Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

S hit. Fuck. Dammit.

A tremor ran through me, and my head felt dizzy. “They attacked me,” I said numbly. “She just defended me.”

His eyes flashed as he looked past me at Vengeance, who had heaved herself up again and was looming over me with bared teeth and a warning growl toward Samael.

“So your hound snapped and went on a rampage,” he said coldly, and behind him, several more demons appeared, two of which I recognized as his buddies from the first time I’d run into him.

God, but he had an unsettling way of showing up around me.

“Didn’t you hear me?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Those demons ambushed me, they were trying to kill me, and Vengeance defended me, as is her right.”

Venny’s snarl underscored my statement.

“And do you have proof of that?” Samael tilted his head.

“What?”

He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “Do you have any witnesses? Is there anyone who can corroborate your statement?”

“I—” Glancing around, my heart sank. We’d been alone, and I was the only one left alive from the fight to give a report on it. “No,” I said quietly. “But why would I lie?”

He shrugged, the movement inhumanly fluid. “The way I see it, you weren’t in control of your hound, and it resulted in five demons dead, and now you want to claim that this lethal force was justified by making up some tale about someone attacking you.”

“No, that’s?—”

“It makes no sense that a group of demons would ambush you,” Samael interrupted me. “If this had been a challenge for rank, then it wouldn’t have been an attack by several demons. Quarrels with regard to hierarchy are always one-on-one. And fights to avenge a slight or offense are also between the involved parties only, unless one of them declares war.” He tilted his head and gave me a condescending look. “Has anyone declared war on you, Zoe?”

I shook my head, opening my mouth to say something, but he continued before I got a word out.

“Contrary to the impression you might have been given, this isn’t a lawless place. We have rules we live by. And according to those, we don’t use sneak attacks, or ambush a single demon with a group of attackers, especially not to try to kill that demon. Even in the case of a military conflict, we try not to use lethal force. If you haven’t heard yet, killing someone here is frowned upon.”

“I do know that, you presumptuous ass,” I snapped.

His features tightened. “Bold of you to insult me. You should be mindful of the consequences.”

“What, like you’ll challenge me to avenge your honor?” My blood was boiling, my magic snapping at its leash. “Go ahead. Let’s have a repeat performance of when I punched you through a wall.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that.” His chilling tone gave me pause. “I’ll simply seize your hound to be executed for killing five demons without cause.”

He summoned a long staff in his hand, and his cronies behind him did the same. I recognized those things from the time I’d collected Vengeance at the palace borders. They were used to corral hounds.

The blood froze in my veins. No .

“You can’t do that,” I breathed. “Hounds may not be killed.” Mephisto’s words came back to me, and I clutched on to them. “The owners have to pay for any damages incurred, and then the dogs are sent back?—”

“That only applies to dogs who escaped their territory.” The red in his eyes deepened. “You belong to this territory, and so does your hound. She got violently out of control without actually running away, and she is clearly dangerously aggressive and does not heed your command. As you are in service to the master of this territory, all your possessions ultimately belong to your liege, and it is within the purview of the territory’s authority to have an uncontrollable hound put down before it kills anyone else.”

“You don’t get to make that call.” I balled my hands into fists, my power coalescing around me.

“Oh, but I do.” His smirk was straight up diabolical. “Since my father has been delegating his duties more and more, I have stepped up to take on some of the tasks he is not handling any longer. I am his acting second, and as such, I have the authority to decide on matters such as this.”

My breath came choppy and fast. No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening. “I won’t let you take her.”

“As admirable as your dedication to your hound is,” Samael drawled, “it will not save her.”

He made a gesture to his lackeys, and half a dozen of them stepped forward, staffs raised and the tips crackling with blue lightning.

“Take the hound to the kennels to be held for execution,” Samael said and then jerked his head at the remaining three demons next to him. “And you make sure dear Zoe here won’t make a fuss.”

Vengeance snarled at the advancing demons, but she was swaying on her feet just a little, still not recovered from the earlier fight. My heart beat all the way up into my throat, and I battled nausea rising from my stomach. Inside me, my power throbbed and swelled, fueled by my fear and desperation.

The next few moments whizzed by like a movie played at twice the speed.

Spears raised, the demons went for Vengeance, circling her in the blink of an eye. The three other buddies of Samael were on me before I could launch myself at the ones corralling my dog. I was so focused on getting to Vengeance, on using my power in a way that wouldn’t hurt her further, I didn’t notice the dagger coming for me until it rammed into my chest.

Gasping, I jerked, my lids fluttering, pain shooting outward from the puncture wound. Darkness encroached from the periphery of my sight, and the last thing I saw was Vengeance snapping and snarling at the demons who shooed her down the hallway, toward certain death.

