seemingly harmless, but I know better.
I grunt as a sudden pain radiates in my shoulder and outwards, all down my right arm. I grab the hilt of the knife he has just thrown at me, then hiss as it burns my hand. I let go of the hilt and start to sweat. The blade is coated with his blood. All of Hell’s minions are very aware of how his blood affects us. Right now, it is working its way through me, trying to burn me alive.
I return his sneer with one of my own. “I’m not so easy to kill. I was born from Hellfire, you little prick. You won’t find me as easy to take down as those recycled fuckers.”
“My mother was recycled,” he states blandly.
His tone is unnerving. It never seems to change, just this cool, level pitch that only comes from absolute confidence in oneself and immense control over one’s emotions.
I gotta say, I’m impressed.
“No offense to your mother,” I grit out.
“My intention is not to kill you, but to warn you,” Shax continues as if the last two exchanges hadn’t happened. “You know what my blood does to Demons. You may be harder to put down, Hound, but I’m willing to try by slicing your guts open and bleeding out into your stomach cavity. You will feel pain like you have never felt before and burn from the inside out as I stand idly by and watch.”
“I made a promise to Luc,” I grate as the visual he has just laid out does not seem like something I would enjoy all that much.
“Your loyalty should lie with your Queen,” he points out unnecessarily.
“I know that,” I snarl. “But what if I give her what she seeks, and it ends up hurting her?”
Understanding passes over his face briefly before his neutral look falls back into place. “You care for her,” he says. “Not just a quick fuck then?”
I clench my jaw. “How do you know about that?” My shoulder is starting to ache so badly, I can barely stand up, but I’m not giving this fucker the satisfaction of kneeling for him.
“I can smell ash and brimstone all over this place. She shifted and there is only one thing that rids her of the need to obliterate everything in her path. She used you.” He lets out a little laugh, but it’s hollow.
“I let her,” I inform him. The sweat is starting to drip down my forehead and into my eyes. “You don’t tell me anything I don’t already know.”
“So again, I state that you care for her.”
“Maybe,” I mutter mutinously. “Or maybe I used her as well. That tight pussy around my huge dick felt soo good.” I taunt him because it’s all I have. I’d hoped that it was more for her than just a fuck to make herself feel better. But I know even without Shax’s input that it wasn’t. It’s why I didn’t kiss her. If I’d kissed her, I would never have been able to let her go.
Shax takes in a deep breath and then releases it again. “Goading won’t get to me,” he says mildly. “Belle is free to fuck whomever she chooses, but if I get even one sniff of hurt headed her way, then I will be forced to step in, and believe me when I say, that there will be less talk and more action.”
He holds his hand out and mercifully, the knife zips into his hand, releasing me from its hold. I slap my hand to the wound. It’s not healing yet. I’m guessing it will but will take time. I may be a creature from the Hell-pits, but it seems some of the rules still apply to me. I’m still just a Demon that can be taken down.
Shax comes closer to me. “Now give me the box.”
“Can’t do that, man,” I tell him.
He gives me a narrow-eyed look and then a swift nod. “Then you leave me no choice but to tell Belle t
hat you are hiding something from her that she really wants, and she will see you in the arena for treason.” He turns to leave.
I close my eyes briefly. My clenched jaw goes even tighter. “Wait,” I call out and bend down to open the nightstand. I pull out the box.
Shax turns to me, hand held out. “Thought so,” he says. “You do care about what she thinks about you.”
I slap it into his hand with as much force as I can.
His hand doesn’t move, which just pisses me off.
He turns to leave again, but when he gets to the wall that separates my quarters from the kennels, he stops and says, “Don’t tell Annabelle about this and we won’t have a problem, am I clear?”
“About the box or that you took it from me?” I inquire, intrigued as to why he would want to keep it a secret from her.
“All of it,” he says and then in a flurry of black feathers, he is gone, leaving me alone to contemplate what the fuck all of this is about.
