Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

I knocked on the door to the room in which Lucifer always received me, and waited for his call.

Azazel had just left to take care of some archdemon business in his own territory after spending the entire day and night with me—at least, what I considered day and night here. Obviously, there was no way to tell from changes in light outside, because the sky here never changed, but I’d apparently developed a pretty good sense of time, and there was a kind of ebb and flow to the passage of time down here, one that—now that I was a demon—I felt instinctively.

In the end, even on an immortal plane without seasons or celestial changes, the inhabitants needed some way to differentiate points in time. Otherwise, it would be impossible to make any kind of plans. Party at my place next week? Well, how would my guests or I be able to prepare if we had no way of determining when exactly next week would be?

So, yeah, there was an innate understanding of time here, a feeling that this phase right here was different from the phase before, and for convenience’s sake, we used human terms for it.

With Vengeance sitting pretty at my side, I stood in front of the door, that inherent sense of time telling me it had been several minutes since I’d last knocked. He hadn’t called me in yet. But he’d told me to come see him today in order to get some training, even if he hadn’t specified a time. So, here I was.

Maybe he was in a meeting? I scrunched up my face. How likely was that? I hadn’t seen him receive anyone else in my time here, and from all that I’d heard, he wasn’t even having meetings anymore.

Pressing my ear to the door, I listened, trying to suss out if he was talking to someone.

Nope, just oppressive silence.

I blew out a breath and knocked again. “Hello?” I called through the door. “Your Grace?”

No answer.

The smart, sane thing to do would be to leave and wait for him to summon me. If he wasn’t answering the door, there would be a good reason for it, right? He was the supreme ruler here, and everything in his domain worked on his schedule, so if he wasn’t ready or willing to see me, then that was his prerogative.

The problem was that I sometimes had trouble doing the smart, sane thing. And something about this felt off, something that nudged me to check on him.

I told myself that I shouldn’t care, but given the fact that I was under his protection and that his rule wasn’t quite as stable as it once was, I did have reason to want to make sure he was okay. My own well-being depended upon it.

Taking a bracing breath, I opened the door. What was he going to do? Strike me dead for my transgression? Hurt me for my insolence? Neither of which was an option for him, and he was oath bound to treat me with respect. If anyone could dare enter his room without a summons from him, it would be me.

Bleak darkness greeted me. This time, not even the single candle was lit, only the light falling in from the open door breaking through the stifling gloom. I could make out Lucifer lying on a sofa, his eyes closed, stillness radiating from his form.

He had to be sleeping. Which was a bit odd, seeing as demons didn’t really need sleep.

Back when I’d been human and down here in Hell, Azazel used to spend most nights at my side, though not the entire time. He’d sleep a little, more out of solidarity or coziness, but he’d often be gone when I’d woken, or he’d come to bed after I’d fallen asleep. Either way, he’d once told me he couldn’t sleep as much as me—his mind and body didn’t need the rest, and his brain wouldn’t actually switch off.

I’d been able to sleep just fine when I’d been an angel, but my guess was that it had something to do with age. The older a demon or angel got, the harder it was for them to put themselves into that state of oblivion.

So, given Lucifer’s age, the fact that he was sleeping was extremely weird.

Well, strange as it might be, it wasn’t exactly a cause for concern, and it certainly wasn’t my place to wake him. He’d probably be pissed if I roused him from his slumber, and I’d rather not deal with a peeved Lucifer. He was cantankerous enough at the best of times.

I retreated and slowly closed the door, making sure to do it quietly. I’d just wait for his summons, or I’d try again later.

“Come on, Venny.” I slapped my thigh as I turned away from the door. “Let’s go give you some playtime outside, yeah?”

All three of her heads yipped, and her tail went crazy.

