9. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Jay
“What kind of a deal?” I would gladly make any deal necessary to get me back to Scotty.
Lucifer chuckled. “You’re very full of yourself, aren’t you? Be very careful when you make your choice.”
I bowed my head again. “I apologize. I’m interested in what kind of deal you’d want to make. I already made one deal to be your valet in a hundred years. I can’t imagine what other joy you want to rip from my life.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Lucifer asked Beelz.
“Lost his white lighter. They were a bonded and balanced pair, remember?”
Lucifer stepped closer and touched my chin, bringing my eyes to meet his. “Your mate left you?”
I sighed. “Not willingly. With my becoming a prince of Hell, we’re no longer balanced. I have more powers than him.”
“And that bothers you why? Most would be appreciative to have the opportunity to join my family, but you don’t seem happy about it at all. Tell me, Jay, what were you doing that caused you to call upon the powers of Hell?” Lucifer’s attitude was challenging, but I wasn’t intimidated. I had absolutely nothing to lose.
“I was trying to question a warlock. His powers were bound by a holy man in the Human Realm but have since been returned to him.”
Then something occurred to me. “De Vil claims you fathered a demon with Apate. He said you didn’t mean to impregnate her and refused to claim Vagar as a son. He said it was why, when I called on the powers, I became a prince. Was I able to take Vagar’s place as your son?”
“Ah, I see. Well, your warlock was a liar. I don’t accidentally impregnate anyone. Where did he hear this defamatory allegation?”
“You’d have to ask him. He’s with Lycus and Cerberus.” My gaze met the fiery flames in Lucifer’s eyes, not flinching or looking away. Hopefully, he’d get to the bottom of it since I’d failed.
Lucifer pulled a rope on the wall, and in an instant, Aeacus—the valet I was to replace in a hundred years—dropped to the ground. “Yes, Master.”
“Summon Lycus and tell him to bring his captive. I want to question the warlock.”
The valet stood and took off like a shot. I couldn’t see myself doing that in the next century. No way would I be so subservient. I’d be killed every day, but then again, without Scotty, what would it matter?
“Where is your white lighter now?” Lucifer was staring at me.
I swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat so I could speak. “I don’t know. Beelz brought me here to meet with you. I have no idea how long we’ve been here, but I can’t feel my mate anymore.”
My chest felt empty at the loss of my connection to Scotty. It wouldn’t be worth existing if he was gone from me.
Aeacus showed me to a luxurious bedroom down a long, dark hallway. Apparently, there was some hold-up with Lycus and the warlock, so Lucifer instructed his valet to take me to my new bedroom. Was there no way out of becoming a prince of Hell so I could return to Scotty? It didn’t seem like it.
“Rest here. I’ll collect you when Lycus returns with the warlock. If you need anything, ring the bell.” He pointed to a fancy velvet rope next to the bed before he walked out.
Glancing around, I noticed the room was quite beautiful. Was it put together by a demonic interior designer? How much would that job pay? It was a sexy room.
I stepped across thick jewel-tone rugs spread around the black marble floor to the bed and grazed my hand over the navy velvet spread that had gold threads stitched into it to make an elaborate design. The room was cooler than the throne room, which was a relief. I couldn’t imagine sleeping in that heat.
There were large black doors on each side of the bed, so I stood and walked to the one on the left, seeing a full closet with fine suits, beautiful shirts, and gorgeous shoes. I took a shirt off the rack, surprised it was exactly my size. It was hand-stitched and the buttons were made from real pearls.
There was a shoe rack in the closet that I would forever lust after, and when I spotted a pair of men’s Prada brushed leather oxford lace shoes in black that I’d been wanting since they’d debuted in Milan, I couldn’t keep my hands off them. I held them up and admired their beauty.
I hadn’t been able to justify the cost when I was a cop, though I had money from my family. I was a tad jealous that someone had such lovely shoes. Then I remembered I had no one to impress anymore, so I put them down.
Out of frustration, I slammed the door and flopped onto the bed, not caring what was behind the other door. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.
A banging echoed through the room, making me shoot off the bed in fright. I must have fallen asleep, so I hurried over and opened the thick wooden door to see Aeacus standing in front of it, his expression neutral.
“Hey, bro. What’s up?”
Something inside me was itching to rile up the demon to see his reaction for reasons I couldn’t understand. Aeacus just got under my skin, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because I was supposed to be in his shoes in a hundred years, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“His Majesty is ready to see you. Prince Lycus has returned.”
“Cool. So, uh, you got a wife and kids?” I closed the door to the fancy room and put my arm around Aeacus’s neck to make him uncomfortable. I was surprised to see we were the same height.