I woke with a start, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Wide-eyed, I jolted upright and glanced around.

I was on the floor in the hallway in exactly the same spot where the demons had knifed me, the evidence of the earlier bloody fight still all around me. While I absent-mindedly pawed at my chest—the dagger was gone, and the wound had closed already—I looked up and down the hallway but saw no sign of Samael, his demons, or Vengeance.

Fuck. How long had I been out? Usually, it only took a few minutes after removing a dagger or sword from the heart for a demon to regain consciousness, but I had no idea how much time had passed between them planting a dagger in my chest and removing it.

Was Vengeance still alive?

A full-body tremor shook me to my bones, my pulse thrashed so loud that it pounded in my head, and my chest constricted so hard I had trouble getting air in.

Dizzy, limbs tingling and fear soaking my spine, I struggled to my feet and stumbled away from the fight scene.

She couldn’t be dead yet. She couldn’t . I refused to entertain that thought.

No, she was alive, and I’d stop this from happening.

I staggered into a run, the sound of my boots hitting the marble floor echoing in the hallway. Seconds later, I skidded around a corner and into the private wing of the palace. Three more turns and two more staircases, and I came to a screeching halt in front of Lucifer’s door.

I didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell of stopping the execution by myself—I wouldn’t be able to fight Samael and all of his buddies, and even if I succeeded, the law was on Samael’s side, and nominally, I’d have to bow to his authority.

But there was someone who outranked him.

Throwing the door open without knocking and waiting for a call, I rushed inside.

It was still pitch black in here and cold enough to make my teeth clatter. Lucifer hadn’t moved from his position, his body yet prone and appearing in deep slumber.

Had he slept this entire time? It’d been hours since I’d first checked on him this morning.

No matter, I was going to rouse him now and hope for the best. He didn’t need the sleep, but I needed him awake.

“Your Grace?” I asked loudly. When he didn’t react, I raised my voice more. “Excuse me. It’s an urgent matter. Please wake up.”

Still nothing. He slept on.

With my fast breaths steaming in the chilly air, I bent over him, laid my hand on his shoulder, and tapped him.

No response. Not even a twitch.

I squinted at him. His eyes were moving behind his closed lids. He was dreaming.

Okay, time to step it up. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I shook him hard.

Gah, this felt wrong. I was used to keeping my distance from him, and he’d always been this intimidating figure whom I’d avoided touching at all costs. And now here I was, forced to shake him like a rag doll.

“Wake up, Your Grace!” My voice echoed uncomfortably loud in the silence of the darkened room. “Please, I need you to wake up.”

His lids fluttered, and my heart skipped a beat. With a surge that made the hair on my arms stand on end, his power rose, snapping outward with enough force to rattle the walls.

The next second, his hand was around my throat, his furious black eyes boring into me as he got to his feet. Gagging, I pawed at his hand, my feet dangling in the air. He’d lifted me clean off the floor. He looked once more like a terrifying eldritch creature that should be bound in another dimension. Frost covered every surface in the room, heart-stopping cold breathing down my spine.

“It’s me,” I croaked, barely able to get enough air to speak. “Zoe.”

He blinked, inhaled sharply, and then let me go. I crumpled to the ground, massaging my throat. The frost receded, and some warmth returned to the air.

“What is going on?” His voice didn’t quite sound like his own—hollower, ancient, with a fading note of something beyond the laws of time and space.

“My dog—Vengeance—Samael seized her.” I scrambled back to my feet, dashing tears from my eyes. “He wants to execute her. Please, you have to stop him.”

His gaze sharpened, and subtly, that otherworldly vibe around him diminished, the Lucifer I knew returning bit by bit. “Why does he want to execute her?”

“Because she killed five demons. But she only did so to protect me! They attacked me in an ambush, and they were trying to kill me. One of them aimed a sword directly at my neck. Vengeance took care of them, but Samael doesn’t believe me and claims Vengeance needs to be put down for going berserk.”

“You were attacked?” he asked with lethal quiet.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Here in the palace?”

“Yes,” I said with a touch of impatience. “We can dissect that later, but right now, can you please order Samael to cancel the execution? He’s taken her to the kennels and could be killing her any minute now.”

He took a heavy breath, rolled his eyes, and then snapped his fingers. “Laphor.”

In a flutter of wings, a hellcat landed next to us.

I jumped about three feet into the air. What the what? Had this one been here the whole time? Gawd, these sneaky cats!

“Send word ahead to the kennels,” Lucifer said.

I do not like that place, the feline said, sniffing haughtily. It reeks.

