Chapter Five #2
But still, I blamed her for me having to associate with these disgusting pawns. If only Hunter had the sense to take my offer the moment it was given.
“Before twelve hours are up,” Kazuya said, “I promise we’ll have that mortal screaming and begging to take whatever bond you give her.”
“Promises are nothing,” I replied. “Action is all.”
I hung up on his reply, my booted feet carrying me silently down the hall and into the shadowy recesses of the manner.
“As you’ll find out the hard way, sweet little Charlotte.”
ERLIK SLAMMED AND LOCKED the library doors behind us, leaving us to begin our pointless hunt for the shade.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Charlotte grab her sister’s hand and run off—leading her to a safe place that did not exist here or anywhere else.
Immediately, I conjured up a chaise and made myself comfortable, stretching myself out as I pulled out the mirror. To anyone else, it would look like I was looking at my reflection. No one would or need know the face I was truly gazing upon.
“Oooh, good idea, Ro-Ro,” Kama purred. She had recovered fast from her impromptu ejection from my bedroom. “It’s not our job to hunt down Erlik’s lost pets. We’ll relax while the peasants play.”
The other princesses gleefully latched on to the idea. I didn’t pretend to be listening while they set up the library’s new lounge, and claimed new possible pledges like they were picking teams for hellball.
It was because I wasn’t listening that I missed one of them ordering some random little Others’ spawn to join in with my mortal.
I sat up a little straighter, my frown deepening as Charlotte’s suspiciousness quickly melted away as the reject Nik spun his tale of persecution and woe.
“Clever little mouse,” I hissed as they hatched their crackpot plan. “All these other fools see a red-blooded freak. But you...”
Nik smirked at Charlotte’s and Dora’s backs. Flipping open his notebook, he jotted down one more bullet point on the page newly titled Humans.
Beautiful
Reckless
Funny
Gullible
“You see a prize.”
The mirror drifted away from him, following its true subject, and with growing fury, I watched as the ridiculous woman plopped down in the dark and offered up her soul and life to the first shade passing.
I bit off a curse when Charlotte suddenly stiffened.
The blood brained from those rosy, plump cheeks as the shade dug her claws in.
“Fuck’s sake,” I gritted. “You’re going to die just to save that mouse from a run?
! He wields dryad magic. He’s been using the lower lifeforms to cheat his way through the academy since day one.
He was never going to run anywhere; he’s just using you as bait to win! ”
“Hmm?” Sauda slid over and laid her head on my chest. “What did you say, baby?”
I tensed like a bowstring, no longer pretending to sleep. Not only did Charlotte not hear my heated warning, she was also... losing the white of her fingertips.
Where the fuck are you, fools? It was your idiotic plan to run in with the flames and chase the shade into a box, so what the hell are you waiting for!?
Eyes dropping shut, Charlotte slowly fell forward.
“No!” I swung my legs down, readying to run down there and shred that shadow to ribbons. You’re not killing my new pet before she’s even mine! I bolted up—
—then stopped.
I couldn’t run in there without an explanation of why and how I knew she was in danger when I was supposedly sleeping in the lounge a dozen stacks away.
Just as suddenly, another idea occurred to me.
Pressing my thumb and forefinger together, I blew soft but sharply through the tiny “o” of my fingers—sending the magic on. A dozen stacks away, Charlotte’s voice—the magic exact in its mimicry—bellowed “now!” in Nik’s and Adora’s ears.
“Argh!” they roared, charging in with the torches and freeing my pet from the shade.
I LEISURELY STROLLED around the manor as the race began—not even pretending I was going to do something as undignified as run.
Mirror gripped tight in my hand, I watched as Charlotte’s screaming quickly morphed into laughter—laughs she shared with her sister, and that sneaking rodent Nik as they soared above the manor.
“Take her and her sister the second they’re out of sight of Erlik,” I said to Kazuya, Bruno, and Pravat.
They walked by my side, tripping over themselves straining to walk straight and keep their eyes glued on my face at the same time.
Stupid fools. Do you think I’ll trip and my glamour will slip down like a skirt?
“Do what you have to do to get her to take the sub bond,” I ordered, “but don’t damage her. I won’t have you breaking my toy before I’ve played with it.”
“Yes, boss,” Bruno agreed.
“Once she calls, I’ll put on a good show,” I went on.