“Small talk with me is unnecessary. Wait until it’s your turn to hold the Master’s appendage while he unnecessarily urinates just to embarrass you. You won’t be so happy to be here.” The valet had a point, but I had news for him.
“Naw. After this is figured out, and I know for sure I’m not getting my angel back, I’m out of here.”
It was no lie. I’d already made up my mind. Without Scotty, there was no reason to be .
Aeacus chuckled, and I leaned closer and kissed his cheek just to piss him off. “So, girlfriend? Boyfriend?”
“Lesser demons don’t fall in love or take a mate.”
It was then I remembered the issue with the cherub and the lesser demon Scotty and I had investigated a while back for breaking into a condo in the newly developed part of Limbo. They told us they were in love and had nowhere to spend time together that wouldn’t get them in trouble, so they broke into one of the unoccupied units. They had no idea security cameras had been installed, and they got caught.
Scotty protested that we were tasked with dealing with the incident, but because I had been a cop, the powers-that-be had demanded I find them. Thankfully, those same powers hadn’t realized they were in love because it was forbidden for the cherub to be in a relationship with a demon. I didn’t realize the same was true for the demon.
I’d explained to the cherub how they got caught and what kind of trouble they could get in if they did it again, while Scotty had talked to the demon. What was the cherub’s name—Nate? Nari? Whatever.
They’d said they’d be forever in our debt if we didn’t turn them in for breaking the rules, and hell, we were in love too, so we simply reported that they were playing a prank and had been warned against such behavior in the future.
What was the demon’s name? Thor? No—that’s a comic book character.
“Say, do you know a demon named, uh, Tork? I think that’s it, right?” It sounded close to right in my head.
Aeacus stopped. He turned, giving me the eye. “The traitor? You know Tork the traitor?”
“Traitor? I don’t remember that about him. He’s just a demon blowing off some steam with a cherub buddy. What’s wrong with that?”
Aeacus hissed at me, the shithead. “They fell in love with a cherub, which is forbidden. They paid the price, the idiot.”
That didn’t sound good for poor Tork. “What happened to them?”
“It’s believed Tork was killed when they left Limbo to meet with the cherub. The body was found at the Gate of Hell with its head pierced by one of the spikes at the top as a warning to others.”
“When was this?” What was going on? We’d talked to those two little dudes just before the new moon.
Time didn’t progress the same way in the underworld as it did in the Human Realm. I had no idea how long I’d been in Hell already. I also had no idea how time went by in the Celestial Realm, but I guessed it had been less than a month since we’d talked to them.
“Just after the new moon. It’s also rumored that Tork was killed by the cherub at the order of you and your mate as the cherub’s penance for breaking the rules.”
I took in his words, but they made no sense. “Wait, it’s rumored that we forced the cherub to murder Tork? No. I can tell you that’s bullshit. As for his lover, Narik? That cherub wouldn’t harm a fly. Who’d you hear this from?”
Aeacus didn’t answer, so I grabbed him by the throat and held him off his feet. “You will tell me now .”
My voice vibrated through my body and into my soul. The power surging through me was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. For the first time, I could feel every artery, capillary, and nerve ending in my body. They pulsed simultaneously, and I could see things I’d never seen before. I could sense fear in Aeacus, and I was excited.
“ Tell me the truth! ”
The bellow that came out of me was unlike anything I’d ever said, and I was filled with rage about what was going on with Scotty and me. He was mine! I was his! Who fucked with it?
Catching my reflection in a large mirror on the wall outside my room, my face showed nothing but pure evil. My eyes were black, and my facial structure had changed to show the demon inside me. It was badass and scary.
I dragged a screaming and kicking Aeacus with me down the hall. I was raging inside because I missed my mate, and something was going to pay. If it was the valet, then so be it.
Kicking open the door of Lucifer’s throne room, there was a certain satisfaction that I wasn’t afraid of the consequences. I had not one fucking thing to lose, so I didn’t give a good goddamn about rules, etiquette, or expectations.
I stomped inside. I was tired of these people playing with me. I wanted answers, starting with the demon I clutched in my fist.
I flung Aeacus across the room with strength I didn’t know I had, and he landed on the stairs to the throne. I heard bones cracking as the demon made contact with the marble, and I chuckled at the satisfaction I felt inside.
Lucifer was sitting with a tablet, his right leg tossed over the arm of the large chair. His gaze immediately moved from the device to me. “I see you’ve embraced your place in the family. There’s no going back now.” Lucifer’s cackle made me angrier.
Had the Ruler of Hell chosen not to explain to me how I would change? Was all of this on purpose? Was this turn of events designed to manipulate me into the spot I was in at that moment?