Chapter 9
It was definitely pretty cool riding Cerberus into the depths of Hell. We’d wasted too much time getting sidetracked by Luc’s stunt, and it felt good to leave him behind in the smoky dust as my Virtues and I continued on our journey.
Jess stayed behind and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. She’d assured me that she would keep our best interests as a priority from Luc’s end of things as best she could, although I didn’t really know how much sway she had with the unpredictable demon.
We went through tunnel after tunnel, going deeper into darkness that the hell hound seemed accustomed with. I wasn’t sure what I expected at the end of the smoke and rising lava that bubbled in pools at the tunnel’s edge, but the glittering palace wasn’t it.
Logan gave out a low whistle. “Damn. Is that our new house? Because I could dig that.”
“We’re not staying in Hell,” I said, my voice stern as I gripped Orion. He was too big for me to completely wrap my arms around, so I clung to his shirt while Kaito hugged me from the back, sandwiching me between two of my delicious Virtues.
Cerberus released a howl when we reached the palace gates, making me slam my hands over my ears. “You’re supposed to warn us when he does that, Logan!”
The wolf chuckled and dropped off of the hell hound’s back. The massive dog was more than large enough to hold all of my Virtues and myself, and probably could fit a few more. I wondered if the hound was used to transporting royalty and her entourage around the lower levels.
To answer my question, Cerberus whined with excitement as the gates parted, revealing a stunning woman with a golden crown that sparkled like glass. A brilliant red jewel hung around her chest and rested on her cleavage, but the light that illuminated it came from within her body.
She spread her arms in welcome, sending her glittering sleeves to sweep with her movements. “My daughter. You’ve finally come home.”
Meeting Sonya in the flesh made me nervous, which surprised me.
I’d already met one of my mothers and it hadn’t affected me like this.
Maybe that’s because I hadn’t expected to meet Silvia when I’d gone to Heaven, but this was a different story.
I’d been thinking about Sonya ever since I’d figured out that she was my mother.
The Queen of Hell? Yeah. That would freak anyone out.
She didn’t seem so scary now that I met her in person, but I knew appearances could be deceiving. She rested across from us in a beautiful garden as light shone down on my face—yep, that’s right. Light.
But not from the sun. Sonya had taken us inside her palace and into one of the large guest chambers where Blood Stones lined a white ceiling in the shape of a wide dome that towered above our heads.
Each stone was fully charged, radiating warmth and heat that made it feel like we sat out in the sun.
The effect made me slump into one of the chairs and lean my head back, allowing the pleasant warmth to banish all my pent-up tension from everything that had happened.
“I love to come here to think,” Sonya said.
I glanced at her as she sipped a glass of champagne and crossed her legs, sending her dress to run up her thigh and reveal much more skin than was appropriate.
“And what do you think about?” I asked.
She smiled as all of her mates surrounded her. “These days? I think about how lucky I am.” She ran her fingers over them, one by one, running her touch up their arms as they crouched and gave her small kisses of adoration.
They looked like dark-haired pieces of temptation that contrasted against the blonde-haired queen. She smiled with a wicked gleam in her eyes that betrayed she lived up to her namesake. Even if these men looked like temptation, she was sin incarnate.
“Let me introduce you to my resolved sins,” she said, tugging one over her shoulder.
“This is Xavier, the sin of gluttony.” She pinched his cheek just below one of his glimmering red eyes.
“Appropriate, no?” He returned her smile with one of his own, showing off his fangs.
A vampire, yes, but I sensed this one was old and powerful, not like the ones I’d seen in the Monster Arena.
When Sonya tugged his collar to pull him in for a kiss, he indulged her, then glanced at my mates with a wary eye. He’d been keeping tabs on Hendrik, almost as if he knew the Dark Mage had a penchant for using vampire teeth in his potions.
“Luke,” she said, indicating another male on her left. He ran his fingers over her shoulder and gave me a polite nod.
My gaze had trouble meeting his, especially as he moved and every muscle in his massive chest flexed. He had muscles over his muscles like a knitted tightrope made of sex.
Logan growled in my head. Keep your eyes up, Princess.
I flinched and bit my lip. It wasn’t my fault all of my mother’s mates walked around shirtless and looking like… well, sin.
“My royal dragon shifter, Jet,” Sonya said, indicating a muscular Asian whose tattoos lived and breathed. To add to the mystifying effect, his eyes periodically flashed to a reptilian slit. I should have been creeped out by it. Instead, I found him fascinating.
The final male clapped his hands. “Of course, she saves the best for last. I’m Nate, the Incubus King’s son.”
“Otherwise known as a human,” Xavier corrected him.
“Don’t you two start bickering,” Sonya chided. She adjusted a golden crown on her head that sparkled with her movements as she sank back into her seat.
I introduced my mates in return and Sonya politely nodded to each one.
“So tell me, daughter, why have you come to Hell?” she asked as she swirled her champagne. “It seems like a lot of trouble, so there must be something important that you need.”
I straightened. “You don’t already know?”
Dante rested a hand on my arm in warning. Don’t be rude, he said in my head.
She played her fingers over the edge of her champagne glass.
“I suspect that you lost your memories, just like many of the supernaturals who have been hit by the latest wave of Calamity. Which means someone told you about me, despite my efforts to stay out of worldly matters.” She tilted her head.
“No offense, but the other realms have gone to shit. And being Queen of Hell, that’s saying something.
