Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A fter Rook left me a quivering mess bent over the dresser in his bedroom, he left to go on what he referred to as a reconnaissance mission involving buying blood-infused cocktails for a wurdulac demon by the name of Admir.
As he had explained it to me, Admir had been known to hang around the inner circles of the more foraging sorts of Hell’s underbelly. He was holding out hope that if anybody could confirm Nico’s continued existence, this particular bloodthirsty acquaintance of his would know who.
Before he left, he twirled his finger in the air, and a smear of charcoal and clay stripes appeared on his face reminiscent of a type of camouflage. However, I was certain that there wasn’t ever a place that Rook would blend into, no matter how he altered his looks. His penchant for grand entrances was too profound.
He had insisted on leaving here like some sort of dark and twisted version of a special forces soldier on a secret ops mission. His excuse was that he didn’t want to run into anybody who had beef with him. Honestly? We both knew he just wanted to play dress-up.
After he went on his deployment to meet up with the dregs of Hell, I took the opportunity to do some research of my own while spread out on a cushioned wicker sofa on my closed-in porch, my laptop settled on top of my thighs.
I dug into the finer details of the most recent activities of Lucifer’s lackeys. Pulling up SIN’s files on Torture, Punishment she knows you hold a higher power over her. Maybe she could serve at your feet someday.
The Devil was always in my head, trying to show me ways to increase my power over others, but something about controlling Z like that didn’t sit right. I wanted to brush it off as nothing but an intrusive thought.
I spent the next twenty minutes trying to bury myself in TPS reports, evaluating ratios of evil and violence to good deeds.
Just as I pulled up the TPS report for the sector that contained the city of Brixton, Z waltzed out onto the porch, holding an extra-large coffee cup in her hand.
My gaze shifted from the screen in front of me to look at Zorah. Her attire was more casual than normal. She had on a pair of navy sweats with white branding on one leg and a white oversized tank top knotted at the bottom hem in the front to fit more snugly, and her choppy bobbed hair was held back in a ponytail with several escaped strands hanging down by her face.
With espresso eyes harboring a slight sense of annoyance, she carried my coffee over to me.
“I hope you appreciate that I debased myself by flirting with a male human so that he could shed his virgin tears into your coffee,” she stated while almost sounding nearly as cranky as Sylas.
I puckered a kiss in her direction with a sweet smile at her before taking a sip of the coffee. Sucking the flavor off my tongue, I furrowed my brows slightly. “He may have been a virgin, but he sure as hell has had a blowie before.”
Z huffed out a sigh. “How do you think I got him to cry?” she asked wearily. “After an entire bottle of mouthwash, I can still taste dick in every crevice of my mouth.”
A slow smirk spread across my face, and I tried to suppress an amused giggle but failed. “Your sacrifice is noted and appreciated.”
As Z took a seat on the cushion next to me, I shifted my legs to crisscross them underneath my computer.
“So, TPS reports, huh?” She leaned over and took a look at my screen curiously.
Nodding, I scrolled down the page I currently had pulled up.
“Yeah, this is Brixton’s sector. So far, everything looks normal,” I noted.
There was a small hum from Zorah that had me glancing over at her questioningly.
“What?” My eyes scanned over each twitch of her facial features.
She reached over and pointed at data in a small chart nestled into the middle of the page. “Those numbers are too high,” she stated with a twinge of concern.
Looking back at the chart, I shook my head. “No, they’re on par with the last several months, Z.”
“Lee-Lee,” her voice dropped to a more somber tone. “They would be if we weren’t down the Malechai triplets. The three of them have been summoned down to the First Circle. Limbo is nearly maxed out and approaching overcapacity, so they were reassigned there to enact a sense of order.”
I let that sink in for a moment. If there was a personnel shift, that meant there was a significant increase in wicked events. The gears in my brain continued to churn while I sipped on my virgin tear latte.
Slowly, I wondered if the same oversight was made in other sectors. With hundreds of them, such a subtle difference would add up quickly, meaning the scales truly were tipping. That led to the biggest question of all: who was responsible for it, how, and why?
“My dearest Kinley.” The deep register of the ruler of Hell himself came from behind the sofa.
My name rolled off his tongue like a lust-filled moan. “Lucifer.” I addressed him as I shoved my laptop to the side and stood to turn and face him.
Zorah immediately scrambled onto the ground, debasing herself onto her knees and pressing her forehead to the ground.
