7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Jay
“Welcome brother!” Verrine, the epitome of envy, greeted me enthusiastically. Belphegor, the sloth, gave a half-assed wave.
“Hey, guys. I guess you heard.”
“The whole place shook. It was so cool. Nobody’s ever been stupid enough to summon the powers before.” I turned to Beelz, who nodded that Verrine was right.
“Nobody? Ever? ”
It was hard to believe someone hadn’t done it before me. It had seemed like a brilliant idea in the heat of the moment.
“Yeah, well, I’m a risk-taker that way.” I left off the part about being an idiot. That part was implied in Verrine’s comment.
“So, what now? A meet-and-greet with my new daddy and then back to work with my mate?” No way did they miss the hopefulness in my voice.
Lycus came down the stairs and approached us. I was guessing an ass-kicking was part of the initiation into the family. His face was murderous.
Surprisingly, he didn’t stop, merely shoving me out of his way as he walked toward the long road from Lucifer’s mansion back to Hades.
“Hey, Ly! Dude, where you going?” Beelz jogged after his brother, his fancy walking stick in his hand and a pair of black diamond-encrusted sunglasses bouncing on top of his head. At least he wasn’t wearing a bucket hat. Someone really needed to explain to him that the Human Realm wasn’t modeled after a hip-hop video.
“I’m going to kill something.” Lycus then stopped and spun around abruptly. “I should kill him .” I looked behind me to see no one.
“M-Me? What did I do?” I put my hand on my chest, hoping the gesture gave an air of innocence I wasn’t sure I could pull off.
“We don’t need another prince. I tried to tell him that, but he’s being unreasonable. It’s because of you. It’s all your fault. You’ll never be a true prince of Hell.”
Suddenly, the fire around the mansion erupted like a volcano. Embers and ash filled the sky—or whatever it was—over our heads. That couldn’t be good.
“I don’t want to be a prince of Hell. I was perfectly happy being an Ad Hoc General.” No lie there.
“There’s no such thing as an Ad Hoc General,” Belphegor mumbled.
Beelz laughed. “I was under pressure, and it was the first thing that came into my mind. The white lighters gave his mate a fancy title. I figured Jay needed one so they could remain equal.”
“This is ridiculous. Who is that? ” Lycus shouted at the top of his lungs as he pointed to Paxton De Vil, who Brok was still holding. I glanced around to see Er’on cowering behind Gremon, Lycus’s hellhound.
“That’s the one who caused all the problems by refusing to name the prince who created a demon with Nyx’s daughter. Paxton said it was Lucifer.” Short. Sweet. To the point.
Lycus pointed to Gremon. “Take him. We’ll get the truth out of him.”
Brok turned to Beelz, who nodded. “Find out what you can, then dispose of him. Do not return him to Nyx. Also find out who unbound his powers. Nyx isn’t capable. It must be someone on the other side.”
That was something I wanted to know too. How the fuck did the warlock get his powers back? And how could he deflect my powers before I called for the... Yeah, that would be something worth knowing.
After Lycus left with Gremon and De Vil, we went into the mansion. I wasn’t too proud to admit I was scared shitless. I had no idea what Lucifer was going to say or how he’d act. Maybe he was going to end me, which would be a blessing if I had to be without my angel.
“Be-Elz-E-Bub!”
There was no mistaking the angry growl of Lucifer. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be as cordial as he’d been the last time I had an audience with him.
Beelz turned to me with a huge grin as he clutched his walking stick under his right arm and rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna be fun.”
Likely not for me, but Brok and Er’on preceded us into the unholy chamber where Lucifer was sitting on the huge throne I’d seen last time. Beelz followed behind them with his walking stick clicking on the marble floor as he strutted into the room. I wasn’t quite so confident.
I slowly dragged my feet as I entered the chamber. It was hot as fuck in there, but then again, the whole place was a pyrotechnic display unlike any I’d ever seen at any of the heavy metal concerts I attended in college. It was a good thing Lucifer didn’t have to pay a gas or electric bill.
