by Eve Newton
“Over my dead body!” she screeches and fires off a ball of magick that hits the window overlooking the sin bin, shattering it into a million pieces.
“Hey!” comes a plaintive cry from below.
I frown and cross over to the gaping hole, along with the other men. We peer down and see a male Demon waving at us with both arms.
“Devlin!” Drescal calls and waves back. “Come up!”
“I can’t get in!” he shouts back.
“Anna, let him in,” Drescal turns to her.
“In a minute,” I interrupt before she can reply. “Annabelle, if he can help, let him. You told us about this for a reason, let us help you. You trust him, do you not?”
“I don’t trust her,” she growls deeply.
“He will be fine,” I brush it off.
She fixes her livid eyes on mine, but then turns to Aleister with a fierce grimace. “Fine,” she grits out. “But if I find out that she has done anything except talk to you, you are both dead meat. Got it?”
He gives her a soft smile. “Got it.” He goes to her and she kisses him lightly.
“Hellloooo?” Devlin calls up.
Her face brightens slightly as she hears his voice. I narrow my eyes at her. She has a soft spot for this Demon, that much is obvious.
She snaps her fingers, a noise that resonates around my head along with the two sentences that Gregory said earlier, and I remain calm in the face of this new male that has come sniffing around.
She is your Queen; you owe her loyalty and respect above all else. If you want to be with her, then you will accept whatever she throws at you, and then some.
36
Annabelle
“Annie!” Devlin shouts in my face as he appears in my bedroom, after I let him in.
I grimace at him. “Don’t call me that,” I whine. “I hate it.”
“Ah, love, can’t change it now,” he chuckles, knowing I don’t like it, I’ve told him that many times. “Come here.”
I step into his open arms to a bit of bristling going on around me, except from Drescal. He knows the score.
I give Devlin a big squeeze. “Missed you, babe,” I say, pulling away and admiring him openly to his delight. He is tall but not Demon-tall. A shock of black hair that he spikes up, bright blue eyes that are full of mischief and dressed in black jeans, a tight black t-shirt, biker boots, black Ray Bans and a black leather jacket. He has a British accent that is more Sex Pistols, than Gregory’s Hugh Grant.
“Missed you more, love,” he says, bending to give me a lingering kiss on my lips. “So, what’s the what out there?”
I sigh. “Long story.”
He nods knowingly.
“When did you get back?”
“A bit ago.” He gives me a searching look. “There’s been rumblings, love.”
He pauses to bump fists with Drescal and then pulls the sunglasses down his nose to take in the rest of the males. His eyes land back on me, twinkling with amusement.
“Rumblings?” I ask with a frown, ignoring his silent question regarding the males.
“The dead are dancing, love. I wondered if perhaps it was you making a move, you know, to walk the Earth.”
I blink and take that in. Devlin is a necromancer. He can bring anything dead back to life. He is quite skilled as he has been doing this for a while now. Five hundred years, I think. He himself was killed and brought back to life by an immensely powerful necromancer who took an interest in Devlin’s wicked ways. That’s why he is still in his human body. He is the only one of the Demon classes that gets to keep his human body, along with his memories of his life. Only a great necromancer can make another necromancer as the power is just too great for any old fucker to wield. Lucifer was the original one, obviously. That means that I also have that power, although I have never used it. Devlin showing up here is fantastic timing though, as I figure this might be a way to keep Gregory around a bit longer, so that he doesn’t age and die and leave me. Okay, so yeah, he still has to die, but then he would be just as alive as Devlin when I bring him back. It’s only zombification if you don’t do it right. Unless that’s what you require, of course.
“Annie?” he prompts me as I get lost in my thoughts a little.
“Uhm, no plans to walk the Earth. Yet,” I say with a smile.
“Earth?” Elijah mutters and then his eyes shoot to mine. “Anna, we need to talk.”
“Okay,” I say and wait for him to start.
He gives Devlin a fierce glare, marching over to where we are standing near the bed. “Get out,” he growls.
“Hey!” I snap. “Don’t be so rude. Dev is welcome here.”
“Oh, yeah, Annie and I go way back.” He smirks at me.
Drescal lets out a choking laugh, which he turns into a cough as Elijah’s stormy gaze lands on him and he takes another step forward.
“Down, puppy,” I murmur to Elijah, putting my hand on his solid chest. “Like I said, we are old friends.”
“You trust him?” he rumbles, giving Devlin such a scathing once-over, I fear that Dev will take offense and do something stupid.
He does.
I shake my head at him as he gives Elijah a smug look that even I want to wipe off his face.
“She trusted me to bust her cherry, which I did on one amazing night, all those years ago. Such a lucky fucker that she chose me for that honor, eh?”
Elijah’s face goes even darker as the mental image of an innocent me being de-virginized by Devlin, is not to his liking.
Devlin chuckles and takes my hand. “Ever since then, she can’t get enough of me.”
“Fuck you,” I retort with a laugh.
“Don’t deny it. You know you’re thinking about it right now.”
Well, he’s got me there. “It’s kinda hard not to when you bring it up.”
“You are involved with this male?” Elijah asks stiffly.