His presence was a silhouette with the backdrop of the sunshine pouring onto my porch, providing a blinding background to his otherwise shadowy presence here earthside. He stepped closer, paused and looked down at Zorah.
The words that came out of his mouth next were firm but not menacing. “Be gone, pet. I have important matters to discuss with my Second In Command.”
There was no hesitation from my demon best friend, just a quick nod of her head. She was there, bowed down before him one moment and gone the next.
Now, it was just me and the ruler of the land of hellfire and brimstone.
“It must be important if you have traveled from the depths of your kingdom,” I observed casually.
He approached me until his towering darkness loomed over me. The shadows themselves swirled like a black mist around his hand as he reached out and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingertips. The contact was a tingling warmth that flitted over my skin.
“I came because I sensed your discovery. Tell me, what is plaguing my followers?” His tone left no room for anything but a straightforward response from me. Alerting him that I didn’t have any answers was not going to be acceptable.
Swallowing hard past my heartbeat lodged in my throat, I drew my shoulders back. “The problem lies in the presence of too much evil influence or perhaps the lack of holy grace. Either way, the scale has shifted slightly here, and I have yet to determine how far this trend stretches to the other sectors.”
His head tilted at me like he took everything I said under careful consideration.
“Hm,” was all he said in response to my explanation while the heated pads of his fingers traced over the line of my jaw and down the front of my throat. There, he swiped an idle pattern over where my voice box rested in the column of my neck.
After enough time had passed where I was tempted to speak just to break the silence, my lips parted, but no sound came forth. I tried once more. My mouth moved with my tongue, trying to enunciate the words and force them out, but I heard nothing at all. There was only the stark silence between Lucifer and I on the porch.
My oceanic blue eyes widened at him in confusion and panic.
The rich sound of his chuckle echoed around me. “Ah, yes. Go on, give me that look, my valiant fallen soldier. I want to be certain that you do not interrupt what I am about to bestow upon you.”
Both my brows furrowed together with a sense of hurt flashing across my eyes that the one I pledged my loyalty to was using his malevolence over me.
His hand came up under my jaw, cradling it in his palm. If the situation had been any different, one may have even called it an affectionate touch.
“Now, let me impress upon you what my expectations are. The balance between the virtuous and the sinful is not the only change I see occurring. I see it in you as well, Kinley. So, let me take a moment to remind you of your duty and pledge to my cause.”
I stood there, as still as a statue, while his grasp on my jaw tightened ever so slightly.
He leaned forward, and I could smell the abrasive scent of sulfur beneath the warmth radiating off him. Lucifer’s mouth lowered to my ear as if he were going to whisper sweet nothings to a lover.
“I have always offered you freedom to play with your toys. As of recent, I even have overlooked certain indiscretions of which toys you fuck. But, make no mistake, that does not mean I will condone your inability to serve me in conducting my business on the mortal plane.”
He paused to take a deep inhale while brushing the side of his face against my own.
Continuing, he spoke in a low and dangerous tone. “When I return, and I will return soon, I expect a great deal from you. Not only do I want answers, but I want a plan and strategy in place to rectify the balance of light and dark. I have great expectations for your future, Kinley. Find a way to even the scales and overcome this situation in a way that pleases me. Am I understood?”
Slowly, I nodded at him, confirming my understanding of what needed to be done.
His face drew back, as did his hand.
“Good girl. Now, just one more thing for me.” The shadows shrouded his face in this form, but I could hear the smirk in his words. “Have faith that I know what is best for you, and believe that I will never abandon you, even when you want to abandon yourself. Can you do that for me?”
My body went rigid with tension. When I went to verbalize my response, I was once more reminded of my muted state.
Lucifer flicked his fingers in my direction like he would propel a discarded cigarette at me. An invisible force made impact with my chest hard enough that I gasped out. My strained cough finally broke through the supernatural gag that he had imparted on me.
“What were you saying, Kinley?” He prompted me to give my response again.
Simultaneously speaking while nodding, I said, “You have my faith and my unwavering loyalty.”
“That is exactly what I want to hear. Go on, then. This will be an uphill battle. Do not disappoint me,” he warned.
Before I could respond any further, the sun filtered through his presence until the shadows around him faded, and I was left alone with just my orders on my porch.
Remember, only my love will ever be your salvation.
To have the Devil’s love was something to be embraced and also to be feared.