Chapter 1 #2
“A human summoned me, and I didn’t know how to get home. So I summoned you.”
Halphas stroked a hand over her hair. “Have I really never taught you that?”
“No, because I don’t come here. I—”
“Right,” he said. “I know.”
He did know. In fact, nobody knew better than Halphas just how bad a succubus she was. He had shown her how to access the dream network, giving her a way to feed herself that wasn’t completely unpalatable. And because she didn’t visit Earth to feed, she’d never had to learn how to get back.
“You did the right thing. You’re safe now, and I’ll take you home. We just have to—oh fuck,” he said. Nadja tensed in alarm.
“What?” she asked, panicked.
“Hold on tight,” he said through gritted teeth, holding her with both arms as the closet dropped away.
Unlike the last time, she landed on her feet, though she knew that this was only because Halphas was supporting her.
“Stonebreaker!” a deep voice boomed from behind her. “Nadja Stonebreaker. Approach.”
“Your Grace,” Halphas said, released her and stepping around her. “I am—”
“You are dismissed, Lord Halphas,” the voice said, cutting off whatever Halphas had been about to say.
Nadja spun slowly, blinking her eyes against the sudden change of light. Her stomach roiled as she saw where they were. The High Commissioner of Hell sat on a gilt throne, his wings spread wide, as he loomed over them from the tall dais.
“Nadja Stonebreaker,” he said again, “I will not ask you again.”
Halphas squeezed her shoulder and went to the Stonebreaker clan’s section of the gallery to the side of the chamber. On trembling legs, she approached the dais.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I—I’m not sure what you mean, Your Grace,” she said, proud of herself for getting the words out without choking.
“I very much doubt that, Ms. Stonebreaker, but as I have a light schedule this morning, I will deign to enlighten you of the predicament in which you find yourself. You were summoned to Earth by a human, and yet there are no new souls attached to you in our system, nor are there any new souls harvested from that location today, meaning that you neither acquired this human to your service, nor disposed of and harvested him, both of which are direct violations of our laws. And so I will ask you again: What do you have to say for yourself?”
What did she have to say for herself? I’m sorry, Your Grace, but the human was so pitiful that bargaining for his soul would have felt like kicking a puppy?
After all, the High Commissioner probably liked kicking puppies.
She glanced toward the gallery where Halphas sat, his face a mask but his clawed hands clenching the rail so tightly that his knuckles were pink instead of red.
He was the Earl of Stonewall, Commander of the Twenty-Six Legions, Lord of the Stonebreakers, and Supply Chain and Munitions Manager for the realm.
He was a nobleman, high on Hell’s food chain, and he’d always acted like a big brother to her.
But proximity to Halphas’s power didn’t matter when she was under the eye of the most powerful demon in Hell.
“Stonebreaker!” the Commissioner roared. “Answer the question or I shall hold you in contempt!”
What did she have to say for herself? She was so insignificant in the larger scheme, so far beneath anyone’s radar that she’d never even dreamed that such a small infraction would have been noticed.
She should have known better. She knew what happened when you broke the law—any law—in Hell.
Gods knew Halphas had lectured her enough on the subject.
The finely-tuned clock of Hell’s bureaucracy had no room for infractions.
Or mercy, it seemed.
“You wouldn’t have wanted him, Your Grace,” she protested in a small voice. “What use does Hell have for an abstract artist?”
In her periphery she saw Halphas wince.
“You dare to presume what I do and do not find worthy of my attention?”
“No, Your Grace, I meant no disrespect. I just—”
The words died in her mouth. It didn’t matter that Eugene wasn’t cut out for Hell because she wasn’t cut out for it either.
She knew hundreds of succubi. Feeding was so easy for them.
It was supposed to be easy for her, too.
In fact, there were a few demons who complained about just how easy the succubi had it.
It should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why wasn’t it? Why couldn’t she do it? Why did the thought of someone pawing at her body give her nightmares?
Once, in a bar, she’d overheard a reaper grumble drunkenly to his companion, “They just have to fuck. That’s it.
A quick tumble, rub and tug, just a little tipple and tickle, and that’s it.
And only when they gets hungry. That’s all.
Meanwhile I’m running my ass off reaping souls when we ain’t got no room to put them.
But if I don’t meet quota, I get demoted, and I am not going back to political duty again. ”
The High Commissioner was shouting at her now, but she couldn’t seem to make out the words because of the ringing in her ears.
She was so hungry. Her stomach growled and her limbs felt weak.
She’d been about to feed right before the incident, and now that the adrenaline of her summoning and escape was gone, her body was nearing a breaking point.
She swayed on her feet but steadied herself, forcing herself to focus on the angry face above her.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace,” she said, dropping to her knees in supplication. “I swear to you I won’t do it again.”
“Oh, my dear, I have plans to make certain of that.”
She didn’t like the sound of that.