“You could say that,” I admit. “I mean, when he’s here we are close.”
“We party hard,” Devlin says and once again fist bumps Drescal.
I roll my eyes at those two. Best of buds and they have shared me on more than one occasion.
“I’m up for a spit roast whenever you are, love,” he adds.
I avoid looking at any of my other men as I daren’t even. I can feel the menace without seeing it full on.
“I haven’t heard that you trust him,” Killian points out, approaching slowly and taking in every inch of Devlin, who is vastly shorter than my fearsome Horseman.
It gives me pause. Do I trust Dev? I don’t have a reason not to but that has never been a good enough reason in the past. Do I feel differently now that I’ve learned to open up a little, especially with something so important?
I’m saved from having to answer that for a moment when a hulking great big-assed Demon appears in my doorway.
“Forgive the intrusion, Your Majesty,” Roberta says, “But I am here now to give you an update.”
“On what?” I ask, puzzled.
Roberta’s eyes fix Devlin with a death stare. “Didn’t the little shit tell you? I told him to tell you as he said he was coming here.”
“Tell me what?” I ask, stepping closer to her.
“I was getting to it,” Devlin states. “We got sidetracked.”
She sighs. “We’ve put Hell into lockdown. After you shut down the rebellion here, anarchy reigned in the center. I guess everyone was still all riled up and what not. Anyway, Darius and his army are getting all the Demons back into their living quarters, where they will stay until they learn some fucking manners.”
“I see,” I say, trying not to laugh.
Roberta peers around the room with her beady eyes. “You all should be in your own living quarters,” she barks out. “But it’s too fucking late now. If Darius sees anyone roaming around outside, he has orders to annihilate on sight.”
“Orders from whom?” I ask dangerously. “Only I have the responsibility to make that order.”
“Me,” she says steadily and gives me a challenging glare. “If you want to overturn my decision, be my guest.”
Bitch.
I hear some of the males snicker at the sheer audacity of this female. But she knows I won’t kill her on the spot for insubordination for two reasons. She is right for a start and secondly, she is indispensable. Probably the only Demon in this place that is.
“Very well,” I say stiffly. “Darius will have this well in hand, I’m sure.” He is the most ferocious creature that I’ve come across in Hell since I’ve been here. He used to be my father’s Personal Guard, but he got demoted when I decided I didn’t want one, well, except for Mouse, of course.
I frown. “Where is Mouse?” I ask, looking around.
“She is with Darius, Your Majesty. She is enjoying herself immensely.” She actually lets out a genuine laugh briefly which startles all of us, even Killian. She sobers up quickly. “But seeing as none of you, except for the Queen can transport yourselves anywhere with the lockdown, you will now have to stay here or face annihilation. Good thing you have the room…good day, Your Majesty. I will keep you apprised of the situation.”
I just nod as she disappears, leaving me with five males and a hanging question.
“So, do you trust me, love?”
“Kind of have to now that we’re roomies,” I point out with a huff.
“True, it’s rude to exclude,” Devlin says, jumping onto the bed and making himself comfortable. “What’s the sitch?”
37
Annabelle
I look around and decide to take this someplace a little less comfortable. “Let’s go to the Dining Hall,” I say and head for the door. I fear that if we don’t go somewhere there is no bed, we may all end up in a tussle that I’m not sure I want Devlin to be a part of.
Yet.
Don’t get me wrong. He is hot. Seriously hot in that 70’s punk rock style which does it for me in a big way. I always thought that if I had to live on Earth, it would’ve been back then.
Plus, he makes fun out of a fucking death march. I always laugh around him. We have an amazing time in and out of the sack, but that is what makes it great.
It’s casual.
No strings, just a really good time, usually, okay always, followed by fantastic sex. Sometimes with Drescal which makes it even better. I get the sensual and fun out of it.
Uhm, why aren’t I jumping at the chance to include him again? I’ve kind of lost where I was going with this.
“Anna,” Drescal murmurs in my ear. “I know what you’re thinking.”
I give him a fierce glare and march away from him down the stairs. How can he, when I don’t even know?
Where was I? Oh, yes. The other males.
They are all here because this isn’t casual. There are strings attached and I want it that way. I guess part of my hesitation in grabbing Devlin by the cock and leading him straight to my bed is that he will leave me again in the morning…and I’m done with that. I don’t want casual anymore. I want my sex to have meaning and feelings behind it.
Ugh. When did I become such a woman about these things?
When you got over yourself and grew the fuck up, bitch.
“You need to shut the fuck up, right now,” I growl at myself. My brain shouldn’t be left unoccupied, it wanders towards dangerous self-reflection.
“Huh?” Devlin asks, having caught up with me halfway down the stairs. “I didn’t say anything.”
I let out a Devilish growl, yes, Devilish with a capital D, so he knows to leave me alone for a minute.
He does.
Shows that he knows me.
Dammit.
I’m making excuses now. I haven’t even given him the opportunity to stay, automatically assuming he will leave.
“So,” I bark out as we all arrive in the huge, foreboding Dining Hall. I sit down at the head of the table and the males find themselves a chair to pull up. “Someone get Gregory for me? He should be a part of this too.”