We made it to one of the massive courtyards without being accosted, and thankfully, no one bothered me while I let Vengeance run around either. I played with her for a long time, throwing a bone she’d discovered Lucifer-knew-where, making sure my doggie got the exercise she needed. Dragons screeched and roared overhead as we finally headed back inside, and we strolled past more signs of decay, like decrepit furniture and half-burned curtains and tapestries.

Maybe Lucifer was ready to train me now? I’d check back with him in a minute.

We were just walking down a hallway and about to round a corner when Vengeance let loose a bone-rattling growl next to me.

My brain hadn’t quite drawn the conclusion to what that meant yet as a shadow came around the corner. It all happened so fast. Several demons launched themselves at me and Vengeance. They moved so quickly I couldn’t even count how many there were. Power exploded, punching into me in a tidal wave. All the air left my lungs, my muscles spasming as I stumbled back.

The sound of steel whirring in the air, the glint of light on metal, the snarls of a furious hellhound, the crunching of bones and screams of pain, all of it filled my senses. On instinct, I ducked out of the way of the sword coming at me in a wide arc—aimed at my neck.

Adrenaline now pumping through my veins, the muscle memory I’d achieved from training with Azazel took over. I drew the two light swords that Lucifer had given me before I’d gone to Earth and which I’d donned earlier in preparation for training, and I whirled, blocked, stabbed, and slashed at my attacker to the best of my ability.

Deflecting blows of energy, it took me a few seconds of strenuous physical fighting to remember I now had a truckload of power to wield as well.

Jacked up with stress hormones and aggression as I was from the ambush, it was incredibly easy to reach into myself and gather all that magic. It wasn’t far from the surface anyway—the fight had stirred it into a frenzy. Responding to the darkness of my mood, to the grim lust for violence, and the primal rage coursing through me, my demon nature was all too eager to unleash my power.

With a scream of fury, I lashed out. The demon attacking me grunted as my blast hit him, his eyes shooting wide. He flew through the air and rammed into the opposite wall, and much like when I’d defended myself against Samael, the force of the blow shattered the stone, and he was half buried under the falling debris.

Vengeance’s yowl made me whip my head around to look for her. She was struggling to stand just a few feet away, her fur singed by magic— my magic, which had hit her along with the demon I’d aimed at.

“Venny!” I cried out and stumbled over to her, my heart in my throat. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry!”

Whining, she managed to get onto her paws, licking my hands as I ran them over her, desperate to check her wounds. Dammit, I didn’t even know how to heal yet! Some fucking demon I was, unable to control my power and incapable of the most basic applications of my magic.

Behind me, there was the sound of rubble moving, stone crunching against stone. Pulse racing and my thoughts in a tangle, I glanced over my shoulder. The demon I’d blasted was stirring.

Vengeance uttered a ferocious growl, and the next second, she limped over to the pile of debris. Just as the demon poked his head out, she bit it clean off.

The rest of his body, half covered by the rocks, dissolved into sparks.

Holy fuck.

Sucking in air, I blinked and glanced around, only now noticing that there were several piles of clothes littering the floor, sprinkled liberally with blood. One, two, three, four… Including the demon Vengeance had just offed, there had been five attackers, and Venny had dispatched them all.

Limping back to me, my trusty hellhound plopped down at my feet, her body so large that I could just barely look over her back even when she wasn’t standing. Blood glistened on her black fur.

“Oh, God, I hope that’s not yours,” I whispered. I ran my trembling hands over her again, trying to see if there were any deep wounds. My heart drew tight. “Please be okay. You did so well. You’re the best doggie ever. You’ll get so many treats. And all the belly scratches.” My voice cracked, wet heat filling my eyes. “Please be fine. You have to be.”

“What happened here?”

The drawled question pulled my attention off Vengeance. Pivoting, I scanned the hallway, my gaze snagging on the demon who stood a few feet away, surveying the scene, his blood-red eyes noting the evidence of a fatal fight.

Silver-white hair gleaming in the light of the candles, Samael looked at me and raised a brow. “Did you just kill five demons?”