Chapter 12
Twelve
As I’d predicted, nobody was standing guard at the Chapel Room.
I rubbed my hand over my face. Fuck me. I needed to find people who wouldn’t fall so easily to the desires of the Lusts, but in Hell, there was only me. I couldn’t even pride myself on that all the time. Dani was too strong.
No simple Lust had ever been able to keep up with me, test me, push me to my absolute limits like her, but Dani was never a simple Lust.
I opened the door to the room and shook my head. One of the Envies from the other night who had taunted me was lying on the ground. His whole body had burns so deep and invasive that I still smelled his flesh burning.
He gazed up at me, not able to move. “Help me,” he said between cracked lips. His voice was so dry and raspy.
I cocked a brow. “No.” I gazed over at the Crucifix, which was lying on the ground, right side up. “I warned you this would happen, but you were too envious to stop yourself. You needed to have the Crucifix even though that meant death.”
“I couldn’t help myself.”
“I know. That’s why we’re in this position, isn’t it?”
“Please …”
“You and your friends used Lusts to lure my men away from guarding this room. Why would I help you?” I chuckled. “You got yourself into this mess. There’s no way you’re getting out of it now.”
His body seized for a moment. “Please. I will never do it again.”
I knelt by his side. “Well, in that case … let me go get someone that will help you out really good.”
I walked out of the room and locked the door behind me in case anyone else was stupid enough to try to steal it. I walked back to the Lust Room to find Dani. She was frowning at Eros, who had his head hanging before her. She was too strong for him again, and he was toying with death.
Her eyes were struggling to stay neutral as she gazed around the room, feeding off of the energy. She looked so fucking hungry—like she could destroy all of them here.
“Dani, Eros, I hate to interrupt, but I need to have a word with you.” I grasped her arm and pulled her out of the room. “Follow me.”
Tonia looked over, half naked, while a succubus kissed her neck. Dani smiled softly at her, then shut the door.
“What’s wrong?”
We walked to the Chapel Room, and I opened the door. She immediately flinched back, clutching her nose.
“Why does it smell like the Kingdom of Wrath in here?” Her gaze fixed on the Envy who was burning, and her eyes widened and turned a light-gray color—a mix of angel and demon. “What happened to him?”
She would turn into both in a second.
“He decided to pick up the Crucifix,” I said, gesturing to the Crucifix. “Even after I told him it would burn him to death.”
She gazed at the Crucifix and walked over to it slowly.
“This is the Crucifix? It is still together in one piece?” Her fingers grazed against the edges of it, yet she didn’t pull back.
It had no effect on her. “I only read about it in books from my father’s library and some books I found in my mother’s old house.
Everyone in Heaven thinks this doesn’t exist anymore, but it does. It’s here.”
I nodded. “It is. Now, would you mind placing it back on the altar and helping out a friend?”
She picked up the cross and was about to hang it right side up.
“Other way,” I clarified.
She turned it upside down and placed it on its hook, right where it should be. After admiring it for a few more moments, she gazed back at me and smiled. “Now, how can I help?”
I knelt by my dearest Envy friend again. “He’s hurting really bad right now. I think you could put him out of his misery, don’t you?”
Dani eyed me for a moment, and then her eyes fixed on the Envy.
He nodded his head. “Please. It hurts.”
“You’re hungry, Dani, aren’t you?” I asked, stepping forward.
She gazed down at the man, her eyes turning black.
He barely was able to shake his head, understanding how Dani really was going to fix him. It wasn’t a secret how strong this half demon, half angel really was. After she had killed Biast’s brother, rumors had spread like wildfire in Wrath.
“No … no … please …” He winced.
“He’s threatening the system. He’s threatened to destroy my people and used yours to help and distract my guards.
” I grimaced. “And doesn’t he look like he’s in so …
much pain?” I stepped closer to her, placed my hands on her shoulders, and trailed my fingers down her arms. “It would benefit us all if he was gone.” I pressed my lips to her ear.
“He will satisfy your hunger for a bit so you won’t drain our Eros. ”
She took a deep breath, her eyes fully black now. Then she knelt next to the man and pushed him onto his back.
He shook his head up at her. “Please.”
“You used my Lusts for your benefit?” she asked, licking her lips. “I don’t know if you heard me before, but Lusts aren’t there for the benefit of others, especially not people who are trying to hurt the kingdoms of Hell.”
She cracked a smile that looked so sinister it turned me on. “And your lips look so damn tasty right now.” She dipped her head and placed her lips against his dry ones, kissing him hard and passionately while he squirmed under her.
Then, as if he was never struggling, his body stopped moving altogether.
She sat up, throwing her head back. Her black eyes were full of lust. “God, do I love that.”