Now, the person who told you about me, who was it? ”
I chewed on my lip before deciding to go with the truth. “Silvia.”
She flinched before schooling her expression. Luke massaged her shoulders and she leaned into the touch. “I see. You must have quite the story to tell if you’ve met with Silvia.” Her red gaze flickered with curiosity. “How is she?”
I shrugged. “Okay, I guess. I met her in Heaven and she has her wings back. Did you know her? When she was on Earth, I mean.”
Sonya nodded. “Yes.” She smirked, startling me as I spotted fang. I almost forgot that the Queen of Hell was not only a succubus, but had been turned into a vampire before her ascension to the demonic throne… or her descent, as it were.
When she didn’t reply, I spread out my palms. “And? What was she like? How did you meet? She said you helped my father, the Incubus King, get her pregnant. What did she mean by that?”
“Lily,” Kaito warned.
I ignored him. Sure, maybe my first questions should be about something more pressing, like, Hey, can we use your fiery pit to trap the Dean of Fortune Academy and stop the end of the world?
But give a girl a break. I had two freaking mothers for crying out loud…
two! And I wanted to know how that was even possible.
Nate coughed into his fist. Xavier had introduced him as a human, but the sensual gleam in Nate’s eyes and his rock-hard abs said otherwise. Perhaps being the Incubus King’s son meant he got a little extra oomph when it came to being a human male.
Wait.
Wasn’t the Incubus King also… my father?
Nate cleared his throat. “Shit, Sonya. This is awkward. I just realized she and I… we’re…”
“Brother and sister, yes,” Sonya said flippantly as if that was a technicality.
My eyes went so wide I thought they would pop out of my head.
“One hell of a family reunion down here,” Orion grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as he took one of the larger chairs.
“My… brother?” I asked, gripping the edge of my seat until my knuckles went white. “And you’re human? How is that even possible?”
Nate shrugged. “Our parents had troubles passing on the incubi gene, so you were the lucky one, I guess.”
His tone held a touch of bitterness to it, but I didn’t feel like being a succubus was something to be proud of.
My mother hissed at Nate. “You know the burden it is to be a succubus. I myself accepted Xavier’s proposal to turn me into a vampire just to escape the guilt. Don’t diminish Lilith’s suffering because you still struggle with your sin of envy.”
Nate crossed his arms and cast his gaze to his feet. “Sorry.”
She slapped his wrist. “No apologies in Hell, love. It’s all right.”
The two smirked at one another and seemed to share a moment of understanding before Sonya turned to me again.
“Well, now we know the ‘who’ behind the reason you are here, but now it is time for the ‘why.’ Tell me. What is it that I can do for you?” She leaned over her knees and set her empty glass on the floor.
“Because if you are here to ask for my help to stop Calamity, there’s not much I can offer you.
I am Champion of the First Echo and my time has passed.
” She tilted her head and golden strands of hair draped over her shoulders.
“I did what I could. I founded Fortune Academy to give the next Champion a chance, wherever or whoever she might be.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Well if you wanted Fortune Academy to benefit me, you should have made it easier to enroll. I had to register illegally.”
Dante rubbed the scar around his wrist. “That’s right. It wasn’t easy to get her in.”
Sonya smirked. “Well, even if you hadn’t gone to Fortune Academy, there was Monster Academy too right here next door. The Champion is always a supernatural one, even if she doesn’t start out that way, so I knew if Evelyn’s version of education couldn’t benefit you, my school would.”
“Monster Academy?” I asked as tingling crawled down my arms and the urge to release my claws made me clench my fists. “I’m not a monster.”
Sonya patted me on the knee. “Of course you’re not, dear. Monster Academy is just a nickname. Officially it’s called Underworld Academy.” Her gaze sparkled with that wicked gleam I was learning not to trust. “Maybe you’ll get a chance to check it out one day.”
“We’re not here to swap schools,” Orion said, his voice booming through the guest chamber. “We’re here to stop Calamity and salvage our home.”
She gave the demigod a raised eyebrow as she leaned into her hip. “I can’t stop Calamity.”
I got up and stood between my mother and Orion before the snarky demigod got himself in trouble. “I don’t want your help to stop Calamity, Mother. Just… your assistance to contain it.”
She tilted her head. “Contain it? And how do you propose I do that? Calamity is an intangible, unstoppable force. It cannot be defeated, much less contained. It can only be survived with the help of Champions like us who help soften the blow of destruction.”
Kaito rested his hand on mine, giving me strength. “We know who the Conduit is,” he said. “It’s the Dean of Fortune Academy: Guinevere Lancelot.”
Sonya hissed. “What?” She gaped in shock, then snapped her jaw shut as her eyes flashed with red fury. “I told Evelyn that woman was a poor choice. Unbelievable.” She worked her jaw. “That means the Academy has been compromised, yes?”
I nodded. “The Dean has a muse working for her. One of the students named Melinda and she’s no joke. We barely made it here with our lives.”
Sonya grabbed onto Luke and he flinched as her power jolted through him.
I expected him to pull away, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and absorbed her energy until the red haze around them dissipated.
I realized that the Queen of Hell suffered the weight of sin—sin of all the realms, and her mates kept her grounded.
“We need to give her the Angelstone,” Sonya whispered as she curled into Luke’s chest.
“Hmm,” he said, a sound of agreement.
Kaito perked up at that. “Did you say… Angelstone?”