“Actually,” Idess said quietly, “I think I can do something about that.”
You can help me? Please. This curse… it is agony you can’t comprehend. I did nothing to deserve it.
“You hired your brother to kill his own brothers,” she said to him. “Your brothers.”
“Ah… Idess?” Lore’s voice came from behind her, but she held up her hand to stop both him and Eidolon.
“Did you hear me, Roag? You wanted your own brothers dead.”
Because they burned me alive! He tore off his cloak, and she nearly gasped at the shriveled, twisted wreck that was his body. And now I hurt. I starve. I thirst. Nothing relieves me. Please, help me. His lips peeled back in the most evil grin she’d ever seen. Slaughter my brothers and their families so their blood runs like a river through the streets. Gut them. Rend their limbs from their bodies and their eyes from their sockets!
His laughter pierced her like a lance carved of ice. “You want help? Really?” She grabbed Roag by the arm. Though he wasn’t solid to her, his energy clung to her like static electricity. “I can put you out of your misery. Absolutely. I don’t have the power to destroy souls, but I know someone who does.”
She dragged him out of the hospital and into the parking lot. Dimly, she heard Lore and Eidolon calling her name, but she kept going. Her brother had torn this family apart, and she couldn’t do anything about that, but she certainly could do something about this.
* * *
Inhaling deeply, Idess flashed to the realm where her father resided, where only his children and his griminions were allowed. She appeared on the steps of an ancient Greek temple, a great ebony building flanked by black pillars and set amongst other black structures. Once, she’d run her hand over a wall, only to have it come away covered with a sootlike substance. Where her hand had been, dirty white marble peeked through the oily grit.
The massive buildings and pillars and statues had once been pristine white. Now they groaned under the weight of taint and corruption. The entire realm was a giant replica of Athens, but in the dark. Athens, in her nightmares.
Still maintaining a grip on Roag, whose struggles were mere whispers against her skin, she climbed the steps and entered through the double doors big enough to allow King Kong passage. Inside, polished ebony floors stretched endlessly. Grim, dark statues of demons and humans in pain lined the walls, and in the center of the great room, a fountain ran red into a dark pool at the base.
She dragged Roag down a mazelike corridor, making dozens of lefts and rights, and finally, two of her brothers, one of whom she vaguely recognized, opened the huge iron door at the end.
Idess was nearly blinded by the bright lights blasting through the opening. The entire realm was set in a back-drop of gloom, but Azagoth liked his color, and, she noted with a wince, he apparently liked his Beatles music.
He turned to her from where he was standing before an archway, where griminions paraded by, leading the souls of dead demons. The moment he turned, the griminions halted in their tracks, unwilling to move forward to their final destination, Sheoul-gra, until their boss had seen and approved every soul brought before him.
Azagoth was the epitome of male beauty. Appearing to be in his early thirties, he was tall, with black hair, chiseled cheekbones, and a strong, square jaw. He wore a button-down emerald shirt that matched his eyes, and black, slim-fitting pants that emphasized long legs. In his hand, he had a cup of Starbucks coffee.
“Daughter,” he said, his smile one that would make any human woman swoon but that only looked cold to Idess. “It’s been centuries.” He cast a glance at Roag, who, once inside the room, had become solid. “And you brought a guest.”
“Where am I?” Roag shouted. “What have you done, you stupid cunt?”
Idess released Roag and wondered how many showers she’d have to take before her skin stopped crawling from the feel of his touch. He careened around the room, but when it became clear that there was no way out, he rushed her. He swiped at her, but his clawlike hand passed harmlessly through her body.
“As you can see, you have no power here.” Azagoth casually crossed his arms over his chest. “Or anywhere.”
Roag’s eyes bulged as he stared at his hand. “Am I… dead?”
“Unfortunately not,” Idess said. “Why am I here?” The demon rounded on Azagoth. “Who are you?”
Oh, this promised to be good.
Her father had a flair for the dramatic, and he allowed a few moments of tense silence to tick by before saying, “I’m the being you know as the Grim Reaper.”
