Ignoring the threat, Hades said, “The worst part is, you never even had to hurt her. You had the answer all along, you were just too wrapped up in your fear to see it.”
What the hell was he talking about? The answer all along? What answer—the way to be with Keeley without making her sick?
“Tell me!” he demanded.
The only response he received? A cold smile that proclaimed Never.
There was no time to try to beat the answer out of him. At last the demons realized they were no longer alone and stopped what they were doing to lick their lips hungrily. Murmurs of delight erupted.
“You ready to fight your way in?” Hades asked.
And waste more time? “I’m ready for you to flash me in.”
“Sorry, pup. Not going to happen. I’ll flash myself, but you...you are on your own from this point on.” Hades vanished in a blink.
Fine. Torin marched forward. Once, he’d lived for battles. Always he’d craved them. Today he would have one.
The demons rushed him, fangs bared. He swung his swords in a wide arc. One head, removed. Another head, removed. A clawed hand reached for him. Again he swung his sword. The hand thumped to the ground without the arm.
More and more demons raced toward him, swarming him. He remained in a constant state of motion, adrenaline surging through him. One pause and he would lose a limb of his own. The challenge energized him.
With a roar, Torin removed another head. Then another. An arm. A hand. Another head. The body parts piled up around him. Black blood spurted and splattered, burning him.
Eventually he worked his way past the double doors and entered the foyer. There were scratches all over him and a gouge in his thigh. Fire in his veins. Probably some kind of demon toxin. He didn’t care.
Two demons rounded the corner, headed straight for him. Footsteps echoed behind him. Closing in... He swung the swords backward, felt the resistance of flesh and bone, and knew he’d stabbed the ones behind him. Then he swung the swords forward and removed the heads of those two. As the heads rolled away, red eyes on him...off him...on him again...he strode forward, determined to get his woman.
* * *
CHAINED TO LUCIFER’S throne. Like we’re Princess Leia and Jabba the freaking Hutt. It was humiliating! But at least Keeley was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants rather than a bikini.
Small consolation, though, considering her back was covered in stupid wards.
The first one had weakened her so much Lucifer hadn’t even had to hold her down while he’d given her the others. Now she couldn’t even flash a few inches away from the danger zone.
Lucifer would have given her more wards, covering her from head to toe just like his father had done, and would have made good on his threat to force her to warm his bed—where she would have fought with every bit of strength she still possessed—if a commotion hadn’t erupted outside. He’d looked out the window, seen hundreds of his minions being slaughtered, and dragged her to the throne room to await his foe. Appearance was everything, after all.
At least to him. Torin was here! Her heart galloped with anticipation and excitement.
The only bummer? Hades was here, too.
Countless minions backed against the walls as their former king stalked to the edge of Lucifer’s royal dais. “You wanted my attention.” His calm sent a shudder through the minions. “You have it.”
The two might have liked each other...once. But evil could not be faithful to evil. And Lucifer just happened to be as evil as they came. He had an insatiable need for more. More power. More praise. More territory. More control. Collateral damage meant nothing to him. He stole. He lied. He killed.
He enjoyed it.
He wanted his power to extend beyond the underworld. That’s all this war was about. Once he’d taken down Hades, he assumed there would be no threat of competition. But he’d forgotten about the Most High. Not to mention William, who’d once ruled the other half of this realm, bound to it as tightly as Lucifer. Only, William had found a way to escape, just like Hades.
“What I want,” Lucifer said, “is for you to bow to me. Do it and you may walk away with the girl.”
A sardonic twist of Hades’s mouth, one she was very familiar with. Lucy was about to be spanked. “You assume I’m under the mistaken impression that you can win a war against me. You assume I would not have taken precautions before ever handing over the keys to my kingdom.”
Lucifer paled—because he knew it was true.
The doors burst open, and countless demon bodies and various severed parts tumbled inside. Torin climbed over the lifeless mountain, marching straight for Hades’s side, his head high.
Hades couldn’t mask his irritation.
Keeley swallowed a whimper of relief. Torin might be soaked in black goo, but he’d never looked more fierce. She made to stand, but Lucifer jerked at the chain wrapped around her neck, keeping her down.
“Give her to me,” Torin snarled. “Now.” He made to climb the stairs, his already-bloody swords at the ready, but Hades held out an arm, forcing him to remain in place.
She knew what Hades was thinking. That Lucifer would grab her and either cut her throat or flash away with her. Or both. He was right.
But then every minion supposedly serving under Lucifer’s rule turned on him, baring fangs and claws—in challenge. Several even dropped from the ceiling, putting their bodies between Keeley and her captor.
“I told you,” Hades said with a smugness that had to grate.