“I see you brought the newest prince of Hell for an audience I didn’t request.”
Brok and Er’on dropped to their knees and put their foreheads on the floor at Lucifer’s bellowing. Beelz took a knee for a moment, so I followed his example.
Maybe Lucifer had had a bad night and hadn’t had his coffee yet? I wasn’t taking any chances.
I cast my eyes down on the marble, though I heard footsteps. They lined up to my left, but I had no idea who they were. Were the Broks back?
“Hop up, little brother.” Beelz stepped back to me and offered a hand.
I stood, touching his arm. This was it. If my time was up, I’d go out of this fucked-up world loving Scotty.
“Sir. I’m not sure what to call you now. I’m here, hoping to figure out where I made my mistake. I took up your invitation to invoke the powers of Hell because I wanted to know the truth about Vagar. He broke the rules by possessing an innocent. My understanding of my current situation was not to allow innocents to be harmed.
“The man, who was violated by that possession, was starting a family, and someone took it upon themselves to mess up his life, taking him away from his pregnant wife.” I hated using Kiernan Morton’s story to my advantage, but it wasn’t a lie.
“You’ll give me a bad reputation for caring about humans if that gets outside this room.” Lucifer’s voice echoed through the cavernous chamber.
Beelz grabbed my hand and dragged me closer to the throne. “Pops, what’s done is done. Let’s move on to more important issues. Jay doesn’t want to be one of us. He has a mate he’d rather not lose.”
Lucifer laughed. “Why would I care?”
I had no response, so I stepped forward and bowed again. “I can’t imagine why you would. I’m sure you have many other things on your mind, but why would that warlock get his powers back after they’d been bound by a holy man? I mean, that makes no sense to me. If you want to dispose of me, I’m ready.”
Lucifer loud laugh scared the fuck out of me. He stepped down from his throne and stood before me, wearing a pair of sneakers I could see had been influenced by Beelz’s usual choice of shoe—not those weird rubber things he was currently prancing around in.
“Those are nice. Are they New Balance or Nike?” Being a demon from Hell hadn’t changed me much. I could still admire fashion.
Lucifer stepped forward and showed me a pitchfork on the shoe’s sole. That was something I hadn’t seen before. “Can I get a pair of those?”
Beelz laughed behind me. “Yeah, Dad, can we all get a pair of those?”
“We’ll see if you deserve them. Tell me what the...? What’s going on?” The horns on his head were a bit intimidating, but he wasn’t aggressive yet, so I decided to take a chance.
“I realize I might have taken a liberty I shouldn’t have by summoning the powers of Hell, but I love my mate and wanted to keep him from harm. I’m doing my damnedest to help preserve the balance. I want humanity to have a fighting chance, so I asked for the powers of Hell to try to solve the mystery surrounding a demon. Obviously, I didn’t ask about the consequences of my request, so that’s on me.”
Lucifer sat down on one of the steps from his throne and turned to me with a menacing grin. “Did I not say there would be consequences?”
Yeah, he had, but I hadn’t explored what that meant, so shame on me. “Yes, you mentioned it, and I’m sorry I didn’t ask for details. I had no idea what you meant, but now I know about the consequences. It’s my fault for being a dumb ass.”
I didn’t expect the Ruler of Hell to laugh and put a hand on my arm. He was pure evil, and I could feel it through his touch, but I’d already accepted my fate. I would be in Hell for eternity...alone.
“Maybe we can make a deal.”
I’d heard that before, though I was eager to get back to my mate.
“So, what do you propose? What do you want from me? May I remind you I’m now a prince of Hell? The deal should be worthy of such a title, shouldn’t it?”
It was risky to challenge him, but I had a lot at stake. There had to be some weight to being a prince of Hell, right? I was missing something—someone—who I wanted back, and I would do whatever it took to make it happen.