Roag made a strangled noise. “Wh-what do you want with me?”
“I don’t know. Daughter?” Azagoth moved to his desk, a modern oak monstrosity next to a fireplace that was lit, but didn’t give off heat. His chamber was freezing. He took a seat, kicked his feet up on his desk, and waited for her to say something.
“Father,” she said, prepping herself for the formal speech he preferred, “I humbly request that you put an end to this vile creature. I would have done so myself on the earthly realm, but he is cursed to formlessness, and has no body to kill.”
Azagoth put down his coffee. “Truly? Interesting curse.”
“Interesting?” Roag screeched. “It is suffering of the cruelest kind!”
“Please,” Idess scoffed. “Hearing you whine about cruelty, given what you’ve done in your life, makes me sick.”
Roag sneered at her. “So you brought me here to kill me. Do you think that scares me? Do you think I’m pissing my pants? Death is welcome.”
No doubt death was much preferable to the fate he was suffering. After death, he’d be taken to Sheoul-gra, where he’d hang out with other demons until he was reborn.
“Father, I don’t want him dead.” She stepped forward, shoving Roag aside. “I want him destroyed.”
Roag’s gasp echoed through the room, and in the tunnel, even the griminions shuddered. “You can’t do that,” he rasped. “You have no right!”
Azagoth steepled his fingers over his chest and pinned her to the wall with his cold gaze. “What you ask is rarely done. In all my time, I have destroyed only a handful of souls, and not without consequence. So why, dear daughter, should I risk Satan’s wrath for this one demon?”
She glanced at Roag, who stood near the tunnel archway. His eyes gleamed hellfire crimson, and malevolence emanated so strongly from him that the demon soul nearest him kept trying to inch away, only to be held steady by his griminion escort.
“He is evil such as I’ve never felt, Father. He has cavorted with fallen angels, including my brother, your son, Rami, also known as Rariel. Given his history and strength of evil, I fear that Roag’s time in Sheoul-gra will be short, and that he’s strong enough to be reborn with his memories intact. He will never stop seeking revenge, and a soul like that will only serve Satan and bring him more power.”
Shadows flitted in Azagoth’s eyes, and dread flitted in her stomach. “Speaking of Rami… I no longer feel his life force.”
She nodded. “I destroyed him, Father.”
The shadows danced faster, grew darker. “Where did you kill him?”
“Sheoul. The Forbidden Abyssal.”
“Your service to humanity has cost you.” Slowly, Azagoth came to his feet and went to Roag. The shriveled demon trembled as her father’s hand clamped down on the demon’s throat.
Roag’s eyes squeezed closed. “Please… no…”
“I know who you are,” Azagoth whispered. “I saw every soul you tortured and killed when they passed through my archway. I felt their suffering. My daughter is right about you, and even had she not asked me to end your existence permanently, I would have done so. You see, God demands equal and opposite. Tit for tat. And evil as great as yours has no pure, good match in the human world. You unbalance the universe. So you shall disappear.”
With that, he squeezed. Roag’s eyes flew open, and his silent scream rang like a shrill whistle through Idess’s mind as his body began a violent tremor. Fire flew from her father’s fingertips and spread down Roag’s already burned body until only ash in the form of a demon remained.
And then there was nothing. No ash, no soul, no evil.
For some reason, the Blue Oyster Cult song “Don’t Fear The Reaper” rang through her head as he turned to her. “Was there anything else?”
The pleasant way he’d asked that made her want to reply with, “A side of fries, please.” Instead, she bowed. “Thank you, Father, but no.”
“Idess.” His voice was soft, but urgent. “It’s coming for you. The light. And whatever you do, do not run.”
* * *
Lore strode into Deth’s chamber, mind focused on one single goal. He would take back Rade’s remains. Eidolon had sworn not to tell Shade and Runa anything until Lore got back to UG, though Lore wasn’t sure how much easier the news would be with a body to go along with it.
Either way, two parents were going to be destroyed.