No takers.
“That wasn’t a request,” I point out and Aleister jumps up to go and find him.
Killian sneers at Elijah. “Not you, puppy?”
“Fuck off,” he snarls back, but then thankfully Gregory and Aleister return and sit down.
“I’ll start at the beginning again,” I say and fill everyone in again on what happened to Dad. Once everyone is up to speed and also having had the story recounted for some, I sit back. I know that I have to come clean about the rest of it. I just need an opener.
“I mentioned Earth and you went all growl-y,” Devlin says, pointing at Elijah. “What’s up with that?”
Elijah looks at me earnestly.
“Look, he knows as much as you do now, so we’re going all in,” I say, leaning over taking his hand briefly before I sit back again.
“I think Luc is on Earth,” Elijah states. “I also think there must be another key. He couldn’t have locked himself away and then come to me to give me the key. It makes no sense, but I do think that he gave it to me for safe keeping for you when the time came for you to open whatever it has locked.”
“Okay, why Earth, though?” I ask.
“You said Musmortus hasn’t been able to track your father down. She should have if he’d been here. I don’t think he is here. Now your little friend over here says that the dead are rumbling. They know something is coming. It is you, Anna, you have to go to Earth to bring your father home.”
“Once I find whatever the key opens, though. Who knows what it is? It could be any fucking thing.” I feel myself getting angry and count to three, plastering a smile on my face.
I catch Gregory’s eye and he gives me an encouraging nod.
It relaxes me to the point where I can stop digging my nails into the wooden table.
“You said that Leviathan can help with that,” Aleister says, “But how? She has been imprisoned all this time.”
I feel my cheeks go slightly warm. “Err, yeah, about that…”
“What aren’t you telling us?” Drescal asks. He is sitting on my right-hand side, so he laces our fingers together. “You’ve trusted us so far, why not all the way.”
“This next part is…I cannot stress to you enough how sensitive this information is. I mean the bit about my Dad is bad, but this is…I don’t know if I can tell you.” I lock eyes with Gregory, a few chairs down.
“All in,” he repeats my words back to me.
I grimace at him. But I know he’s right. I can’t give them half a story. They need to know that when we find Dad, we are more than likely going to find Great-Grandad too.
“Whatever it is, you can trust us,” Aleister says.
“Okay, here goes. My father wasn’t the only one locked in a painting for his power. The original Lucifer is also somewhere out there and I’m fairly sure he is waiting for me to release him and take his power back.”
Silence.
Not even a breath, not even a blink from any of them.
“Fucking hell,” Devlin finally states.
“Yeah,” I agree, thankful that the ice has been broken.
“You are saying that Lucifer is alive?” Killian clips out.
“Alive is the wrong word. He is trapped in a painting. Or a part of his essence is. He needed to give up almost all of it to get trapped in the painting in the first place.”
“How?” he barks out.
“If you need the whole story…”
“I do!”
I give him a fierce glare, which does nothing to quell the anger in his eyes. But I don’t get the impression that he is angry with me.
Interesting.
“I’m not too clear, only what my parents told me. Apparently, my great-grandmother was a bit of a psycho. Suppose that’s a given though being married to him…anyway…when she started failing at life after giving him a disappointing son, she cooked up this plan to let their son take his power, but keep him on simmer until a new Demon Bound, that was stronger
than her, could be found so that Lucifer could then swoop in and take….”
“What’s a Demon Bound?” Devlin pipes up.
“Good question,” Drescal adds, giving my hand a squeeze.
“Basically the Devil needs to find a female that is strong enough to withstand mating with him in his completely natural form and also, for her to be able to hold onto the evil seed that is needed to create the new heir of Hell. I have no idea how the reverse will work for me,” I give a nervous laugh, “seeing as I have no seed with which to impregnate someone…”
I get revolted looks back at that statement.
“So, Axelle was Luc’s Demon Bound, and she lived stronger than ever,” Killian says to move this story along and way from evil sperm.
“Yep. Strongest to have ever lived. Literally, but on a short list of three. Grandmother died in childbirth and Great-grandmother, who devolved from Lucifer’s beautiful wife into the ancient crone, wanted to use my mother to get him out of the painting so that he could impregnate her, and they could bear a child. This one supposedly “worthy” of the honor. I killed her.”
“Wh-when?” Gregory asks askance.
“A few minutes after I was born,” I say, quite proud of this fact.
“How?” Devlin asks incredulously.
“My wings,” I say smugly.
“Huh.”
“The point is Lucifer is out there waiting for me to set him free. I have ‘his’ power, so I, along with my mother, are the only two who can, that I know for sure. Doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone else out there who can and will release him.”
“Like Leviathan,” Aleister says quietly.
“Got it in one.”
“It makes sense that he is on Earth somewhere then. She is tied to Hell; she cannot walk the Earth. Even in death, she will never leave here. If she could’ve found him, she would’ve released him centuries ago.”
I take that pertinent piece of information in and then give him a moue of distaste. “Really? She will haunt this place if I kill her?”
He nods. “It is why she wanted you to kill her when you cornered her; she can never really be gone. She would be free as a specter rather than imprisoned for eternity.”