“Perfecting illusion magic is required to hold a glamour in place that can smother the beauty of sloth, so it’ll be no issue to fool a mortal into thinking I killed you.
But if she doesn’t accept the bond after I take her away, I’ll hunt you three down, gut you, and hang you from the mess hall chandeliers from your entrails. ”
“Absolutely, boss,” Kazuya agreed—showing not a trace of fear as a good demon shouldn’t. “I’d expect nothing less. But... if we succeed?”
“Yeah, if we succeed,” Pravat seized, pushing Bruno to get closer to me. “Can we...? Will you...?”
I growled, rolling my eyes. “Fuck’s sake, yes. If you succeed, I’ll let you look at my true face.”
“Yes,” they whooped, debasing themselves like the sloth sluts they were.
“For ten seconds,” I snapped, “and not a millisecond more.”
“Ten whole seconds?” Bruno gasped. “We’ll get it done, boss. We’ll make her beg to bond with you, we swear.”
A sound only I could hear drew my attention down.
Pulling out the mirror, I took one look, and almost put my fist through the glass.
I may not know the word for the expression on my pet’s face, but I did know the emotion that welled in me as she smiled upon that sneaky rodent, and he dared to bask in it—gazing upon her with bright innocence that thinly veiled his cold calculation.
“And after you’re done with Hunter and the sister...” Sparks crackled on my skin and between my horns—fed by a steady, streaming supply of hatred. “Do something about that Others’ spawn.”
“Yes, boss,” Pravat, Kazuya, and Bruno said at once—taking off running.
Again, their eagerness sickened me. “Clueless, fucking morons. Worthless sloth sluts. You have no idea of what I’ve found,” I murmured, wiping away a smudge that dared to mar her face.
“Everyone in this scorched, barren wasteland is hellhound-hideous. It’s all fish gills, dirty hoofs, drooling maws, bug eyes, and glamours.
Even the famously beautiful fae lose their appeal real fucking fast when they’re molting so much in bed, you’re basically fucking on the bottom of a birdcage.
“But you...” The corner of my lips quirked up with her—unable to hold back the infection she spread at the mere sight of her smile. “You are something that I once believed only two people in all of hell could be—
“Beautiful.”
That worthless mutt, two-faced rodent, and sadistic half horse flashed through my mind.
“And I’m not letting any of you ruin my new toy before I’ve played with it.”
All Caught Up
I LAUGHED. “HATE TO break it to you, sweetheart, but I have no unfilled wishes. All that I want is mine, and now...” The deliciousness of her dumbfounded shock gave me a semi. “So are you.
“So,” I said, crooking my finger to beckon her closer. “Let us get down to the true terms of this arrangement.
“Strip.”
“What?” she cried, lurching back.
“You heard me very well,” I breezed, leaning back in the chair. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Color bloomed in her cheeks. “Repeat this, you bastard!” Snatching a bookend from the nook, she flung it at my head with surprising strength for a weakling mortal.
It bounced harmlessly off my left horn and rolled across the carpet. “All finished throwing things now, pet? Good. Now take off your clothes.”
“I’m not taking off anything!” she pointlessly screeched.
“You disgusting, shitbrained piece of garbage! Was this your plan the whole time?!” I wondered if she noticed her eyes were filling with tears.
“You wanted this to happen! You wanted me to—” A frozen look stole over her face.
“To make a deal with you when I was my most desperate. Because I’d give you anything you wanted. ”
I shrugged. “Well, if that was my plan, it doesn’t seem to be working. Because I’ve told you twice now to take your clothes off and you still haven’t done it.”
Not sure what part of my reply she didn’t like, because the rage in her eyes swelled into an inferno—crumpling her forehead and twisting her perfect lips.
It was utterly adorable. Like an angry little chipmunk demon.
No wonder everyone loves me more when I’m mad.
“Your plan didn’t work at all,” she gritted. “I don’t care about any bond. I don’t care about this stupid tattoo. Go ahead and send all the excruciating pain down the bond that you want—I promise you it won’t make a difference.
“I’ve buried both of my parents, cried by my comatose sister’s bedside for two months, lost her to a horde of kidnapping demons, fought my way into hell to rescue her, and then watched my psychopathic demon mother plunge a knife into her chest,” she belted out.
“I’ve experienced all the soul-breaking pain that a person can. Certainly more than you, pretty boy!”
“Pretty boy?” I muttered, a tad offended. My looks could not be described by such a small word as pretty.