10
Annabelle
I whack the last Demon of the day over the head with my bat, his brains splattering all over the arena floor and I bite my lip. I hadn’t meant to hit him so hard. Roberta is gonna be so pissed at me. Again!
“Sorry,” I mutter as she lands next to me like a beached fucking whale. She is freaking enormous and so ugly it hurts my eyes to look at her.
She heaves a massive sigh and picks up the body. “Why him?” she complains as the crowd cheers and hoots at the murder of their peer. “He actually wasn’t that bad, in spite of his lazy tendencies on occasion.”
“Don’t send them to me then. You know it’s a risk.”
“Hm, indeed,” she mutters and vanishes, leaving me to do the same.
For the first time ever, I just want to shower off the Demon blood and climb into bed to sleep. Alone. What the fuck is up with that?
Usually I get all riled up and spend the night in an orgy after beating up and killing naughty Demons. As I strip off my blood covered clothes, I realize again that I need more than that now. I’m getting unsatisfied with my life and it’s worrying because I feel that I may never find anything that makes me truly happy.
I think briefly about Drescal but shake my head as I duck under the shower and turn on the jets. The water pounds down on me. I just stand there not moving for a while. I suddenly feel drained, exhausted.
I slowly wash my hair and body and then step out, wrapping a towel around me. I pad back into my bedroom and dry off the manual way. I feel like I need to keep my hands busy. I pull open my dresser and grab a super short, slinky black satin babydoll and slip it over my head. It barely encases my tits and just about covers my ass. I cheat with my hair and dry it with my power and then I climb into bed. I swipe my hand in front of me and say loudly, “Call Mom.”
I really should go down there to speak to her in person, but I can’t be bothered now that I’m all cozy in bed.
“Hey,” she says, showing up as a projection in mid-air. “Everything okay?”
I smile at her. I know she is dying to ask me if I found anything out about Dad, but she makes sure to ask about me first. “Yep. I didn’t find anything,” I say. “Sorry. I seemed to chase my tail half the day and hardly got anything accomplished. I’ll find something tomorrow, I promise you.”
“It’s okay, baby girl,” she says, giving me a bright smile, which is slightly forced. “I know you’ll find something.”
“Okay. How’re you feeling?”
“Tired,” she sighs.
“I’ll let you go then. I’m about to crash myself.”
“’Night,” she says with a yawn.
“’Night.” I shut down the projection and feel bad. She was clearly waiting up for me to call or visit. Damn this guilt. Where has it come from and why is it pestering me so much right now?
I flop back to the bed and close my eyes. I feel the pull of sleep drag me under quickly. I turn onto my side and curl up, relaxing as slumber takes me over.
I awake with a start. I blink, but there is nothing but blackness everywhere. Not even a single speck of light. I sit up and look around. I can’t feel my bed underneath me, only the cold, hard ground.
“Annabelle,” a really creepy, male voice whispers in my ear.
I jump a mile, putting my hand over my heart. “Fuck! What? Who are you?” I turn to look where the voice had come from but see nothing.
“Anna-belle,” the voice singsongs in my other ear. “I know what you fear, little girl.”
“Ha,” I let out a loud laugh. “I don’t fear anything. Not even you, creep.”
He chuckles slowly. “No, you don’t fear me, girl. You don’t even really fear yourself. I know who you fear.”
“Who are you?” I bark. I still can’t see, and it is pissing me off.
“Your night mare,” he says, his oily voice making my skin prickly.
“I don’t have nightmares,” I inform him.
“Night. Mare,” he clips out.
“And the difference is?” I ask, with a raised eyebrow that he can’t even see.
“I feed on your fear,” he hisses.
“Too bad for you then. I don’t have any fear. You’ll starve.”
“Uh-uh-uh,” he tuts at me. “You fear Lucifer. I know you do.”
My mouth goes dry. “What?” I choke out as my palms start to sweat. I rub them on the slinky nightgown. How does he know about Lucifer? “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You fear him coming back to take your power, his power, from you, don’t you, Annabelle.”