He swore when he saw his sister standing before their boss. Dammit. He had no doubt that he’d have to bargain with Deth for Rade’s remains, and he also didn’t doubt that Sin would only complicate matters.
“For your sake, I hope you have completed your task.” Deth’s right hand was hanging over the side of his chair, and as Lore approached, the reason why became clear.
Deth had the new Seminus, Tavin, chained to the base of the throne and was petting him. The incubus was crouching, na**d and bruised, head hung so his chin-length hair concealed his face. But when he glanced up, his eyes glowed gold with hatred and defiance—and, as he locked his gaze on Sin, lust as well. Deth, that sonofabitch, had denied the male females, something that would drive him insane, and, if let go too long, would result in his death.
Lore wanted to rip Deth’s heart out and feed it to the Ramreels.
“I didn’t kill Kynan,” Lore said. “I killed the contract holder. Rariel is a stain. The contract is void.”
For a moment, Lore thought Deth was going to stroke out. His piggy eyes popped wide and his skin flushed, and it was funny as hell. “I don’t believe you. This is a trick.”
Lore shrugged. “Check the contract.”
Deth gestured at one of the Ramreels, who manipulated a lever in the stone wall. With a grind of rock, a panel peeled back, revealing another panel containing glowing stones set into the wall. The Ramreel palmed one of the stones and brought it to Deth.
Lore’s master held the glowing green orb in one hand and passed his other hand over it. The thing morphed into a parchment, which Deth stared at for only a moment before it crumbled in his hands and fell like sand to the floor.
“Told you,” Lore said.
“We’re free, then?” Sin bounced on her toes, unable to contain her excitement.
Deth snarled. “This is an outrage! You tricked me.”
“I got around the terms of the contract, you son of a bitch. Now release us.”
Deth bounded from his throne and paced frantically, his teeth clicking in a grotesque display of annoyance, and Lore knew he was trying to find some loophole that would allow him to keep them in service.
“Now,” Lore gritted out.
Deth hissed. “I have not received payment from Rariel. I will not lose my two best assassins until I have been paid in full.”
“Not my problem,” Lore said.
Curses fell from Deth’s lips. He kept pacing, stalling.
“Deth, now!”
Deth whirled around, his armor clanking. “The boy,” he said. “The child Rariel brought to me. He is related to you, no?”
The blood in Lore’s veins congealed even as his heartbeat kicked into overdrive. It sounded as if Rade was still alive.
Stay cool. Stay calm. “No.”
Deth’s eyes narrowed. He snapped his fingers, and the nearest Ramreel disappeared through a side exit and returned with Rade, his body lying limp and motionless in the demon’s arms.
“What have you done to him?” So much for calm.
Deth smiled. “I don’t know how to care for an infant. There has been no reason to keep him alive. He was meant to be a meal, not a pet, after all.”
Sin moved toward Rade, whose sunken chest rose almost imperceptibly.
“As you can see, he hasn’t perished yet. But if you want him, you will agree to my new terms.”
Sin sucked air between clenched teeth. “You fuck,” she ground out.
Lore forced his own jaws to unclench. “What do you want?”
“I want one of you to remain with me. Forever.”
Outrage nearly knocked Lore off his feet. “Never.”
“Then the child will be sent to the kitchens.” Deth gestured to the Ramreel.
“No! Just… wait.” By now, Lore’s Incredible Hulk should have been knocking at the door, and though he was so furious his voice shook, he didn’t get the jacked-up sense that he was going to explode out of his skin and into a monster. Idess’s touch seemed to have soothed the savage beast. Idess, who had lured him out of his life of loneliness and death, and replaced it with warmth and light.
And Deth had just yanked all of that out from under him. Lore couldn’t bond with her now. Hell, he didn’t think they could be together at all. How was he supposed to come home to her at night and tell her about his day?
Hey, angel, I got to strangle someone today. Took him a while to die, because he had a fat neck and I couldn’t use my death gift because you drained me. And tomorrow, Deth wants me to break some female’s legs because she cheated on her mate. I think I’ll turn that job down and take the two days of torture instead.