With a sigh equal parts annoyed and resigned, Lucifer summoned a small container and shook something out of it into his palm. With a flick, he tossed it to the cat, who caught the morsel out of the air. It looked like some sort of dried meat.

“Go,” Lucifer said and waved his hand at the feline.

Still chewing, the hellcat took off and disappeared in the dark above us.

Well. I would never have thought that even the Devil had to bribe his cats to do his bidding.

While I was still staring after the feline, Lucifer had made his way to the door. I blinked and pivoted, hurrying after him. He was actually leaving his room?

Out in the hallway, he strode to one of the large, floor-to-ceiling windows, opened it with a wave of his hand, and then extended his wings with a whoosh that almost swept me off my feet.

I’d only seen his wings once before, back when he’d set foot on Earth during the near apocalypse. It had been from a distance then, and they’d been impressive already. Now, up close, they were awe-inspiring and terrifying all at once.

The feathers were the same deep black as that of all demon wings, though instead of flames dancing over them, Lucifer’s wings held a sheen of dark red, as if they’d been dipped in blood. And it seemed to move . Writhing slowly like a living thing, the red glaze glistened in the lights of the few candles in the hallway, appearing to be strewn with some sort of iridescent sparks.

As I watched, drops of burgundy fell from his primaries, dissolving into nothing before they hit the floor.

“Keep up,” he threw over his shoulder, just before he stepped off the sill of the second-story window and soared into the air.

I jolted out of my inspection of his wings, unfurled my own, and followed him.

Lucifer flew so fast I had trouble not losing him. I just about made out how he arrowed down on the other side of the palace. Beating my wings harder, I hurried after him. Above me, shadows darkened the lightning-rent sky, and the roar of dragons rattled my bones.

Shit, right, weren’t those beasts a bit bitey?

Fear flooding my veins, I shot through the air at breakneck speed. Next to me, the flap of mighty wings whirled the air and disturbed my flight path a touch. I glanced to the side and almost had a heart attack.

A dragon flew to my right. Lightning illuminated the dark red scales covering its massive body, reflecting in its golden glowing eye that was fixed on me.

Before I could do an evasive maneuver, the beast let loose a staccato growl that was way too reminiscent of the T-rex in Jurassic Park and then dove away.

Leaving me flying on in peace and one step away from dying from cardiac arrest.

Fuck me sideways.

Heart still bruised from beating way too fast, I landed outside the enormous kennel building, tucked my wings away, and ran through the open doors.

This kennel here was so much larger than the one at Azazel’s mansion, massive like hangars at an airport. Still, it was easy to locate where Lucifer had gone—I just zeroed in on the commotion and the throng of demons gathered a bit farther back.

Crowding in front of a single enclosure, a group of demons looked on as Lucifer—towering over the others with his unparalleled height—spoke with Samael. Behind them, in the cage, Vengeance chewed the bars of her enclosure and intermittently howled at the top of her lungs.

“Venny,” I gasped and broke into a run.

She was alive! We weren’t too late!

I elbowed my way through the crowd, shoving demons aside without care to make my way to the cage. The space between the bars was wide enough that I could squeeze through, so I did exactly that, and next thing I knew, three doggie heads were bathing me in saliva.

“Venny,” I sobbed and grabbed at her to aimlessly scratch and cuddle her wherever possible.

“So you believe her over me?”

Samael’s question rose over the noise Vengeance made as she celebrated seeing me again, and I disengaged myself from her ministrations enough to turn my attention to the scene in front of the enclosure.

Though Lucifer’s expression seemed mildly bored, there was a sharp note to his power, and every inch of him radiated authority, to the extent I had the sudden urge to sink to my knees and bow my head. This was the version of him that was used to enter a room and have every single demon in it kiss the floor in deference.

“I do not recall owing you an explanation for my decisions,” Lucifer said with the kind of deceptive calm that clearly held a threat. “The hound shall live. And whosoever dares to harm the beast will lose their head.”

He waved a hand, and the bars of Vengeance’s enclosure sank into the floor. The assembled demons shied back, making room for the hellhound to step out of her cage.

“Come along,” Lucifer said, his eyes on me, before he turned away and strode toward the kennel exit.

I jumped and hastened after him, Vengeance at my heels. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted Samael standing with his arms crossed and watching us leave, but instead of looking pissed and humiliated, he smirked.

Smirked .

As if he’d just made a particularly clever move in a game of invisible chess.

The hair rose on my arms and neck. That primal instinct inside me warning of impending danger—amplified now that I was a demon—gripped me hard, whispering that a looming threat was snapping ever closer at my heels.

I shuddered and focused on catching up to Lucifer.