“You are delusional,” I snarl at him. “Fuck off out of my head, asshole.”
“Why so mean?” he asks, sounding hurt.
“Why so creepy?” I ask back.
“Humph,” he mutters, but he is further away from me now.
“What’s your name?” I ask suddenly.
“Why?” he asks suspiciously.
“So I know who to add to the docket for an ass kicking tomorrow.”
He laughs, making my skin crawl. “I’m above that, girlie.”
“Says who? I’m the Queen of the Demons. You’re a Demon, aren’t you?”
“Why, yes,” he says and then a soft glow appears in the darkness. I see the form of a hunched over male, changing shape to take the form of a wispy white horse. He rears up, kicking his front legs and then gallops towards me.
I put my arms up to stop him…
“Fuck!” I scream and wake up, sitting up with my arms in front of my face. I’m panting heavily and the stench of fear is all around me. “Fuck,” I whisper and drop my hands. “What the actual fuck?”
The horse is in the room with me and I climb out of bed, marching over to him. I don’t reach him though, as he whips up into a whirlwind and then slips across the floor and through the closed window that overlooks the sin bin.
I rush over and pressing myself against the glass, I see the Night Mare shimmer and change from a white mist back into a wispy human male form. He slopes off through the crowd, but I’m not letting him get away. I flame down into the middle of the milling Demons, creating a small circle around me as they step back.
I crane my neck to see if I can see the Night Mare, but he’s gone. Instead, all I can see are the creatures of the night. By day, everyone walks around, mostly, in their human disguises, but night is a whole different ball game. Especially in here. The cries of pain and pleasure tear through the air and the scent of blood is strong.
I shiver as the circle of Demons around me closes in a little bit, now that my flames have died down. I realize that I’m standing here in a sexy negligee with my assets on show.
“Sorry, boys,” I drawl. “Time to skedaddle.”
I try to flame out, but I can’t. I try again, but nothing happens.
“Shit,” I mutter as I try to dress myself in something more appropriate but that doesn’t work either. I can’t even bring my bat to my hand.
I’m powerless.
“Shit,
” I mutter as a creature from the pits of Hell, slides over to me, his tentacles waving around and weaving around my wrists, holding me in place. I try to pull away, but I have no strength. I’m trapped, powerless and weak, surrounded by a bunch of horny looking Demons who don’t give a flying crap that I’m still their Queen, regardless of my power outage.
I stop pulling against the tentacles and take a deep breath. There is little I can do to prevent what is about to happen. It enrages me, but even that doesn’t bring out the She-Devil.
A Demon the size of a behemoth and ugly as fuck with his huge tusks and clawed hands, stalks me as the tentacle beast slithers around me, wrapping his appendages around my ankles tightly.
The press of several Demons against me makes me shudder, but I lift my chin higher. I feel slimy hands on my arms and legs as some of them drop to their knees. My nightgown is torn from my body so that I stand there naked and…vulnerable. I won’t scream. Giving them fear will only make them stronger.
A tickle at my pussy makes me look down and I nearly retch as a Serpent Demon has reared up and his forked tongue is flicking out at me, tasting the natural dampness between my legs. There is definitely no arousal there.
“Open her legs,” the Serpent Demon hisses loudly.
My legs are forced apart by the tentacles wrapped around my ankles. I stumble, but there are disgusting, fetid and bloody hands there to hold me up.
The smell is overpowering. My stomach churns.
“Get on with it then,” I growl at them, wishing this to be over as quickly as possible. Although the amount of Demons lined up to take their turn with me is growing by the second. I won’t say ‘no’. I won’t give them that power over me. Hell will freeze over before I give up my last shred of control over this fucked-up situation.
Several long, gnarled fingers grab my pussy roughly and squeeze tightly.
“Make her wet,” the Serpent Demon instructs, waving his tail up in the air as his head ducks back down. He guides it towards my hole. I grit my teeth and close my eyes.